CATDOLL : CATDOLL: What are the key points to grasp when breeding queen bees off-season?

What are the key points to grasp when breeding queens for bees off-season?

Only when the queen bee is of good quality, vigorous vitality, strong egg-laying ability and strong physique can the apiary have a strong bee colony and the beekeeper can obtain higher profits. So in which season can we breed queen bees of good quality?

In the south, bee farms breed queen bees from January to December. Some bee farms that move between the north and the south all year round consciously arrange the queen replacement work in September and October, because the queen is new in autumn and lays eggs quickly in the spring of the following year.

The life span of a queen bee is generally 3 to 5 years. The most active period for a queen bee to lay eggs is the first and second years. After 2 years, the egg-laying capacity gradually decreases. However, under good breeding conditions, some queen bees can still maintain a good egg-laying capacity within 3 to 4 years. In production practice, queen bees under 2 years old are often used. For bee colonies that are raised in different places all year round, the queen bee must lay eggs continuously for a long time, and the queen must be replaced after 1 year of use. Therefore, bee farms that are raised in different places must cultivate new queen bees every year and replace the old queen bees. Beekeepers often say, "A good queen is in one box of bees, and a bad queen is in one empty box"...

The queen bees bred in the natural swarming season from late April to early June have the best quality. Queen bees bred in this season have strong colony strength over the winter, fast egg laying, good reproduction, and few bee diseases in spring. The first nectar source of the following spring is strong and has strong honey collection ability. In May, there is less natural swarming of acacia nectar sources, and the queen bees can still maintain a strong egg-laying ability. Queen bees bred in other seasons are called off-season queen breeding.

Take Yunnan as an example, the temperature is low in January and February and there are few drones; Sichuan has many rainy days and low temperatures in February and March, which is not conducive to the mating of virgin queens, causing the mating time of virgin queens to be delayed. The success rate of the queens bred is not high, the quality is poor, and the egg-laying ability is not strong. They must be replaced after a short use time. Queens bred in autumn mate early, and virgin queens mate 3 to 4 days after leaving the hive, and lay eggs 7 to 8 days later. The success rate is good, but the quality of queens is not as good as those bred from late April to early June.

The queen bee bred off-season has poor egg-laying ability. The bee colony has spring brooding and low production in the production season. It has strong natural swarming, many seasonal diseases, and slow development. The single-queen colony cannot be put in the super, so only the double-queen colony can be raised. It loves swarming in the production season. Bees like to fly to trees. If the method of deducting the queen is effective at the time, the colony will decline in the subsequent production season. Why is the quality of queen bees bred off-season poor? I think this is because beekeepers violate the biological laws of bees. Bees are very sensitive to climate change and can feel the rise and fall of 0.25℃ temperature. Bees themselves have a very strong and sensitive sense of seasonal crisis, which is manifested in the gradual decrease of temperature in autumn, the decrease of queen bee production, the cessation of egg-laying, feeding larvae and dragging when there is a lack of nectar, and the cessation of production and wintering in the north.

The normal development of queen bees is that the virgin queens become sexually mature 5-7 days after leaving the cell, mate on the 8-9th day, and start laying eggs on the 10th day. In off-season breeding of queen bees, the virgin queens in early spring from January to March postpone the mating and laying time, and in late autumn from September to October, the virgin queens mate on the 3rd to 4th day and lay eggs on the 7th to 8th day.

Breeding a queen bee is actually two complete growth processes of two generations of bees. The virgin queen develops and mates successfully, lays eggs, and then develops into a bee. Only through labor can be produced bee products such as honey.

What everyone needs to pay attention to is that the quality of queen bees cannot be guaranteed if bees breed queens off-season. Bee farms that move north and south all year round adopt off-season breeding of queen bees, which results in the lack of flowers during the breeding period of the bee colony, low yields during the production season, frequent swarming, many seasonal diseases, loss of queen bee's excellent genes, and even collapse of the farm.

Fumei believes that it is necessary to be cautious when breeding queen bees in off-season. If you are a novice, it is best to wait until late April to early June to breed queen bees.

Note: This article was first published on Fumei Beekeeping

Can Chinese honey bees breed queens in autumn? Is it still possible to do so now?

Yes, for the following reasons:

There are many benefits to bee queen breeding in autumn

Years of practice have proven that autumn queen breeding has many benefits. First, it is beneficial to improve economic benefits.

To get used to raising a new king in spring,

Raise a king.

Generally, 1-2 frames of honeycombs with bees are needed to be ready for the house.

,

A medium apiary.

Breed 30 kings,

You need to select 30-60 bee frames from the basic group.

This is an important time to collect rapeseed honey and produce royal jelly.

Once dozens of bees are raised,

At once

This greatly weakens the strength of the production group and reduces the income of bee products; secondly, it can replace the old

The spring queen is exhausted from laying eggs for many years.

Therefore, when the temperature drops in early winter, the enthusiasm for laying eggs decreases, the egg circle shrinks, and some even stop laying eggs.

The new queen bred in early autumn replaces the old queen, because the new queen is in the prime of her physiological puberty and can produce

The egg has high enthusiasm, large egg circle, strong cold resistance, and late winter stop production, which can greatly promote the

The third is to organize a double-king spring breeding, which is beneficial to accelerate the development of a strong colony.

field,

After one year of production,

In spring, most of them can only reproduce with a single queen.

Greatly speed up the reproduction rate,

Raise a strong colony in advance. This not only allows the production of royal jelly in advance, but also catches up with the rapeseed flowering period;

Fourth, it can reduce the generation of swarming fever, which is conducive to maintaining a strong colony.

When the reproduction reaches its peak, swarming fever will occur - bee collection and bee slacking, the queen bee will lay fewer eggs,

Ovarian development in worker bees,

This results in swarms of bees fleeing.

However, King Qiu only produced a few generations of offspring before he was deposed.

The queen bee is still in its youth physiologically, so it secretes more queen substances and has less desire to swarm, which is beneficial to

It helps to maintain a strong colony, avoid losses caused by swarming fever, and increase production.

To raise a queen, corresponding measures must be taken. First, the time for raising a queen should be appropriate. Raising a queen too early, the temperature

It is too late. The temperature drops. The drones

According to practical experience, the best time to breed is from early September to the end of October.

The temperature is suitable at this time, with the average daily temperature being 15-20℃, which is similar to the early spring temperature.

The weather is generally similar. There are more sunny days than in spring, which is conducive to the queen bee's mating flight and mating.

The external pollen and nectar sources are also relatively abundant. Therefore, breeding queens at this time not only has good queen quality, but also has a high success rate.

Secondly, the breeding group should be selected with high royal jelly production, strong fertility, good disease resistance and stress resistance

The queen bee should be used as the mother, and drones should be cultivated in a planned way.

High sire quality.

The queen cell should be double-transplanted with larvae - the larvae transferred into the queen cell should be kept for 24 hours.

Then clamp out the larvae and move them back. This way, the royal jelly in the royal cell is rich in nutrients and beneficial to the innate health of the royal body.

Good development. Nutrition should be supplemented in the queen rearing group. From the night the queen rearing frame is sown, supplement every night

Feed sugar solution. Add appropriate amount of Vb and Vc to the sugar solution.

and protein (such as yeast flakes, etc.)

Feed until the queen cell is sealed.

Provide the herd with rich and adequate nutrition.

Ensure the development of the queen bee

Third, the queen colony must be completely free of bee mites. If the mites are not completely eliminated, the bee mites will sneak into the queen cell and absorb nutrients.

keep,

This causes the queen bee to be malnourished.

Individual thin,

They may even become queen bees without wings or with mutilated limbs.

If you raise queen plants during the nectar flow period of camellia, you should add acid feed to neutralize the alkaloids in the camellia nectar.