Chris aasked on 8 August : "Is there any correlation between numbers of
hives kept in a small area and
 the relative difficulty in getting them through lean times?"  and Jim
commented: ... it seems reasonable to think that one could "saturate" a
specific area with hives, and see
a lower yield per hive.  There has to be a "Nth hive",
which, if placed in the area, adds nothing to the net harvest."

We have also to remember that every colony wll use something over 120 pounds
of honey a year for its own needs - a large colony , much more.  So if the
Nth colony produces no surplus, it gathered only say 120 pounds. If the Nth
colony got that,  so probably did all the others - so if an apiary is
gradually increased, by the time a site is overstocked, the whole apiary
surplus will be zero (on average).  The fact that every conony, large or
small, will use up so much of the available forage on its own maintenance is
a prime reason why hobbyists will get more fun from keeping a small number
of very large productive hives - it's maths.

[Forage available to bees at one site equals say 10,000 pounds.  Target
collection per hive = say 120 own use + 50 pounds surplus = 170 pounds.
Number of colonies needed = 10,000 / 170 = 58, say 60. Increase cononies to
80.  Own use = 80 x 120 = 9,600.  Total surplus = 10,000 - 9,600 = 400
pounds, an average per 80 hives of 5 pounds, only one tenth of the target or
'economic return'.
If we switch to a highly productive strain, we can rework the figures with
say 150 pounds for own use and 100 pounds for target surplus = 250 pounds
collection by each hive. Now only 40 hives are needed to collect the 10,000
pounds of available nectar, a saving of  18 hives or 30% of the initial
capital invesment. The total for own use will be 40 x 150 = 6,000 pounds,
and the total surplus 4,000 pounds.  Obviously, , 100 pounds per colony is
an increase of 100% on the original target/ acheivement of 50 pounds.  If we
now head towards overstocking, and increase hives to say 50,  we get own use
increasing to 50 x 150 = 7,500 pounds and surplus dropping to  2,500 pounds
or 50 pounds per colony.  So overstocking has cost 25% increase in setting
up but zero increase in yield.

Of course, contributors may come in saying they get 150 pounds per hive, and
they can then work their own figures .  We should work on average yields per
autumn count of colonies over say 10 years - the Dadants got 150 pounds
averages from some sites in some years but gave 50 pounds as their long term
overall average - and that was in the 1920's when there were more wild
plants (in the Misissipi Valley).  Ref : C P Dadant, Dadant System of
Beekeeping, 1920 / 1932.

As Jim has said, who has ever tried to assess an area with precision when
the factors are so variable?  The maths however suggest that u can test the
overall effect of say increasing colonies by 25% and noting effect on
overall yields RELATIVE TO OTHER NEARBY SITES IN THE SAME YEARS  which
should  ALLOW FOR AT LEAST SOME OF THE WEATHER VARIATIONS.

Hobyists tend to have less equipment than professionals. So hobbyists need
also to assess the max number of colonies that can survive at ALL times of
year - bar extreme weather. If colonies run out of natural stores, they have
to be fed.  Professionals can just hitch up the trailer-mounted feed tank
and squirt ready-prepared fructose syrup - that is standard practice as we
have heard on this list. The hobbyist has to take the car to the grocery,
load up with packets of sucrose, set up buckets and stir - stir - stir and
then transport buckets by car to the sites.  It is a chore - if I have an
odd colony in trouble, I just put in granulated sugar and a splash of
water - the bees will dissolve enough to live on but will not store.   Hobby
beekeeping is much more enjoyable if u keep only enough colonies on each
site that they look after themselves and u just remove the true surplus in
autumn.

Robin Dartington

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