How long does it take to get honey from a new hive?

❤️ If you've found this 'How long does it take' article helpful, share it with others ❤️
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Bees produce honey from the sugary secretions of plants (floral nectar) or from secretions of other insects (such as honeydew), by regurgitation, enzymatic activity, and water evaporation. Bees store honey in wax structures called honeycombs [1] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03949370.1991.10721919.

According to BeeHour [2]https://beehour.com/how-long-does-it-take-to-get-honey-from-a-new-hive/, some amount of honey is ready to be harvested from a new hive within four to six months from when the colony of bees was introduced to the hive. Experts also recommend that you not harvest at all or keep it to a minimum during the first season. This is because bees will need to produce wax and ‘draw out’ the comb. And this alone will use up a lot of their energy. Bee colony will need the comb for the queen to be able to lay eggs so the whole family can grow stronger.

According to BeeKeeperFacts[3]https://beekeeperfacts.com/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-new-beehive-to-produce-honey/, it will take a new beehive a minimum of 4 months to produce honey. A new colony may be producing an excess of honey within 4 months, but not necessarily enough for you to harvest. Practically speaking, your unlikely to harvest any honey from a new colony until its second season.

According to reliable resources mentioned above it takes:

~ 365 days, 0 hours, 0 mins, 0 secs

* The above data is an average value.

According to our users it takes:

No user data was submitted yet for this How long does it take article. Be the first one!

What do you think? How long does it take?

You must be logged in to submit your data!

References

References
1 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03949370.1991.10721919
2 https://beehour.com/how-long-does-it-take-to-get-honey-from-a-new-hive/
3 https://beekeeperfacts.com/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-new-beehive-to-produce-honey/