CATDOLL : CATDOLL: What are the conditions and requirements for raising bees? (What are the conditions and requirements for raising bees?)

1. How to keep bees well?

In order to raise bees well, some key measures must be taken to achieve twice the result with half the effort. 1. Choose suitable bee species. Different bee species have different biological characteristics and production performance, and the same bee species has different performance under different geographical environments and nectar sources. Therefore, in beekeeping production, it is necessary to select high-quality bee species that have been selected to increase the output of bee products. A bee farm should not raise a bee species for a long time to avoid the decline of the production performance of the bee species, but should regularly introduce and change species. 2. Select and breed excellent queen bees. The quality of queen bees is mainly determined by two aspects: one is that the queen bee is young, and the other is that the queen bee is strong. Most young queen bees lay eggs actively, lay a lot of eggs, and lay eggs quickly. The queen bee is strong, its newborn is heavy, has many ovarian tubes, moves steadily, lays many eggs per day, lays eggs quickly and orderly, expands spirally, and lays eggs in the middle of the room eye. It does not lay drone eggs in the worker bee room for two or even three years, does not like to build a platform, does not like to swarm, and has a strong regularity in the time of stopping and starting egg laying. It has the inherent characteristics of this variety or group breeding. 3. Adequate honey, pollen and feed Adequate honey, pollen and feed, in a broad sense, means sufficient food. Food is the source of nutrition for bees' life, reproduction, honey syrup and beeswax to make honeycombs. To keep bees well, they must have sufficient food, which is especially important in the season when external nectar sources are scarce and during the wintering period. 4. Strong bee colonies A strong bee colony means that it can maintain a relatively strong skirt at all times of the year. Strong colonies overwinter, strong colonies multiply in spring, and strong colonies are put into production, which are the basic measures for high-yield beekeeping. Only with a strong bee colony can the mortality rate of overwintering bees be reduced, a strong production colony can be cultivated early in early spring, the ability of the bee colony to resist various diseases can be improved, strong and disease-free bee individuals can be cultivated, and the yield of bee products can be maximized. 5. Healthy bee colonies Healthy bee colonies are the guarantee of high yield in beekeeping. Some beekeepers only pursue the yield of bee products one-sidedly, but do not pay attention to the prevention and diagnosis of bee diseases. Once the bees are sick, even the strongest bee colonies may quickly decline or even the whole colony will be destroyed, which seriously affects the yield of bee products. Therefore, if you want to raise bees well, you must pay attention to the prevention and treatment of bee diseases, and follow the principle of preventing diseases before they occur and treating them early. Only by strengthening the prevention and treatment of bee diseases and ensuring that the bee colonies are healthy and disease-free can we lay a good foundation for high bee production.

2. What are the conditions for raising Chinese bees?

1. Site conditions

There should be sufficient main nectar sources and auxiliary nectar and pollen sources within a radius of 2.5 kilometers around the site, and the main and auxiliary nectar and pollen sources should be appropriately matched; the site should be selected on a south-facing hillside with sufficient sunlight, backed by high mountains and natural shade above, with southerly winds in summer and northerly winds blocked in winter, and the soil should be fertile, with vigorous growth of nectar plants, a long flowering period, sufficient water and convenient transportation.

2. Selection of bee colonies

1. Purchase time: The best time to buy in the north is April to May. This is the breeding period of bee colonies, the selection is relatively stable, and the external environment is good, making it easy to raise bees successfully.

2. Selection method: Observe at the entrance of the nest. Those who are diligent in entering and exiting the nest and collect more pollen are generally lively and good. Then open the box for inspection. If the worker bees are quiet and not panicked, it means that the bee is gentle. If the queen bee is large, has thick feet, is tall and has a wide chest, a long and plump abdomen, is covered with dense hair, and lays eggs flexibly and quickly without panicking, it means that the queen bee is young and strong, and has a strong egg-laying ability.

3. Arrangement of bee colonies: It depends on the size of the site, the number of bees and the season. There are four arrangements: single-box arrangement, double-box arrangement, staggered arrangement and triple-box arrangement.

3. Feeding

1. Supplementary feeding: artificial feeding when nectar sources are scarce. The methods are as follows: ① Supplementary feeding with honey. Honey can be diluted with 20% warm water (crystallized honey needs to be boiled with a little water). The diluted honey can be fed to the bees by gavage or poured into a frame feeder. ② Supplementary feeding with syrup. Syrup is made by adding 50% white sugar to water, which is heated and fully dissolved and then cooled to lukewarm. It is best to add 0.1% citric acid to the syrup to facilitate digestion and absorption. Brown sugar should not be used at this time.

2. Reward feeding: artificial feeding during the bee colony breeding period and bee production period. Generally, a small amount of 60% nectar or 50% syrup is given every other day in early spring, and then once a day as consumption increases. The time starts from 40 days before the nectar flow period until there is a large amount of honey and pollen from the outside world. Each frame of bees can be rewarded with 50-100 grams of syrup each time.

3. Feeding pollen: The purpose is to supplement protein feed. In the late winter and early spring, the pollen saved in the previous autumn can be supplemented, and soybean powder can also be used instead. The feeding method is as follows:

(1) Liquid feeding: Add 10 times the amount of syrup to the pollen, boil it, wait for it to cool, and then put it in a feeding container for feeding.

(2) Cake feeding. Add an equal amount of honey or syrup to pollen or pollen substitute, mix thoroughly, and make into cakes. Wrap them with plastic paper, open at both ends, and place them on the frame beam for bees to feed. This method is often used during cold snaps.

4. Feed water and salts: ① Water. Generally, each bee colony needs 200-300 ml of water per day. Put water in the feeder or put a wet towel on the gauze cover for the bees to collect water. ② Salts. Add 1% salt to the syrup.

IV. Management

1. Spring management: ① Promote bees to fly and excrete. Raise the temperature in the center of the nest to 33-35℃, provide sufficient nectar and pollen sources or reward feeding, open the box cover and insulation in time to allow them to fly out of the nest and excrete. ② Insulate the hive. After excretion, the bees enter the breeding period, so artificial insulation must be adopted. Compact the hive and make the colony dense. Raise multiple colonies in the same box, and keep the box warm inside and outside. In the north, it lasts until April to May.

2. Management during the honey flow period: ① Adjust and organize the honey collection group in the early stage. ② Maintain strong groups to collect honey. Control the queen bee's egg laying. Use a queen excluder to restrict the queen bee to one area of ​​the hive or the hive. To cut off the brood and collect honey, you can take out the queen bee and 1 to 2 honeycomb bees from the honey collection group 5 days before the big honey flow period to form another small group. The next day, give the honey collection group a mature queen cell, which can greatly increase the honey production. Pay attention to the management of small groups. For those weak groups that cannot collect honey, create conditions to promote the rapid development of the group. Under the premise of appropriate honey collection, we must do a good job of reproduction to replenish the group.

3. Management in autumn: ① Cultivate new queens and replace old and inferior queens. ② Cultivate overwintering bees of appropriate age. Overwintering bees of appropriate age refer to young bees that have emerged from their cells before overwintering, have only performed two or three excretion flights, have not done any feeding or collecting work, and have not secreted royal jelly. In order for overwintering bees to overwinter safely, the birth of young bees born after the nectar flow period must be controlled to maintain the strength of the bee colony. The method of control is to force the queen bee to stop laying eggs at a certain time during the nectar flow period. ③ Timely early termination of offspring. In the later stage of cultivating overwintering bees, first use honey and pollen to press the combs, and pour honey 2 to 3 times, so that the queen bee will stop laying. At the same time, move the bee colony to a cool place, expand the bee path by 1 time, and take out the pollen combs from the hive, and remove the insulation, so as to terminate offspring early.

4. Winter management: ① Adjust the nest door. The height of the nest door should be 6-7 mm and the width should be 60-70 mm. ② Prevent honey crystallization. Strengthen insulation, or stuff some wet cotton balls into the box through the nest door to reduce ventilation. ③ Wintering indoors in the north. The beehive should be moved indoors before the water freezes and the ground is not covered with snow. When moving indoors, the beehive should be 20 cm away from the wall indoors, and the first layer should be 40 cm away from the ground. The room temperature should be kept at 0-2℃, and the humidity should be kept between 75-80%.

3.2 How to keep little bees alive?

Answer: One or two bees are not enough to keep alive.

1. They must live in groups. Bees are typical social insects. Although a single bee is an independent individual, no bee can survive for long after leaving the group.

The reason is that bee colonies can collect pollen and nectar from nectar plants, and can brew nectar into honey and store it in the hive. Bee colonies are also the basic units for bees to adapt to the natural environment. For example, bee colonies can regulate the temperature inside the hive and can work together to resist attacks from natural enemies.

2. Food is difficult to supply. Bees are insects that feed entirely on flowers. When the nectar source is abundant, bees collect a large amount of pollen and nectar. Part of this pollen and nectar is directly consumed by the bee colony, and the rest is stored in the hive for emergency use.

However, a single bee is simply incapable of collecting nectar from flowers, so it must rely on humans to provide it with food. However, it is extremely difficult to provide food for a single bee, which means that a single bee will often starve to death if raised alone.

4. What are the ten elements of beekeeping?

1. Flowering plants rich in nectar are necessary conditions and things to pay attention to in beekeeping. There should be a large number of flowering plants around the beekeeping site for the bees to collect nectar and obtain food. If there are too few nectar sources, it will not be possible to obtain a large amount of honey, pollen, propolis and other foods that bees need.

A apiary that is fixed in one place should have one or two main flowering plants throughout the year, as well as more scattered flowering plants to meet the food and reproduction needs of the bee colony.

2. There are also many requirements for the conditions and precautions of the beekeeping site. Generally, it should be sunny and sheltered from the wind, with high terrain, dry ground, and suitable temperature and humidity.

High and cold mountainous areas with low temperatures, valleys where strong winds often occur, swampy areas with accumulated water, deserts without shade in summer, hillsides, etc. are not suitable as fixed places for beekeeping.

The environment should be relatively quiet and have good natural water sources near the bee farm, but the water source should not be too close to the nectar source to avoid hindering the collection or drowning and causing casualties. It is also not suitable to set up a bee farm near processing plants, cattle farms, sheep farms, or places where there are many bee enemies.

3. In order to quickly increase the number of bee colonies and honey production and prevent the spread of diseases between bee colonies, it is important to ensure that the fixed bee breeding site is at a certain distance from the surrounding apiaries.

When the bee population is large, the distance between beehives should be appropriately lengthened, or the terrain and plants should be used as natural markers for the bees to return to the nest, so that the bees can easily identify and return to the nest, so as to avoid the bees returning to the wrong home after collecting honey.

4. When there are few flowering plants, bee theft should be noted. The main reasons for bee theft are usually too long inspection time, insufficient honey in the nest, honey spilled outside when feeding, too few bees and too many honeycombs in the nest, too large nest door, cracks in the box wall, etc.

To prevent bee theft, be sure to take out the empty combs before the end of the flowering season to keep the bees densely packed and with sufficient honey. Try to open the boxes for inspection as little as possible and keep the nest door closed.

Preventing bee theft is much easier than stopping it. As long as we strengthen prevention, it will be reduced or prevented from happening.

5. Bees should also pay attention to diseases during their growth process, generally including infectious diseases, non-infectious diseases and invasive diseases.

Non-infectious diseases are caused by climate, feeding and environmental conditions and are not contagious. They mainly include jujube flower disease, diarrhea, nectar and pollen poisoning and pesticide poisoning.

Infectious diseases are mainly caused by bacteria, fungi and viruses, and are generally manifested as chalk disease, rotten brood disease, paratyphoid fever, etc.

Invasive diseases are caused by parasites, ladybugs and insect parasites. Common manifestations include tick disease, humpback flies, flesh flies and ground gall diseases.

For example, in the case of humpback fly disease, this fly is small and active. It sneaks into the beehive and lays an egg in the uncovered larval house. The larvae will hatch in about three or four hours and erode the body of the bee larvae. After six or seven days, the humpback fly larvae will break away from the dead bee larvae, bite open the nest cells and fall to the ground of the beehive. They will hide in the debris at the bottom of the box and become pupae. After ten days, they will become adults. They will continue to lay eggs and harm the larvae. This will repeat repeatedly, causing the bee colony to become restless or escape in severe cases.

6. Bees have many natural enemies throughout their lives, including nest worms, centipedes, robber flies, wasps, and birds such as tits, honey buzzards, honey dogs, hedgehogs, etc. You should pay more attention to this and take more precautions in normal times.

5. What are the techniques and methods of beekeeping?

1. Choose beehives

A basic condition for raising bees is to choose suitable beehives. You should choose boxes made of solid materials and light texture. Since beehives are generally placed in the open air and bees spend most of their lives outdoors, a good environment must be provided.

2. Transfer bee colonies

First, prepare the live-frame beehive in advance, transfer the purchased bee colony or the wild trapped bees into the beehive, and generally put the honeycomb together, so that the bees can quickly adapt to the new environment and resume normal activities.

3. Subsidized feeding

During the period of honey-gathering, bees are fed supplementary food, usually starting with artificial feeding in the evening, such as pollen, sugar water, honey, etc. In winter, bees collect less honey, so the number of feedings needs to be increased. They can be fed once in the morning and once in the evening with diluted sugar water.

4. Planting plants

In the process of raising bees, a large number of flowers and plants, such as peonies, peonies, rape flowers, etc., can be planted around the site to provide sufficient nectar sources to prevent the bees from flying to distant places and reducing economic benefits.