what would you do

I have 2 hives and an overwintered nuc and come end of season, I want as much honey as I can get from these hives and as much extra nucs from them as well. I know this is wishful thinking so I'll have to sacrifice one for the other so in your opinion, what would you recommended I do. Should I split the 2 main hives and take honey from the overwintered nuc(weather permitting) or just split one hive a few times and go for honey from the other main hive and just let the O-W-N build up to DB or Band half.

irishguy said:

I have 2 hives and an overwintered nuc and come end of season, I want as much honey as I can get from these hives and as much extra nucs from them as well. I know this is wishful thinking so I'll have to sacrifice one for the other so in your opinion, what would you recommended I do. Should I split the 2 main hives and take honey from the overwintered nuc(weather permitting) or just split one hive a few times and go for honey from the other main hive and just let the O-W-N build up to DB or Band half.

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As you say you can't have as much honey as possible with as many nucs as well. All 3 colonies should give you a honey crop. If you don't mind queens raised from emergency queen cells, you can do preemptive vertical splits on them all once they are all reasonably strong ala Wally Shaw http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=32699&highlight=wally+shaw

or do a vertical split with a Snelgrove board once they start to raise queen cells. The upper split can be then split into 2 just before the queen cells are due to hatch. Putting some/all drawn comb in the lower brood box will ensure the old queen has somewhere to lay quickly. Done early in the season you can get a good honey crop from the split parent colony and hopefully 2 nucs per hive.

Concentrate on the bees you have and learn to look after them properly without having to be spoon fed on here constantly. When you are a proficient beekeeper then think about making increase

You can only do what the strength of the hives will let you do, depending on numbers and nectar flow!
E

jenkinsbrynmair said:

Concentrate on the bees you have and learn to look after them properly without having to be spoon fed on here constantly. When you are a proficient beekeeper then think about making increase

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Better that IG comes here for advice than listening to the "local experts" who dug the holes for him to fall into previously

To IG softly softly catchee monkey is relevant here. Let your colonies build up and take honey as a bonus, learning and gaining empathy with the colonies along the way. As to splitting colonies I have a suspicion the bees might do it for you, so I reckon any spare boxes and frames will be best held back for emergency measures. There's always another season to follow on.

You have 3 colonies so you will get 6 easily when they swarm.
If you try any manipulation that requires timing or doing things in a set order then you increase the chance of making a balls up.

I would advise you to stay as you are and spend the year preparing for expansion next year.
Your choice mate but it can all get very stressful very quickly.

Re-read the 37 pages of your previous thread of the same title. That should enable you to sort out what you should not be doing and leave you with very few alternatives to post for advice.

When you have more experience, 3 or 4 years, I would make increase by collecting swarms. You will learn a lot more about the nature of bees too. It beats losing upto £100s of pounds in honey sales by performing splits.

You will learn a lot more about the nature of bees too.

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Its a shame that more people dont learn about bees before they learn about beekeeping.

I'd say concentrate on the colonies first, if you look after them, then you won't have to worry about good honey production.

I take a different approach - with only a few hives one shouldn't be planning to take as much honey as possible at the end of the season, as that's exactly when the bees will need it most - over the following winter. Keep unextracted frames for each hive until the start of the next season, when the new flow starts only then is it surplus to the bees' needs.

Dishmop said:

Its a shame that more people dont learn about bees before they learn about beekeeping.

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I think most probably do. You just notice the ones that don't a little more. I read a few years before starting, went to a course, shadowed old TonyBloke for a while even though he only only started 1 or 2 seasons before me ( he took to it like a duck to water though). I seem to be doing OK. It is best walk before you run though. No point in having 6 colonies if you are still losing swarms and getting into a mess with the 3 you already have.

Ely said:

It is best walk before you run though. No point in having 6 colonies if you are still losing swarms and getting into a mess with the 3 you already have.

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Gilberdyke John said:

Better that IG comes here for advice than listening to the "local experts" who dug the holes for him to fall into previously

To IG softly softly catchee monkey is relevant here. Let your colonies build up and take honey as a bonus, learning and gaining empathy with the colonies along the way. As to splitting colonies I have a suspicion the bees might do it for you, so I reckon any spare boxes and frames will be best held back for emergency measures. There's always another season to follow on.

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Thinking this myself so I'm well prepared, have most the extra equipment in already in case they all swarm.

irishguy said:

Thinking this myself so I'm well prepared, have most the extra equipment in already in case they all swarm.

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If they all swarm then you will end up with fewer bees in each box, and won't get any honey. The chances are you'll also miss the swarms when they go.

You need to learn about swarm prevention, not about swarm catching.

If you haven't already done so from the earlier link dickbowyer posted, please read Wally Shaw's leaflet "There are Swarm Cells in my Hive" http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/a012queencells.pdf

Then read it again, and again, and again, until you understand it.