vwdolly 4 Posted September 7, 2013 Report Share Posted September 7, 2013 I am thinking of taking this up so thanks for all the info, looks like I will be reading for a while! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neils 1 Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Would be interested to hear from anybody in west cornwall with an interest in beekeeping, i would love to know more about it and hopefully get a hove or two of my own!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ryaldinhio 4,502 Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 I am considering this....literally just considerin last 6 month or so. there is a garden centre in Doncaster that runs day course on beekeeping I think its in june. Im signing up. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
the monkey 338 Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Had my first year as a beekeeper.....didn't have a clue what I was doing but with books ,you tube asking every bee keeper I met stupid questions.i eventually got 20 jars of honey 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ryaldinhio 4,502 Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Is it hard work fellas or is it minimum input. Just I have a lot on my plate at the min so might leave it on the back burner if it needs a lot of time input. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hedgerow pete 25 Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 with bee keeping you can put as much or as little input as you want depends w hat you want out of it. most people do one or two hives and make 10 to 30 jars of honey and think thats ok for the nomimal time they put into it and if thats what you want then fine i run 25 hives -nationals on 12" by 14" with four supers if needed all supers are standard 5" have enough frames and equipemnt to do a lot more, i breed my own queens and harvest all hive products and class honey as a side line crop producing only 25%-35% of the financle harvest from each hive i would expect from each hive three harvest per year, one is the sh1t called oil seed rape and class this as filth and utter dross and sell it to as many as posible as neat honey next one is august /september time or main crop for me and the third crop is late october november time i would expect each hive to do a minium of 35kg and standard is 150kg + per year per hive to hit any thing like that i spend 10-20 hours per week in or on or for the hives, one day a week i go through all the hives and spend many evenings doing prep works so on average thats 1,500hrs input, gross cost inputs last year were £1,000, gross output monies, gross £8,000gross, £5k net with bee keeping its fantastic as you get equal amounts in to out, you can do as much as you waant or as little, just because some one does one thing does not mean you have to do anything else Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ZacB 114 Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 i would expect each hive to do a minium of 35kg and standard is 150kg + per year per hive You on the mead HP? lbs & kgs mixed up? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hedgerow pete 25 Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 thats a very good point but no its still kilos, i try not to do pounds the hive average of the 27 from last year were 2014 1st crop 44 kg 2nd crop 31 kg 3rd crop 26.5kg per hive times 27 hives wax was 8kg average per hive propolis was 100gm per hive nucs produced 28 queens reared to mating 50 best hive was number 3 again, the queen in there is amazing, she produced 121kg on the first crop, i was changing supers every time i went to see her the best was three in one week, ( a super is the honey box, when full it weighs around 18kg of honey and wax) they hit 60kg on the second and 40kg+ on the third. on the other hand two of my hives only just hit 20kg at a time so all of those queens were squished out and replaced , so its not all telephone figures all the time. the osr crop was done becausei feed before cropping to early build them up from january onwards as soon as the rains stopped i was fighting swarming managed to keep the together to stay on the rape, after the rape they went straight into splits and then re-conbines for the next main flow, some hives were running double broods due to it. i sell osr normally to a whole saler to shift the sh!t quickly so i dont have to deal with it i also dont sell plain honey unless its to a personal close friend, every thing is value added, creamed, soft set,added flavours extra, i only sell to two main out lets and i sell at a reasonable price, the deal is they sell then pay me as that keeps there cash flows solid 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
David K 172 Posted May 27, 2015 Report Share Posted May 27, 2015 After letting the ducks out this morning I had a wander up to my apiary at the end of our field. All the hives were quiet in the cool early morning, walking back home and I spotted a big cluster of bees on a broken branch in the hedge. They where in a hard tight cluster obviously been there overnight. Off to the shed to suit up and get a cardboard box to try and get them before they warm up in the sun and head off somewhere else. I managed to knock the cluster off into the box and a bit later put them in front of a empty national hive, it took them about an hour to walk up into the hive and seem to be staying put for now. Fed them a bit of syrup and I will put some fresh foundation in tomorrow. Nothing better than free bees. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jimgt206 108 Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 My mums garage has a bee colony in it they arent any bother .that realy hot day last week there was honey running down the wall .today they were going mad big swarm flying every where,now they are in abig mass on the eaves are they leaving ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jimgt206 108 Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 Bees on the move? https://youtu.be/-hhRimW7ftc https://youtu.be/YVfSSS7zuos Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kriti 274 Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 Bit of advice needed. This morning when walking the dogs, the old fella up the top of the hill was seeing to his hives. On my way back, he shouts me over and gives me a frame full of honey. I've taken the honeycomb out of the frame. What do I do to get the honey out of the comb? Secondly, should I clean the frame before I give him it back. I would have asked the old fella, but, he doesn't speak a word of English. Thanks in advance, kriti. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Millet 4,497 Posted March 22, 2016 Report Share Posted March 22, 2016 They sure are intriguing little things, here is one of my girls gathering pollen from one of the many bulb's i planted for this spring..the weather is shit though so extra feeding is still needed. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
low plains drifter 10,317 Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 They sure are intriguing little things, here is one of my girls gathering pollen from one of the many bulb's i planted for this spring..the weather is shit though so extra feeding is still needed. Where've you been hiding Millet you big old furminating sheep shagger you lolol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Millet 4,497 Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 I can't be done with all this shooting stuff so i went and joined a tree hugging forum, it was good to start with but i later found out half of them where gay and after me so i bailed out.lol 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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