[joyfull]

Is that a normal amount you would expect to get from a couple of hives Kate? I just thought each hive would only provide a few pounds each (not knowing anything about bee keeping  )

[darren64]

I got 45 lbs from the 2 supers I took. Have since taken anoher super and got one still to be capped. I'm amazed how hard the bees have been working and how much honey I have got. They really seem to be flourishing in Liverpool. We are quite near a couple if parks and most of the roads have lime trees on them so plenty of forage.

Hopefully enough for the nuc to build up good stores for winter too without too much feeding.

those supers don't half feel heavy when you lift em don't they?this is my second year,last year I only had 1 super of honey and it weighed 22lb,I left 1 on though to help them through the winter.

[Goldfinger]

This thread's sooooo facinating to read! 

Was doing a delivery to a farm Saturday, and he had 5 hives right next to the drop off point, I thought I would've upset the bees but no.
 
I could've stayed there all day just watching / listening to them.

[Kate and her Ducks]

It's amazing how heavy they feel when taking them off!

The 45lbs is actually from only one hive and I think I will get about the same again if the weather continues to be this good. This is apparently a really good amount of honey. Bees really seem to like Liverpool with all the parks and lime trees on the roads and of course everyones gardens.

A couple of bees have started coming in with balsam pollen on them so some poor gardeners or park people will be having a nightmare trying to get rid of it but bees love it and it is apparently a great source of late nectar so a silver lining for me but not much consolation for whoever is having to deal with it!

[darren64]

Is that a normal amount you would expect to get from a couple of hives Kate? I just thought each hive would only provide a few pounds each (not knowing anything about bee keeping  )

I have heard that about 50lb is average for a hive,they can fill a super in a week,but its weather dependant,they can eat it all as well if the weather is too bad for them to forage.

[joyfull]

This is a fascinating topic  - I do know in periods of rain when they can't fly you sometimes have to feed them sugar solution but didn't realise just how much you could get back  .
I am terrified of bees and wasps (since being stung when I was young) so will just have to borrow yours - sort of bee keeping by proxy 

[Kate and her Ducks]

Someone pointed out to me that mine have mad about a lb of honey a day ovewr the time I have had them but it is tailing off a little at the moment. Still, can't complain!

Think I have used more honey in the last fortnight than I have in the last 3 years! In coffee, in cakes, in stirfry, on toast and of course, in whiskey!

[whiskywill]

how much honey did you get??I have 4 supers on my main hive at the moment but none are capped

Too many supers, too soon. You only need to add a super when the previous one is approximately 3/4 capped.

[snowdrops]

I've only just seen this thread & what a treat it is.I am would like to keep bees but am not sure our garden is suitable & I don't think I could have them on the allotment.

[kevinp]

remember that the more honey you take the harder the bees have to work and the more you have to feed sugar syrup to them to make up for taking their honey.

Snowdrops most gardens are suitable for keeping bees in you dont need much space, a lot of urban beekeepers keep their bees on their garage or shed roofs. http://www.urbanbees.co.uk/

[snowdrops]

Thanks for the link. It's not that the garden is to small. But the corer where a hive could g is in shade all day, so I think it would be too cold particularly in the winter. I need to look in to it more thoroughly.Must find a local bee keeping group I know there are some.

[Guzzik]

I got my first hive three weeks ago and the "girls" are doing very well indeed:)

[Guzzik]

When reading up on Buckfast Bees, the type i have, I was gobsmacked to learn that some hives were producing well over two hundered pounds of honey.  Where I have my hive, I was told to expect up to one hundered pounds of honey from it next year!

[darren64]

I got less honey in mine now,than I had in the spring.

[Guzzik]

I got less honey in mine now,than I had in the spring.

Have you been taking honey frames out then?  Or are your bees eating an aweful lot of honey??