I took 4 hives up in late July and the heather which was close to the site looked good, it looked to have been burnt in the last year or so and my expectations were fairly high. The bees unfortunately did not share share my enthusiasm for the heather and went foraging elsewhere possibly to the rosebay willow herb. They seemed to be returning to the hives from on high rather than directly across the moor, anyway they produced not a frame of heather though did extremely well on what they were working, each hive continued as they had been during the summer and filled 3 supers each, there were traces of heather in the frame but that was it. As there were only 2 other keepers who took bees I repaired the broken stand and took another 2 colonies up on 11th of August and they also were soon busy, filling 2 supers each and much to my surprise one got heather in one super, so it obviously had been yielding so who knows why the others didn't fancy it? All in all it was fairly productive and I shouldn't be disappointed but I had hoped for more heather however you can't tell them where to go. It has been an exceptional year and I doubt I will see the like again, they are now tucked up, I have paid my rents and the extractor is out of the kitchen, so looking forward to a quieter few months.

View Entire Post