Burning Lime wood.

[Paul in the woods]

10 minutes ago, coppice cutter said:

I read that bees only need between a third and a half of their own honey to sustain them through the winter and the rest can be harvested without detriment to them.

 

Is that accurate in your experience?

Sounds about right, on a good year I would expect you could take more than two thirds but we have had a bad year (two winters ago, a very long and wet autumn) when I took nothing and had to feed some fondant.

 

One of the reasons I like ivy is it's a very good late.season nectar supply which helps the bees stuff their hives just before the winter. Having said that our bees were out in good numbers today on the gorse so it could be a short winter here.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Paul in the woods

[Paul in the woods]

16 minutes ago, coppice cutter said:

I'm not a bee keeper at all although much of what I read about natural bee keeping does definitely strike a common cord with my own experience of switching from intensive livestock keeping to more natural practices there also.

 

I'm not sure therefore if this is meaningful or not.

http://www.dheaf.plus.com/beekeeping_photos/gwynedd_winter_losses.jpg

 

 

I have a similar view, I'd much rather not have to treat for varroa. The numbers don't sound like others I've seen though. I am aware of reports that treating for varroa can be harmful and can kill queens, and as you often treat in winter it's not surprising to see reports of killed colonies. However, a high varroa load can kill colonies through the year so you want to see numbers for the whole year. I don't have a strong view on then matter, I've not lost a colony through treating so far.

[coppice cutter]

13 hours ago, Paul in the woods said:

Sounds about right, on a good year I would expect you could take more than two thirds but we have had a bad year (two winters ago, a very long and wet autumn) when I took nothing and had to feed some fondant.

 

One of the reasons I like ivy is it's a very good late.season nectar supply which helps the bees stuff their hives just before the winter. Having said that our bees were out in good numbers today on the gorse so it could be a short winter here.

All the more pity then that the majority of beekeepers can't generally be content taking what the bees don't need rather than taking the lot and feeding them unnaturally instead. Then again, it's just echoing modern agricultural practice which is all about maximising all the time, maximum tonnage, maximum livestock gain, maximum milk yield, etc, etc. Meanwhile the whole concept of working with nature has been entirely forgotten about.

 

Speaking of which, it really is amazing how nature works to provide a constant supply of blossoms over such a huge period of time to ensure that there's always a food supply somewhere.

[coppice cutter]

13 hours ago, Paul in the woods said:

I have a similar view, I'd much rather not have to treat for varroa. The numbers don't sound like others I've seen though. I am aware of reports that treating for varroa can be harmful and can kill queens, and as you often treat in winter it's not surprising to see reports of killed colonies. However, a high varroa load can kill colonies through the year so you want to see numbers for the whole year. I don't have a strong view on then matter, I've not lost a colony through treating so far.

Surely someone like yourself who allows their bees to feed over the winter as nature intended would be the very person who could possibly get away without treating?

[GarethM]

From what I've read you don't just dose them prevention for varroa, it's not like spot on for bees.

 

I don't seem to understand your default everything is bad attitude to farming or anything even faintly agricultural.

 

You do seem to have that as your default, we are not American style farming and never have been.

 

UK farming is pretty sustainable, we aren't denuding the countryside for a quick buck and then spending more money artificially keeping things alive.

Edited January 21, 2023 by GarethM

[coppice cutter]

No I don't believe it is.

 

Look at the impact that the rising cost of chemical fertiliser and imported feedstuffs has had on it.

 

A truly sustainable industry would not have been so affected.

 

It's not an easy furrow to plough, farmers think I'm nuts because I grow trees, make hay, have a huge dung heap where the silo used to be, and the fertiliser sower has about 10yrs worth of dust on it.

 

And the greenies hate me anyway because I'm still a farmer.

 

However the fact remains, the farmers and the greenies will both continue to be angry and frustrated until they start talking to each other. Maybe if that ever happens I could actually be friends with both.

[GarethM]

We've discussed this before as I'm somewhat like you agricultural wise, but I don't automatically assume it's all bad as a default.

 

I'm low input farming, just don't agree with any rewilding when low impact sheep do a better job.

 

Grain growing is probably the only one where it's max output but go watch Ollyblogs for a better idea of where the industry is heading.

 

The reality is lower inputs= lower output, so acreage has to increase to equal the same output.

[Paul in the woods]

6 hours ago, coppice cutter said:

Surely someone like yourself who allows their bees to feed over the winter as nature intended would be the very person who could possibly get away without treating?

I'm not sure what you mean, I'm not aware feeding sugar has anything to do with varroa.

 

If anything removing all their honey makes it easier to treat. Also some of the more drastic bee keeping methods can lead to less varroa. 

 

I think you could get less If you allow a 'wild' colony to frequently swarm (which they are very likely to do if they don't have a large amount of room to expand) but you're unlikely to get much honey.

[MattyF]

Burning lime this week in the biomass after coming across a seam of it in the log shed that had gone black  , still reading 18% moisture so chuck it on the biomass still reading 71 in the morning and warped the door closing catch …so it can’t be too bad ! 

[MattyF]

Also burning some on the house stove right now  … just had to turn the back boiler pump on, considering it’s had ash on it for the last few months and it’s being a rarity unless fully loaded to have to do that any one saying it’s rubbish is talking out there arse !!