I think its been mentioned before but could I humbly ask that members put their location on their info as its very helpful when considering posts as we have a massive difference across the country. People in the South often post as though the whole country experiences the same seasonal patterns as they do and I have been a huge critic of the BBKA for the same thing. As an example some keepers can be taking off their first supers at the end of April when I may not have even done my first inspections. When I first started beekeeping I often thought I was doing wrong or couldn't understand what I was experiencing after reading BBKA articles until I realised a few years later that the BBKA talks about beekeeping in a generic southern biased form. Feeding, swarm control, harvesting, supering, splits, honey production, etc: all differ across the country so it helps to see where you are and how it compares to your location........... The BBKA ' main flow in July ' you almost always read about in any BBKA monthly mag is the biggest example. In my 8 years of beekeeping I have only once ever had honey after June in my local area, its a green desert from the 2nd week in June.
British Beekeepers Association Official Forum
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Done... i over winter Nucs and hived nucs in my Garden in Hartlepool so i can keep a close eye on them from day to day..come March i move the lot of them up to Alnwick which is a 1hr 30min drive..the reason i move them is my lady friend lives up there and where she lives the flow continues as early as the bees can fly on the willows right through until August on mixed wild and cultivated forage..another reason i move them at that time is i start the lambing season on a farm not far away from the 1st April for 6wks which is handy as i can keep a eye on them if the OSR starts to flower early..
Mick, you have corrected me a couple of times, I think, which I accept, although I also get some cool breezes now and again and understand your point.
Like you I learned that some posts on forums are from further south - I do recall when I first started beekeeping, seeing posts about this and that flowering in the south which gave me advanced warning as plants are a week or so later in my part of the world.
Yep, a Devon beekeeping book is not going to be too relevant to the way you need to keep bees.
So for any new members of the forum, please put your location in, as it helps us answer questions better.
Like you I learned that some posts on forums are from further south - I do recall when I first started beekeeping, seeing posts about this and that flowering in the south which gave me advanced warning as plants are a week or so later in my part of the world.
Yep, a Devon beekeeping book is not going to be too relevant to the way you need to keep bees.
So for any new members of the forum, please put your location in, as it helps us answer questions better.
May your bees read the same books as you do.
It’s a fair point Mick and I do try to remember to say things relative to where I am but sure I also sometimes forget.
Unfortunately as we all know it’s not just about location either. We had very little oilseed rape around here this year and huge amounts of maize. Other areas probably quite different. To many referring to timings based on going to local heather might as well be talking about the flow from bananas. I am also around old cider orchards, hardly a typical scenario for most people. Come to that, when did anyone last seen a field of sainfoin?
To me, timings are one of the advantages of being part of a local association or beekeeping community. In casual conversation you get a sense of what those local to you have pragmatically found to be appropriate timings for things and can check them against what you do. I realised for example that around here there was little benefit to leaving on supers after the end of bramble flowering. A couple of miles away nearer to the river and abundant Himalayan balsam changes that for hives around there.
And then as well as general climate there are annual weather differences and bees vary colony to colony. So it’s always an inexact business we often only know we got right in hindsight, hence it is just as informative and refreshing when people helpfully admit to probably getting it wrong.
I sometimes do the right thing at the wrong time or the wrong thing at the right time
Unfortunately as we all know it’s not just about location either. We had very little oilseed rape around here this year and huge amounts of maize. Other areas probably quite different. To many referring to timings based on going to local heather might as well be talking about the flow from bananas. I am also around old cider orchards, hardly a typical scenario for most people. Come to that, when did anyone last seen a field of sainfoin?
To me, timings are one of the advantages of being part of a local association or beekeeping community. In casual conversation you get a sense of what those local to you have pragmatically found to be appropriate timings for things and can check them against what you do. I realised for example that around here there was little benefit to leaving on supers after the end of bramble flowering. A couple of miles away nearer to the river and abundant Himalayan balsam changes that for hives around there.
And then as well as general climate there are annual weather differences and bees vary colony to colony. So it’s always an inexact business we often only know we got right in hindsight, hence it is just as informative and refreshing when people helpfully admit to probably getting it wrong.
I sometimes do the right thing at the wrong time or the wrong thing at the right time
It's worth pointing out that just because you give your area in your profile when you first register, you actually have to put the location into account settings/profile for it to appear on your posts.....
Patrick makes a very good point. there I was this summer telling a beginner that I am mentoring and who lives only a mile and a half away, that the main flow had ended and we would be clearing and removing supers next week, only to subsequently spot a huge field of borage a couple of miles further on from his house - out of range of my bees but not his ......
Patrick makes a very good point. there I was this summer telling a beginner that I am mentoring and who lives only a mile and a half away, that the main flow had ended and we would be clearing and removing supers next week, only to subsequently spot a huge field of borage a couple of miles further on from his house - out of range of my bees but not his ......
