2014 Honey Survey BBKA News

Hi guys and gals,

Just got the December edition of the BBKA News. Typical curate's egg.

Couple of examples of poor proof-reading in the article about the 2014 Honey Survey.

Irritating but insignificant, has the author not heard of the rule of thumb that it's, " 'i' before 'e' except after 'c' "? ["yeild"].

More significantly, table 3 is labelled, "The factor having the largest effect on honey quality" - but the text says these data relate to the question, "what factor has the greatest effect on honey quantity?". [My italics.]

An important difference, I think. Can anyone clarify this?


Dusty

Here a link to the survey

http://www.-------------/files/pressreleases/national_-_honey_survey_2014_1416999394.pdf

insert BBKA dot org dot uk in the gap

Dusty Rhodes said:

Irritating but insignificant, has the author not heard of the rule of thumb that it's, " 'i' before 'e' except after 'c' "? ["yeild"].

Dusty

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I saw that typo too. I think you just have to get over it... Personally I find the continual mixing of "To" with "Too" and confusion over "Off", "Of", "have" on this forum mildly annoying but as I'm not perfect I ignore it (mostly)

From Kim Flottom's Catch The Buzz....


>>The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) says better weather and better beekeeping have upped honey production. Beekeepers across Wales have reported an average yield of 26lbs of honey per colony this year according to the annual Honey Survey. That's an increase of almost a fifth on the 22lbs per colony reported by beekeepers in Wales in 2013, and is a far cry from the 10lbs per colony in 2012.<<

Is this correct? That's only a 19.3 pound average over three years. Really?? I thought you all were making better averages than that. What about colonies on OSR? I was told they are making 200-300 pound averages. Not true? Are they the only colonies making a decent honey crop?

I can't imagine running my bees with a 20 pound average honey crop. My expenses must be closer to 40 pounds.

Michael Palmer said:

From Kim Flottom's Catch The Buzz....


>>The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) says better weather and better beekeeping have upped honey production. Beekeepers across Wales have reported an average yield of 26lbs of honey per colony this year according to the annual Honey Survey. That's an increase of almost a fifth on the 22lbs per colony reported by beekeepers in Wales in 2013, and is a far cry from the 10lbs per colony in 2012.<<

Is this correct? That's only a 19.3 pound average over three years. Really?? I thought you all were making better averages than that. What about colonies on OSR? I was told they are making 200-300 pound averages. Not true? Are they the only colonies making a decent honey crop?

I can't imagine running my bees with a 20 pound average honey crop. My expenses must be closer to 40 pounds.

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Hmm

Conducted by BBKA amongst 2,000 beekeepers across the country,

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That's a relatively small sample size tbh

It also depends how everyone counts their harvest / production colonies!
I started the season with 10 colonies and averaged just over 91lbs per colony finishing with 14 viable colonies.

It was my best year so far but every year I seem to beat the Survey average!

I guess there are some that get very little and even those that maybe keep bees and take little or no honey!?

YorkshireBees said:

I guess there are some that get very little and even those that maybe keep bees and take little or no honey!?

Click to expand...

So do you think that the results have been weighted by beekeepers who don't know how to manage bees for honey. I mean, are those that are producing acceptable crops not participating in the survey? I find that happening here with the Bee Informed Survey. The results seem to indicate 30%+ losses every winter, but the successful beekeepers I know aren't losing anywhere near that amount. It seems that all the new beekeepers who have come on board in the last few years, and haven't figured it all out yet, are the largest segment of our industry who are replying to the survey.

The BBKA report on 2014's honey yields (from over 2,000 respondents nationwide) puts the average yield/hive at 32lbs. All well and good. The BBKA also credited the excellent weather conditions in 2014 and improving husbandry skills of beekeepers for the 4lbs/hive increase from 2013’s 28lbs/hive. Fine.

But the fact that 2014's yield falls well short of the historic average honey yield/hive of 40lbs begs a question: in a great year for weather and assisted by improved management skills, how come honey yields were still 20% below the historic average ?

There are two possible explanations. The first is that the BBKA’s assertions are incorrect. Well, there was certainly favourable weather for all of nature in the UK in 2014, so let’s take that as read. Improved husbandry skills ? BBKA’s survey also reported that only 58% of responding beekeepers attended any form of training with their local beekeeping association. Which means that a staggering 42% of beekeepers did not. And when you put that number next to the 2011 BBKA survey - in which 44% of respondents had been beekeepers for just 1-2 years - then there will be a sizeable subset of beekeepers with less than 5 years’ experience who are not seeking further training. Perhaps that is one reason why yields fell short of the historic average: in reality, husbandry skills may not be adequate to forestall crop-reducing events like swarming. And the survey also revealed that more than a third of respondents (35%) reported “early swarming” in their “Unusual Behaviour” observations. Sounds to me like inexperienced beekeepers lost a lot of honey to swarms which they did not expect, given the early build-up of colonies in 2014. So that’s a question mark against “improved husbandry”.

There is another variable, however, which the BBKA does not mention: forage. Bees need to eat. The dramatic increase in inexperienced beekeepers has been accompanied by a significant jump in the number of hives. More bees require incremental food supplies.

Amongst urban beekeepers, it is recognized that forage is a finite resource. For my part, I have personally arranged large-scale plantings of forage in local parks and have lobbied the Council to procure more pollinator-friendly plants for its green spaces and to reduce the frequency of mowing. But these are only gradually incremental to the expansion of available forage. The impact of added hives on demand for forage is immediate. In an ideal world, beekeepers introducing a new hive should either (a) make provision for forage in advance of the hive being introduced or (b) only introduce a new hive if another local hive is removed. I believe that adequate forage provision is the cornerstone of successful beekeeping, since healthy bees with good temperament and low disease loads can only thrive when they have sufficient food on offer.

And each hive requires a surprising amount of food: Bee authority, Dr Karin Alton, stated in 2013 that: “Our calculations indicate that each new hive placed in London would need the equivalent of one hectare of borage, a plant that attracts mainly honey bees, or over eight hectares of lavender”. It’s a rhetorical question, but how many spare hectares can any London beekeeper rustle up within a 3-mile radius of their hives ?

To focus on specifics: the government’s Beebase website indicates that there are 621 Apiary sites registered with within a 10-kilometre radius of my Bermondsey Street hives. As a guide, it is generally accepted that each apiary comprises 4 hives on average and that 25% of apiaries are not registered with Defra. Using those data, it is likely that there are already >3100 bee hives competing for food resources around my area. Assuming 50,000 bees per hive at the summer peak, that rounds out at 155 million hungry bees !

So the proliferation of beehives in London without an equivalent increase in forage availability has an inevitable mathematical effect: lowered honey yields, as bees compete for food. So given what was observed in 2014, an excellent year for forage, I am not looking forward to reading the BBKA’s survey after a poor weather year, when colony losses through starvation and disease will be far more of a problem for beekeepers than “early swarming”.

We should strive to raise awareness amongst beekeepers, local authorities, companies and the general public that forage is the key issue confronting London beekeepers today. And while we’re at it, from a practical perspective, here are my top 10 smaller-scale favorites for London garden planting:
•Crocus Great Spring starter
•Aster For vivid colour
•Russian Sage Preferred to culinary sage
•Borage All summer long
•Catnip A handy "filler" of space
•Lavender Classic sun-seeker
•Alyssum Low-profile, compact annual
•Rosemary Multi-purpose herb
•Forget-Me-Not Great in combination
•Stonecrop An undemanding sedum

Here's my call to action to urban beekeepers - let’s get that forage in the ground !

quote=Michael Palmer;450871]So do you think that the results have been weighted by beekeepers who don't know how to manage bees for honey. I mean, are those that are producing acceptable crops not participating in the survey? I find that happening here with the Bee Informed Survey. The results seem to indicate 30%+ losses every winter, but the successful beekeepers I know aren't losing anywhere near that amount. It seems that all the new beekeepers who have come on board in the last few years, and haven't figured it all out yet, are the largest segment of our industry who are replying to the survey.[/quote]

I took over 100lbs off each of my honey producing hives and I have no idea what I'm doing!

My local Association members did a quick reckoner on their own honey production, it seems that the average per honey producing colony was about half the quoted figure stated in the BBKA honey return for the 2014 season ( for DEVON)
Consensus was that it was a good husbandry practice to leave at least a super for the bees, and definitely not to go hunting around in the brood box to extract every last ounce of honey!

My brother in law harps on about the 14lb trout he took on a dry fly from Wimblebole? lake SW Lakes Trust fishery, most days he catches nothing!!!

Methinks the figures are skewed somewhat!


James

Michael Palmer said:

So do you think that the results have been weighted by beekeepers who don't know how to manage bees for honey. I mean, are those that are producing acceptable crops not participating in the survey? I find that happening here with the Bee Informed Survey. The results seem to indicate 30%+ losses every winter, but the successful beekeepers I know aren't losing anywhere near that amount. It seems that all the new beekeepers who have come on board in the last few years, and haven't figured it all out yet, are the largest segment of our industry who are replying to the survey.

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Yes could be right and I have found the results very confusing and way off from what I know in my small group. All I can think is there must be loads of very disappointed beekeepers out there.

Michael Palmer,

Like other posters here I average around 70 lbs /hive - this year was a phenomenal lifetime best of 115 lbs wholly due to nectar from local Lime trees (Tilia ) which benefited from heavy rains in early summer.

I'm in the leafy London suburbs and unlike DJG my bees don't have competition for forage.

Michael Palmer said:

From Kim Flottom's Catch The Buzz....


>>The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) says better weather and better beekeeping have upped honey production. Beekeepers across Wales have reported an average yield of 26lbs of honey per colony this year according to the annual Honey Survey. That's an increase of almost a fifth on the 22lbs per colony reported by beekeepers in Wales in 2013, and is a far cry from the 10lbs per colony in 2012.<<

Is this correct? That's only a 19.3 pound average over three years. Really?? I thought you all were making better averages than that. What about colonies on OSR? I was told they are making 200-300 pound averages. Not true? Are they the only colonies making a decent honey crop?

I can't imagine running my bees with a 20 pound average honey crop. My expenses must be closer to 40 pounds.

Click to expand...

i think a picture says it better than words and this hive is in London which supposidley had the lowest yields of all

Nice

I bet that was not the only hive like that this year Geoff I hag a couple not far off and very tall. Most people I talked to this summer could hardly keep up with the bees. I was helping a friend and we were putting two supers on the hives at a time and they were getting filled in a couple of weeks.

I am really loosing faith in the BBKA I have been looking at the figures again and from my own observations and what you pick up during the year it was clear this was an exceptional year but they make it out to be poor and not for this year going back over previous years. I could understand if they were filling in the figures for a tax return but it seems not and what has adopt a hive got to do with the survey? Other than the figures could be used to encourage more people to part with their money to adopt a hive to help the poor struggling bees ?

Michael Palmer said:

So do you think that the results have been weighted by beekeepers who don't know how to manage bees for honey. I mean, are those that are producing acceptable crops not participating in the survey? I find that happening here with the Bee Informed Survey. The results seem to indicate 30%+ losses every winter, but the successful beekeepers I know aren't losing anywhere near that amount. It seems that all the new beekeepers who have come on board in the last few years, and haven't figured it all out yet, are the largest segment of our industry who are replying to the survey.

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..community of over 20,000 Beekeepers

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but

Conducted by BBKA amongst 2,000 beekeepers across the country

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So that's roughly 10% of the people that bothered to register.

Yes I think that the results are skewed.

djg makes some very good points about Husbandry and Forage which are both really important factors in producing a decent Honey yield I believe.

I certainly think that my Husbandry is improving year by year and this is generally born out by my increasing Honey yield each year!

In terms of forage, I guess I am pretty lucky with the area my hives are in and definitely believe that a good yield from Lime trees helped with the Summer harvest this year. (Other years my Spring crop has far out weighed my Summer crop)

midnight sun said:

...I took over 100lbs off each of my honey producing hives and I have no idea what I'm doing!

Click to expand...

I'm not that experienced myself and still find that with each year comes the opertunity to learn how to improve my beekeeping and therefore, given decent forage / weather, my Honey crop!

James Templer said:

My local Association members did a quick reckoner on their own honey production, it seems that the average per honey producing colony was about half the quoted figure stated in the BBKA honey return for the 2014 season ( for DEVON)
Consensus was that it was a good husbandry practice to leave at least a super for the bees, and definitely not to go hunting around in the brood box to extract every last ounce of honey!

Click to expand...

That is the beauty of our wonderful country and it's diversity in weather!

I personally do not go trying to remove all the honey from a colony but at the same time I do not choose to over winter with a super of honey on the hives. Instead I tend to double up on brood boxes as I usually end up with brood boxes full of honey after demaree swarm control.

My local Bee Inspector told me in the past that the area we keep our bees in has been very lucky both in not having any outbreaks of disease and apparently having it's own micro climate that appears to be more conducive to beekeeping that other local areas!

Tom Bick said:

Yes could be right and I have found the results very confusing and way off from what I know in my small group. All I can think is there must be loads of very disappointed beekeepers out there.

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I can only agree with Tom and by no means do I want to brag about the yield that I have achieved.
I can sympathise wholly with beekeepers struggling to prevent swarming and getting little or no honey.
It took me several years to learn enough about keeping bees before I was able to take any honey.

so did you all register? surely if only %10 registered then they will have taken an average overall which is why it will look low? yes some people will have had a great year, but many will not, so it will be an average overall surely?

I suppose if the 10% was made up of first time beekeepers and poor beekeepers then I could understand the results. I am a Greater London beekeeper and although don't know all the beekeepers in London I have yet to meet one who will admit to a bad year I know they are not lying as the smile on their face is proof enough. I may be wrong bit I think you are invited to take part or they then select a random 2000 entries for the survey.

They ask all members to take part don't they? what would be the point in only asking some? If people don't send in their results then you cant expect figures to look right. how many on here actually sent them in?

from what ive just seen they divide the crop taken by the amount of colonies also registered, so if some colonies don't take any crop this will make the figures lower. I think some people here may have had good crops but how much of that is made from syrup they have fed just to get more honey?