# How many hives in one location?



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

That varies. 

For honey production the number is derived from a mixed bag of inputs.

Hoping others will throw in those which I will have forgotten.

The number is based on

1. Forage 
2. Rain..... Past and forecasted future
3. Strength of hives
4. Neighboring bees
5. Time of year. 

For years the number was 32 in a yard. Not sure why...
then 40. Some years, some yards up to 400. Under the most perfect of conditions and locations. 

With honey production becoming a secondary issue, almost a nuisance to those who focus in on pollination the question is becoming a mute point to many?


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Honey,
maybe like for me, yds are 32 or 40 because that is an even number of 4way pallets. Four pallets make a row on my truck. It's a matter of what is convenient for me and how many colonies I think I want to work every time I go to a yd.

Yd size also has to do w/ what you are doing w/ the bees. In SC, right now, my yds consist of the number of pallets I can fit on my truck each load, which is 20 pallets. Or what is left in the Loading Yd after I have taken a truck load to the other yds. So, my loading yd had 40 pallets in it.

Commercial/migratory beekeepers who I know in NY have anywhere from 32 colonies to 48 colonies and sometimes more, depending on numerous things, like those Honey and I have mentioned.


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## Stonefly7 (Nov 3, 2005)

Good point Mark, for me it's forage,forage,forage. If a location will produce an average that I am content with, then that number stays there. I have seen yards with 32 and yards with 124. I try to move as little as possible.

Are you coming to EAS Mark?

Kind regards


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Probably not. Are you going?


Certainly forage has to be available or we wouldn't keep bees there. But, hav e you ever over populated a yd to where you noticed a drop in production?


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## Stonefly7 (Nov 3, 2005)

Yep, good place to meet some of the folks here on the source. I see Ted often, but not some of the other commercials.

Kind regards


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## rmdial (Jun 30, 2009)

What is EAS?


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

I discovered last summer, I can't have any more than 8-12 in one location. I can do quite a few more in the spring, but with a two month summer dearth, predation sets in. http://youtu.be/uLlbuwJUg2U

<a href="http://youtu.be/uLlbuwJUg2U" target="_blank">


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

we used to run 36 per yard but have cut back to 24 mostly because its nice to get in and out quick. the longer your in a yard they tend to have an increase of stinging. It seems like the 24 give a little better yield but thats hard to verify. In south carolina we run 40-60 so we have less running around and we are not worried as much about honey production.


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## bluegrass (Aug 30, 2006)

Some other points to consider.

Commercial Beeks usually feed their bees, so it is okay for them to exceed the carry capacity of a yard.

The number will very greatly based on the location. If the yard is in a blossoming orchard it can support more hives then say a hay field or wood lot.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Ya I agree with Solomon Parker,
it about as many as you can keep without having robbing issues


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## bluegrass (Aug 30, 2006)

Ian said:


> it about as many as you can keep without having robbing issues


By that definition; 1 hive.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

rmdial said:


> What is EAS?


Eastern Apicultural Society. We got off on a side discussion. Sorry 'bout that.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

bluegrass said:


> Some other points to consider.
> 
> Commercial Beeks usually feed their bees, so it is okay for them to exceed the carry capacity of a yard.
> 
> The number will very greatly based on the location. If the yard is in a blossoming orchard it can support more hives then say a hay field or wood lot.


In case someone misinterpreted what bluegrass wrote, Commercial beekeepers don't feed bees to produce honey or to boost honey production.

I would also say that a blossoming orchard has never produced a crop of honey for me. My bees stay in an orchard for maybe three weeks, gathering mostly pollen.


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## bluegrass (Aug 30, 2006)

As sqkcrk pointed out: My point was that if you are feeding or on a monocrop a yard can handle more hives than it would if your yard is not near cultivated crops. 

I can carry about 5-6 hives at my location in Central VT, Micheal Palmer just 65 miles away may be able to run 20 plus hives in a yard.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

In the 20's and 30's, 100 to 200 was normal. With trucks available in the late 30's, that dropped to 50 untill they invented hay crimpers in the 60's. We are now in the 20 to low 30 range.

Crazy Roland


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

As stated above it is all due to "carrying capacity". What is the magic number that will not overgraze an area. That is found by trial and error. You cram beehives into a yard untill die back occurs, then you have found the carrying capacity for the yard. Most of our yards on the flat lands are 48 colony locations. The yards in the hills of the Southern Appalachains, 48 would starve to death but 20 colonies do nicely. I do have a couple of yards that have 100 colonies in them but they are the exception. They are spring forage/chinese tallow/cotton/fall forage. They are Rare locations at best. If I had 18 more like them, then I could shuck the other 40 locations and save a whole lot of travel time. TED


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## toad (Jun 18, 2009)

Thanks for all the great advise, I guess I should have not asked such a broad question though. I know area, rain and flow all figure in, so I was asking for an average year for flow rain and so on. The average in a yard may be a better question.
Again thanks for the answers.


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

sqkcrk said:


> Commercial beekeepers don't feed bees to produce honey or to boost honey production.


....they would get the same (or.greater) yeild if they didn't feed? That's absurd, of course beekeepers (commercial or otherwise) feed to boost honey production.
deknow


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## toad (Jun 18, 2009)

Ted,
I like your answer particulary the best!


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

deknow said:


> ....they would get the same (or.greater) yeild if they didn't feed? That's absurd, of course beekeepers (commercial or otherwise) feed to boost honey production.
> deknow


So you equate feeding to keep colonies alive and strong w/ boosting honey production?


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

toad said:


> The average in a yard may be a better question.


My previous answer would be the same.


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

Surely there's a direct relationship between feed and honey. I purposely leave enough honey on my hives in the fall so I don't have to feed. I thought commercial beeks remove as much honey as they can as honey sells for more than it costs to feed sugar.


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## Ramona (Apr 26, 2008)

Yes, keeping colonies alive and strong (by feeding) is done to increase honey production.

deknow


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

I would generally agree with Barry. At least in our case we remove as much as we feel is prudent and then use supplemental feeding to get them heavy enough for winter. I am a bit puzzled by the argument of whether we do or don't feed to boost honey production. I have never thought of it in that way. I would say we feed what ever is required to keep the hives strong and growing until the main honey flow starts. If the insinuation, though, is that commercials routinely push feed in heavy hives with honey supers on I will unequivocally deny that is ever part of my beekeeping plan.


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## BMAC (Jun 23, 2009)

Pulling all the honey you can pull off makes it a little easier on trucking these pallets down the highway too. Especially for a small time operator with say 300-400 colonies and moves all their own stuff with an old beatup F250 and trailer.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Ramona said:


> Yes, keeping colonies alive and strong (by feeding) is done to increase honey production.
> 
> deknow


Then I guess it would also be true that harvesting less honey is done to increase honey production too? Maybe I parse too much. Maybe I read into what you wrote too much too. Because youir statement seemed to imply that not only was production increased because of feeding, what was fed ends up as honey.

I think I know where you stand on that. As you do I. No need to go over it again. Just that we disagree.


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

when a commercial beekeeper takes off honey he does not go into the brood nest to pull extra honey out. way too much labor. you cant leave an extra super on because all hives have to be uniform for moving providing the bees are to be moved. after moving if they need to be fed to prevent them starving you must feed them. real simple. feeding costs a lot of money with the price of gas and sugar.


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## bluegrass (Aug 30, 2006)

If anybody has seen pictures of apiaries from the 50-60s and how many hives they would place in one area. I think, at least in this part of the country, that the carry capacity has decreased. I have heard that CT used to have 2 full time bee inspectors and a handful of part timers... today the job is handled by 1 person and it is part time. Even with the obvious decrease in hive numbers we can easily place too many hives in one location, where as before there could have been dozens of hives per square mile producing a honey crop.

I know that a lot of farm land has grown back into forest since than, but is that the only thing that has changed?


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>By that definition; 1 hive. <<

Well, I can elaberate on my point if you want, 

"it about as many as you can keep without having robbing issues"

During your work routeen, what ever it is or how ever you do it, if you CANT get through your yard to complete your work without having to shut down becasue of robbing issues, then one thing you should consider is reducing your yard size. Reduce the size to decrease the total amount of bees in that yard which will decrease the bees availiable to rob or reduce the yard size to allow you to complete your yard work faster which will not allow the bees enough time to orginize themselves into a robbing frenzy. 

Usually during my later honey pulls I have robbing issues. I need to be able to get into my yard, pull my honey and get out within half hour to three quarters of an hour otherwise Im fighting bees. So with my work routeen I keep my yard size around the 30 hive mark. Usually I can get in and out in the half hour mark without any trouble at all.

That is how I guage my yard size


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