# 2010 honey production



## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

2010 sofar has been nothing like the 2009 honey season. I was 2 weeks late getting packages in because of cold spring in the south. The warmer weather in the north has made the flow kick in earlier by 2-3 week, so the hives are not built up to where they should be for early flow. Most sowbeams have not been planted which is our main flow. The honey demand right know looks to me more then can be produced. Hope for the best at 60+ ton.

Has others seen this for this year and is anyone quoting anyone honey prices for new crop yet.


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## Nick Noyes (Apr 28, 2005)

I will make my 2010 crop prediction on October 15th.
I usually hit it pretty close.


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Nick Noyes said:


> I will make my 2010 crop prediction on October 15th.
> I usually hit it pretty close.


Last year at this time it look better and I thought 72 ton and finished out at 49 ton. Maybe wishfull thinking, but crop came in short and was finished on Sept. 15 last year. Was all sold out by the end Oct.


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

I'm just north of you in southeast Michigan and what you said about the season so far is exactly what I see here. A good 2-3 weeks earlier for sure and package bees not where I would like them to be as far as strength. I've got yellow and white sweet clover blooming at the same time and the yellow sweet clover just started blooming a little over a week and a half ago, very weird!


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

Another interesting thing about this season, my best hive so far this year is a top bar hive that came through the winter in great shape, even had about 40 lbs. of unused honey left. This hive has workaholic bees, I already took 5 frames of brood from them to start a second top bar hive, and they still have managed to store about 50 lbs. of new spring honey so far, in the process of being capped over.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

Very slow start this year, but better then last year. Last year we had cool, wet weather till the end of June. This year we hit the dandelion flow and the hives are building up nicely. Strong ones are on their second super...which is a bonus with dandelion honey. Hives were light coming out of Almonds and we had to feed till the flow was strong. High winds have been another problem. We would have done even better but we have been blasted with high winds every day. 

Snow is melting quick. Hopefully the rain will cooperate and we will get a solid flow through the summer. The alfalfa is looking great with plenty of moisture in the soil and nice hot temps now. We should get a bloom in about two weeks in the lower areas and work it's way up the altitude. Noticed the sweet clover blooming in the lower areas. Tons of that is showing everywhere so that should add to the mix. Keeping my fingers crossed anyway. 

Hives are looking pretty good. The weak ones are either building up and have recovered or have had their lids flipped. I combined a number of them...they just couldn't recover from coming out light from Calf. Better to strengthen others then try and keep these going.


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## Durandal (Sep 5, 2007)

Our spring honey flow looks like its about 12% of our total from last year, which is not too bad methinks.

Spring has been...well, weird.

Edit: Build up has been VERY nice. We feed a single patty the last day in February and then see what happens. This year and last it has resulted in good build up by flow. Our first swarm caught in April is already putting on honey.


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## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

Best year in a long time....two 200 yr dought years (2007/8)really thinned the pastures the last years rain germanated the dutch clover... looks like snow is on. Most bees have made 3 deeps with some starting number 5. Even nucs I started onApril 15 with cells are in second deep super. Mind you these are plugged full. Best clover flow since 1982 and 1987. bout time after the past 3 years where all added togather would make maybeone deep if lucky!


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## Brent Bean (Jun 30, 2005)

I am robbing honey tomorrow this is a month earlier than normal. About half of my 32 hives have five mediums full to the brim. This year is looking a lot better compared to 2009. Several hives have swarmed but it didn’t seem to slow them down, all the queens are in high gear. With plenty of rain nectar as been flowing freely.


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Bees look pretty good. We had no winter on the west coast. Now we've also had no spring. We are still feeding some hives. We've had a very wet and cool spring. Mayve 2 good weeks of foraging since april. Our mainhoneyflow has started but it's guess what... raining. Weather is supposed to turn in 2 days. We'll see. Definitely had more honey on the hives last year at this time. It's spotty as to who has honey on. If the guys took that extra frame of borrd out then the bees have very little honey, to the point where some have starved, 2 of them that I know of. More would have but we've been feeding the ones that need it. Still putting patties on. Without the feed I just hate to think what the bees would look like. It's money that is well spent, those hives that didn't starve because of it share that same opinion.

Jean-Marc


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## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

The winter was cold and steady with few fluctuations. Bees came through in fair condition.

The spring, however, was quite warm and encouraging. Then in May we had two weeks of cold and rain which held everything up, including the swarm impulse. Few hives swarmed and had lots of bees when the weather went from cool to incredibly hot and humid.

The nectar flowed very generously, but now everything is drying up about two weeks ahead of schedule. We need some rain.

Hives are full, but our flow is principally over. The hives I've harvested have been loaded with great yields. Compared to last year, I'm guessing we're about 125% of last year, and last year was a good year for us.

Grant
Jackson, MO


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## ga.beeman (Mar 29, 2009)

best year i have had in the last five to seven years. with the cool spring everything bloomed at the same time but the dutch clover really bloomed a long time. starting to make a little sourwood honey and hope to go to cotton down south after the sourwood.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

Slow start in Western Colorado. Constant wind is drying everything out. Couple of fire are not helping either. Clouds came in this afternoon...if we get a good rain the flow should kick with all the heat.


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## DRUR (May 24, 2009)

From this thread: <previous comments by poster on honey production, by individual queen. <note by moderator>>

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=237603&page=4


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## rainesridgefarm (Sep 4, 2001)

We have a few half full supers out there. With rain every other day for the past three weeks not much time for foraging flights. Almost 2 inches fell last night and now we are looking like 10 days of dry weather. I sure hope for 10lb daily gaines instead of 6 up and 4 down the last 10 days.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

Great soaking rains today...next week should be real good. :thumbsup:


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

The scale hive has been doing 2 lbs a day, until the last three days, when it averaged 3 lbs a day. We are looking at a drier spell for a while also. According to my "Mulberry" hypothesis, a good flow is right around the corner. When the mulberries are dry or not sweet, no flow. When the mulberries get fat and sweet, the honey flow is right around the corner. The mulberries just turned fat and sweet. 

Roland
Linden Apiary


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## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

Roalnd...Mulberries must have been very very dry and sour last year!


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Sutton, How did you know???? The year before that they where mediocre, but better than last year.. 

Roland


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## Bud Dingler (Feb 8, 2008)

native basswood still in dingleberry stage.

lots of forage here on the Wi/Mn border but frequent and heavy rain holding things down. some locations have full supers already others do not yet and the basswood is still on the way.


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## Beeslave (Feb 6, 2009)

The full moon just passed so I expect the flow to kick into high gear here. I'm finding the same as Bud with some yards have really heavy hives and other yards don't. What a difference in a 10 mile separation. Basswood here is in full bloom as is the yellow and white sweetclover. Locust was froze out.


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## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

Cause I had bees there last two yrs....last yr was BAD year before was ok..if it hadnt gotten dry last half of bloom would have been good.


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## MapMan (May 24, 2007)

Flow is heavy here, like Shannon says, Basswood is in full as of this week. Sumac is gearing up, and the sweetclovers look very heavy this year. The biggest setback has been a very rainy June, especially with over two weeks of rainy, cool dreary weather. This past week I've seen 2-3 pounds a day increase. One of my yards is adjacent to 6 acres of Buckwheat in full bloom - lots of activity there, and had to add supers there twice in as many weeks.


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## Trevor Mansell (Jan 16, 2005)

The Basswood in my part of Wi is still about a week away and the sweet and dutch clover are blooming good . If the weather stays warm it should be a decent summer .


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Basswood is almost finish here in NW Ohio. Checked about 200 hives today and looks like they did good on the basswood and clover. Put my last supers on today. Put 45 comb honey super on today. No rain in the forecast for the next 8 days. Soybeans are starting to bloom which is our main flow. Farmer are still planting soybeans so it should be a long flow this year. :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## Keith Jarrett (Dec 10, 2006)

Hold on......

Let me a least get the boat in the water before I tell you how good the fishen is.


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## Trevor Mansell (Jan 16, 2005)

Keith Jarrett said:


> Hold on......
> 
> Let me a least get the boat in the water before I tell you how good the fishen is.


I know ,I hate guestimating honey crops .


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Trevor Mansell said:


> I know ,I hate guestimating honey crops .


How about guestimating honey price for new crop. $1.85+ being quoted. With last year honey shortage, and this year bees shortage the price is going up. By now the packers have to be feeling the pinch. I know I've felt it for years. As a producer if I can't make a living at it, sooner or later I go out of business and then where does the packers get there honey. There has to be some give and take, and I've given for 30+years. I'm not getting any younger and most of us in the honey industry aren't either. How many comm. honey producer are under 40 years old.

t:Sorry long day.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

Right on ron!


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## Beeslave (Feb 6, 2009)

The Honey Householder said:


> How many comm. honey producer are under 40 years old..


Good question. I'm the only one I know. Not many people want to work as hard as we do for days on end not knowing if your going to make enough to pay the bills.


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## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

Havent sold any to big packers since orange(1.65) selling to small beeks for 2.00/lb in barrell


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## Trevor Mansell (Jan 16, 2005)

honey producer are under 40 years old.
:ot:Sorry long day.[/QUOTE said:


> Im still under 40 not by much though


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Pulled first load of honey yesterday, two weeks ahead of schedule. The hay mills are about two weeks behind because of all the rain and hay is in full bloom. Soybeans are starting to bloom and farmer are just finishing planting the soybean this week. 4 days in a row in the 90's. Checked new comb boxes I put on last week and they are full and half capped added another.GOOD COMB HONEY YEAR!!!


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## Mike Snodgrass (Mar 11, 2010)

Glad to hear it Honey Householder....heres hopeing it rubs off a little to the east as well!:applause:


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## mnbeekeeper (Jun 30, 2010)

up here in MN its looking really good. we hit pretty big on the basswoods and the white sweet clover is everywhere. if it stays hot and dry from here on out this could be the best years scince 05 and we have twice as many hives.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Yeah I think it is looking pretty good over much of the white honey producing area. My suspicion is that major packers will be bidding closer to 1 dollar a pound than 2 in the coming months. Whether there will be many sellers at those prices for good quality new crop honey will tell the story.


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## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

Even with a big crop there was NO carry over and none to be found or at least very little good white honey anywhere. While with a big crop we wontsee 2/lb I dont think a packer willget very much at 1.00/lb. There isa world wide shortage of GOOD light honey. Price will be above 1.40 for rest of year. Its going to take a big crop in more places than US to pull price downto 1.00. BY the way I pulled 120 deeps plugged out from one yard of 48 today. Left a deep and med on almost full and 12 med comb honey supers. Looks like a 200lb ave might happen.. NO robbing working wide open!


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Is there anyone still selling to the big packer here in the US. I only produce 50-70 ton a year and still can't meet the beekeeper need for local honey. Each year my costomer orders get bigger and bigger. I had one costomer the other day said he would buy all I can produce for $1.95 lb. LOL show me the money. I really don't think they knew how much I produce a year and my other costomer would kill me if I did.

Well needed inch. of rain yesterday and the bees worked from noon to dusty really hard today. The yards look like snow this year with all the clover.:thumbsup: Started pulling some comb honey today and it looked really good. Hope to have it all pulled by the end of the month.


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Finding out a lot of my early southern queens didn't pan out so go this year. I had to replace over 100 queens this year. The early problem I found is that they didn't have very good brood patterns and a lot of chalk brood. This is the wrost year I've had for queens coming out of the south in 16 years. The early cold weather will cost me 10-12 ton in production this year. On top of all the queen replacement expenses. Good thing for good honey price.


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## G B (Nov 6, 2009)

A large Beek I know had 40% of hgis queens go south this spring, thats alot out of 1,000 queens. He long with several other guys in state told me they would buy cells and queens if I could produce quality here in state so I will see what happens. Take care and thanks for your posts George B







The Honey Householder said:


> Finding out a lot of my early southern queens didn't pan out so go this year. I had to replace over 100 queens this year. The early problem I found is that they didn't have very good brood patterns and a lot of chalk brood. This is the wrost year I've had for queens coming out of the south in 16 years. The early cold weather will cost me 10-12 ton in production this year. On top of all the queen replacement expenses. Good thing for good honey price.


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## mnbeekeeper (Jun 30, 2010)

the bees have not made much honey in the last two weeks. checked a few yards that were plugged 2 weeks ago foundation was put on and they have not touched it. i think the weather has been a major factor. to much rain this late in the summer. hot dry weather needed here in southern MN. honey prices seem to be holding high according to the bee journal. going to start pulling honey this weekend. looks like a 100 pound average. lost 25 percent after splitting in east texas. seems like you have to work twice as hard just to break even these days.


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

Like they say, you need a good flow to get foundation drawn fast.


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Bees are giving me a run for my honey this year. Started production two weeks ahead of normal. Bees are avg. a super a week. Been pulling 600-700 supers a week. At that rate I'm only falling behind by 100-200 super a week. Hopeing to have my first pull done next week. Right now the first pull is avg at 95 lbs a hive. Looks like the second will be better. If the flow stay strong for 3-4 more weeks, should do over 70 ton this year.opcorn:


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Bypass the 70 ton mark today. It's been a long season but well worth it. This year we have hit almost every flow and now that season is coming to the end, I hope they make enough to stay alive until I shake them.

820 hives for the 2010 count.
This is the year for the books. 170+ lb. APH


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## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

You are giving me a run for my money! BUt last year you slamed dunked me as I was at 30 lbs both here and Wisconisn added togather! THis year will be clost to 200 here in KY.


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Rick, Glad to hear that you are having one of those great years too. This is a 1/25 year crops for me. The last time we hit it this big it was 1985. The family was running 1300+ hives at that time.


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## Beeslave (Feb 6, 2009)

Rick and Ron-I'm glad to hear you guys are having a great year.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Great crop here, too. Nicest comb honey ever. Lots of yards made 150. Now if I took the 80 pounds of winter stores and blew the bees out on the ground... d


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Michael Palmer said:


> Great crop here, too. Nicest comb honey ever. Lots of yards made 150. Now if I took the 80 pounds of winter stores and blew the bees out on the ground... d


Who blows bees when you can sell them. No sence of wasting them.inch:


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

No rain for the pass 7 weeks and I think the flow dried up. What a run. It looks like 2010 will be remembered best crop in the last 25 years. If you was just getting into bees this year this was not a normal honey crop.:thumbsup:


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

HH, here just north of you the same dry conditions for weeks now, had a huge quick rain the other day but you wouldn't even know it, the ground sucked it up, cracks are 1" wide. Robbing has been unusually bad lately too, had to reduce entrances down on some of my weaker hives. They are bringing in lots of pollen from fall flowers, and some nectar (I can smell it around the hives in the evening), hope they don't eat too much of their honey up before winter. John


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## wolfpenfarm (Jan 13, 2009)

well we started over this year due to 100% loss this past winter. We made the decision to not pull the honey off of the hives this year, to give them a chance to build up strong before winter. 3 weeks ago we had at least 1000 pounds of honey on 17 hives. Checked yesterday and was only able to pull 2 gallons of honey off of them. It appears they went through the honey due to the dearth here. We haven't had any rain in i don't know when. 

I see the bees packing in pollen right now like crazy so i hope we get some flow.

I checked in the hives and they have lots of brood in there, and are starting to pack honey into the deeps.

Anyway each hive has a medium on it almost full of honey so we are leaving it for winter. 
I am thinking of waiting for another month and a half and then if they haven't filled up the deeps, i'll scratch the caps and put over the inner and get them to pack down in the deeps.

Next year will have to be our year for a crop. But its kool that we got enough honey for ourselves this year.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

My guess is that South Dakota will be a little better overall than last year but not by much. Things fell apart pretty quickly out west with central and eastern areas ranging from very good to fair. Its looking like about a "2 can" crop around here and most of it was made by the 20th of July, quality is excellent. There are currently some real moisture concerns around much of the state, a lot of areas went from really wet to really dry in a hurry.


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## irwin harlton (Jan 7, 2005)

"2 can crop " is that 140LBS, 70 LB per can?.......been a few years since I filled one of those


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

"Old school" talk. The 5 gallon tins (60 lbs.) that my dad and uncle always used to talk about filling up in the old days. Saying 2 pails somehow just dosent have the same ring to it. At least I think they were 60 lbs. Yikes I hope I dont start a debate about how much those things weighed.


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## irwin harlton (Jan 7, 2005)

No debate needed, if you say they held 60 lbs I believe you .............but I may have to alter my estimate of the total US white honey crop based upon this..........this would make the world shortage of white honey larger.....and the possibility of a dramatic price increase more likely .....wait I may still have some of those old cans somewhere


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

5 gallon cans. 60 lbs of honey. weighed lots of them.


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## MapMan (May 24, 2007)

Late surge here. Thankfully not as much rain for past two weeks as for months earlier. Broke all previous records for rainfall in most parts of Wisconsin for the summer months - here at 27.83 inches for last three months... Spring was early, great buildup, high hopes... Swarming was problem way more than in past years, partially because I couldn't monitor yards due to inclement weather, limited access due to localized flooding, and also because they dang near went stir crazy being contained in boxes for days on end... don't blame them...

Anyway, bit lower in averages here, but okay year - never does any good to complain!

MM


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## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

honeyhouseholder.... Pretty sure I bought honey from your parents that year....remember some of you guys were in diapers! Oops told my age! First year I bought honey from them was 1983 as we had a bad drought and went to honey festival in Oh and met someone who had bought honey from your parents and was selling it. Beautiful honey. If I remember correctly ..also bought alotin 1986 as that was a horriable year here with no crop at all(bad drought and late freeze like a couple years ago). Bet I could still find you without a map! My good crops like this one were 1979, 1982, 1987, 1991( i think) and 2001. NOtice its been 10 years. If we hadnt gotten dry in July this one could have hit the 1982 mark....275 lb ave. but my southern yards dried up.


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Started shaking hive yesterday and pulling leftovers. Looks like maybe another 5 ton in leftovers. 
Wow Rick 275 APH. I'm looking forward to that year. We might do 190-195 APH this year. I'll know by the end of the week when I'm done shaking.:waiting:
Bees look very clean and lower mite count this year. Most are shaking out at 6-9 lbs. Glad I'm not having to feed them.


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## mnbeekeeper (Jun 30, 2010)

what do you do with your bees after you shake them out.


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

I sell themmmm.:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

I hate it when replies just go on and on w/ neverending paragraphs of unnecessary details. Could you please be more succienct HoneyHouseholder? Thank you. 

mnbeekeeper, I think he already covered that question a cpl of pages back. But, basically, that's what he does w/ them. He sells them.


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## Countryboy (Feb 15, 2009)

_what do you do with your bees after you shake them out. _

He shakes them into a lid, and then dumps them into the buyer's box. Some single deep hives fill up the lid more than once.


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## mnbeekeeper (Jun 30, 2010)

sorry dont have time to be reading back pages and pages. i figured you sold them. up here i guess i just cant fathom getting rid of any hives. if they are good and in your boxes why wouldnt you just send to cali and benefit from them in the spring. as if we dont bend over enough and your out shaking and banging your bees out in the fall. i am working as hard as i can just to get the honey off, treat and feed before there is nothing left. i still have not been to all 108 location and i started pulling honey on the 26th of july.


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## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

mnbeekeeper said:


> sorry dont have time to be reading back pages and pages.


I understand completely! Time is short, especially this time of year. But sometimes you just have to bit the bullit, start at the beginning of the thread and invest the time to follow the discussion. I prefer to wait until winter when I have more time to digest the long discussions.

Grant
Jackson, MO


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## Countryboy (Feb 15, 2009)

_if they are good and in your boxes why wouldnt you just send to cali and benefit from them in the spring._

You have to balance risk versus reward. Householder's business model is completely dependent upon quality, mature combs. (Many brood combs 50+ years old.) He is able to produce a consistent profit with his management.

If Householder sent his bees and equipment to California, and his combs got contaminated with some funky disease (CCD?) his consistent annual income just got flushed down the toilet.

If a semi wrecks, and his mature combs get destroyed, his business just got flushed again. It's difficult to go out and buy 50 year old quality brood combs.

If hives get stolen in Cali, once again, the business just got flushed.

A large grain farmer taught me a lot about farming, which can also be applied to beekeeping. 
You never go broke taking a profit - sometimes you take the money and run, and don't worry about how high the price goes after you sell. 
You don't have to hit a home run every year - being consistent is what is important. Bumper crops are great, but being consistent pays out better in the long run.

Householder may miss a nice almond payday, but he doesn't risk losing an operation that has an annual average of about 150 pounds per hive.

_i am working as hard as i can just to get the honey off, treat and feed before there is nothing left. i still have not been to all 108 location and i started pulling honey on the 26th of july. _

Householder has around 40 yards. All the yards have been pulled twice, and he is almost done doing the 3rd (cleanup) pull.

You might be further along if you didn't have to spend time treating or feeding. You might even be able to find a little time to shake out some bees and sell them.


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## Gregg (Dec 22, 2003)

Finished extracting Tuesday night, and finished filling barrels last night. Turned out to be a pretty good year, but not great as I was hoping for/expecting about the middle to end of July. Finished pulling the 1st round in early August, which looked great! After that, honeyflow came to a screeching halt in some spots around early/mid August. Guess it got a little drier than I thought in August. Some yards filled all the supers, but others had quite a few partially filled and even some completely empty when I stripped the honey off.

Anyway, wound up with 61,625 lbs. from 550 producing hives, for an avg. of about 112 lbs. per hive.


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## Keith Jarrett (Dec 10, 2006)

Gregg said:


> for an avg. of about 112 lbs. per hive.


Nothing wrong with that, Greg.  Whish I could avg over a 100 pounds for the whole outfit.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Yeah but Keith makes up for it when his doubles avg. 15 frames in late Jan.


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Nick Noyes said:


> I will make my 2010 crop prediction on October 15th.
> I usually hit it pretty close.


Finished 2010 honey production season. the #'s are in at 161,424 lbs from 820 hives. That a 197 APH. I was hopeing for that 72 ton year, but love when I'm wrong this time. Finish the shaking next week and then it's just getting the fishing poles ready.opcorn:


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## Nick Noyes (Apr 28, 2005)

We are still extracting would be finished but we stopped to get bees fed up and ready for the big show in feb.
It wasn't a bumper crop but a very nice crop over all.


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