The place did all of it go incorrect?

Synopsis : Why was the summer time 2023 honey crop so poor (at the very least right here in Scotland) after a bumper Spring harvest, and what might or ought to I’ve accomplished as an alternative? The place did all of it go incorrect?

Introduction

Final weekend successfully marked the tip of the worst summer time season I’ve ever had since beginning beekeeping.

At the least when measured by honey yield.

A number of different issues went OK and a few issues went very properly, however one of many causes I preserve bees is for honey manufacturing and that’s been an abject failure this summer time.

I’ve but to extract – and briefly thought-about leaving all of it for the bees – however am fairly assured that it’s ~25 kg lower than 2022.

That’s per hive 🙁 .

That’s a shortfall of over 200 kg from about the identical variety of manufacturing colonies.

I’ve ended up with simply half a dozen supers, and never all of them are full.

Hiya stranger, the place had been you in summer time ’23?

I’m fairly sure I bought extra full supers in my very first yr after I had simply two hives … although this was helped by 30 acres of discipline beans simply over the apiary fence.

Location, location, location 😉 .

So what went incorrect?

How did this season differ from final season?

And, earlier than I begin, it’s not that 2023 was common and 2022 was freakishly good. Since returning to Scotland in 2015 the spring and summer time honey crops have been moderately constant … and customarily fairly good.

2022 was a bit higher than common and 2019 was appreciably worse, however all of them produced sufficient honey to make extracting (and the interminable cleansing up, jarring, labelling and many others. afterwards) very worthwhile.

2023 is the outlier.

Why didn’t I depart the honey for the bees? As a result of I deal with with Apivar and I’d desire to not must soften out the tremendous frames that had been uncovered to miticide.

So, evaluating this yr with 2022 (and a few earlier years), the place did all of it go incorrect?

What hasn’t modified

One factor that hasn’t modified is the location, location, location.

The bees are in the identical apiaries, unfold throughout 10-15 miles of jap Fife. All of the apiaries had been poor this summer time, so I’m fairly sure it’s not a really localised change to the out there forage.

My summer time honey is what I’d describe as ‘combined floral’ or ‘hedgerow’ honey. It’s a transparent, runny honey which – in good years – has a particular zingy flavour from the lime. Nonetheless, it’s something however monofloral, and accommodates all types of stuff out there within the atmosphere.

Summer season honey

What it in all probability isn’t – at the very least to any important diploma – depends on native agriculture. One farmer sometimes grows some discipline beans however they’re often on the higher restrict of foraging vary. I’ve not seen any since 2020 or 2021.

The apiaries are located in combined farmland with plenty of discipline margins, small copses, scrubby grazing and – in a single occasion – suburban gardens inside vary. The latter apiary tends to perform a little higher most years.

North Fife hills, early June 2017

All of the apiaries have entry to grease seed rape early within the season. This provides the colonies an awesome enhance and makes subsequent swarming comparatively predictable.

The 2023 spring honey crop was excellent.

Ultimately 😉 .

Spring was late and it was solely within the final couple of weeks of the OSR that it was heat sufficient for an actual foraging bonanza. Nonetheless, all of it got here good on the finish and I completed with a report harvest which was taken off within the first week of June.

So, if the forage hasn’t modified then it should be the climate … proper?

Native climate experiences

My reference a few weeks in the past to climate forecasting – and the next useful observe up feedback from readers – was prompted by a necessity for correct native predictions.

Native, as a result of climate is native.

Right here on the west coast the hills are low. Moisture-laden air bowling in from the Atlantic usually blows over us, will get compelled up by the majority of Grampians, cools after which falls as rain.

A number of it.

On the east coast, a number of occasions a yr, the haar drifts in off the North Sea. My coastal apiary is usually a shivery 12°C when, just some miles inland, it’s a balmy 20°C.

So, if native climate forecasts are wanted, then a retrospective evaluate of the influence of climate on honey yields wants native climate information. The gold commonplace are in all probability the HadUK datasets out there for the UK beneath an Open Authorities Licence. They include interpolated information on day by day rainfall, temperatures, sunshine, humidity and many others at a 1 km grid decision .

Might 2023 rainfall anomaly with 1991-2010

Common readers will (though they may not realise it) be conversant in these datasets. These are those used to generate the Met Workplace UK precise and anomaly climate maps which recurrently seem right here. The map above exhibits Might 2023’s rainfall anomaly; North Wales and the West coast of Scotland ‘loved’ ~70% much less rain than the 30 yr common.

However there’s an issue with the HadUK datasets … they aren’t publicly out there for the present yr .

Private climate stations

However, all will not be misplaced.

There are a rash of non-public climate stations within the gardens and on the roofs of climate fans, techie geeks, balloonists, surfers, kite flyers, gardeners … and beekeepers.

Private climate stations in North Wales (Wunderground)

A few of these are remoted, stand-alone, items. They’re not a lot use to anybody however the proprietor/operator .

Nonetheless, others share the information on-line, both straight through an online server or not directly after importing it to an web climate service corresponding to Wunderground or Windy.

From these you may get fancy graphical outputs for present or historic climate … or, by burrowing round a bit on the web page, turgid tables of neatly aligned numbers that may be downloaded for evaluation.

Uninteresting, boring, boring … however helpful

For those who discover one which’s native to your apiary perform a little sanity-checking of the figures. Be certain the station is routinely on-line, that the information updates recurrently and that the numbers appear logical (e.g. no -3°C in June). Until the station is extraordinarily properly located the windspeed and route might be incorrect , however rainfall, temperature and doubtlessly sunshine (radiation) ought to be dependable.

Wunderground graphics

I’ve one in all these climate stations on my shed for my ”Do queens actually need calm, sunny days and temperatures over 20°C for mating?” venture . Nonetheless, it’s 150 miles from my Fife apiaries, so hardly native.

Thankfully, in Fife there’s one within the subsequent village that, aside from the summer time of 2021, has been operating for years and appears very reliable. All subsequent graphs are primarily based on information from there.

Highs and lows

Comparability of the temperature most and minimal over the ~3.5 months from the beginning of Might till the third week in August when the summer time honey was taken off exhibits no main variation.

Temperature highs and lows in 2022 (blue) and 2023 (purple) – click on on this and subsequent graphs for bigger variations.

The graph above exhibits the utmost (thick strains) and minimal (skinny strains) temperatures in 2022 (blue) and 2023 (purple). Might and July are shaded so you may work out the place you’re within the season. I’ve used an identical structure for subsequent graphs.

It definitely doesn’t look as if 2023 was unseasonably cool or – maybe with that week in mid-June – significantly sizzling.

However simply wanting on the highs and lows might end in lacking important variation within the common day by day temperatures … so I plotted that along with the rainfall over the identical interval.

Common temperatures and day by day rainfall

I’ve separated the 2022 and 2023 graphs this time to cease them getting too busy. Once more the interval displayed is identical. I’ve additionally marked – with arrows – the dates on which the spring and summer time honey had been taken off.

Bear in mind, the spring harvest in 2023 was my finest from Scotland, about 10% greater than 2022 from barely fewer colonies.

Common temperature and day by day rainfall in 2022 (blue) and 2023 (purple)

I don’t assume there’s a lot to infer from the temperatures (the road graphs). You’ll be able to see the cool first week of Might (which I used to be complaining about on the time), however it picked up by concerning the center of the month. June was a bit hotter this yr, however July was appreciably cooler than 2022.

Nonetheless, the hanging characteristic might be not the temperature, it’s the rainfall (proven within the bar graph, plotted in opposition to the suitable hand vertical axis).

In 2023 there was nearly no rain from concerning the 8^th of Might till the 19^th of June. On the time I used to be extra fearful concerning the burn that provides our water drying up, however on reflection this 5 week interval may have had a profound impact on the moisture out there within the soil for plant progress.

Cumulative rainfall (and month-to-month totals) in 2022 (blue) and 2023 (purple)

The distinction between the 2 years is much more obvious in a graph of cumulative rainfall over the interval. Though the ultimate complete is broadly comparable (differing by solely ~20%) 2023 basically flatlines till mid-June after which rises way more steeply than 2022 till mid-July, from which level the slopes are comparable.

5 weeks of drought in 2023 had been adopted by a month of moist climate, consequently additionally suppressing the typical temperature.

Extra years, extra information

How do 2022 and 2023 examine with earlier years for which I’ve summer time honey information?

Aside from 2021 (the place the climate station had a serious hiccup) there are good datasets for yearly since 2013.

I’ve plotted the final 5 years as that’s way back to I can discover the cumulative honey yields . Of those, 2019 was poor, each for spring and summer time honey.

Right here’s the cumulative rainfall for every of these seasons (Might to mid-August, as earlier than).

Cumulative rainfall over 5 years – Might to mid-August

Though it takes a bit teasing aside, 2023 is clearly uncommon within the protracted drought in late Spring/early summer time. Even 2018 (yellow), the driest yr general, is barely fractionally behind 2023 on the finish of June (and finishes the interval with 30% much less rain by August).

The opposite factor that’s hanging is simply how moist 2023 was from mid-June till mid-July. 150 mm of rain fell within the 4 weeks from 17/6/23. The purple line rises extra steeply over this era than any of the earlier years, and on the finish of this 4 week deluge is definitely the wettest yr of the 5 plotted.

Nonetheless, rain alone isn’t essentially an issue.

Many of the summer time nectar circulate in all probability happens from mid-July till early/mid-August. Throughout this era each 2019 (a poor yr general, however not catastrophic ) and 2020 had extra rainfall, and 2020 at the very least produced lots of summer time honey.

Not sufficient bees?

The vast majority of my colonies had been requeened in 2023. Though the general variety of colonies are too small to attract any conclusions it was notable that the hive that produced the most honey nonetheless has the queen from final yr and confirmed no tendency to swarm.

Requeening colonies, utilizing regular swarm management methods, enforces a break in brood rearing.

I subsequently checked again via my hive information to see if colonies had longer broodless intervals in 2023 than 2022. All different issues being equal e.g. prior energy or the next laying charge of the brand new queen, a colony which experiences an extended brood break is more likely to be weaker.

If the colony is wanting staff throughout the primary nectar circulate it’s more likely to collect much less honey.

Hive information

That is an much more approximate exercise than wanting on the climate information. My hive information are fairly good, however they’re (clearly) solely at weekly intervals. Moreover, after I know a colony accommodates a brand new queen I have a tendency to not rummage via the brood field except actually essential (and if there’s a brand new queen in there it isn’t … so don’t 😉 ). Consequently, though I can determine broodless intervals from my information, the exact length (and subsequently potential influence on colony energy) is, at finest, imprecise.

Nonetheless, if something, queen mating was each extra reliable and sooner in 2023 than final yr. Most queens had been mated and laying by early/mid-June. I admire that it nonetheless takes ~6 weeks from the queen beginning laying till her foragers are flying, however the pace with which queens had been mated meant that employee numbers shouldn’t have change into too depleted.

No scarcity of bees

I’m going to spend a bit extra time on this within the winter aided by espresso or purple wine to see if I’m lacking one thing, however I at the moment assume there have been greater than sufficient bees within the honey (non)manufacturing hives.

Nectar manufacturing and rainfall

I don’t have a definitive reply to the title of this submit (The place did all of it go incorrect?) however it appears probably it’s because of a number of of the next causes:

• protracted (~5 weeks) drought in late Might and early/mid June. This didn’t apparently have an effect on the nectar yields from the OSR, however might have had long-term penalties for the summer time flowering forage.
• unusually moist climate from mid June to mid July
• decreased temperatures throughout July (negatively influencing both or each the bees and the forage) the place the typical, high and low temperatures for 2022 had been 17°C, 7.4°C and 33.2°C, and for 2023 had been 15°C, 5.7°C and 24.3°C

The July rainfall may have suppressed the temperature, however the second half of the month was additionally cooler than regular.

I’ve accomplished some studying on the influence of moisture on nectar manufacturing. There’s fairly a bit on the affect of humidity on each nectar manufacturing and the sugar focus of the nectar, however these are all brief time period results.

Latest rainfall is understood to stimulate nectar manufacturing in crops corresponding to rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis; Keasar et al., 2008) however I’ve but to seek out a lot on stimulatory results of rainfall over an extended interval.

In case your bees have completed for the yr and also you need some winter studying maybe strive Lawson and Rands’ (2019) evaluate of rainfall on plant-pollinator interactions. Specifically they spotlight that rainfall can dilute nectar, making it much less rewarding for (at the very least some) pollinators. Rainfall, and decrease temperatures, additionally considerably cut back foraging exercise (and, to my shock, nurse bee exercise inside the hive; Riessberger and Crailsheim, 1997).

I feel it is a subject I’ll must return to …

Does any of this assist?

Presumably not.

Aside from the satisfaction of understanding having a imprecise concept what went incorrect, because it was in all probability poor climate there’s not loads that may very well be accomplished to keep away from the scenario, apart from shifting to a different county … or nation … or continent.

However, assuming it was the climate and if there was dependable long-range (i.e. ~2 months or extra) climate forecasting I can consider different methods to productively ‘rescue’ the latter half of the season.

You might – as prompt above – transfer your bees.

That’s simpler stated than accomplished, entails plenty of work/journey and possibly additionally requires dependable long-range native climate forecasts … however hey, “if you happen to’re gonna dream, dream large” 😉 .

Alternatively, you possibly can make bees, not honey.

Had I identified that the second half of this season was going to be ‘complete pants’ I’d have utterly deserted honey manufacturing and as an alternative cut up the colonies to provide many extra nucs for overwintering.

With a concerted effort in the course of the good climate in Might/June it could have been comparatively easy to get ample queens mated. The soon-to-be-unemployed honey manufacturing colonies may very well be cut up, every producing a number of nucs.

Inevitably this is able to then contain a little bit of body juggling to make sure the nucs didn’t get ‘overcooked’ earlier than the onset of autumn, that additional work being compensated by the flexibility to provide extra nucs from more durable preliminary splits of the colonies.

Or you possibly can do one thing for the bees, corresponding to utilizing queen trapping to implement a brood break, apply a midseason miticide remedy and have the satisfaction of them going into autumn with very low mite and virus ranges.

The identical factor may very well be achieved, coupled with a full field of latest comb, by combining a shook swarm and miticide remedy.

The tip is nigh

The removing of the summer time honey marks the tip of the sensible beekeeping season for me. Having cleared the supers I checked the frames. There was a small quantity of recent nectar in a number of of them, although nothing like sufficient to justify leaving them for an additional week or two.

Not a lot a nectar circulate as a pathetic dribble.

Winter shops … prepared and ready

Brood containers had been wanting very ‘finish of season’. Virtually no drone brood and a lot of the drone comb was backfilled with nectar or sealed shops.

I failed to seek out the one queen I had but to mark so she and I’ll have that to sit up for subsequent April.

I didn’t examine the colonies however I did pull a number of frames to work out the place the sting of the brood nest was so I might place the Apivar strips appropriately.

Then all that was left to do was to exchange the queen excluder and add a cut up block of fondant, with both an empty tremendous (Of which I’ve a surfeit 🙁 ) or an eke and an inverted perspex crownboard to supply ‘headspace’ for the block.

Adios bees … I’ll be again in a number of weeks to reposition the Apivar 🙂 .

Notes

This isn’t the place for a protracted dialogue concerning the economics of beekeeping right here. By way of gross sales, one tremendous (assume ~10 kg of extracted honey) is price about the identical as an overwintered nuc. My suggestion to ‘make bees’ as an alternative of honey achieves three issues:

• offset ‘losses’ from honey gross sales by promoting nucs
• repopulate (and/or broaden) your individual apiaries with sturdy nucs subsequent spring
• present native bees for beekeepers, somewhat than them counting on imports

With a conservative 3- and even 4-way cut up of a midsummer manufacturing colony all of the above ought to be achievable … if you know the way to rear queens and have sufficient nuc containers 😉 .

References

Keasar, T., Sadeh, A., and Shmida, A. (2008) Variability in nectar manufacturing and standing crop, and their relation to pollinator visits in a Mediterranean shrub. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 2: 117–123 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-008-9040-9.

Lawson, D.A., and Rands, S.A. (2019) The consequences of rainfall on plant–pollinator interactions. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 13: 561–569 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-019-09686-z.

Riessberger, U., and Crailsheim, Okay. (1997) Quick-term impact of various climate situations upon the behaviour of forager and nurse honey bees (Apis mellifera carnica Pollmann). Apidologie 28: 411–426 http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/apido:19970608.