CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Learn to raise Chinese honey bees (How to raise Chinese honey bees)

1. How to get started with Chinese bee breeding technology for beginners?

Soil culture

It is most common in ordinary farmers' homes. It only requires a few wooden barrels, which are turned upside down in front of and behind the farmers' houses.

The wooden barrel needs to be boiled in a large pot, and salt, a small amount of honey, and a small amount of beeswax can be added to the water. You can also use pure Chinese beeswax to brush the boiled wooden barrel inside the barrel, and brush the bottom of the barrel thicker.

Under normal circumstances, in general places, when the spring equinox comes, it is the peak season for the natural swarming of Chinese bees. Natural swarms of bees will come to build nests, and after the big nectar source has passed, honey can be collected. In general, two seasons of honey can be collected in a year, with average yield, extremely high concentration, good taste, and slightly expensive price.

This is the technology of raising Chinese bees in the traditional way. Although the output is average, the management and operation methods are extremely simple. It is very suitable for novice beekeepers, or individual investors who raise a small number of Chinese bees. It is also suitable for amateur beekeepers who raise a few groups of bees to enrich their spare time.

2. Technical guide for breeding Chinese bees?

1. Nectar source: A bee farm must be built in a place with abundant nectar source. The reason is that bees cannot survive normally and make honey from collecting nectar. If there is a lack of nectar source nearby, the survival of the bee colony will be a problem, let alone expecting bees to collect nectar and make honey.

2. Environment: The apiary must be built in a quiet environment. The reason is that the microclimate near the apiary is more conducive to the reproduction of the bee colony. For example, when the temperature is high, the bees will fan or collect water to cool down, which will invisibly increase the burden on the bee colony.

3. Climate: The apiary must be established in a place with a suitable climate. The reason is that the bee colony can only develop stably in a quiet environment. Otherwise, the bee colony may not be able to collect and make honey quietly. If it is severely disturbed, the bee colony may even abandon the nest and flee.

4. Pests: Bee farms must be built in places where pests are rare. This is because there are many pests in nature that will invade and kill bees. For example, hornets will not only kill worker bees that go out to collect honey, but will also concentrate on attacking bee colonies in seasons when food is scarce.

3. How to get started with Chinese beekeeping for beginners?

A must-know for novices in beekeeping! To raise bees, you must first understand their habits and living habits. They must be raised in places with nectar sources, that is, flower sources, and water sources that do not pollute the environment. This is what novices must know, and this is how to get started.

4. What are the cultivation techniques of Chinese native honey?

1. Preparation for beekeeping

First prepare the beehives (it is strongly recommended to use movable frame beehives), and plan the beekeeping site. If it is just a small-scale breeding, you can do it in front of or behind the house. In addition, you should carefully understand the living habits of the bees, which will be of great benefit to the subsequent collection and management of the bees.

2. Collect bee colonies

In rural beekeeping, bee species are generally obtained from the wild, so to find wild bee colonies, you can observe the bees collecting honey, water, excretion, etc. After finding the bee colony, you can take them all home. Pay attention to whether there is a queen bee. If you can get honeycombs, try to get them back. In addition, you can also use beehives to trap bees in places where bees frequently appear.

3. Bee colony transfer

After the bee colony is obtained, it should be transferred to the beehive in time (transferring the box). It is strongly recommended to use movable frame beehive for breeding. First, fix the retrieved honeycomb on the nest frame (the matching beekeeping tools of the movable frame beehive), and then put the nest frame into the beehive. After the nest frame is placed, the captured bee colony can be transferred to the beehive. Finally, cover the beehive lid and install the escape prevention piece at the nest door. Be careful not to look for the queen bee at this time, and try to operate faster when transferring the box.

4. Stabilize the bee colony

The bee colony should be fed immediately after it is transferred to the hive. The feed can be honey water or syrup made from white sugar. After the bee colony is basically stable, check the condition of the queen bee. If there is a queen bee and there is no abnormality with the queen bee, there is generally no big problem. If there is no queen bee, a new queen bee or queen cells should be introduced in time. However, if there are egg and larvae combs in the bee colony, the bee colony can also make queen cells by itself. Reward and feed once in the evening for a few days after transferring to the hive. In addition, do not be too nervous and open the box for inspection frequently. In fact, the attendance of worker bees can also reflect the condition of the bee colony.

5. Daily management

After the bee colony is stable, it can enter the daily management stage. Although the daily management of the bee colony is very tedious, disease and pest control is very important. If diseases and pests are found, they must be dealt with in time. At the same time, pay attention to the condition of the queen bee. If there is an old, weak or sick condition, she must be replaced in time. In addition, if there is a shortage of external nectar sources and the honey storage in the bee colony is insufficient, supplementary feeding must be carried out in time. This is especially important before the wintering period.

6. Get honey

The main purpose of beekeeping is to obtain honey, but the production of Chinese bees is relatively low, so honey is generally only collected 1 to 2 times a year, the first time in late spring and early summer, and the second time mostly in autumn. When collecting honey, first take out the honeycomb (Chinese bees have the habit of raising larvae and storing honey on the same honeycomb. Simply put, there are both honey and larvae on a honeycomb), cut off the honeyed area with a knife, and then put the honeycomb back into the bee colony. It is worth noting that when collecting honey, do not sweep it all away, and be sure to leave enough food for the bee colony, otherwise the bee colony may escape.

Beekeeping techniques cannot be explained very clearly in simple words, but if you are a novice, you still need to understand these basic operations clearly.

5. Chinese bee breeding technology and management?

Chinese bee breeding is generally divided into soil breeding technology and live frame breeding technology.

To grow the plants in the soil, you only need a few wooden barrels or hollowed-out logs, which can be turned upside down or placed in front of or behind farmers' houses.

The wooden barrel needs to be boiled in a large pot, and salt, a small amount of honey, and a small amount of beeswax can be added to the water. You can also use pure Chinese beeswax to brush the boiled wooden barrel around the barrel, and brush the bottom of the barrel thicker.

In general areas, under normal temperature and nectar conditions, when the spring equinox comes, it is the peak season for the natural swarming of Chinese honey bees. Natural swarms will come to build nests, and then, after the nectar of major nectar plants has flowed, honey can be collected. In the most common case, two seasons of local honey can be collected in a year. The yield is average, the honey concentration is extremely high, the taste is good, and the flavor is mellow. Compared with the price of ordinary honey, it is slightly more expensive.

This is the breeding and management technology of native Chinese honey bees. Although the output is average, the management and operation methods are extremely simple. It is very suitable for novice beekeepers, or individual investors who raise a small number of Chinese honey bees. It is also suitable for amateur beekeepers who raise a few groups of bees to enrich their spare time.

Based on this traditional soil breeding technology, many derivative breeding technologies have been developed, such as lattice boxes, Three Gorges barrels, etc. They have one thing in common, that is, the lazy beekeeping method, which is simple to operate and has a low technical threshold.

The movable frame breeding of Chinese honeybees is a scientific breeding technology that has begun to be scaled up and industrialized.

This breeding technology is very professional and it is best to learn it under the guidance of a local, professional beekeeper so that novice beekeepers can avoid unnecessary losses and make fewer mistakes.

First of all, you need to choose an open field with nectar source, water source, light, shade and slope. Moreover, the field should be in a peaceful location without strong winds. There should be no factory pollution, poultry farms, pollution and noise from various processing plants within a radius of at least five kilometers around the bee farm. This is because bees love cleanliness and quietness, and they also want to produce better and healthier wild native Chinese honey.

Carefully understand and record in detail the nectar flow time and periodicity of local pollen and nectar source plants. You must clearly know when your local pollen and nectar source plants bloom and when they flow nectar, and keep good records. The more detailed the better. In this way, you can know when the apiary can collect honey, when the apiary can breed queens, and when the apiary can replace queens, so that you can plan and formulate methods that are suitable for your own apiary.

To raise bees well, you must know the living habits and physiological characteristics of Chinese bees. To know these clearly, you can only rely on meticulous observation, continuous research and comprehension, and accumulation over time to develop a set of Chinese honeybee breeding and management techniques suitable for your local area.

For example, the queen bee likes to lay eggs in a new nest, so the old combs should be moved out during the breeding season. For example, the Chinese honey bee likes to be quiet, so when checking the bee colony, you should check the hive purposefully, make quick decisions, disturb as little as possible, open the hive less, and learn the management techniques of observing and judging the internal situation of the bee colony from outside the hive, etc.

6. How to raise Chinese bees well?

Chinese bees refer to the Chinese honey bees, and their breeding and management are as follows;

1. Selection of beekeeping site

The apiary for releasing Chinese honey bees should be located on secluded hillsides, half-hillsides, or at the edge of forests, away from factories, mines, roads, etc., and away from harassment or vibration interference from humans and animals. There should be sufficient and clean water sources near the apiary.

Chinese honey bees are not very strict about bulk nectar sources, but they have more requirements for the types of nectar and pollen plants. The nectar source flowering period is continuous, and there is not too long a honey-free period. Because Chinese honey bees are good at using scattered nectar sources, the scattered nectar and pollen from the outside world are constantly supplied, which avoids bee theft and facilitates management.

2. Placement of bee colonies

Because Chinese honey bees have been domesticated for a short time, are wild, have poor orientation, and are easily lost, they cannot be placed in rows, neatly and closely, and in the same direction as Western honey bees. When placing Chinese honey bee colonies, the distance between colonies should be farther, staggered front and back, and the direction of the nest gates should not be consistent.

Avoid bees from different colonies from being thrown into the wrong place, which may cause fighting and killing. Especially for mating colonies, the distance between large colonies should be increased to prevent the queen bee from being killed by the wrong place. Each box should be padded with wooden stakes to prevent ants from invading the Chinese honey bee colony and causing the bees to escape.

3. Prevent contact with odor

Chinese honey bees have a keen sense of smell and are very sensitive to odors. It is best to use a beehive used by Western honey bees to raise Chinese honey bees. Or choose a new beehive made of odorless wood. Before using the new beehive, apply a small amount of beeswax to eliminate the wood odor, which will help Chinese honey bees accept it and prevent it from flying away.

Do not use drugs with strong odors to prevent and treat bee diseases. After the beehives and beekeeping tools are disinfected, the odor must be completely eliminated before they can be used again. Try to disinfect the beehives by burning to prevent the odor from irritating the bees and causing them to escape.

7. Top-secret technology of Chinese beekeeping?

1. Collecting bee colonies

Chinese honey bees are distributed in most parts of my country, especially in the southern mountainous areas where there are extremely rich wild resources. If they can be captured and artificially bred, it will undoubtedly be the best source of bee species. Currently, there are two main ways to capture wild Chinese honey bees: luring bees and collecting bees. Luring bees is to use luring beehives to lure swarms or migratory bee swarms, while collecting bees is to find the hives of wild Chinese honey bees and then capture them.

2. Bee colony transfer

There are two main ways of breeding Chinese honeybees in our country: traditional soil breeding and live-frame beehive breeding. In order to facilitate the management of bee colonies in the future, it is recommended that you try to use live-frame beehive breeding. However, whether it is a newly collected bee colony or a soil breeding to live-frame breeding, the hive transfer technology is required. When transferring the hive, the Chinese honeybees' habit of loving honeycombs is mainly utilized. In short, some honeycombs should be placed in the beehive first and then the transfer operation should be performed.

3. Artificial feeding

Chinese honey bees generally do not need to be fed artificially, but they need "reward feeding" during the spring and autumn breeding season to stimulate the queen bee to lay eggs and encourage worker bees to raise larvae. In addition, "supplementary feeding" is also needed in winter or early spring to provide the necessary food for the bee colony. The feed can be honey water, syrup or pollen. The most commonly used syrup by beekeepers is syrup made by melting white sugar with an appropriate amount of boiling water.

4. Swarming treatment

The biggest disadvantage of the Chinese honey bee is its strong swarming tendency. There are two main ways to deal with swarming: natural swarming and artificial swarming. Natural swarming is to wait for the bee colony to swarm and then capture the swarms, while artificial swarming is to artificially split the bee colony into two groups when the queen cells are mature. One group contains the old queen bee and old worker bees, and the other group contains queen cells and new worker bees (worker bees that have not recognized the nest or conducted test flights).

5. Intervention of the Queen Bee

Chinese honey bees are relatively easy to lose their queen, so beekeepers must master certain queen removal techniques. There are two types of queen removal, direct and indirect, depending on the operation. Direct queen removal is to spray the queen bee with honey water and then put it into the bee colony, while indirect queen removal is to use a queen removal device. It is worth noting that when the queen bee is surrounded, do not use your hands to move the bee colony. Use methods such as spraying smoke or sprinkling water to rescue the queen bee.

6. Spring breeding management

Spring breeding is the key task of Chinese honey bee breeding. Doing a good job in spring breeding can significantly improve the beekeeping benefits throughout the year, but Chinese honey bees should pay attention to the following four points during spring breeding. First, the time of spring breeding should be determined according to the local climate. Second, there must be "more bees than combs" during the spring breeding period. Third, "reward feeding" should be continuous during the spring breeding period to promote rapid breeding of the bee colony. Fourth, the bee colony should be kept warm during the spring breeding period.

7. Autumn breeding management

The purpose of autumn breeding is to allow the bee colony to cultivate a large number of overwintering bees of appropriate age. Simply put, the more overwintering bees of appropriate age in the bee colony before wintering, the safer the wintering. The specific management is similar to spring breeding. First, the time of autumn breeding should be determined according to the local climate. Second, "reward feeding" should be carried out continuously during the autumn breeding period to promote rapid reproduction of the bee colony. Third, the "queen" should be closed in time in the late autumn breeding period to preserve the overwintering strength of the bee colony.

8. Overwintering of bee colonies

The wintering period is the key point for the success or failure of Chinese honey bee breeding. At this time, there are two key management aspects. The first is to supplement the bee colony with enough food before wintering. Because the worker bees gather in groups and rely on eating honey to produce heat during the wintering, the bee colony will starve to death or freeze to death if there is insufficient food. The second is to keep the beehives well insulated, but the principle of insulation is "better to be cold than warm", because excessive insulation will cause the bee colony to disperse and cause wintering failure.

IX. Disease prevention and control

Disease prevention and control is the highlight of Chinese honey bee breeding. In fact, it is also the culprit for most people's beekeeping failure. Therefore, we must "prevent early, detect early, and treat early" for diseases, especially the sac brood disease and nest insects that pose the greatest threat to Chinese honey bees. Once an outbreak occurs, it can be devastating to the entire apiary. In addition, when the harm caused by enemies (mainly hornets) is serious, we must assist the bee colony in fighting against natural enemies.