finmans hives in Finland

[Finman]

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hives now.

1.5 years ago I succeeded to kill mites so well that last summer and winter was very good. No eye contact to mites.

Last winter I treated hives 2 times with trickling.

Today I looked all hives. All queens OK. Brood frames 4-6.
Hives started to rear brood 2 weeks ago when willows started to bloom. New bees start to emerge after a week.

In Helsinki maples have started to bloom. On my cottage area trees have no green buds.

Two days rain and one day sun. Day temps 10C. That is the way weather goes. Fields are wett

Hives have consumed their winter stores when they have reared brood. To morrow emergency feedings to several hives.

Winter was extremely warm.

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[YorkshireBees]

That's not good Finman, sorry to hear that you are having to emergency feed!

The weather is strange (as usual) again this year.

I have some hives with 4 Supers on and others that haven't started to fill the 1st.

 

[Obee1]

How many hives do you have finman?

 

[BeeBeeKa]

Good luck with your emergency feeding and weather of course Your bees doing not much worse than mine Your willows started to bloom 2 weeks later than here in Co.Sligo., while I did not see yet mapples in flowers this year. It seems to me that spring has come a bit later than the previous year in here, as sycamore( local maple )already blossomed in the end of April last year. We`ve got plenty of flowering plants so far though: Gorse( all winter,) coltsfoot, flowering current, dandelion(sinse 6.04.15), Cherry Laurels (since 9-10.04.15), apple trees, blueberry, wild strawberry, oxalis, blackthorn( since 18.04), ash, bluebells and ramson (bear's onion)(since 21.04) etc.etc.etc. But my bees brought mainly only 2 colores of pollen so far as worked mainly on 2-4 plant kinds I presume. [FONT=&quot]The weather was rather wet and cold with 1 week exception in second halve of April when temp. raised up to 21`C one day.[/FONT]

 

[Finman]

How many hives do you have finman?

20 hives

 

[Finman]

That's not good Finman, sorry to hear that you are having to emergency feed! .

I go to Lidl and buy sugar 15 kg.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I hope all is well in the end.
It's a strange year for me too.
I had to pull a few frames to make way for brood, then supers got half filled and two colonies are being ASd.
Now most gathered stores are gone and I'm going to apiary this morning to add a frame of capped honey and pollen to a hive that has nothing much left.
Looks like a make honey, eat honey year so far.

 

[Tom Bick]

I go to Lidl and buy sugar 15 kg.

Is that going to be enough

 

[oliver90owner]

Colonies running out of stores is always a risk when accelerating brooding with electric heaters. It is just another of the simple checks the beekeeper needs to make if the bees are encouraged to expand numbers before there is a decent flow.

I am sure Finsky is neither particulaly bothered nor worried by the situation - providing he does not have to feed too much for too long (profitability!). At least they might be ready to collect a surplus as soon as the weather improves and there is a good flow.

Some on here with short memories will have forgotten that many colonies in the UK were still needing extra feeding well into the middle of May just two years ago.

 

[Finman]

Colonies running out of stores is always a risk when accelerating brooding with electric heaters. .

How do you know that? Heating should save brood heating energy?

I have not yet put heating into hives. Floors should be cleaned and then the heater. When I visited 2 weeks ago on cottage 4 days, it rained 3 days.

Everything depends now on weather, how bees can forage pollen. It is minimum factor. And like my friend said, if bees get pollen enough, need of sugar jump up too.

But I put heating later, that they have stronger build up. First of all they need now pollen and good weathers. Of course everyone must follow foodstores, that bees do not starve.

After one week hives get plenty of fresh larva feeders. That explodes brooding.

Now, to Lidl!

By the way, two weeks ago nearby lake had ice cover here.

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[oliver90owner]

How do you know that? Heating should save brood heating energy?

Just simple application of common sense!

More brooding needs more stores. Accelerating the brooding, before there is a flow, will clearly mean more mouths to feed on a limited amount of stores and no income. So more risk of running short of stores. Simple, ennit?

No different in the UK when encouraging early brooding to be ready for the OSR, only to find the weather is pants when you were hoping the OSR flow would have started.

Nothing unusual, really. Your colonies will not have new foraging bees before the beginning of June? That demonstrates a great difference between your season and ours (where OSR is normally available from around the middle of April). As posted above, cold days have meant little nectar flow and colonies currently using recently gathered stores. A subtle difference between our variable weather patterns and your short, but predictable, cropping season.

 

[Finman]

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Our Autumn OSR blooms here in the first last week of May, if it exists here. It is same time as dandelions and appletrees.

Actually there is no risk, because you must peep into hive to see, what is going on.

Do nothing beekeeper's style does not exist here long time. What bees do then... They swarm.

 

[Finman]

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3 years ago I had hives on 12 hectares autumn OSR. I had balance hive there. I noticed that hives cannot get honey from flowers when it was windy and temp was 18C. Field bloomed 5 weeks.

Second year temps were 25C and hives got either much honey from OSR. Reason was that foraging gang was very small. What they got was 2 boxes brood, and in July boath hives got 170 kg honey from fireweed. One hive was on balance.

 

[Amari]

.
hives now.
1.5 years ago I succeeded to kill mites so well that last summer and winter was very good. No eye contact to mites.
Last winter I treated hives 2 times with trickling.
Today I looked all hives. All queens OK. Brood frames 4-6.
Hives started to rear brood 2 weeks ago when willows started to bloom. New bees start to emerge after a week.
In Helsinki maples have started to bloom. On my cottage area trees have no green buds.
Two days rain and one day sun. Day temps 10C. That is the way weather goes. Fields are wett
Hives have consumed their winter stores when they have reared brood. To morrow emergency feedings to several hives.
Winter was extremely warm.
.

Finman, it puzzles me that despite such a late start to the season you seem to get (remembering your previous posts over the years) a much bigger honey crop than most of us in UK. Is this because:
- you have huge beekeeping skills?
- you have awesome bees?
- you have long days of sunlight due to your latitude?
- you have forage we don't have e.g. wild raspberries?
Please tell us your secret.

 

[Dishmop]

Finman, it puzzles me that despite such a late start to the season you seem to get (remembering your previous posts over the years) a much bigger honey crop than most of us in UK. Is this because:
- you have huge beekeeping skills?
- you have awesome bees?
- you have long days of sunlight due to your latitude?
- you have forage we don't have e.g. wild raspberries?
Please tell us your secret.

Magic bees.

 

[oliver90owner]

The puzzle?.

It is more simple than the alternatives suggested.

A short but predictable season and Finsky takes every skerret of honey he can find, but does not subtract the numerous kilograms of sugar fed to the colonies.

That means there are no, or few, periods when the bees are between flows and consuming this season's crop for survival. Basically down to weather patterns.

Of course, bee strain selection, colony preparation, etc all helps and that is down to the beekeeper.

Remember, UK crop does not usually include ivy honey, per eg.

The differences are simple, once one thinks about it.

 

[Finman]

I think that in UK there are so much hives, that pastures do not share to all a decent yield. In most south European countries situation is the same. When you keep few hives on back yard, your pastures and choices are there.

Good yield comes from good pastures. When good flow is on, then you need capasity which catch the nectar from flowers.

 

[Finman]

The puzzle?

The differences are simple, once one thinks about it.

Difference is not simple. Even if you are marketing, that all can be turned simple.

There were times, when my 10 years average yield was 40 kg, then 50, then 60 ... 80 ,

The last innovation is that secret is best pastures. Not good but best. How to identify them, it needs skill and experince. It is not easy , not at all. Not suitable for do nothing guys.

 

[Dishmop]

Not suitable for do nothing guys.

What is a "do nothing guy?"

 

[Finman]

What is a "do nothing guy?"

A beekeeper made by God's mercy.

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