CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Is it difficult to keep bees? (Is it difficult to keep bees?)

1. Why is it difficult to raise Chinese bees in the beginning of autumn?

After the beginning of autumn, there is a lack of nectar and pollen, and wasps are seriously harmful, so it is difficult to raise Chinese bees. After the beginning of autumn, many plants gradually wither, and the number of flowering plants further decreases. Bees cannot collect enough nectar and pollen, and wasps in nature reach their most vigorous state, and will chase and intercept small bees. In order to safely overwinter, most small bees will choose places with flowering plants, so it is difficult to raise Chinese bees after the beginning of autumn.

2. Is beekeeping hard?

A: It is hard to raise bees. There are certain requirements for bee breeding technology and breeding environment. Generally speaking, bees should choose a relatively open place with suitable climate and sufficient sunshine as a breeding place. There should be no large reservoirs and lakes around, and there should be more plants nearby for bee pollen.

3. Is it easy to keep bees in the home yard?

As long as there is enough space, it is easy to raise bees. Because the yard is where people move around, human activities will affect the activities of bees. Only with enough space can they not affect each other. Areas where people often move around are not suitable for placing beehives. Only by placing the beehive in a place where people do not often move around can they not affect each other. In addition, the beehive should be placed in a ventilated place.

4. Why is it difficult to keep bees in lattice boxes?

There are three reasons why beekeeping in lattice boxes is difficult:

1. A large honey source is needed to support a full grid of capped honey.

A square lattice box with an inner space of 25 cm long, 25 cm wide and 10 cm high. Seven honeycombs can be neatly arranged in a lattice box of this size.

The beehive of this size is filled with 4 grids, that is, the total height of the comb is 40 cm. At this time, the area of ​​the comb (single side) is 25x7x40=7000 square centimeters, which is equivalent to the area of ​​8 combs in the standard frame. If the top layer is all honey combs, the area of ​​the honey comb is 25x7x10=1750,

The height of such a honey comb corresponds to the height of the honey comb with 8 combs in the standard frame, which is 1750÷41÷8=5 cm (41 is the length of the honey comb in the standard frame, 8 is the number of honey combs, and 5 is the height of the honey comb).

In other words, if you fill up the 4 grid boxes and the top grid is full of capped honey, it is equivalent to 8 frames in the Italian standard box, and all 8 frames have 5 cm of high capped honey. The colony strength of the Italian standard 8 frames is equivalent to a very strong colony strength, and each of the 8 frames has 5 cm of capped honey. It can be seen that the difficulty is quite high.

Let's calculate how many kilograms of mature capped honey can be taken out of a grid box of this size in theory. The honey comb thickness is 2.3 cm, there are 7 combs, the comb height is 10 cm, and the honey density is 1.3 g/cubic centimeter; then a 10 cm grid layer can contain 2.3x7x10x25x1.3=5.2 kg (10.4 kilograms) of pure honey.

I believe that friends who have experience in raising lattice boxes of this size can get the same weight of honey from one lattice as the theoretical weight. It is considered a good situation to get 10 kilograms of honey at a time for raising Chinese bees with movable frames, but the movable frames can be used to get honey many times a year, so the output of movable frames is definitely higher than that of lattice boxes that only get honey once a year.

2. The honey extraction from the lattice box is more thorough and requires a large nectar source to support it.

Generally, a standard Italian bee box can shake out honey from 5 of the 8 combs, and the honey on the remaining 2 combs is left for the bee colony. However, when extracting honey from a grid box, the top grid is removed, and even the pollen is cut off, resulting in insufficient honey left in the grid box for the bee colony, affecting the subsequent growth and development of the bee colony, and causing the bees to slowly cross the colony or fly away. Therefore, grid box beekeeping is suitable for use in areas with large honey sources, because the bees can collect honey from the outside in time after the honey is harvested, but it is not suitable for areas with small honey sources.

3. The bees in the lattice box multiply quickly and need a large nectar source to support it.

Beekeeping in a lattice box is a form of soil breeding. There is no foundation. The bees build their own nests. The beehives grow larger as the bee colony grows. The overall beehive is always hemispherical, which follows the natural properties of bee reproduction. Therefore, bee breeding in a lattice box is much faster than in a movable box. Since the rapid breeding of bees requires the bee colony to consume more energy, the bee colony often has insufficient honey storage, which is often only enough for food and clothing. This is why some beekeeping friends use lattice boxes to keep bees for swarming all year round. Some people reported that they swarmed several times in one spring, but there was no honey in the lattice box, and not even one cell of honey could be filled.

5. Is it easy to keep bees by yourself?

Not easy to raise.

Honey bees are now divided into two types: Chinese bees and Italian bees. Chinese bees are easier to raise than Italian bees. Beekeepers must be able to endure hardships and work hard, while Italian bees rely entirely on manual management.

For example, queen bees generally do not sting people, nor do queen bees and drones. It is the worker bees that sting people. Queen bees generally mate and conceive once, and they give birth to offspring throughout their lives. Isn't that amazing? Generally, wherever the queen bee goes, the worker bees will flock there. The most feared thing in bee colony management is swarming, that is, when the queen bee finds that a new queen bee is born, she will fight with the new queen bee (unmated bee)! The winner will sting and bite the weaker one to death, and continue to stay as the queen. Often, most old queen bees will simply lead the strong bee colony to run away in anger, causing heavy losses!