Monday, April 30, 2012

New Bees

I took the five-hour round trip drive to pick up my bees for the season.  Five of my seven colonies I attempted to keep alive over the winter died.  The two that did make it through the winter are strong and are off to a good start.

I got only four additional colonies this year.  I often start the year with ten colonies but after being called to pick up swarms I have ended up with up to sixteen colonies.  That is way more colonies than I care to deal with.  Hopefully I'll top out with ten hives this year, but I will probably only take honey from six of them.

Last year was the first year I cut the honey production, and it was kind of nice.  I was sold out easily by November.  Most of the years of large production I still am scrambling to sell the rest of the harvest in December.  Though selling honey and hive products makes it so I can at least break even on my endeavors; a person can get used to the less is better module.  It may not be really better, but it is easier.

5 Comments:

Blogger JustRex said...

Sixteen colonies. Yikes. Don't they start competing for food? There's only so much pollen to be harvested in a bees range, right?

7:26 AM  
Blogger Donna. W said...

I've been seeing a lot of stuff on TV and the Internet about how we are losing bees world-wide, so I'm glad you are still able to obtain what you need.

7:43 AM  
Blogger Donna. W said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

7:43 AM  
Anonymous gearhead said...

2010 was hailed as the worst honey production nationwide in recorded history.
I recently recieved the NASS report that showed that honey production in 2011 was LOWER than 2010 but there are no headlines for some reason.
Maybe some of the global warming that they keep promising will kick in this year and result in some honey weather.

7:55 AM  
Blogger The Guy Who Writes This said...

Darev, they do so I try to never have more than five colonies in one spot. Fortunately my property goes back a quarter mile so I keep some by the house and the rest are on top of the hill on the other end.

Donna, they are pricy these days. They used to cost $35 per hive. Now it $85. That's why I also pick up free swarms when ever I can.

Gearhead, don't be fooled by the word warming in global warming. It's more of a climate change. It isn't warmer where I live, but we are getting a lot more rain and wind. Perfect conditions to sock the bees in...

5:07 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home