I have 2 hives in their second year. One is strong and the other is average. The strong one only produced 3 1/2 frames of honey and the other none. No drown comb either in it. I am in North Texas and am wondering if this sounds normal for this year in this area?
Honey yield depends on pastures. a normal hive may get 15 kg honey in one week but it consumes it during month if nature gives no more.
If you have such pastures, perhaps too hot and dery, move the hives to the better place for yield season.
If bees must fly over wide cultivated corn fields before they find honey flowers, their yield will be consumed as flying fuel.
I live in the city and around me are houses and about a mile away is a small lake. Then roughly 2 1/2 miles is a nursery. I would have thought there would have been alot of nectar this year because in spring the pollen was so thick car were being covered in a yellowish color of pollen. I have never seen that much pollen.
Quote from: johnwm73 on August 05, 2010, 09:35:24 AM
I live in the city and around me are houses and about a mile away is a small lake. Then roughly 2 1/2 miles is a nursery. I would have thought there would have been alot of nectar this year because in spring the pollen was so thick car were being covered in a yellowish color of pollen. I have never seen that much pollen.
40 years ago I had my bees on the small house area where all houses had gardens. Fruit trees and berry bushess gove an enermous yield during June and then in July nothing. I moved bees 15 km onto forest cutting areas. First I used bicycle in transporting and later moped.
Now I have hives in small rural village. But there are too much hives in one place. I migrate hives inside the radius of 20 km. There I get 100 kg honey/hive and in my cottage years perhaps 30 kg.
Yes, pollen are everywhere sometimes but those trees are
wind pollinating and bees get nothing from them.
But Texas is very different from my place which is at the level of Anchorage Alaska.
This summer in some places beekeepers have got nothing on western coast because nature is so dry.
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sometimes it's just the year. last two years were awful here, but this year is great.
I did not get any honey for the first two years and the third year I got 13 quarts. This year I have been blessed and will probably get about 200 lbs.