"I also do the clasical cheating average of total of honey/colonies taken to honey production just for the fun of comparing to my coleagues."

Ha ha! That's what I' m doing. Maybe we can call that the bragging average.

But seriously, if one is evaluating the suitability of a certain location,does it make sense to include nucs and failing queens?These are management issues,not a measurement of honey production potential.

I also find this number useful year to year to determine what makes up a flow. 
For instance,this past spring we had cool clear weather during locust bloom. Long bloom time,good flight conditions and lighter honey and higher production. One yard was astounding! The previous year,a late frost killed the locust blooms in the bud stage. Zilch! Darker honey and lower production.
 This tells me that locust is a major component of my spring flow,especially in that one yard.

“ Shouldn't you divide by the total number of hives--even those that didn't make a surplus?" 
Good point Randy. Not sure how to answer that. Do we count the dinks? 
What about that hive that was alive and well in March but a drone layer in April(and you won't get queens for a month). Counting dinks would give a measurement of management skill and success. 
I think we all agree that including nucs would introduce a variable that would make the resulting average useless.

I divide my colonies into 3 groups. 
Building hives 
Production hives 
Failing hives

The building hives become producing hives and the producing hives eventually fail (mostly due to the varroa complex because I don't treat).
I am finding that the average hive age is increasing in the production group.
 The failing hives suck up my time and effort. Sometimes I think I should just shake them into the grass or hit with soapy water if a new queen doesn't turn it around.
 As long as my building hives equal or exceed my failing hives I'm fine. 
Or as a wise man said "reproduction must exceed attrition."

Sent from my NOOK



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