Annual amount of nectar/honeydew collected

Why?

A very well-developed production colony can, under good forage conditions, collect about 150 to 250 kg of nectar and/or honeydew over a year. This is an indicative benchmark: the actual quantity varies greatly according to the region, the weather, the available forage plants, colony strength and the duration of the nectar flows.

Nectar and honeydew are not yet honey. They are raw materials rich in water and sugars. The bees transform them gradually through exchanges between workers, through the action of enzymes and above all through the evaporation of a large part of the water.

What to understand

Nectar can contain very variable proportions of sugars and water. As a simple order of magnitude, one can bear in mind that a sugary liquid collected by the bees often contains much more water than ripe honey. Capped honey, for its part, must be sufficiently concentrated to keep.

Thus, a large mass of nectar or honeydew yields only a markedly smaller quantity of honey. From about 150 to 250 kg of nectar and/or honeydew, a colony can produce about 50 to 80 kg of honey, depending on the initial sugar content and the efficiency of ripening.

A significant part of this production serves first of all the colony itself: feeding of the adult bees, rearing of the brood, wax production, foraging activity, maintenance of thermal regulation and building up of the stores. Only the surplus actually available in the supers can be harvested by the beekeeper.

What to remember

The colony collects far more nectar and honeydew than the final quantity of honey visible in the supers.

The correct answer is therefore about 150 to 250 kg, but this figure should be understood as an order of magnitude for a strong colony under good conditions, and not as a fixed value.

Further reading

► Astonishing figures about bees
► All about feeding
► Mastering the water content of honey
► The honey harvest