CATDOLL : CATDOLL: What is the technology of beekeeping?

Getting to know bees\x0d\x0aBefore beekeeping, let's first learn some knowledge about bees. At present, there are 7 million colonies of bees in my country, of which 90% are European bees imported from abroad, including Italian bees and Northeast black bees, etc.; and 10% are Chinese bees. Italian bees, referred to as Italian bees. They are widely raised in North China and Northeast China. The Italian queen bee has strong egg-laying ability and the worker bees have strong insect-raising ability. They not only play an important role in production, but also are important breeding materials. Northeast black bees are an intermediate type of European black bees. They have strong reproductive ability and good wintering performance in cold areas. But they cannot maintain strong colonies in areas with low latitudes. Chinese bees are referred to as Chinese bees, which are suitable for living in Northeast my country, Northwest China, North China, East China, Southwest China and other regions. Chinese bees are agile, have a keen sense of smell, are hardworking, and have strong disease resistance, cold resistance and heat resistance. But the honey production and royal jelly secretion ability are slightly lower than those of European bees. \x0d\x0a Through the above introduction, you can choose the appropriate variety and take corresponding breeding measures according to the specific conditions of each region. \x0d\x0a\x0d\x0aBees are social insects. A group of bees usually consists of a queen bee, 1% drones, and 99% worker bees. The queen bee, drones, and worker bees each have their own specialties in the group, work together, and depend on each other. The queen bee is the female bee in the bee colony. Under normal circumstances, there is only one queen bee in a group of bees. The queen bee's duty is to lay eggs. The queen bee mates once, and the sperm stored in the spermatheca can meet the needs of reproduction throughout her life. 2 to 3 days after mating, she starts laying eggs. A queen bee can lay 1,500 to 2,000 eggs a day and night. The queen bee lays two kinds of eggs, one is a fertilized egg, which can develop into a worker bee, and the other is an unfertilized egg, which can develop into a drone. The queen bee develops from the fertilized eggs in the queen bee cell. The queen bee cell is also called the royal cell. The eggs in the queen bee cell grow up because they eat royal jelly, so they develop into queen bees. \x0d\x0a Everyone already knows that there can only be one queen bee in a group of bees. The life span of a queen bee can reach 3 to 5 years. In order to maintain a high egg-laying rate, a new queen bee is generally replaced every year or so. \x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a Then there are several main reasons for the production of a new queen bee in a bee colony: \x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a First, the queen bee in the bee colony is lost or dies. (It takes about 16 days for a new queen bee to develop); \x0d\x0a Second, the bee colony is too large and needs to be divided. \x0d\x0a The third is: the old queen bee needs to be replaced. \x0d\x0a The work of cultivating a new queen bee is usually carried out in autumn (usually in summer) to prepare for high production in the next year. \x0d\x0aWhen two queen bees appear in a bee colony, they will fight each other until only one queen bee is left. Worker bees are incompletely developed female bees in the bee colony. After the worker bee larvae are hatched, they are fed royal jelly by adult worker bees for the first three days, and then they are fed a mixture of honey and pollen from the fourth day. Due to the change in nutritional conditions, the reproductive organs are inhibited and the ability to lay eggs is lost. The function of worker bees is to undertake all work inside and outside the hive. There are different divisions of labor with different ages. When they are just hatched out of the room, they are pale in color, cannot fly, and cannot take on other work. They are called young bees. Young bees aged 1 to 3 days begin to be responsible for the work of keeping the nest warm and cleaning the nest. Young bees aged 4 to 5 days are responsible for feeding large larvae. The royal jelly glands of worker bees aged 6 to 12 days are mature and are responsible for secreting royal jelly and feeding small larvae. The wax glands of worker bees aged 13 to 18 days are well developed and are responsible for secreting beeswax to build honeycombs, make honey, clean nests, carry bee corpses, and defend the hive. Worker bees after 18 days of age are mainly responsible for collecting nectar, pollen, gum and water until they die. Worker bees can live for 30 to 45 days during the honey flow period. They can live for about half a year during the wintering period in the north. \x0d\x0a Drones are different from worker bees. They have no instinct to work and specialize in mating with virgin queen bees. Most drones start flying at 7 to 10 days old and reach sexual maturity at 12 days old. Mating usually takes place between 1 and 5 pm on sunny days. They die shortly after mating. Although the life span of drones can reach 3 to 4 months, they have a large appetite and will be driven out of the nest and die of starvation and cold after the nectar season ends in late autumn. The development of each bee goes through four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult bee. After the queen bee lays the fertilized egg in the hive, within 6 hours, the worker bee will instinctively secrete some royal jelly around the egg. After 3 days, the egg membrane will break and the larvae will hatch. After the larvae hatch, they molt every 36 hours. After 4 molts, they become pupae after 6 days. After the larvae pupate, they are inactive and do not eat, and only consume the nutrients stored in the body. After 11-12 days, they bite open the cell cover and crawl out of the hive to become young bees. The whole development process: the queen bee takes 16-17 days; the worker bee takes 20-21 days; the drone takes 22-24 days. Mastering the development cycle of bees can help us cultivate bees of appropriate age according to the local nectar plants to increase the output of bee products. \x0d\x0a Let's take a look at the equipment needed to raise bees: the beehive, which is what we often call the honeycomb, is a place for bees to live, reproduce and store food. The beehive consists of a large cover, straw curtains, covering cloth, sub-cover, honeycomb, partitions, queen excluder and other parts. There are thousands of neatly arranged and interconnected hexagonal honeycombs on both sides of the honeycomb. The honeycomb is fixed on a wooden frame and is called a frame honeycomb. According to the amount of honey, pollen and larvae on the honeycomb, they are called honey honeycombs, pollen honeycombs, and brood honeycombs. According to the age of the honeycombs, the brood honeycombs are divided into: egg honeycombs, insect honeycombs, capped honeycombs and empty honeycombs. The distance between each honeycomb is called the bee path. The queen excluder is used to separate the insect breeding area and the honey storage area, which is conducive to the maturation and collection of honey and improves production efficiency. The beehive with 10 honeycombs is the most widely used standard beehive. The hive can be expanded in time by stacking supers. We will introduce the method of adding supers to you later. \x0d\x0a After understanding the general situation of bees, you should also make the following preparations before starting beekeeping. \x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a Preparation for beekeeping\x0d\x0aPlants that can be used by bees to collect nectar and pollen are called nectar plants. Nectar is the basis of beekeeping production. Before determining the location for beekeeping, it is necessary to investigate the types, areas, flowering periods, etc. of nectar plants. The main nectar plants that can collect a large amount of commercial honey are: rapeseed among oil crops, sweet clover and alfalfa among forage and green manure, jujube trees among fruit trees, locust trees among forest trees, and vitex among shrubs. Usually, a group of bees needs about 2 to 4 mu of nectar plants. It is also necessary to understand the flowering period of various nectar plants and the honey production of bees in previous years. The bee-releasing site should be selected within 2 km of the main nectar plants. The closer the apiary is to the nectar plants, the better. There should be clean water sources near the apiary, such as lakes, streams, canals, etc., to ensure water for bees and water for beekeepers. The apiary should be selected in a flat, dry, sunny, open southeast direction without obstacles. It is best to have a small hillside or a house or fence in the northwest. It is not suitable to release bees in places with tweeters, street lights, and insect traps nearby. \x0d\x0a When purchasing a bee colony, you must choose the type of bee according to the local nectar source, climate and other conditions. In the plains of Northwest, North China and Northeast my country, the summer is dry and there are large nectar sources with a long nectar flow period. Italian bees can be selected. In the mountainous areas of Northeast China, the winter is long and cold, the spring is short, and the main nectar source blooms early. Northeast black bees with strong cold resistance can be selected. If the local area is located in a mountainous area and there is no concentrated large honey source, you can choose Chinese bees. \x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a The best time to buy bee colonies is in early spring, when the temperature rises and stabilizes, and when the nectar plants begin to bloom. Buying at this time is conducive to the reproduction of the bee colony and the effect is achieved in the same year. You can also buy in summer and autumn, but you should pay attention to the fact that there should be at least one main nectar source in the same year. In this way, even if you can't get a lot of commercial honey, at least you can guarantee the feed reserves needed for the bee colony to survive the winter. Note that it is not advisable to buy bees after the annual nectar source ends. Because at this time, in addition to the purchase cost, you also have to buy sugar to feed the bees. During the winter, the bee colony may die. \x0d\x0a When buying bee colonies, you should also pay attention to the quality of the bee colony. The age of the queen bee should not exceed two years. \x0d\x0a\x0d\x0aIf you buy bees in summer and autumn, it is best to choose a new queen of the year. A good quality queen bee has a large abdomen, a slightly pointed tail, four wings and six legs, and moves steadily. The egg-laying area is large and neat. Good quality worker bees are large and bright in color. When opening the box and taking out the honeycomb, they will not crawl around and have a gentle temperament. The entire bee colony should be healthy and disease-free. The number of bees in the bee colony should not be less than 2 frames in early spring. In summer and autumn, there should be more than 5 frames and a certain number of brood combs. For example, a bee colony with 5 frames should have 3 to 4 frames of brood combs. \x0d\x0a Among them, the sealed honeycombs should account for at least half. In addition, it should be noted that there must be 0.5 to 1 kg of feed honeycombs on each honeycomb. The honeycomb should not be too old. There should not be many drone cells on the honeycomb. After the bee colony is transported back, if there is noise in the box, the box cover can be lifted, placed on the auxiliary cover for ventilation, and water can be sprayed on the nest door. If the site is spacious, the beehive can be arranged in a single box. It is required that the front row and the back row are staggered, and the rows are 2 to 3 meters apart, and the beehives are 1 to 2 meters apart, so that the bees can recognize the nest and the personnel can manage it. If the site is small, two boxes can also be arranged in parallel. Two boxes are placed in a group, 20 cm apart. When arranging beehives, the direction of the nest door is generally south, but it can also be east. Note that the nest door cannot face west, so as to avoid direct sunlight in the afternoon and cause the nest temperature to be too high. \x0d\x0a Bee sting is a self-defense instinct of bees. When the management action is rough, or when standing in front of the beehive, blocking the bee path, or when the beekeeper has a strange smell on his body, it will cause bee stings. Bee stings are harmless to people. If you are stung accidentally, don't be nervous and slap your hands. Calmly scrape off the sting with your fingernails. Don't pull out the sting with your hands to avoid more venom entering the skin. The stung part can be washed with water. Then apply a little ammonia or soapy water, \x0d\x0a Above, we have a preliminary understanding of bees and have made preparations for beekeeping. Next, let's take a look at the daily management of the bee colony. \x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a Daily Management of Bee Colonies\x0d\x0a Checking bee colonies can help us understand the changes in bee colonies so that we can take timely measures and make adjustments to create favorable living conditions for bees. The inspection methods are divided into unpacking inspection and observation outside the box. When unpacking to inspect bee colonies, in order to avoid bee stings, you should wear light-colored clothing and a mask. People should face away from the sun. When opening the auxiliary box cover, first pry it gently with a scraper, and then push the auxiliary cover with your fingers to separate it from the propolis stuck to the box mouth. Turn over the auxiliary cover and lay it flat in front of the beehive. One end is placed on the nest door board to facilitate the bees on the auxiliary cover to climb back into the nest. Use a scraper to gently move the partition and nest frame to separate the frame ears from the grooves of the box body. Use the thumbs and index fingers of both hands to pinch the frame ears at both ends and carefully lift the honeycomb vertically. Note that the honeycombs cannot rub against each other to avoid scratching the queen bee or angering the bees. There are two ways to check the honeycombs. One method is to lift the comb to the height of the line of sight, first look at the side facing, then flip it with the beam on the comb as the axis to look at the other side. Note that the comb should always be kept vertical to the ground when flipping to prevent nectar and pollen from falling out of the cells. \x0d\x0a Another method is to first look at the side facing the line of sight, then lower the comb, tilt the upper part of the comb 45 degrees toward the line of sight, and look at the other side. When checking the comb, it must be done above the beehive, especially for double queen colonies. It is best to observe from the top of the side where the comb is lifted to prevent the queen from falling and causing losses. Because the bees are crowded and not conducive to observation, you can use your wrist to quickly vibrate up and down a few times when the comb is halfway out of the box, and use inertia to shake off the bees. If there are many bees remaining on the comb, you can use a soft bee broom to gently brush them away. \x0d\x0a Now that you have learned how to open the box for inspection, let's take a look at what needs to be checked. \x0d\x0a\x0d\x0aFirst, check whether the queen is present. Take out the comb from the center of the bee colony. If you can't see the queen bee or the eggs, the bees will crawl around and make a sound like flapping wings. This is the sign that the bee colony has lost its queen. If there are multiple eggs in the nest cell, and most of them are laid on the wall of the cell, it is very messy, which means that the queen has been lost for a long time and the worker bees have begun to lay eggs. Check it two or three times to confirm that there is no queen bee before putting in a new queen. Otherwise, once two queen bees meet, both will suffer losses, causing losses to farmers. \x0d\x0a Second, check the queen bee's egg-laying situation. Open the box cover, the bees work in an orderly manner, and eggs can be seen on the comb, indicating that the queen bee is laying eggs. In a single-queen bee colony, the ratio of eggs, larvae, and capped combs should be 1:2:4. That is: one egg comb, 2 worm combs, 4 capped combs, and 1 to 2 frames of honey and pollen combs. If the egg-laying area on the brood comb is large, it means that the queen bee is laying eggs vigorously and the colony is normal. If the queen bee's chest and abdomen are small, the color becomes darker, she is limp, and she is missing wings, it indicates that this is a low-quality queen bee. If there are no eggs on the comb, but there are natural queen cells, the bees are slacking off, which indicates that they will swarm. If the brood comb area is small and the bee colony develops slower than other colonies, it indicates that the queen bee has poor egg-laying ability or egg-laying is at a low ebb. \x0d\x0a Third, check the relationship between the bees and the comb. When you open the sub-cover, if you find that the sub-cover, the outside of the partition, and the side combs are crowded with bees, it means that there are more bees than combs and you need to add more combs. If there are few bees on the comb and no bees on the partition, it means that there are more combs than bees. If there are many bees on the partition and few bees on the comb, it means that the temperature in the hive is high and the humidity is low, and the bees have left the comb. \x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a Fourth, check the honey storage in the box. When you open the comb cover, you can smell the fragrance of honey and see that there are elevated white beeswax honey cell covers on the top of each comb. Lift the side comb and it will feel heavy. It indicates that there is enough honey in the box. If the bees are uneasy or panic after opening the box, the comb feels light, and some bees fall, it means that there is a lack of honey in the box. There is no disease, but the bees on the brood comb are not neat, indicating that there was a lack of honey. If the brood comb abandons the bees, it indicates that there is a serious lack of honey. After the honeycomb is checked, it must be reinstalled in its original position. When reinstalling, pay attention to the bee path should be kept at 8 to 9 mm. Insert the partition. Gently shake the sub-cover up and down to urge the bees to leave the edge of the box. Finally, close the box lid. The unpacking inspection is generally done every 10 to 15 days. It is best to do it at noon in early spring and at 10 am and 4 pm in summer.