The local beekeeper now has 4 hives in my yard - he's hoping to put 6 which is the limit on my 1 acre lot. The hives are all under my fruit trees in an area we don't mow. They get partial sun during the day. I may not be a beekeeper myself yet, but he's got me feeding them sugar water which they are really sucking down. One hive sucks down a quart a day so we're putting on a second feeder. My spouse and I only go out to swap jars very early in the morning.
The hives are:
1 average swarm captured and delivered May 26. They suck down 1/3 to 1/2 a jar of sugar water.
1 hive which had been abandoned fro years, but a swarm moved in this year. Delivered this past Saturday.
1 huge swarm captured and delivered this past Sunday. This one sucked down the quart of sugar water already.
1 average swarm captured and delivered today.

The beekeeper figures that two more hives will be delivered this week.

This has been quite the learning experience.

Hooray for you tabby!

Yay for your property Tabby. The larger swarm has more bees so they will use more sugar water than the others.

They are in a great location too from the sounds of it.

I'm curious how does the beekeeper know how many hives can do well on 1 acres of land? I've been trying to find that information for awhile now with no luck.

Margaret - it's a legal thing. That's how many hives are allowed per acre by the county.

Ah I see I knew about those. We have 360 acres and not sure how many hives will do well here. Guess we'll find out as we go.

There's no pat formula. It depends on how much nectar is within reasonable flying distance. And you well know that that is subject to weather conditions & about a billion other things varying from season to season, year to year. As long as they have enough nectar sources & pollen sources the sky's the limit. Of course, that doesn't take into account "putting too many eggs in one basket" which is never a good idea. One wouldn't want to put them at risk of spreading disease like wildfire through the entirety of your hives if things got bad like that.
Common sense. Margaret, you have good common sense -- trust it & let it guide you.

Thanks Ann for that information. We have plenty for them most of the time but our drought season is usually from mid-July to sometimes the end of September. I'm working to add more plants for that period close by since they don't collect as much when it's so hot due to needing water more.

This year they aren't swarming as much as before which is worrying DH no end.

Does anyone know about BK regulations in League City, Texas? We are looking at houses in that area and I'd really like to have another hive. I also need to find some plans for Texas Top Bar Hives if anyone has a handle on those.

HI Jerry
Best way to find out regulations on beekeeping is to check the phone book for beekeepers associations and call. Or try the County Extension Office that serves the community you are interested in.

Dave was going to make some top bar hives so tree-mail him and ask about his plans for making one. He's in Texas so would know more about that.

Good luck in finding the perfect place for you and the bees.

Welcome to ATP

My top bar hive was made using the free plans from http://www.biobees.com/ and I am quite happy with it.

You can download the plans on their site (click on "free beehive plans" in their footer). If you have trouble getting it, contact me and I can send you the PDF through email.

Thanks for responding Dave. Hope your bees are doing well.

They certainly are! They've been coming and going quite a bit the past couple weeks and I'm not sure where they are going but the hive is very strong. I'm looking forward to the spring blooming season! I'm growing a lot of basil this year just for my bees.

This early in the season willow and maple are their sources. They are working crocus here

We have a tremendous amount of willow trees but I haven't seen them opening up yet.

Maybe a check on which way they are going when leaving the hive will give you a clue of where to look for their food sources. Ours are busy as well and it's usually maple but could also be pine or cedar.