CATDOLL : CATDOLL: The basics of beekeeping (What are the basics of beekeeping)

1. Beekeeping knowledge and techniques?

1. The bees raised are mostly Italian honey bees and Chinese honey bees. Italian honey bees have strong colonies and are good at using large quantities of nectar sources. Chinese honey bees are highly adaptable and good at using sporadic nectar sources.

2. Beekeeping requires beehives, bee hats, bee brooms and other tools. Beehives are the most important and basic tools.

3. When raising bees, you should choose a site with abundant and relatively continuous nectar sources around it. The surrounding environment should not be noisy, full of enemies or seriously polluted.

2. Top ten techniques for beginners of beekeeping?

Bee breeding has a history of thousands of years. The purpose of breeding is to obtain honey, propolis, beeswax and bee pollen. It has become an important source of income for many professional apiaries. However, not everyone can raise bees well, especially novices who have no preparation. Let’s take a look at the techniques that novices should master in beekeeping!

1. Bee collection technology

Collecting bees is one of the essential techniques in beekeeping and is often used in beekeeping production, especially when developing Chinese bee breeding. In fact, many people start raising Chinese bees by collecting wild Chinese bee colonies, and most wild Chinese bee colonies build nests in hidden places such as tree holes and stone caves. This requires beekeepers to be able to collect them back. At the same time, when the bee colonies naturally swarm, beekeepers are also required to be able to collect the separated bee colonies.

2. Swarming Technology

Swarming is the way bees expand their population, which can be roughly divided into natural swarming and artificial swarming. Small-scale Chinese bee farming generally allows the bee colony to swarm naturally, while Italian bee farming and large-scale Chinese bee farming mostly use artificial swarming. When using natural swarming, the beekeeper must know the approximate time of the swarming so that he can collect the swarming colony in time, while artificial swarming requires the beekeeper to have certain swarming techniques, otherwise it is very likely to lead to swarming failure.

3. Grouping Technology

Merging colonies means combining two or more colonies into one colony. Merging colonies is required in many situations in beekeeping. For example, when a colony of bees is too weak, it can be merged into other relatively weak colonies to obtain a stronger colony. Another example is that when a double-queen colony is formed, merging colonies can also be achieved. Another example is when a colony of bees loses its queen and temporarily has no new queen or queen cells, it can also be merged into a colony with a queen.

4. Jiewang Technology

King introduction refers to the introduction of a new queen to a queenless colony. The queen bee is the main reproducer of the bee colony and is vital to the development of the bee colony. Although the queen bee is often protected by beekeepers in beekeeping production, it is still inevitable that the queen will be lost accidentally. At this time, the king introduction technique is needed to introduce a new queen to the queen-lost colony. At the same time, the apiary also needs to use the king introduction technique when introducing other queens to the colony.

5. Queen breeding technology

Queen breeding refers to the artificial cultivation of new queens in beekeeping production. The quality of the queen bee determines the development of the bee colony to a large extent. Therefore, bee farms of a certain scale generally replace queen bees regularly. At this time, it is necessary to use artificial queen breeding technology to cultivate a large number of queen bees. At the same time, artificial queen breeding can also be used for targeted selection in beekeeping production to retain those bee species with excellent genetic characteristics and eliminate those bee species with various defects.

6. Disease prevention technology

Although bee diseases are relatively rare, once they occur, they are extremely troublesome to deal with. If you are not careful, it may lead to the destruction of the entire colony or even affect the entire field. Many novice beekeepers do not pay attention to the prevention and control of bee diseases, which leads to the death of entire boxes of bees, causing huge losses. At the same time, bees have many natural enemies in nature, the most common of which are hornets. A few golden-ringed hornets can destroy a bee colony.

Summary: Beekeeping has very high technical requirements. It is recommended that novices should not have more than 10 groups in the early stage. At the same time, they should learn step by step, communicate and learn more with professional beekeepers, and only engage in large-scale breeding after they have mastered certain beekeeping techniques. Do not be too ambitious or have unrealistic expectations.

3. How to get started with beekeeping?

First, it is advisable to purchase two small groups at the same time. In terms of climate, it is best to choose spring and autumn, when the temperature is between 20-30℃. At this time, the external climate is mild, the bee colony is more active, and the rich nectar plants are blooming. The bee colonies purchased at this time reproduce faster.

Beginner beekeepers can start from here to learn and practice at the same time, so that the knowledge can be gradually consolidated in practice, the bee colony can be gradually increased in reproduction, and a solid foundation can be laid for the future expansion of beekeeping.

4. Top ten tips for beekeeping novices?

1. Discussion on bee species

1. Italian Bee: Italian Bee is a high-honey-producing bee species introduced into my country. Its advantages are strong colony strength, weak swarming, not easy to escape from the colony, and high honey production. Its disadvantages are weak adaptability to my country's natural environment and susceptibility to bee mites and wasps.

2. Chinese honey bee: Chinese honey bee is an excellent bee species native to my country. Its advantages are that it has strong adaptability to my country's natural environment and is good at utilizing scattered nectar sources. Its disadvantages are small colony size, low honey production, easy swarming, easy migration, and susceptibility to attack by nest insects.

Beekeeping

2. Beekeeping Tools

1. Beehive: The beehive is the most basic tool for beekeeping. Its main function is to provide a place for bees to reproduce and live. Due to different design ideas, there are two types of beehives: traditional beehives and movable frame beehives. Due to different suitable bee species, there are several types such as Chinese bee beehives and Italian bee beehives.

2. Bee hat: A bee hat is a special tool for beekeeping. Its main function is to prevent bee stings when managing a bee colony. There are many styles of beekeeping hats, but no matter what style, the beekeeping hat must be light, durable and have a clear field of vision.

3. Others: Beekeeping also requires a lot of supporting tools, mainly including honey shakers, bee sweepers, scrapers, queen cages, queen excluders, escape prevention sheets, feeders, smokers, queen traps, etc. If queen bees are artificially bred, queen breeding sticks and worm transfer needles are also needed.

Beekeeping

3. Beekeeping Site

1. Environment: The area around the beekeeping site must be quiet. For example, sparsely populated fields or orchards are suitable for beekeeping. It is not suitable for beekeeping near roads, railways, factories, schools, etc. In addition, places with frequent smoke, noise, vibration, etc. are also not suitable for beekeeping.

2. Climate: The microclimate of the beekeeping site must be suitable. The temperature and wind force have the greatest impact on bees. In terms of temperature, it must face the sun in winter and spring to prevent cold waves, and in summer and autumn it must be shaded to prevent heat. As for wind force, bees should not be kept on mountain tops or in valleys where strong winds are common.

3. Nectar source: There must be abundant nectar source near the apiary. Since the effective collection radius of bees is only three kilometers, there must be abundant nectar source within a three-kilometer radius of the apiary. The most ideal nectar source condition is that there are several small nectar sources interspersed between large nectar sources.

4. Pests: There must be as few pests as possible near the bee farm. For example, hornets and frogs will attack the bee colony. Hornets are particularly harmful to honey bees. Therefore, the apiary should be built in a place with fewer hornets nearby. If someone is raising hornets nearby, it is not suitable to raise bees.

Beekeeping

4. Bee colony feeding

1. Supplementary feeding: Supplementary feeding is to supplement the bee colony with the food necessary for survival. For example, before the wintering period arrives, the beekeeper must supplement the feed needed for the entire wintering period for the bee colony. When the nectar source is scarce and the honey storage in the hive is insufficient, the beekeeper must also provide supplementary feeding to the bee colony.

2. Reward feeding: Reward feeding can stimulate the queen bee to lay eggs and motivate worker bees to raise larvae. For example, reward feeding is needed during the spring and autumn breeding periods. The reason is that the reproduction rate of the bee colony is regulated by the nectar source. Reward feeding can give the bee colony the illusion that there is an abundant nectar source.

3. Soothing feeding: Soothing feeding can help a chaotic bee colony stabilize quickly. For example, timely feeding after the bee colony is transferred to the hive can help the colony quickly secrete wax and build honeycombs. Merging bee colonies or introducing a new queen and timely feeding can also help the colony order quickly return to normal.

Beekeeping

5. Four Seasons Management

1. Spring: The focus of bee management in spring is spring breeding, the purpose is to encourage the overwintering bee colonies to quickly recover their strength, otherwise they may not be able to utilize the spring nectar source. The breeding time is 60 days before the first large local nectar flow period. The method is to reward the bee colony with feeding once every evening.

2. Summer: The focus of bee management in summer is heat prevention. In fact, high temperature is also the main factor restricting the development of bee colonies in summer. The solution is to move the beehives to a cool place or build a shed on the beehives to protect against the sun. If necessary, sprinkle cold water or put ice bags in the beehives to cool them down.

3. Autumn: The focus of bee management in autumn is autumn breeding, the purpose is to encourage the bee colony to quickly cultivate bees of the right age for wintering, otherwise the bee colony may not be able to successfully overwinter. The breeding time is 60 days before the last local nectar flow period. The method is to reward the bee colony with feeding once every evening.

4. Winter: The focus of bee management in winter is insulation. For example, the beehive can be wrapped with insulating materials such as crop straw. The box can also be filled with insulating materials when necessary, but it must be "better to be cold than hot" because excessively high temperatures during the wintering period are far more harmful to the bee colony than low temperatures.

Beekeeping

6. Disease prevention and control

1. Hornets: Hornets are particularly harmful in mountainous areas and hilly areas. You can use a fly swatter to kill them, or you can cut off the drone brood combs at the bottom of the honeycomb and mix them with pesticides to prevent them from spreading around the beehive. When the hornets finish feeding and bring them back to the hive, they can poison the entire hornet colony.

2. Broodworms: Broodworms (larvae of wax moths) mainly harm Chinese honey bees, especially weak bee colonies are more susceptible to damage by broodworms. In mild cases, it will affect the normal development and honey production of the bee colony. In severe cases, the bee colony may even be unable to resist and have to abandon the nest and flee.

3. Sac brood disease of Chinese honey bees: Sac brood disease of Chinese honey bees is the most harmful disease to Chinese honey bees. There is currently no specific medicine for it. Prevention must be the main approach for this bee disease. In addition, antiviral drugs such as adamantane hydrochloride can play a certain auxiliary therapeutic effect.

4. Bee mites: Bee mites are the most important parasite of Italian honey bees. Severely endangered bee colonies will be rapidly weakened, their collecting capacity will be severely reduced, and they may even cause the death of the entire colony. The best way is to kill the bee mites in the beehive with highly effective miticides when the lid is not sealed.

5. Basic tutorial on beekeeping?

Beekeeping Tutorial:

1. Breeding site: It is best to raise bees in sparsely populated fields, orchards or hillsides.

2. Prepare tools: prepare beehives, bee hats, feeders, scrapers and other tools.

3. Feeding of bee colonies: Before wintering, supply the bee colonies with the feed they need for the entire wintering period.

4. Management method: Move the beehives to a cool place in summer, or build a shed over the beehives to protect them from the sun.