How much honey does one hive produce per season? How much honey does one family produce per season?

How much honey can you get from one hive?

To practice beekeeping, you need to at least approximately know how much honey one hive produces. This will help calculate possible profits and assess risks. Every beekeeper strives to get as much product as possible from his apiary, but for this he must meet certain conditions.

Most often, novice beekeepers are interested in how much honey one hive produces per season. After all, most beekeepers hope to lead successful business, and to do this they need to know how quickly the costs will return. But the amount of honey is influenced by many factors: from the size of the hive to the breed of bees.

The answer to a question that interests all beekeepers

Most bee “houses” have 11-12 frames, each of which collects about 1.5 kg of honey. Thus, it is easy to calculate that one hive can accumulate about 17 kg of honey. In practice, it always turns out a little less, because the bees only fill the outer frames halfway. In addition, it is almost impossible to squeeze all the honey out of the frame. Therefore, on average, about 13 kg of product can be obtained from one hive at a time.

It remains to be seen how many times during the honey-bearing season the little striped workers will manage to fill all the frames. Here it is worth taking into account such factors as the presence of honey-producing plants, climate, as well as the quality of organization bee family. Under unfavorable conditions, sometimes it is possible to collect only 20-30 kg. But this happens extremely rarely, and on average each hive produces from 50 to 70 kg of product.

Experienced beekeepers can collect up to 200 kg of product per year. For such good results, you need not only to know all the intricacies of beekeeping, but also to choose the right place for the hives. This amount of honey obtained allows you not only to earn good money, but also to provide the bees with natural nutrition for the winter, and not sugar syrup.

How to collect the maximum amount of honey from one hive?

To bring in a year maximum amount honey, bees must have a good honey supply at their disposal. The apiary should be placed so that there are as many flowering plants as possible within a radius of several kilometers. An area with an abundance of orchards is ideal.

But no matter how much honey each individual flower produces, it has a very limited lifespan. Typically, trees bloom for no more than a week, but wildflowers can fade in one day. To increase the efficiency of the apiary, it is necessary to ensure that the honey collection period is as long as possible.

To do this, bees must have both early and late flowering plants. The honey collection period should begin at the end of March and end in mid-September. If it is continuous, the bees will be able to fill each hive at least 10 times, which will yield about 100 kg of product.

To get the maximum effect from flowering plants, you also need to choose the right breed of bees. Millions of years of evolution, as well as artificial selection, have made some species of bees perfectly adapted to specific conditions. Carefully study the location of your future apiary before choosing any breed.

What to do if there is no honey base?

In this case the best solution will become an apiary on wheels. Moving hives onto trailers is not so easy, but you can always provide the bees with raw materials for honey production. With the right choice of target, one hive can produce more than 150 kg of product. It is best to bring the apiary to fields, for example, sunflower or buckwheat. This will benefit not only you, but also farmers, because bees can raise crops quite well.

Abroad, the provision of bees for pollination has long been profitable business. Beekeepers consider the resulting honey as a small bonus to their basic income. For now, at best, farmers will not charge a fee for the use of their plantings.

"On the importance of hive design"

In this video you can find out how important a competent design of a bee hive is to obtain large quantity honey

More information

For a beekeeper to correctly assess his costs and how much profit he will get in the end, certain records must be kept. Any beekeeper calculates how much honey he can take from the hive. Unfortunately, the bribe from the hive varies from year to year, which is influenced by many factors.

Approximate calculations

  • a barren hive is a hive whose harvest is less than 10 kg;
  • a good bribe is when beekeepers reach a honey collection of up to 150 kg.

The collection from each of the 12 installed frames in the hive is slightly more than 1.2 kg of product. As a result, one “bee house” produces on average about 15 kg. But in practice, these indicators are not entirely accurate, because the frames are not always completely filled with honey, and the beekeeper cannot pump out all the honey to the end. Therefore, the norm is considered to be a bribe from 12-15 kg per house.

The intensive work of the bee colony allows it to fill the frames with honey several times. It all depends on a combination of factors developing around the hives, such as the weather, the presence of the necessary vegetation, etc. Experienced beekeepers manage to consistently collect 60-80 kg of sweet product from a hive per season.

Such figures can serve as a guarantee of good income and quality food for bees in winter period, and not feeding them with syrup.

Conditions affecting collection

As an indicator, how much honey does one hive produce per season?, influenced by certain conditions:

  • the honey base can be considered the basic conditions. The bee feeds on nectar and pollen on plant flowers. An apiary located in a good location, where there are many flowers in the meadows, orchards and fields with buckwheat, is likely to produce a high yield from the hive. In search of such places, many beekeepers move long distances with their apiaries;
  • favorable weather for the entire flowering period of plants. Therefore, the honey-bearing period in the south lasts much longer;
  • It is necessary to monitor the number of worker bees after winter. The number of foraging bees is sharply reduced, which negatively affects honey collection. To preserve them, there are special vitamin supplements that improve the design of the hives;
  • The swarming of bees also affects the receipt of a good harvest; if you do not cope with it, you may be left without honey at all. This is the process of bees flying out of their house, forming a swarm nearby. The beekeeper, having caught the queen, puts her in a box, and then the swarm is placed in a new house.

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the main objective Every beekeeper's goal is to collect as much honey and other products produced by bees as possible. On this occasion, novice beekeepers often wonder how much honey one hive produces per season, to which there is practically no definite answer. Because honey collection is influenced by many various factors, including the location of apiaries by regional districts and regions.

Experienced beekeepers know that the difference in the amount of honey collected can differ even in nearby hives in the same apiary. For some, the harvest per hive is 20-30 kg, and for others, even 50-60 kg per season does not seem like a big record.

Usually, a well-developed bee colony, during the honey harvesting season, is able to fill the frames with honey several times. As a result, from such a hive, if the weather is favorable for bees, on average up to 45 kg of honey can be collected per season. True, such results will be beyond the capabilities of a young bee colony until it gets stronger.

An apiary is not only a cute hobby, but also a means of earning money, so the question of how much honey one hive produces per season is extremely important. Experienced beekeepers know that the “yield” of honey can vary, but there are factors that influence it.

What affects the amount of honey in a hive: main factors

The amount of honey is influenced by the following factors:

  1. Hive size and number of frames;
  2. Breed and health of bees. Strong families produce more honey, weak families produce less. Not every bee can easily adapt to collecting in a certain region. So, in one area it is effective to keep Caucasian bees, and in another -
    Central Russian.
  3. The presence of an abundance of honey plants and the climate of the region. Some beekeepers because unfavorable conditions engage in nomadic beekeeping to help increase the yield of their hives.

With a small amount of honey collected, some apiaries are reorganized for breeding and sale good breeds bees, which is also quite profitable.

How much honey can you get from 1 hive per season?

How much honey can you collect in a season? There is no specific answer to this question. A standard bee house consists of 12 frames, each holding up to 1.5 kg. A simple calculation shows that 1 hive accumulates 17-18 kg of treats, but in practice it turns out less, because the bees fill the side frames by half. It turns out that from 11 to 13 kg of honey is collected from 1 hive.

During a season, bees can fill a hive with up to 20 kg, and in favorable regions the amount of honey per year increases to 50-70 kg.

How to increase the amount of commercial honey?

Let's look at some tips:

  1. The location of the bees should be optimally close to the honey plants. Within a radius of 1 km around the apiary there should be an extensive honey supply, because insects simply will not fly further. Areas with fields or orchards are ideal.
  2. Location near a body of water so that bees do not waste energy searching for water.
  3. Hardworking insects should have early and late blooming honey plants at their disposal. Otherwise, the beekeeper will receive honey from 1-2 plants, for example, linden and clover, and the rest of the time there will simply be no work for the bees.

If all these conditions are met and the insects are surrounded by continuously flowering plants, then the annual income from one hive will exceed 150 kg, and you will empty the hive 8 to 10 times a year.

To increase the productivity of bees, it is necessary to strengthen colonies, creating optimal space for insects to live. So, in order to save them from the need to take out the garbage (20% of energy costs), a mesh bottom is installed in the hive. Convenient drinking bowls and constant availability of water in the apiary also optimize the work of bees.

What to do if there is no honey base?

Of course, there are many secrets, but without a large number of honey plants it is technically impossible to speed up the filling of hives.

The lack of honey plants can be solved in one way - putting the apiary on wheels. Moving bees into a car and traveling with them is a difficult task, but it can be done, especially since it will bring good profit at the end of the season.

You will transport bees throughout the region and beyond, managing to get honey from the best and richest honey plants. To make this task easier, it is recommended to team up with a friend or find a nomadic beekeeping partner.

It is possible and necessary to improve the apiary, strengthen families and optimize the work space. It is recommended to carefully select a region for productive commercial beekeeping, because along with the amount of honey in the hive, the amount of propolis, royal jelly and beebread increases, which modern market are highly valued.

Many factors influence how much honey one hive produces per apiary season. Because this amount is so different in individual countries, regions, regions and even districts.

Experienced beekeepers know that this amount is different even in nearby apiaries and in nearby hives. Some people are content with 20–30 kg per bee colony and feed the bees with sugar syrup for the winter, while for others 100–150 kg per season is not a record. At the same time, only natural food is left for the bees in the winter, and not substitutes.

In this article you will learn about how much honey one hive in an apiary produces and what factors influence this amount.


I know that many novice beekeepers are interested in this question before questions of the biology of the bee colony. Unfortunately, such beginners never become experienced, professional beekeepers.

Or, they orient the apiary towards, and engage in batch beekeeping.

Climate also affects the bees themselves, or rather their breed in a given area. Nature, over the years of evolution, has adapted individual breeds bees for life in certain climatic zones.

So do different breeds bees and different productivity of commercial honey.

When choosing a bee breed, you should take into account that not every breed is able to live, winter successfully and produce marketable honey in one particular region.

So in one area it is best to breed gray mountain Caucasian bees, in another region - Central Russian, Carpathian, Ukrainian steppe or carnika.

It also affects how much honey one hive produces per season, namely its size.

All records for the amount of marketable honey belong to a multi-hull hive. The bees need to store the product somewhere.

To do this, there must be empty honeycombs that are not occupied by sowing. It’s not for nothing that spare honeycombs are called the apiary’s golden fund.

But the greatest influence on the amount of marketable honey from an apiary is exerted by the skill and experience of the beekeeper.

A lot depends on the beekeeper in a modern apiary. This is breeding work: breeding with high-quality queens that show high winter hardiness and high rates of commercial honey.

Timely creation of conditions for the spring growth of bees, timely installation of spare honeycombs and newly waxed frames or entire buildings.

Transporting bees to honey plants.

Avoid swarming, as swarming reduces the strength of bee colonies.

Timely and quick selection of honey, since many apiaries pump honey several times a season.

Well, proper conditions for bees in autumn and winter.

How much honey does one hive produce in my apiary?

Finally, I’ll tell you how much honey one hive in my apiary produces.

May the reader forgive me for not answering this question immediately, simply and unambiguously, with one number.

I didn’t answer you with a simple number because one number by itself doesn’t say anything.

I do beekeeping in the east of Ukraine. I breed Carpathian bees, although they are not suitable for the area, according to the bee breed zoning plan.

I don’t know who compiled it, but the results say the opposite.

I keep bees in Dadan beds for 18 - 20 frames with a half-frame magazine.

My apiary indicators: for each wintered family I take an average of 100 -. My bees overwinter on honey - a mixture of sunflowers and herbs.

These figures, theoretically, could be higher. Because there is still something to work on.

The apiary is stationary. The region has a tax-free period that can last the whole of June, and sometimes longer. If all this is solved, the apiary’s performance will increase.

What are your apiary indicators for the season?

In this article you learned about how much honey one hive produces per season. What factors influence this number?

Important!!!

Experienced beekeepers talk about three components that affect the amount of marketable honey per season - these are:

1. The presence of a bribe.
2. The presence of empty unoccupied cells.
3. The power of bee families.

Video about pumping honey.

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A novice beekeeper has many questions. We need to figure out how to purchase or manufacture hives. Buy and place bees. And also, understand how much honey one hive produces, and whether it will be profitable to invest in an apiary. Experienced beekeepers can answer these and other questions.

Typically, a beekeeper receives 13–14 kg of honey from one hive

Simple calculations

Each hive contains one bee colony. To accumulate honey, 11–12 frames are usually placed in it. Each frame can collect approximately 1.5 kg of product. This means that up to 17 kg of healthy sweet product can accumulate in the hive at the same time. But during pumping it is rarely possible to get so much honey; the bees actively fill the inner frames, and the two outer ones remain half empty. Typically, a beekeeper receives 13–14 kg of sweets from one hive.

However, in a dry summer, the amount of honey from one hive may not even reach these levels. The bees diligently collect the harvest, but if there are few honey plants, then it takes more time and the frames are not filled as intensively. In this case, one pumping will yield 7–10 kg of product.

When buying honey, you have repeatedly noticed that the seller offers to try different varieties of the product. This is May, buckwheat, clover or a variety collected from forbs. There are several seasons of honey collection.

A powerful, well-developed family can fill the frames several times per season. Thus, 30-45 kg of honey is obtained from one bee house during the season. But bees collect such quantities under favorable weather conditions.

Amount of honey per year. A novice beekeeper would like to estimate not only the amount of honey per season, but also for the entire year. In this case, the entire product that was collected from the first pumping until the departure of the bee colony for the winter is taken into account. IN good year You can get more than 100 kg of honey from one hive. And an experienced beekeeper can achieve even better results.

Each hive contains one bee colony

What does a powerful (strong) family mean?

The strength of a bee colony can be measured in several ways:

  • the number of densely occupied frames in the hive;
  • family weight in kilograms;
  • the number of bees in the family.

It has been established that a strong bee colony collects 3 times more honey than a weak one. That's quite a lot. Such productivity is achieved due to the fact that in a strong family, individual individuals are less burdened with the work of raising brood. The daily egg production of a queen bee reaches 2 thousand. To service them, you will need about three kilograms of adult bees. IN big family There is a reserve dedicated only to honey procurement. This allows them to use time more efficiently during the honey harvest season.

Weak families, weighing no more than two kilograms, release approximately 20% of individuals into the field. Strong colonies weighing 5 kg or more – 65% of bees. Therefore, the beekeeper needs to carefully monitor the creation of strong colonies in his apiary.

What does productivity depend on?

The amount of honey (yield) that can be collected from your apiary depends on many factors:


Main breeds of bees

The main breeds of bees bred in apiaries are:

  • Central Russian is a disease-resistant, hardy and productive breed, formed in the conditions of Central and Northern Europe. Bees are energetic during the main honey flow, making the most of each flower.
  • Carpathian bee. Peaceful, productive, winter-hardy (but not as much as the Central Russian) variety. Bees are able to start collecting honey in more early age, and collect low-sugar nectar.
  • Italian breed, enterprising and efficient bee. Individuals are resistant to disease and produce a lot of wax. They clean nests well and are characterized by low swarming. Families can quickly switch to a more honey-bearing area.
  • The Ukrainian steppe bee is a low-sick, winter-hardy and efficient breed. Bees quickly master strong honey flows.
  • The Carpathian breed, whose bees develop quickly, tolerate temperature changes well, and are able to work in mountainous areas.
  • Buckfast, a hybrid variety that differs high productivity and resistance to disease. Bees of this species almost never swarm.

This is far from full list popular breeds that may appeal to a beekeeper. The choice always remains with the beekeeper, so all decisions must be balanced. But, check, getting high rates of pumping honey from each hive is quite possible for anyone who wants it.