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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Bill Greenrose <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 18 Jan 2019 07:21:19 -0500
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Gene A. wrote:
>“even with these so called increased package or nuclei price the more experienced hands tell me 'you get what you pay for'... and as a consumer I tell all >to ask lots of questions from the supplier and most importantly know where the bees come from... a truck load of packages that all die 3 months later is >not much a value at any price.”

Peter B. wrote:

>“My rough calculation is that a package generally = about 60# honey, wholesale. This varies, of course, but is a pretty good rule of thumb. A commercial >beekeeper would have to produce 60#to break even. >A package in the hands of a skilled operator in a good area will yield 2-3 times that”


Last year I needed several packages after losing colonies to successive, successful bear attacks, my first in many years, the year before late in the season, (some may recall, I broke my foot, was on crutches, could not maintain the electric mesh fence line, bear got through multiple times).  They were 3 lb. packages driven up from Georgia by the beek, who sold them.  When I started out, 20+ years ago, I remember being told that nucs were better than packages because, among other advantages, like brood in all stages and an accepted, laying queen, they typically produced a crop in the first year, while colonies from packages generally did not (my first colony in 1996 was started from a nuc, which cost me $40).  I got these packages in March, when there was still snow on the ground here in New England, and fed them through a seemingly never-ending winter, until the first blooms started in mid-April (post Tax Day).  Even though most of these colonies superseded their queens by mid-summer, they went on to average 90#’s / 41 kilos of honey per colony, which is better than some years with established, overwintered colonies.  I do NOT attribute this to my beekeeping skills, which I still consider pretty basic after all these years.  I think my gamble of getting them early and feeding through the snow and cold paid off in that they hit their stride right at the start of the real flow in May, and the fact that we had a pretty steady flow right into fall.  So, I got lucky.

Anyway, as I wrote, I am getting some additional packages this year from the same beek from the same source down South (for the same price - $117 with marked queen) as insurance, because I know I will lose some colonies over the winter, and I don’t want to rely solely on splits to build back up.  Hopefully, I’ll get lucky, again, even though spring seems far off (he wrote, as the area braces for a major storm with up to 20 inches / 50 cm of snow followed by sub 0 F temps, thank you, Canada).  In the end, I guess I’m saying that, at least with bees (and in my experience), quality does not always equate to price, and that, while good management will keep bees alive, good weather is what will yield decent honey crops.

Bill
Claremont, NH US

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