# So How Really Bad is This Years Crop???



## tsmullins (Feb 17, 2011)

soupcan said:


> Have had lots of calls on no or very poor crops for this season some ok to good crops but seems to be very few of those calls.
> Cool July & August seems to the common thing, so what's your story???


This year's harvest has not been good. We had a record wet summer. Most of our hives used a lot of stores just to get by. At one yard we have not harvested any honey, and will most likely end up feeding. This yard had mostly Italians. 

Our other yard, we had a decent early harvest, and will almost certainly not have to feed at this yard. This yard had all local bees. We may very well get a second harvest from this yard.

We did take a split off each colony. Still better than last year. Last year was a drought and we missed most of our major honey flows. 

Shane


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

soupcan said:


> Have had lots of calls on no or very poor crops for this season some ok to good crops but seems to be very few of those calls.
> Cool July & August seems to the common thing, so what's your story???


What crop? Honey? Whats that? 

Two bad years in a row in Cali.....Worst in 30 years. With our rain situation this winter I knew it was coming. Like most farming the hope is always next year. 

Great year for queens and packages early on. Am I glad we jumped on that hard when we did. Since then its been pretty much a routine of feed and pray..


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

Outside of early spring a pretty good year. Temps were average, not too hot and very good well-timed soaking rains. We still have clover, which is unheard of this time of year. Harvested avg. 6 gallons per hive and fall flow hasn't started.


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

NOTHING TO BRAG ABOUT THIS YEAR.

Bees looked great. The weather sucked. This was the second worst harvest in company records. This will really hurt my 7 year avg. This year so far is at 46.5 lbs avg. and the fall flow looks good enough to feed them till shake out. 27 year LOW!!!!


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

What looked to be a real big production year has turned out to be about average after all is said and done. Primary flow was late but pretty heavy through most of July with just enough heat. Extended cool weather late in the summer pretty much ended any hope for a huge crop. A late summer blast of heat didn't help much, what alfalfa there was came down at a record pace.


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## gmcharlie (May 9, 2009)

Just a sideliner here (150 hives) but lousey... same report all over IL..... last year was at 96 average... will be please with 60 this year (still harvesting)


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

About a 70 lb crop.


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## Riskybizz (Mar 12, 2010)

Less than 100 hives here as well. Above average rainfall along the Rio Grande where I keep most on my yards. Although my area is still in prolonged drought irrigated alfalfa pasture and desert wildflower has produced an above average crop for me. I'm still pulling ahead of the rabbit brush and aster bloom. I'll be extracting 70lbs per hive surplus, leaving enough honey on the bees for wintering. I do not anticipate having to feed syrup.


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

I'll second what HoneyHouseholder said, the weather sucked big time. Going into the fall flow my hives are only at about 20 lb. average so far. On the bright side, many hives that didn't make me much honey money are producing more money in propolis, I guess that shows you how bad this season is in my area.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

jmgi said:


> I'll second what HoneyHouseholder said, the weather sucked big time. Going into the fall flow my hives are only at about 20 lb. average so far. On the bright side, many hives that didn't make me much honey money are producing more money in propolis, I guess that shows you how bad this season is in my area.


JMGI, what is the going price you recieve for propolis? Im considering putting traps on a few hives next year.


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## mark g (Jun 6, 2006)

Out of the hives I managed to keep from swarming a good crop of around 90-100 lbs. Might break 100,000 lbs. for first time.


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

Very bad only 30#per hive. A couple years ago we averaged 100# per hive.


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## PewHeretic (Apr 21, 2013)

I've only got six hives and only harvested 30 lbs this year. I also had three hives swarm and the rain has been WAY above normal. All hives but one have ample stores for winter right now but if the rain keeps up and the palmetto fails they may go through the stores before winter is over. Gotta watch it.

Last year we got an average of 45 lbs per hive and that didn't include the 60 lbs per hive we left to winter over on.


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## BMAC (Jun 23, 2009)

I thought maybe this year was going to be fairly average here in the area as we have missed 1 of two possible crops here in the past 3 years. Well I pulled a new swarm out of a house yesterday and it was full of brand new comb and goldenrod honey so lets see what this crop will finally do now.


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## WWW (Feb 6, 2011)

With May being freezing cold and rainy very little nectar could be gathered this year, what little honey I pulled from my 6 production hives in early summer ( 70 lbs ) I ended up feeding back to them in late summer, on the up side the fall flow looks better than it has in years and the bees are packing it away for winter.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>46.5 lbs avg

And you're harvesting all of it, and I'm leaving 75 lbs or so...


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## Laurabee (Apr 8, 2013)

jmgi said:


> I'll second what HoneyHouseholder said, the weather sucked big time. Going into the fall flow my hives are only at about 20 lb. average so far. On the bright side, many hives that didn't make me much honey money are producing more money in propolis, I guess that shows you how bad this season is in my area.


Do you freeze the propolis or how do you store it?


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

WOW. 75# @ $2.25=$169 (Wholesale price)$600 (retail price). I can buy 2 packages and feed them at the wholesale price, and 7 packages and feed at the retail price. 
What a waste of good honey.:digging: 
Sorry I'm a number guy. Only second sucky year in 38 years. I say let it RIDE, I'm not getting any younger.





Only 10 more years until retiring. I can work the bees or let them work me.


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## justin (Jun 16, 2007)

i pulled 5,300 pounds from 75 hives. they were all nucs made after almonds (3 frames of brood, saved and new queens) so i'm feeling pretty great about the season. now if i can just keep them alive.


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## westernbeekeeper (May 2, 2012)

We had a wet spring and a nice summer. Averaged 75 pounds per hive.


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## NewJoe (Jul 1, 2012)

The Honey Householder said:


> WOW. 75# @ $2.25=$169 (Wholesale price)$600 (retail price). I can buy 2 packages and feed them at the wholesale price, and 7 packages and feed at the retail price.
> What a waste of good honey.:digging:
> Sorry I'm a number guy. Only second sucky year in 38 years. I say let it RIDE, I'm not getting any younger.
> 
> ...


It sounds like you are saying you would rather harvest all the honey to sell and then just start over with packages the next year?


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

That's what he does. Usually.


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

The Honey Householder said:


> WOW. 75# @ $2.25=$169 (Wholesale price)$600 (retail price). I can buy 2 packages and feed them at the wholesale price, and 7 packages and feed at the retail price.
> What a waste of good honey.:digging:
> Sorry I'm a number guy. Only second sucky year in 38 years. I say let it RIDE, I'm not getting any younger.
> 
> ...


You can't argue with the math, I just wish I had some honey to sell. Its going to be hard to make big plans for next year with no money to back it up. This year sucked.


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## rweaver7777 (Oct 17, 2012)

Harvested once this year, just two weeks ago, got 110 pounds from 3 supers. Wet summer, rained good nearly every week. Now we have a drought - no rain in a month. Next week's forecast looks good for some rain though.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>WOW. 75# @ $2.25=$169 (Wholesale price)

That would buy me one and a half packages of bees of which about a third or at least a fifth would fail, bringing me back to one package of bees, and then I would have to feed them (cost and work) and nurse them to a productive hive which, if I'm lucky, might make a crop. Or I could overwinter that hive and have a hive that has a good shot at making a serious crop...


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