CATDOLL : CATDOLL: I have two honeycombs with very few bees. What should I do if there are more honeycombs than brood combs?

1. I have two honeycombs but not many bees. What should I do if there are more honeycombs than brood combs?

The reproduction of bees has little to do with the number of honeycombs. If there is no nectar source or pollen source outside, even if you put an empty comb for the queen bee to lay eggs, the eggs will only be a little bigger than the size of a bowl. If there are few bees, you can just leave one comb in the hive.

2. How often should honey bees add honeycombs in spring breeding? What should be paid attention to in spring breeding of honey bees?

answer

Generally, it is necessary to add more honeycombs 30 days after the first honeycomb of bees is grown in spring. The specific conditions are determined according to the colony strength, weather, nectar source, technology and other conditions. The principle is to ensure that the bee colony has sufficient ability to protect the honeycombs. The climate is changeable during the spring breeding period, and the temperature difference between day and night is large. Attention should be paid to heat preservation. The specific time of spring breeding should follow the principle of "better late than early". In the early stage of spring breeding, it is necessary to ensure that "there are more bees than honeycombs", and in the middle stage, it is necessary to ensure that "there are fewer bees and more honeycombs". Do not have "few bees and more honeycombs". During spring breeding, reward feeding must be continuous, and the hygiene of the feed must be ensured.

1. How many days should be spent on adding honeycombs to a honeycomb in spring breeding?

1. Generally, it takes 30 days for a beehive to be added to the spring breeding. The specific conditions should be based on the colony strength, weather, nectar source, technology and other conditions. The principle is to ensure that the colony has sufficient ability to protect the honeycomb. Generally, do not add honeycombs in the first 30 days, otherwise the worker bees may suffer from spring decline due to insufficient ability to protect the honeycomb.

2. In the spring multiplication of one beehive, you cannot add a whole honeycomb at a time. In the early stage, you can add 1/4 honeycomb. When the colony strength reaches two honeycombs, you can add half a honeycomb. When the colony strength reaches three or more honeycombs, you can directly add a whole honeycomb. When adding honeycombs, you should add new honeycombs on both sides to help the worker bees protect the honeycombs. After the colony strength becomes stronger, you can add them in the middle to help the worker bees build honeycombs quickly.

2. What are the precautions for bee spring breeding?

1. Strengthen insulation

The climate during the spring breeding season is more changeable, with a large temperature difference between day and night. Too low temperatures at night may cause worker bees to freeze to death, so good insulation work must be done.

2. Better late than early

The specific time of spring breeding varies with different climates in different places, but the basic principle of spring breeding is "better late than early". Too low temperature too early will cause the bee colony to "prematurely age", and too late will not catch up with the nectar flow period of major nectar sources.

3. More bees than spleens

In the early stage of spring breeding, it is necessary to ensure that there are more bees than combs. When adding combs in the middle stage, it is necessary to ensure that there are "proportionate bees and combs". Do not add "few bees and too many combs". If there are too many combs and too few bees, it will be bad for the bee colony to keep warm and for the worker bees to protect the combs, which will lead to the freezing of brood combs or the outbreak of various larval diseases.

4. Reward Feeding

During spring breeding, reward feeding must be continuous, and the hygiene of the feed must be guaranteed to prevent the bee colony from developing bee diseases due to eating problematic feed.

3. How to relieve swarming fever in beekeeping?

1. Breeding of improved varieties

Different species of bees have different swarming characteristics. Even different colonies of the same species of bees have different intensities of swarming characteristics. Swarming characteristics are highly hereditary and are mainly inherited through queen bees and drones. Therefore, when breeding queen bees, high-yield colonies that can maintain strong colonies should be selected as mother colonies. At the same time, the drone cells in colonies with strong swarming characteristics should be regularly removed, and the drone cells in colonies with weaker swarming characteristics should be retained, so that the swarming characteristics of the entire apiary can be improved.

2. Replacement of the new king

The queen bee maintains order in the bee colony by secreting "queen pheromones". As it ages, its "control" over the bee colony will gradually weaken. The new queen bee can secrete more "queen pheromones", and therefore has stronger "control" over the bee colony than the old queen bee. At the same time, the new queen bee lays more eggs, which can not only speed up the development of the bee colony, but also maintain the work intensity of the nursing bees in the colony and relieve swarming fever.

3. Adjust the spleen

One of the main reasons for swarm fever in bee colonies is excess feeding capacity. Therefore, the capped combs in the bee colony experiencing swarm fever can be taken out to supply the weak colony, and egg and larvae combs from other colonies can be added to increase the feeding burden of the bee colony experiencing swarm fever, thereby consuming the excess feeding capacity in the bee colony experiencing swarm fever. The advantage of this method is that it can balance the colony's strength, but it will seriously affect the honey production of the bee colony experiencing swarm fever.

4. Add spleen to extract honey

Overcrowding inside the bee colony is also a cause of swarm fever, especially during the period of high nectar flow, when a large number of honey and pollen combs will occupy the space for the queen bee to lay eggs. At the same time, due to the limitations of the beehive, the worker bees have no place to build new combs, which leads to extremely strong swarm fever in the bee colony. At this time, the honey in the hive can be taken out, and then a certain number of empty combs can be added for the queen bee to lay eggs. This method is also very effective in relieving swarm fever.

5. Destroy the Royal Platform

The appearance of queen cells in a bee colony is an obvious sign of swarm fever, so the bee colony should be inspected regularly and queen cells should be cleaned up in time when found. Although this method can alleviate swarm fever in a short period of time, it is only a temporary solution and does not address the root cause. Doing so in the long term will cause worker bees to slack off and affect the queen bee's egg-laying and the development of the bee colony. It can even cause some bee colonies with extremely strong swarming intentions to swarm after the queen bee lays eggs in the queen cell.

6. Artificial grouping

When bee fever cannot be relieved, the best way is to artificially divide the colony. First, divide the bees and brood combs in the colony into two areas. Separate the middle with a partition so that the bees cannot pass through each other. At the same time, clean out the queen cells in the area with the queen colony. Regularly take out the empty combs from the queenless colony to replace the brood combs in the queen colony. After capping the queen cells in the queenless colony, select the best one and destroy the others. After the new queen starts laying eggs, transfer the old queen colony to other beehives for breeding.

Summary: When a bee colony is in swarming fever, worker bees will reduce the amount of honey they collect and the amount of honey they make, and the queen bee will reduce or even stop laying eggs. At the same time, swarming fever often occurs during the peak nectar flow period, which will seriously affect the economic benefits of beekeeping. Therefore, how to relieve swarming fever is an essential skill for every beekeeper.

1. Selection of good varieties: select a high-yield bee colony that can keep the colony strong as the mother bee colony, and regularly remove the strong bee colonies. 2. Replace the new queen: the new queen can secrete more "queen pheromone". 3. Adjust the spleen: supply cap spleen in the sub-bee hot colony, and supplement egg spleen in other colonies. 4. Add spleen to take honey: take out the honey in the hive, add a certain amount of empty spleen, and lay eggs for the queen bee. 5. Destroy the queen cell. 6. Manual grouping.

The beehives can be placed under the shade of some trees so that the heat inside can be shared and better reproduction can be achieved.

The first is to extract honey, the second is to expand the hive space, the third is to strengthen the strong and compensate for the weak, and the fourth is artificial swarming. Bee Tribe introduces the methods and reasons for these four common methods.