How many hives in one point - 3 times more honey!

[Finman]

We discussed in Finnish forum,
- how many hives you can keep in one point?
- How many hives you need to pollinate turnip ripe hectar?

I supposed that those standards are from old ages, and during my time hives are now 3 times so big than 40 years ago.

And indeed. One beekeeper found that turnip ripe field needs 2-3 hives per hehtar. The book was printed 1964.

Also  we have 50 years old bee books and they say that you can keep 10 hives in one point. In those days pastures were really good and hives had 2 boxes.


50 years ago In Finland over 50% of people worked in farm work. Everywhere was cows and horses, weeds and clowes.

Now whole system is different. We have only 5% in farm work. Fields are handled with weed hormones. The are no open ditch verges or flowering field verges.

This and last summer my standard was  1 hive per 5-10 hactar turnip ripe. When turnip ripe is over after 2 weeks, bees must use natural pastures.

AND THERE IS NO OTHER'S BEES ON MY PASTURES!

With this system I can get 3 times more honey than with "my father said" style.

[Lesli]

I feel pretty lucky in that where I live, there is a lot of "fence row" vegetation, lots of weeds in ditches, and lots of fields that are no longer cultivated. There are no crops that produce nectar for my girls--but I consider that a good thing, since buckwheat etc. would likely be sprayed with insecticides.