Hi Karen,
I'm located in Ontario along the eastern end of Lake Ontario and I've
had the best honey year ever. It's been hot and dry here since April and
if you had asked me at the beginning of the season with it being so warm
so quickly I would had said it's going to be a terrible season. But they
proved me wrong again :-) I had my supers on in April and extracted the
first batch in July. It just might be your area, some are better than
others. If I had 1 hive or so that didn't produce then I would think
about re queening. Since it sounds like you have around 5 hives and
this is your first year I would guess it's the area. Did you see much
pollen in the spring? Did the hives appear to build up in the spring?
Kent