Grant F. C. Gillard

Producing a Ton of Honey

General Info

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What’s at stake? Why is this important?

Colony survival – bees need honey

Spouse/partner looking for return on the investment in all that bee equipment

Relatives are looking for some of that free honey you’ve been promising them

Potential for financial opportunities

But mostly,Honey is the confirmation…

“I am a Beekeeper!”

And the world says,“Show me the honey!”

Quotes:C.C. Miller, “Almost every beekeeper

dreams of producing the most honey from their hives, then dreads how they are going to get rid of it.”

Roger Morse, “The person who seeks to maximize their bees’ honey production gets the most in terms of profit and enjoyment whatever their reason for keeping bees.”

Honey Production is not hardAfter all, who does the work?

Key ElementsThe Timing of Management

We set the stage, we prime the pumpWe help the bees do what they do best.

Luck with Weather ConditionsDry periods better than too much rain

Healthy Colony of BeesYoung productive queens

An aggressive army of foragersPrudent mite management

Never as easy as you think…..

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Foraging Opportunities

North Ave Harvest 60 lbs per hiveSouth Ave Harvest 100 – 120 lbs

What Does It Take?

#1 Overwinter

Strong Colonies

What’s at stake?Strong colonies survive winter

betterStrong colonies deal with health

issues betterStrong colonies begin laying eggs

earlier in the springColony growth expands

exponentially, start with more bees, end up with more bees

Five cornerstones for winter survivalYoung queen, markedLots of young bees, strong population

(combine weak colonies)Minimal pest problems, low mitesAbundant stores, preferably honey, candy

boardSufficient ventilation (upper entrance)

And all of this has to be done prior to winter.Timing is important.

What Does it Take?

#2Rapid Spring

Build Up

What’s at stake?Earlier egg laying means a bigger

population for the nectar flow

Productive, young queens lay more eggs

Queens start laying in January, and everything needs to be in place long before winter arrives.

Management Strategies1. Feeding syrup early – 1:1 syrup

Covers periods of rainy weather

2. Pollen substitutes – nutritional supplements

Feed the bees that feed the bees

3. Frame manipulation – expanding the brood nest

Moving empty frames into brood nestMore opportunities to lay eggs

Right Kind of BeesWe have an early flow in SE Missouri

Begins in mid-AprilComes on strong Mother’s Day to 4th of July

Italians and Buckfast, and ferals work bestCarniolans and Russians – too slowBrother Adam: Queens raised in the summer

(nectar and pollen abundant), then overwintered will be the most productive (annual requeening?)

Mel Disselkoen: Queens mated after June 15th (summer equinox) lay more eggs into winter

What Does it Take?

#3Swarm

Prevention

What’s at stake?When a colony swarms, the

productive “margin” of bees leaves.These are the bees that make up the

foragers that bring in the surplus nectar.

If the colony swarms…you’ve given away your honey crop.

Swarming takes time to prepare, but the “signs” are not necessarily self-evident

Swarm Prevention“Congestion” is the trigger that sets up

swarmingCongestion is the competition for open cells

between: a) a productive, young queen looking to lay eggs and b) abundant, incoming nectar

needing storage (or feeding more than necessary).

Simple solution: provide more cells space with drawn comb

Stay one step ahead of the need

What Does it Take?

#4Intelligent Supering

What’s at stake?

Incoming nectar might be stored in brood nestCongestion – swarmingYou have to harvest brood frames

Intelligent SuperingStart with one or two supersDrawn comb preferredAdd supers as needed (before you think they’re needed)

Bottom super (sliding new supers under existing supers)**

**U of GA study, set up harvest

Queen Excluders (honey excluders?)

Bottom Entrance Bottom Entrance Closed Bottom Entrance Control Queen Excluder Queen Excluder

Additional Upper Entrance

Less Brood (½) Slightly more brood Less Honey (1/3) Slightly more honey Skunk Predation Less Bearding in heat

What Does it Take?

#5Expedient Harvesting

Harvesting – two methods“Early and Often” --Remove frames as soon as frame is capped --Works if you have a room dedicated to

extracting

“Wait and Do it Once” --Weekend with family --Limited window of good weather

--Rented or borrowed extractor--Want to get it over with

Ray Nabors (ABJ Feb 2017, page 178)“Putting supers on as needed and taking full

ones off will not only increase honey production but keep colonies stronger.”

“A strong producing colony will be less active when honey stores are adequate for winter.”

“Once they have produced a large amount of honey, they seem to slow down.”

“They will put more effort into honey production if some honey is removed during the flow.”

Bee Removal from supers1. Pull frames and shake individually, no bee brush2. Install a bee escape, then return after 24 hours

(better: put on late in the day, return early the next)3. Fume boards – quick and easyPushes bees down, but reluctant to leave brood*

Bee-go – the most effective, the worst smellHoney Robber – Bee-go with cherry flavoringHoney Bandit – Really good, nice smell (Mann Lake)Fischer’s Bee Quick – good

Fume boards on stack of supers in truck - robbing

Best Bee Escape

Honey House ManagementThink: Product In – Product Out

Supers come inHoney is removedHoney is storedSupers go out

Drying RoomHeat source – electric heaterFansDehumidifier

Lowers moisture content – reduces granulationHoney extracts faster, filters fasterDon’t have to do the entire batch of supers

24 – 48 hoursNo longer than three daysSHB and “gummy” comb

Extracting framesUncapping options (hot or cold knife, uncapping

scratcher) RADA 10” serrated bread knifeDirectly into extractor or set in “holding” tub/tank (drips)

Drain cappingsWash cappings, Set them out for the bees (SHB)Melt

What Does it Take?

#6LocationLocationLocation

Foraging Opportunities

North Ave Harvest 60 lbs per hiveSouth Ave Harvest 100 – 120 lbs

Consider Moving Your BeesInconvenient…must be done at nightBees crawl, not fly…need their beauty

sleep, screen entrance? Tape all the cracks?

Unless you have forklifts, you need hives secured, strapped down, hand carts, young fellas with strong backs….

I move some hives from Cape Girardeau County to Scott County (different flow, later flow, second harvest).

What Does it Take?

#7Wildcard:

Artificially BoostForaging Population

How?

1. Combine marginal colonies

2. Add a swarm to an existing colony

3. Create a two-queen colony

Combine Marginal ColoniesAt beginning of flow…1. Remove queens (make nucs)

Combine queenless portion with queen-right

2. Stack brood chambers, separated by excludersTop with supersFrench version: The Skyscraper HiveSeparate after the flow

3. Simply stack the colonies and let them work it out.

Wildcard RationaleBasis: One colony of 60,000 bees will

produce more honey than two colonies of 30,000 each.

Why? A certain number of bees must stay home to take care of the brood. The rest are free to forage.

That number of “brood-caretakers” does not change significantly with increased colony populations.

Why does this work?Walter Gojmerac

Proportions of foragers

1 2 30

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

Series2Series1

25 lbs. 68 lbs. 154 lbs.

Two Queen ManagementNot new

U of Wyoming 1940U of Wisconsin, Dr. Farrar, 1946 into

1950sRequires extra manipulations, tall hivesIs the additional labor worth the extra

honey?Most advantageous on mid-summer flows2nd queen needs 5 to 7 weeks to make an

optimal impact

Question: if six weeks remain in nectar flow, will this make a difference on early flows?Where can I get queens? (Remember reverse split?)

Red Belly Bee Farm - Facebook

Better Bee Tower Colony

General Info

www . Slideshare . net

Gillard5 @ charter.net

https: // www . Createspace.com / 4111886

www . grantgillard . Weebly . Com

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