Calum

A funny year so far

Rate this Entry
7 Comments
by
Calum
, 26-06-2012 at 09:55 AM (9913 Views)
Altogether a strange year for me so far..
I lost 2 colonies over the winter (absconded), and from the 19 that survived I kept 7, the rest I sold on or traded for wild boar.
Everything was looking great for a super spring crop and then April went cold and wet, with may bringing more of the same. no honey, lots of lost queens on their maiting flights, not much joy at all.
With far more TLC than should be needed I have got myself back up to 20 colonies, the Linde and clover is flowing, the sun is shining and queen raising and mating is a doddle all of a sudden. Pity there is only 6 weeks left till I'll be winding everything up and getting everything ready for the winter. If I can just get another 6-8 artificial swarms down I'll hit one target for the year. The honey- well I'll be happy with 150kg and probably very lucky if I get that much!

Submit "A funny year so far" to Digg Submit "A funny year so far" to del.icio.us Submit "A funny year so far" to StumbleUpon Submit "A funny year so far" to Google

Categories
Uncategorized

Comments

  1. Calum's Avatar
    The list of targets were:
    25-30 Colonies for overwintering (with marked queens )
    replace all underperforming queens
    raise 30-50 queens
    150kg honey
  2. Jon's Avatar
    My targets are not that different from yours.
    Hope to overwinter 15 colonies and maybe 10 nucs.
    I got about 60k honey, mainly sycamore, at the start of June.
    July is the main honey month here weather permitting.
    Clover, bramble, lime, balsam, Rosebay willowherb.
    14 queens mated so far in apideas.
  3. gavin's Avatar
    It surprises me that your spring weather pattern this year was just the same as ours. We're back into a wet spell again, but there has generally been the odd good day between the period of rain to allow them to top up the stores at least.b
  4. Calum's Avatar
    So just hit the low end of my target for colonies.
    Raised 45 queens before the starter refused to do anything further
    the colonies on scales are going backward just now - so I'll be harvesting soon as the first himalyan blasam is starting to flower - I'll be lucky if I get 80Kg from the colonies... What a difference two weeks makes
  5. Calum's Avatar
    55kg for the year. oh well. Will overwinter 25 colonies unless another one begs for an artificial swarm.. Nevermind 2012 a beekeeping (honey harvest) year to forget here in Germany.
  6. Jon's Avatar
    I now have 15 nucs with new queens and still have 15 spare queens.
    I have about 18 full colonies
    Hopeful of another 100k to 150k of honey in a couple of weeks.
    Started another load of grafts in the past couple of days as well.
  7. Calum's Avatar
    Everything finally done and dusted for this year except of course the oxalic acid treatment..
    27 Colonies are looking good for the winter, one spare queen in a two framer being kept warm over another colony.
    I could have had over 100kg honey in retrospect - if I had harvested the balsam - maybe next year, time to ponder next years plan...
    I fancy selling of everything but 5 colonies and trying to get back up to over twenty going into next winter. Dont have so much time for selling honey with my new job....

    Whats anyone elses plans?