A number of people have asked when to take honey from Warres.
A rule of thumb is, don't take honey in a colony's first year. Let it
establish. This rule is for swarms - doesn't apply to nucs, which are sold
as pre established mini colonies which just have to expand.
With TBHs I take little and often, as forage allows. For example 1-3 bars
2-3 times a year. These days that might total 7-8 bars / year from 2 TBHs,
I'm sure I could take more if I wanted. I always leave them at least 2 bars
of honey as a buffer, more if we are coming up to the June Gap or winter.
With Warres you usually take one big harvest in September. I think you CAN
take it more often if you use quen excluders? But the forage rhythm for my
area is:
Spring - lots of nectar. Bees lay brood through top box or 2, making honey
harvesting tricky.
June - dearth, bees need their stored honey
Late summer - main honey production (now have forage AND loads of bees).
Top boxes full of brood.
Late September - brood nest shrinks to lower boxes, bees pack top boxes
with honey, you can probably harvest one.
Honey processing is sticky and requires lots of washing up. One feature of
Warres is that you have one big messy day or two, then it's all done.
When reading about honey harvesting, check where the author lives. Places
like Australia and parts of the USA have wild areas with far more nectar
than here. Someone may say they take 2 bars from their TBH every month...
Not here.
We'll talk more about honey harvesting from Warres in August. Meanwhile,
enjoy the bees 8)
Paul
