Logo primary
Logo secondary
No Small Dreams
No Small Dreams
Details
Commenced:
01/06/2010
Submitted:
06/02/2011
Last updated:
07/10/2015
Location:
Graceville, Queensland, AU
Website:
http://nosmalldreams.net/
Climate zone:
Sub-tropical





My Projects

(projects i'm involved in)

No Small Dreams

No Small Dreams

Graceville, AU


Followers
Ben Hamley Bron(wyn) Elliott Chief Phillip 'Cloudpiler' Landis Deborah Farrell Derik Keith Frank Gapinski Grahame Eddy Jonathon Coombes karl tuite Kirsten Bradley Luca Sichel Turco maria baltazzi Mark Brown Merry Cox Millie Hrdina Pedro Franco Pete Blake Ruiz Chris Salah Hammad Stephanie Ladwig-Cooper Stephen Koen Steve Gardin Tom Kendall Valeria Andrews Vanessa Monge Augusto Fernandes Zak Partoredjo

Back to No Small Dreams

Splitting off bee colonies

Project: No Small Dreams

Posted by Tim Auld about 13 years ago

My first attempt at splitting off a colony and introducing a new queen - a success!

It's been a while since I've provided news here of my horizontal top bar bee hive. So a brief summary is in order. First, the size of the colony has grown dramatically - through winter. Secondly, it's been producing large amounts of honey and wax. I've been harvesting every 3 or 4 weeks because the bees just fill out the space so rapidly, although I have a feeling I should leave it longer and let them fill and mature the combs more completely. In any case the previous harvest secured 7.5kg of honey from 3.5 weeks, an annual rate of 111kg. Much more than I expected.

During the week a new client called and asked if he could populate his hives with my bees. I agreed, and so on Saturday we opened up my hive and took out brood and honeycomb, enough to start off his colony. I did the same for the second bee hive I built which is going to another client. We each had a queen and so I pressed my cage into the wax of a comb, crossing my fingers that the queen got out and the workers didn't kill her.

Along with the two nuc colonies, each with two bars of honeycomb, I harvested 3.5kg of honey and 260g of wax. I estimate that was a total of about 9kg of honey, giving an annual rate of somewhere around 175kg. I don't yet know how much production fluctuates by season so I can't say what an average year will yield, but this has far exceeded my expectations, even if it is a good season.

Needless to say this is more honey than I can consume. I've given some to friends and family, donated some to fundraising efforts for the Brisbane Permablitz network, and selling the surplus to the cafe whose herb & veggie garden I maintain. My name is on the menu now!

This morning I opened up the hive and like clockwork she had escaped and was prolifically laying eggs. I was very happy. This producing food business really is good fun.

Img 6814 Img 6868 Img 6926 Img 6930 Img 6937 Img 6950 Img 6955 Img 6961 Img 6968 Img 6648

Comments (2)

You must be logged in to comment.

Mark Brown
Mark Brown : facinating story Tim - well done. It is a very rewarding and productive occupation.
Posted about 13 years ago

Report Mark Brown on Splitting off bee colonies

Reason:

or cancel

Millie Hrdina
Millie Hrdina : Good work! Great photos! Inspiring - I'm still on the fence with regards to bees. Thank you for share your experience.
Posted about 13 years ago

Report Millie Hrdina on Splitting off bee colonies

Reason:

or cancel

Courses Taught Here!
Project Badges
Urban Residential
Administrators
Tim Auld - Admin
Team Members

Report No Small Dreams

Reason:

or cancel

Hide No Small Dreams

Reason:

or cancel

Hide Splitting off bee colonies

Reason:

or cancel

Legend of Badges

Note: The various badges displayed in people profiles are largely honesty-based self-proclamations by the individuals themselves. There are reporting functions users can use if they know of blatant misrepresentation (for both people and projects). Legitimacy, competency and reputation for all people and projects can be evidenced and/or developed through their providing regular updates on permaculture work they’re involved in, before/after photographs, etc. A spirit of objective nurturing of both people and projects through knowledge/encouragement/inspiration/resource sharing is the aim of the Worldwide Permaculture Network.

Member

Member

A member is a permaculturist who has never taken a PDC course. These cannot become PDC teachers. Members may be novice or highly experienced permaculturists or anywhere in between. Watch their updates for evaluation.

Male memberFemale member

Permaculture Matchmaker

One of these badges will show if you select your gender and the "I'm single, looking for a permaculture partner" option in your profile.

unverified

PDC

People who claim to have taken a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course somewhere in the world.

verified

PDC Verified

People who have entered an email address for the teacher of their PDC course, and have had their PDC status verified by that teacher. Watch their updates for evaluation.

pri_verified

PRI PDC

People who’ve taken a Permaculture Research Institute PDC somewhere in the world.

pdc_teacher

PDC Teacher

People who claim to teach some version of PDC somewhere in the world.

pri_teacher

PRI Teacher

With the exception of the ‘Member’ who has never taken a PDC, all of the above can apply to become a PRI PDC Teacher. PRI PDC Teachers are those who the PRI recognise, through a vetting board, as determined and competent to teach the full 72-hour course as developed by Permaculture founder Bill Mollison – covering all the topics of The Designers’ Manual as well as possible (i.e. not cherry picking only aspects the teacher feels most interested or competent in). Such teachers also commit to focussing on the design science, and not including subjective spiritual/metaphysical elements. The reason these items are not included in the PDC curriculum is because they are “belief” based. Permaculture Design education concerns itself with teaching good design based on strategies and techniques which are scientifically provable.

PRI PDC Teachers may be given teaching and/or consultancy offerings as they become available as the network grows.

pri_teacher

Aid Worker

The individual with this badge is indicating they are, have, or would like to be involved in permaculture aid work. As such, the individual may or may not have permaculture aid worker experience. Watch their updates for evaluation.

pri_teacher

Consultant

The individual with this badge is indicating they are, have, or would like to do paid permaculture design consultancy work. As such, the individual may or may not have permaculture consultancy experience. Watch their updates for evaluation.

community

Community Project

Community projects are projects that help develop sustainable community interaction and increase localised resiliency.

Report Splitting off bee colonies

Reason:

or cancel