# Maximum number of hives for honey production on clover



## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

I've been surfing for a couple of hours trying to find how many hives I can put on yellow sweet clover for honey production. Everything I have found on the net has to do with pollination not honey production.

I have around eleven acres of yellow sweet clover and hairy vetch, both are about waste high and starting to bloom. I have about 40 hives on that location and could move more onto it if it will support more hives.

For those of you who put bees on clover and or vetch, how many hives can you put out per acre for honey production?


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

I would also like to know. I spent most the day clearing out about 6 acres which I am going to plant with yellow sweet clover. Additionally, alfalfa is coming into bloom around here and was wondering how many hives could 30 acres support. The good thing about alfalfa is sometimes we can get three crops out of it if the year is good...not sure about this year as we have had a late spring. (We got snow on Thurs!!)


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## moonlightbeekeeper (Jul 4, 2007)

*yellow clover*

bee careful what you ask for: had a yellow clover bloom and a wetter than normal spring a few years ago and a good hive would put up a med super a day with some of the sweetest honey!!!!!!! had to work my @#$ss off to keep them in supers!!!!


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

Found this info on yellow sweet clover. Says a hive can produce 200 lbs, but doesn't mention how many acres...

http://www.beeclass.com/dts/sweetclover.htm

Also from another thread "Zane,

I have read good things about both sweet clover and according to the "American Honey Plants" book anise hyssop supposely will support 100 hives on one acre with a average yield of 100 lbs per hive. I have grown 15 or 20 of these plants around the house and most times find that wasps, bumble bees and all manner of flying stinging insect will work them from morning to late in the evening. But my honeybees seen to work them to some degree and I think they are actually mainly working clover or other things instead of the anise hyssop. But I want to plant several acres at sometime to get a true test."

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217387&highlight=hives+acre

Seems a little much...100 hives per acre..wow!!


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## Zane (Mar 28, 2008)

I remember some thread a lady and talking about white clover as a cover crop but I didnt say any of that!!! unless I was drunk and I dont drink!!!! She wanted to know what crop to plant if I remember right. Sorry but I cant verify that info Bullseye!!! That white clover sure costs $$$, about triple the red!! If we could only cross the longer tongue bumble's w/ a honey!!!! Good Luck. Are your blackberries in bloom yet?


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

Zane said:


> Are your blackberries in bloom yet?



No wild blackberries here, some in gardens in town. I did see some blooms on the raspberries last week, but there isn't any significant numbers of those around here either. Now gooseberries, that's a different story! But I don't know if they make any nectar.

Lots of wildflowers blooming now, pastures are full of them.


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## Zane (Mar 28, 2008)

Yeah my wild and tame gooseberries are just about the way my kid likes em sour sour sour!!! Strawberries are putting on. Wild blackberries are close but the tame are still really just starting to bud. I guess we must have a little more woods than your neck o da woods? The goose, blackberries, and blk raspberries like the woods it seems. You getting that rain right now that I'm suppose to get in the am? If so you can keep it!!!!
BTW by white clover isnt close to blooming yet. The red is out though. I planted about 4 acres of white


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

I would leave it at 40, and make sure they have plenty of supers. I have a yard of 35 on a vegetable farm. They use Winter Rye/Vetch/Yellow Sweet Clover as a cover crop. The yard is my cell building yard. They do very well there, but I wouldn't increase the colony count too much.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

*Let us know*

Bullseye,

Let us know if the 40 hives were enough and how much you were able to harvest from them at the end of the season. 

I am surprised that in all the searching I did on the internet I couldn't find a good hive to acre ratio for honey harvesting. There is, like bullseye stated, lots of info on hive to acre for pollination. I will keep looking and try and keep a log, crop specific, if people will post their ratios. I will then post the info in one place so its easier for honey harvesters to plan out their hives to acres.


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

That is an admirable enterprise you are taking on there. One thing to consider is the difference between a heavily planted field and the common wild area of clover that is competing with other plants.

It seems to be a fine line between counting your chickens and providing enough supers.


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## thesurveyor (Aug 20, 2002)

Where do you guys by anise hyssop seed. Do you know if it will grow in Western NC?


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

Here are two links for seed.

http://www.localharvest.org/store/item.jsp?id=6368

http://www.prairiemoon.com/store/template/product_detail.php?IID=87

Never bought it and not sure if it will grow in NC...but try a small area...if it grows..plant more. Sorry I can't be of more help.


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## thesurveyor (Aug 20, 2002)

Anyone here ever grown Anise Hyssop?


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## Swobee (May 18, 2007)

I have 13 hives near about 80 acres of wildflower/clover mixed along with30 acres of alfalfa. I never count much on alfalfa because it gets cut just when bloom starts. I never had bees here before and this information sounds really, really promising! Think maybe we'll need to expand the numbers at this location next year! In fact, this is the first year I've had bees near very much clover.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

Swobee,

Let me know how much honey you get from those 80 acres this year. I will start a thread so people can post the results.

Thanks


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## Swobee (May 18, 2007)

alpha6 said:


> Swobee,
> 
> Let me know how much honey you get from those 80 acres this year. I will start a thread so people can post the results.
> 
> Thanks


Will do. We try to keep separate production information from different pastures just for our own information sake. These hives are all brand new- nucs, swarms & splits so I'm not expecting a lot, but bet I get some good production anyway from them.


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## cow pollinater (Dec 5, 2007)

Bullseye Bill, I have bees on clover pasture with vetch planted in my orchard and a little spread out in the pasture. My clover is white dutch and crimson with a little bit of yellow sweet and alfalfa. I have noticed that the bees work the vetch a little in the mornings but then move on to the clover and alfalfa and don't like the vetch as much. When I bring in more bees, I see them working the vetch a little harder.
In short, you may be able to judge how many is to many by watching the vetch as I think they'll hit the clover first.


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## jjgbee (Oct 12, 2006)

In my openion, it takes about 15 years of working with bees and plants, observing and experimenting befor one becomes a beekeeper. Keep a daily log. After 25 years , I found a wildflower that I had overlooked right near my home location. The plant looked dead. Had a very small flowerlet on a dry brown 1/16 in dia stem. I set out 30 hives with one supper ea. Came back in a week to fill the water barrel. All hives were plugged. Added more supers and moved in 120 more hives and they all plugged out. All those years and flows I had missed. What a shame. Experiment and learn. The plant was called wire weed.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

Wire Weed? Never heard of it. Heard of wild weed...bees don't like it, but my neighbors do...they smoke it, go figure.


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## Zane (Mar 28, 2008)

*Anise hysop*

Surveyer, I grow that Anise Hysop plant. Good stuff. Bee's LOVEIT and I like the smell. I had to move it from my front step after I got bee's but it smells good if you like the blk licorice smell! Gets 4' tall or so. O found it in many greenhouses.


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## mike haney (Feb 9, 2007)

*weeds*

"Wire Weed? Never heard of it. Heard of wild weed...bees don't like it, but my neighbors do...they smoke it, go figure." 
R.O.T.F.L.M.A.O!!!!!!!!!!


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

*Number of colonies required per acre*

Here is a nice link to a pdf file that list how many colonies of bees are required per acre broken down by crop type. It can be found at the end of the file in Appendix 2. It takes a while to download, but it has some good info. Disclaimer - its put out by our Canadian friends up north, but should apply in most the US.

http://www.honeycouncil.ca/users/getdownload.asp?DownloadID=291


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

If your talking a 50 acre field, usually they dont get bigger than that, sock those hives in thier! More acres than that? SEND MORE 
40 hives is a good yard, make two at that, just mearly of logistics,

The world wants that honey, so get it into your drums!


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## rainesridgefarm (Sep 4, 2001)

did you ever find out how much honey you can get off a acre of yellow and white sweetclover? two years ago the post was we should know by now. Getting ready to rip out 7 acres of hay ground to plant if it is as good as they say.


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## Batman (Jun 7, 2009)

Yeah, where are the numbers? I was thinking of planting a little bit up on my dad's property.


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## wolfpenfarm (Jan 13, 2009)

rainesridgefarm said:


> did you ever find out how much honey you can get off a acre of yellow and white sweetclover? two years ago the post was we should know by now. Getting ready to rip out 7 acres of hay ground to plant if it is as good as they say.


http://www.themelissagarden.com/TMG_Vetaley031608.htm

white should bring 200 - 300 pounds per acre, 
yellow should bring 300-400 pounds per acre.

Seed isn't cheap. Yellow sweet clover is going for 100 for a 50lb bag, and seeding rate is around 15 -20 pounds per acre.


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## Batman (Jun 7, 2009)

wolfpenfarm said:


> http://www.themelissagarden.com/TMG_Vetaley031608.htm
> 
> white should bring 200 - 300 pounds per acre,
> yellow should bring 300-400 pounds per acre.
> ...



$100 for a 50 lbs bag isn't that bad, specially if it only takes 20 lbs at most to do an acre. When I looked for Anise Hyssop, I saw one place that said almost $2,000 for an acres worth of seed. Hell, 1 ounce (approx 60,000 seeds) was $51! Outsidepride.com says 12 - 15 lbs per acre.

Wolf, any idea how many hives one acre will support?


Thanks,
Craig


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## Tubee (Oct 19, 2010)

*Re: Max hives per acre of planted white dutch clover*

We're getting ready to work on part of a ten acre field that needs the "junk grass and weed content" removed. We're going back with a substantial planting of White Dutch Clover. I'd like to know how many hives can be supported per acre of the Dutch variety clover.


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## kenr (Sep 25, 2005)

tubee I hate to say it but probobly not much I live on a farm and there's about 80 acers of pasture land and it all has white dutch and I've never seen any big flow to harvest but my bees do work it.


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## Tubee (Oct 19, 2010)

Hmmm, this is indeed interesting, but not exactly what I want to hear.:doh: It's my understanding that White Dutch is a clover of choice and I'd really be wanting to know others' opinions on this. 
thanks.


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## Ozone (May 24, 2011)

wolfpenfarm said:


> http://www.themelissagarden.com/TMG_Vetaley031608.htm
> 
> white should bring 200 - 300 pounds per acre,
> yellow should bring 300-400 pounds per acre.
> ...


This isn't as lucrative as the earlier posts indicated.
unless this was per hive for 100 hives!


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

An acre of Alfalfa in full bloom secretes 60 pounds of 60% saturated sugar nectar per hour. I don't think yellow sweet clover does less. But when hay growers cut alfalfa at 0 to 5% bloom, it is not much good to bees. Clover grows back after cutting and doesn't get high enough to cut again at least in my experience and will feed an awful lot of bees.


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## Ozone (May 24, 2011)

Vance G said:


> An acre of Alfalfa in full bloom secretes 60 pounds of 60% saturated sugar nectar per hour. I don't think yellow sweet clover does less. But when hay growers cut alfalfa at 0 to 5% bloom, it is not much good to bees. Clover grows back after cutting and doesn't get high enough to cut again at least in my experience and will feed an awful lot of bees.


Sure hope you are right here. That is my goal, to get an awful lot of bees!


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