# Did you get honey your first year



## Dave Burrup (Jul 22, 2008)

The first year we got most of a medium super from each of our 3 hives. We fed them syrup for about 2 months to get them to build wax and population.
Dave


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

We've been told not to expect a surplus and to plan to leave it all for the bees the first year.

And then every time we say that's our plan, we're told, "You never know ... you might get quite a bit". We're starting with nucs, which supposedly gives a head start (they'll have less foundation to draw out and emerging brood ready to enter the workforce), plus we should have ideal forage with little competition. We'll feed from day one until they lose interest in syrup. Be fun to see what happens when the tulip poplars bloom, and IF the black locusts bloom.

We've got two medium supers available for each hive. Our plan is, if they fill those, we'll start swapping out a few frames at a time and extract those.

Bottom line, I guess, is don't count your honey bottles just yet. But have some ready.


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## CessnaGirl (Jan 7, 2014)

We had two hives our first year and they couldn't have been more different. One hive was booming, crazy, busy, no issues, and we got over 100lbs from it (and I left plenty for them). The other hive was not queen happy. They kept replacing her until I replaced her with a bought queen. I think we got a couple of medium frames from them and, again, I left them plenty of honey. This second hive grew huge but never produced the honey the first hive did. In fact, the population in spring was down to 1 box of bees. The first hive was massive. I am so glad I had two hives as I saw the differences right from the first and was able to utilize the first hive to help the second hive.


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## Brad Bee (Apr 15, 2013)

I didn't rob any honey the first year. I housed my bees, 1 early swarm and 2 packages in April last year. I put them all in a single deep. When the hives expanded I put on a second deep so I could run 2 brood chambers. I put a medium super on each hive later in the year but none of them even drew comb in the supers. I left all the honey in the upper deep for them to winter on. I fed sugar syrup for a month or a little longer when I first housed the bees. They consumed some of the honey in the upper deep during our summer dearth and backfilled what they ate during the summer when our fall Goldenrod bloom was on.


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

We got no honey from 3 colonies in our first year, and we put a lot of sugar syrup on in the fall, to get them ready for the winter.


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## Moots (Nov 26, 2012)

I'd say don't expect it, but you very well may get some. 

I started last year in January with 2 Nucs, one of which I actually ended up losing. However, through swarms and a couple of cutouts I built up to 10 hives and by the end of the summer felt like 6 of them were strong enough to pull surplus honey from, I extracted 264 pounds, as well as another 69 pounds of fall honey a couple of months later. Looking at how my hives wintered, I think I could have actually pulled quite a bit more than I did, but better safe than sorry! 

Good Luck!


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## Chemguy (Nov 26, 2012)

I am just finishing my first year. I did not harvest any honey, and left everything on for winter: 1 med and one deep of honey for a double-deep hive, plus the outer frames in the broodnest. I do have honey now, but that's due to deadouts.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

"Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he will never be disappointed."--Alexander Pope.

www.bushfarms.com/beesexpectations.htm


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## ARGluck (Mar 10, 2013)

My first year (nuc) I did not get any honey but I did split it into two full sized (double deep) hives that survived their first winter. Results are impossible to predict as they depend on a lot of factors (drawn comb v not, weather, etc). Don't expect honey but have the resources ready in case.


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## mgolden (Oct 26, 2011)

If you feed 1:1 syrup until you add your first honey super, you have a good chance of getting some surplus honey. Packages and NUCs need syrup to make wax and raise brood.

Harvested 50 lbs from a package and started with zero comb. And they swarmed Aug 1. It was my mismanagement of a queen excluder but if they hadn't swarmed, harvest would have been much better. I lost a month of honey production.


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

Yes we got honey and it is so yummy!


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## rhaldridge (Dec 17, 2012)

We started last spring with a local nuc and a package. The nuc did great. We got about 50 lbs of honey, made several splits, and took enough brood over a six week period to straighten out the the package, which superceded several times and finally went laying worker. Knowing what I know now, I might have shook it out and replaced it with one of the nucs I made from hive #1, but now that weak hive is a boomer. We fed syrup for a few days when first installed, but I think continuing to feed when they don't need it can lead to swarming.


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## r hayden (Sep 27, 2012)

I started with 2 nucs on April 1, '13. One nuc I had to split and it still swarmed, I'm sure it was due to my ignorance.
The second nuc I got 9 3/4 gallons of honey from it. All 3 are doing really good now.
When I started I was told don't expect any honey and a nuc will not swarm, well guess what
Best of luck!!


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## MrHappy (Feb 10, 2012)

I got 2 boxes the first year and got 25-30 frames from each. I lost them and so I started from scratch with 4 more boxes. I got 45-50 frames from 2 of them, and 12 frames from the other 2. Everything is about area, queen, and flow that year. We are having a drought this year so I don't expect much.


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## hjsmith00843 (Jan 17, 2014)

Starting with 12 hives this year. I am not expecting any, but I will steal enough for some toast. Lol.....


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

My first year I bought a dozen 10 frame single hives for top dollar for deliver first week in May. I got this ancient equipment and black comb with a couple frames of bees in June. I was on fantastic pasture all summer and got a 60 pound average after they filled the brood box and the second hivebody of foundation and some made the surplus I got filling foundation. When I restarted several years ago on pretty good pasture, very good five frame nucs filled 15 ML plastic frames in the hive bodies and and drew and filled a deep super each and a little more and I got an 80 pound average. The next two drought years I got doodly, mostly because of management mistakes. 

Feed your bees to get them built up and when they have as much hive body/s filled as you desire, super them if they need it! So many people who are told they will never get a crop the first year, have good conditions and their new bees do an overcrowding swarm and go queenless and die out late in the season. You have to be a beekeeper not just have bees! Don't wear out the lid but inspect enough to know if they need room or not.


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## Silverbackotter (Feb 23, 2013)

Last year with 2 packages I got 15lbs on one and maybe 10 lbs on the other. One died in the winter with ~60lbs in the hive. 

Bunch of cut outs with no harvest, some with a lot of honey and some with a little. 

Years ago dry land bee keeping I would get honey harvest like that from established hives. Then on wet years you get 70lbs.


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## Colleen O. (Jun 5, 2012)

I didn't get any my first year, second year concentrated on building bees so got maybe a cup and a half from a collapsed comb. Last two years I fed a lot of syrup, hopefully this year they pay me back in honey.


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## Splatt (Jul 11, 2012)

My first year I didn't get any.


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## NW_Mark (Jan 23, 2012)

Location, Location, Location..... That's the answer. My first year with 4 packages I got about 10lbs. The next I got about 100 lbs. This past year with 8 hives I only got 70 lbs. I moved in May about 15 miles and now live on a lake. The bees forage area is about 25% water. Now before I moved I set up a friend that lived about 1 mile from my old house with a new hive from a package in April. This past August we pulled 80 lbs from just that one hive (now they did feed them well in the spring so ??) and I bet we left about the same in the hive and they were doing about 50% foundationless frames. So I say it all depends on the forage area. Just don't plan on it and then you will be surprised if you do


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## Edymnion (May 30, 2013)

No, I didn't get any honey the first year. I started with a single package and the hive struggled quite a bit. I honestly didn't expect them to survive the winter, but they did and they're booming now, which is great.

I wouldn't recommend new beeks start with packages. Obviously I did and it turned out okay in the end, but they have some problems that will have you biting your nails wondering what you did wrong when its nothing you could have prevented.


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## Tallykat (Feb 24, 2014)

Congratulations on your new arrivals! Last year was my first. I started in mid-May (late for Florida) and I was able to harvest 2 frames, 6 lbs. from my one hive. This year, I've asked the girls if they could spare 40 lbs for my daughter's wedding. It seems a reasonable request.


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## Cameron Daley (Mar 25, 2013)

Yes. Approximately 20lbs harvested (and consumed) with a lot left on the hive for winter. Italian bees on the bank of a canal. I attribute the surplus honey on their ability to forage up and down the canal, but it might not have anything to do with it.


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## gunter62 (Feb 13, 2011)

No honey the first year from a package installed in May in Tennessee.


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## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

He gets honey from first year packages every year.
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?228006-2009-season-off-to-great-start!!


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## Moon (May 7, 2011)

Mbeck said:


> He gets honey from first year packages every year.
> http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?228006-2009-season-off-to-great-start!!


I had 20 something packages 2 summers ago I installed and got ~600# surplus off of them. My first year I had 5 packages I installed and not only did I not get any honey off of them I had to feed the 3 that survived the summer about 3gal. each going into winter. Life's a crap shoot sometimes I suppose.


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## BeeWill (Apr 17, 2013)

I started with two packages about this time last year. I got a total of 115 pounds of honey, 3/4 off of one hive and 1/4 off the other. The weaker hive went queenless for about a month. Both made it through the winter though one is still considerably stronger than the other. I wasn't expecting honey the first year (as we are told) so had to scramble to find the extracting equipment.


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## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

Location, Location, Location. I got sugar syrup surplus as my first bees _*never*_ quit taking syrup. If your bees make surplus for you bee happy! But don't expect it.


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## docdunc (Aug 12, 2013)

I started last May 28th with a package. They seems to follow the textbooks as I fed them sugar 1 to 1 with an entrance feeder. In November they had 2 deeps full of honey and some brood and a super 90% filled with the lightest most delicious honey I had every tasted. I was very happy to get 2 gallons from the super the first year. I plan to split this hive soon and add a new package and a nuc so this year I will be watching 4 hives develop from different beginnings. This beekeeping stuff is FUN because I think success depends on how well you "read" your bees during inspections and then provide them with what they need.


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## Robdm1 (Jan 17, 2012)

First year (2012) 2 packages lost both hives by September.
Last year started with 2 Nucs, got 31lbs of honey. One hive seems strong now, the other has very small cluster. Hope it makes it.


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## jdmidwest (Jul 9, 2012)

Funny thing, I am in my third year and have not made any honey.

First year, I picked up an established hive in July. There was a bad dearth, and the hive was struggling when I bought it. Barely made it thru the winter with agressive feeding.

Second year, bought 2 more nucs. Built the original hive up to snuff, let them keep all the honey. Both nucs swarmed in May. Split them and ended up with 7 hives. Combined one in fall that went queenless and wintered 6.

Third season, I have 6 hives. I am probably going to split aggressively this spring on my goal to 25 hives in 5 years. I doubt if there will be any honey again.

I am making bee hives. Cheaper than buying nucs or packages. I can always make honey when I reach 25.


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## Grasshopper (Apr 20, 2013)

In hindsight, I should have harvested some honey from one of the nucs I started last year. I simply didn't know how much they'd need. This has been one of the coldest winters we've had in a long time and all of my hives came through with lots of honey to spare. My advice would be to err on the side of caution. This spring, the hive I should have taken some from last year is going really good and I expect a fairly good crop this year, if the weather plays along.


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