# How is your crop looking?



## Elwood (Apr 8, 2009)

Not much of a honey flow where I'm at. Even with the strongest colonies it is pretty light. Seems like the blooming times are a little out of whack too.


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## Ben Franklin (May 3, 2011)

In Northeastern Ohio, clover (dutch) and bridsfoot trefoil, Basswood is ready to bloom any day. So far bees are storing a lot, even my swarms have stores of honey. So Far So Good.


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## Beeslave (Feb 6, 2009)

Sweet and sticky


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

A very successful local farmer always answered that question the same way when I was a kid, "It varies". That is always a good answer.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

You are right, it varies, ours is only sticky and sweet. Actually it is too early to tell. Will the Alfalfa continue to bloom in a drought, or do we need a rain to "freshen em up".

Crazy Roland


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Alfalfa does best with wet feet, cool nights and hot days. Give it that and there aren't enough bees to use it up. If you could just arrange that for all of us the next six weeks, we will all be filthy rich.


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## Brent Bean (Jun 30, 2005)

I am already have extracted more honey that I got all last season. But if we don’t get rain soon the flow will slow down.


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## BeeGhost (May 7, 2011)

My hives in town are packing away the black berry flow that is happening right now, both hives almost had a full medium super packed and I added another medium to them. One hive is a swarm hive I picked up at the end of March, the other hive threw a swarm on me in April and is already built back up to strong numbers. These hives are two deeps and two mediums now!!

My other hives in the country have stores, maybe from the vineyards or something, but just enough to sustain until the star thistle blooms. I think the star thistle is going to be late this year, seen very few plants blooming along the road ways, but in the pastures not much is even growing yet, hope it does, because last year was phenominal and I could have easily pulled around 400+ pounds if I had the hives I do now!!

Hope to extract the city honey in a couple weeks after things are capped!


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## matt1954 (Sep 8, 2010)

We just extracted this week here in Virginia. I averages 3.5 to 4 gallons per hive. Some running double supers. Not the best, but certainly not the worst I have had. Our flow is about done for the year. I wish we had Alfalfa fields here.


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## khaas15 (Feb 17, 2010)

spring flow was good in N. Illinois. I pulled 29 pounds off my strong hive about three weeks ago. Saturday I pulled a medium super off both of my hives. Harvested 60 pounds. This honey must have a heavy linden content because it sure is minty. 

The bees are now working milkweed and thistle. After that we might slow down for a while until we the goldenrod, aster, and sunflower bloom.


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## Elwood (Apr 8, 2009)

Anyone from Southern California have a report?


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Ran out of supers. The main flow looks to be starting. The race is on.:thumbsup: Just hope the new operation can keep up this year.


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## Sweet to the Soul (Sep 1, 2010)

The Honey Householder said:


> Just hope the new operation can keep up this year.


Ron, I hope your new operation *cannot* keep up this year.  That would mean we were enjoying a great year.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

We had some HOT days here and the bees really worked their wings off. I was hoping it would last more than two or three days. Temps dropped down into the low 70s after that and then we had cool rain. It was in the 40s or low 50s last night.

When it was hot clover and staghorn sumac were blooming like crazy and bees were seen yesterday working on the cranberries. One yd in particular has hives almost as tall as me, 6'3", after I gave them another three shallow supers, because they already have three supers of honey above the brood boxes.


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## swarm_trapper (Jun 19, 2003)

what is your new operation Ron?


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## Keth Comollo (Nov 4, 2011)

Same story here Mark. Was booming for a bit but this rain and coolness has slowed them down a bit. Hoping for sun!


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Just saw the weather map showing the heat staying down below the NY State line for the next week. Bummer.

Keth, you seeing any Basswood yet? I'm not sure whether it will even bloom here this year. Though it isn't yet the 4th of July. We had no locust.


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## Keth Comollo (Nov 4, 2011)

Was walking my dog last night and walked by two big basswood trees and didn't see any sign of a bloom on them at all. 

Locust failed here this year too. 

We need some sun to get the nectar flowing again!


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

Looks like some fellas didn't read the poll question. You northeasterners taking a vacation this year?


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Nick, I'm running a gunnies over spinners with an equinox and 80 frame hubbards extractors. Just when to a 1000 gal. holding tank, hope to fill each day. 

Kevin, if this setup works the way I think. I'll need the best year ever to give it a run for its money.:thumbsup:


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## Keth Comollo (Nov 4, 2011)

I have outyards all over the San Diego area. Inspecting them is expensive!!


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Solomon Parker said:


> Looks like some fellas didn't read the poll question. You northeasterners taking a vacation this year?


Yup, you are right. I see now. I saw the Thread Title and clicked on it and answered the Poll w/out reading the whole thing. I guess everyone who isn't from Southern California has skewed, or screwed up, the Poll. Can the OPer delete unwanted responses? I bet not.

Sorry. You'd better start again. Thanks for pointing that out Solomon. My bees in S.CA. didn't do well at all. Starved.


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## Apple Farmer (Apr 14, 2009)

Vance G said:


> Alfalfa does best with wet feet, cool nights and hot days. Give it that and there aren't enough bees to use it up. If you could just arrange that for all of us the next six weeks, we will all be filthy rich.


It would need very long legs to get it's feet wet here! All I've been doing is watering trees. We need rain!!! The cool nights and hot days we have.


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## D Semple (Jun 18, 2010)

We had a great spring flow here, most hives filled 3 + supers, looks like our flow has just ended, wish I had enough hives to justify shipping them north for the rest of the summer.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Solomon Parker said:


> Looks like some fellas didn't read the poll question.


Pot meet kettle? What part of Southern California is Arkansas in?


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

Didn't vote.


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## DonShackelford (Jan 17, 2012)

Another non-reader. I voted in the poll. Sorry about that.

Here in Indy we had a great spring, but now the drought has caused the clover to dry up, and the flow has stopped. 
The best laid plans of mice and me.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Solomon Parker said:


> Didn't vote.


Oops. Sorry.


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## Tim Stewart (Jul 19, 2009)

The crop was well below average in NJ 

Tim Stewart


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## Elwood (Apr 8, 2009)

We have not had rain for at least 2 months. Pollen was good but no nectar. Maybe the buckwheat will save us.


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## beebreeder (Nov 24, 2009)

You guys want to be in the UK, worst crops as long as I can remember, persistant rain, and cold for summer, queens not getting mated, disappearing on mating flights, we could moan for hours, local honey is going to be short this year


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

My bees are putting away a little but it cannot last. It is very hot and dry with no rain forecast. Plus we are into the time of year when it may not rain again until snow. Wonder how much sugar I will need to feed them and get them heavy enough to winter.


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## Elwood (Apr 8, 2009)

It's turning out to be a sobering year for us. Poorly mated queens, swarmy, slow build up. We marked all our queens 3 weeks ago, as of today about a third of them are gone or have been replaced. Found some foulbrood this week too. Pretty sure I bought it from a retiring beekeeper, there go a few more. I hate destroying bees and equipment. I've been trying to find a gamma irradiation facility here in Southern California that is familiar with hive equipment sterilization. No luck yet.


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## julysun (Apr 25, 2012)

My girls are new, April 15, start with 3 lb packages, three hives . So far they have filled one deep, one and one half supers per hive. When the rain lets up a bit they are hauling in pollen. (six inches rain in last 5 days). inch: The big flow here is in April and May, Chinese Tallow, and they were not quite ready for it. Urban environment, no farms, much open uncultivated land.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

A good hundred pound average here. Most colonies with 2 mediums and a comb honey super full, and we added extra supers a couple weeks ago. Ran out of supers and added deeps of foundation. If they fill those you'll hear a huge Whoo-Hoo vibrating across the Green Mountain State!


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

We have some pockets that made 100lbs. But an across the board 100 pounder dosent look to be in the cards this year without a dramatic turnaround in moisture. I wanna be like Mike.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Taking off some honey next week. Will have some idea then. But, from what I saw yesterday, I'm sure there isn't a 100 lb average. Or do I mean "mean"?


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## RiodeLobo (Oct 11, 2010)

I think you meant to mean mean.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

I may well be grumpy at times, as some folks assume by my photo, but I am not mean. I mean, meanness isn't my disposition on average.


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

You could post photos of yourself smiling occasionally. It might help.


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

I wonder how many years beekeepers would report 'below average.' My uneducated guess would be that it would be greater than half.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Is your prediction from some understanding of statistical analysis?


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

It's a simple guess based on studies that show that well more than half of people believe that they are above average. So I guess it is a little educated. My guess is that due to cognitive biases (both positive and negative) that people would expect that what they were getting is less than average more often than more than average because they subconsciously expect every time to be like that one time where there was a bumper crop.

In my case, every year is above average because (aside from last year) I make more honey every year than the previous year. It's my whole process of beekeeping. However, eventually I'm going to run out of new things to do and then it won't be so great.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Our family has kept bees in this area of South Dakota since the early 1950's and even with that historical data it is a bit subjective in trying to determine what constitutes an average year since any moving average or most any "yardstick" you might choose to use would show a steady downward trend as farming practices have changed. This year based on how things look at the moment will most likely be the poorest average we have had in the past 10 years but then that is still just a guess about halfway through our honey production season. 
Sol: I once saw a survey of licensed drivers that showed about 80% considered themselves better than average drivers. So there ya go.


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## Bleemus (Jul 10, 2012)

Solomon Parker said:


> In my case, every year is above average because (aside from last year) I make more honey every year than the previous year. It's my whole process of beekeeping. However, eventually I'm going to run out of new things to do and then it won't be so great.


Solomon, I think we are talking average per hive so adding hives isn't a factor. How much honey are you getting per hive on average?


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

When beekeepers talk about averages, we usually, in my experience, are talking about some variation of what the total crop divided b y the total number of colonies averages out to be, mathematically. I'm not sure what others are talking about.


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## Bleemus (Jul 10, 2012)

sqkcrk said:


> When beekeepers talk about averages, we usually, in my experience, are talking about some variation of what the total crop divided b y the total number of colonies averages out to be, mathematically. I'm not sure what others are talking about.


Yes, that is what I am talking about myself. Dividing harvest by number of hives. Am curious what people down south average compared to up here in the north. I have a few hundred pound hives already but the weaker ones were all ravaged for resources for nucs that I will overwinter so their numbers are very low. Probably 70 lbs average so far.


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## Bleemus (Jul 10, 2012)

sqkcrk said:


> When beekeepers talk about averages, we usually, in my experience, are talking about some variation of what the total crop divided b y the total number of colonies averages out to be, mathematically. I'm not sure what others are talking about.


Yes, that is what I am talking about myself. Dividing harvest by number of hives. Am curious what people down south average compared to up here in the north. I have a few hundred pound hives already but the weaker ones were all ravaged for resources for nucs that I will overwinter so their numbers are very low. Probably 70 lbs average so far.


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