Caring for bees in the spring for beginners. Bee care

The apiary requires the attention of a beekeeper throughout the year. Caring for bees in the spring, summer and fall is aimed not only at obtaining a sufficient amount of production, but also at maintaining the health and vitality of the colonies. Each season has its own means, methods and features of care, which will be described in this article.

You will learn what care rules should be followed by novice beekeepers and what activities should be carried out before and after wintering.

How to Care for Bees for Beginners

In summer, the main work is aimed at using honey collection and forming new families. In order for all individuals to develop normally, it is not recommended to examine them frequently. It will be enough to evaluate the condition of the hive twice a month.

To obtain new families, artificial breeding or natural swarming is used. For more efficient honey collection, families are periodically relocated closer to plants that bloom during a certain period.

Note: Hives with frames must be transported very carefully so that they do not shake along the road. The frames are additionally secured with wooden blocks.

If the number of frames is incomplete, they are moved to one side, a diaphragm is inserted inside and secured with nails;
The frames are covered from above with ceiling slats so that there are no gaps between them;
A mesh hole is made in one of the ceiling strips for ventilation. This condition is especially important if the transportation is long, since without fresh air the insects may die;
The hives are installed only with the entrances backwards.

Figure 1. Bars and fasteners for transporting hives

Figure 1 shows drawings that will help you properly secure the hive for transportation. It is better to carry out transportation at night or early in the morning, before the sun begins to get too hot. After a few days, an inspection is carried out. The rest of the summer concerns come down to monitoring honey collection and replacing frames filled with honey with new ones. The procedure is carried out mainly in the evening. Commercial honey can be pumped out only after replenishing the stock of feed honey.

Peculiarities

With the arrival of autumn, preparations for winter begin. To do this, insulate the nests and leave the required amount of food in them. It is important to ensure that the winter does not take place on honeydew honey or its mixture with flower honey. It is best to use honeycombs containing at least 2 kg of honey.

Bees need protein and carbohydrate food for winter nutrition.:

Frames with beebread are placed second from the sides of the nest. It is impossible to place it in the center, as this can lead to the rupture of the ball and the death of insects;
The amount of honey needed for overwintering varies depending on the climate. In southern apiaries, 18-20 kg of product is enough, and bees from the northern regions are left with 20-25 kg of honey. Experienced beekeepers also advise increasing this amount by about 20%, since a larger amount of honey guarantees safety after wintering and the hatching of productive young animals.
If there is a sufficient amount of fodder honey in the apiary, sugar supplements are not given, since in general they have a negative impact on the health of families. But to prevent nosematosis, 2-3 kg of sugar syrup is prepared.

For feeding, use only pure white sugar without foreign impurities. To prepare the syrup, take one part water and two parts sugar, mix and heat. Under no circumstances should you boil it, as this will cause the syrup to become poisonous. The fertilizer is poured into a jar, the neck is tied with gauze and the container is turned over.

Figure 2. Preparing families for wintering

In mid-autumn, after the bulk of the brood has hatched, families begin preparing for winter (Figure 2). The hives are inspected and frames are left in them, at least half filled with honey.

Rules of care

Since work in the apiary differs by season, we will provide a detailed calendar of work in the apiary for individual months. Below you will find a photo of the apiary work calendar for the whole year.

April

The hives begin to be taken out to the apiary, and after the first flight, a superficial inspection of the families is carried out. After inspection, queens are added to queenless colonies and, if necessary, food supplies are replenished. Individuals from contaminated hives are transplanted into clean nests and insulated.

Also in April, they process defective honeycombs into wax, begin to wax frames and prepare equipment.

They begin to expand nests in hives with strong families. To stimulate the deconstruction of combs, frames with artificial foundation are placed and the cores are reinforced with spare queens. In May, the queens can be hatched and new families can be formed.

They begin to cull the old combs and install new frames in the hives. This month, the formation of new families and the installation of additional buildings are being completed. In June, it may be necessary to move the apiary to another place due to a change in the flowering period of honey plants.

They begin to replace old queens with young ones. New honeycombs are installed and frames with fodder honey are selected for wintering. Every three to four days, the second buildings are inspected and frames with honey are collected for pumping. They begin preparing the winter hut.

August

When the second bribe is over, the second buildings are removed and the families are inspected. The weak ones are built up before wintering, exposing additional empty honeycombs for egg laying. Inspect food reserves, replacing honeydew honey with flower honey. The winter house is whitened with lime and fumigated with sulfur smoke.

September

They continue to build up families before wintering. At the end of September, the nests are insulated, the entrances are shortened, and the nests are collected for the winter. The defective honeycombs are selected and melted down into wax.

October

If the day is warm and sunny, the entrances are widened so that the bees can make their final flight. They continue to prepare the winter hut.

November-March

After the temperature drops, the bees are transferred to the winter hut. It is necessary to regularly monitor the temperature and humidity in the room.

Figure 3. Calendar of work in the apiary

Until March, it is recommended to enter the winter hut only twice a month, and then up to 3-4 times. If, during the process of observing insects, too much dead bees are discovered, several dozen dead bees are selected and sent for laboratory analysis. In winter, they also prepare for the new honey harvest season. Even more practical tips on caring for bees all year round are given in the video.

What you need to pay special attention to

To ensure successful bee care in the spring and throughout the year, you need to follow the recommendations of experienced beekeepers.

First, you need to choose the right breed of bees. You should be guided not only by the productivity and nature of insects, but also by their resistance to diseases and the climatic conditions of your region. For example, Central Russian bees are more suitable for northern regions, and Italian bees are more suitable for southern regions.

Secondly, you need to choose the right area for the apiary. It should be dry, level and well lit by the sun. In addition, it is desirable that there is a noticeable landmark in the apiary: a tall tree, building or fence.

In addition, during the growing process, bee colonies are regularly inspected for diseases and, if necessary, measures are taken to eliminate and prevent diseases.

Video: how to care for bees

If you are just starting out in beekeeping, a video that tells you how to care for bees will help you set up your apiary work correctly and provide the insects with suitable living conditions.

The main task is to raise strong bee colonies before the honey harvest begins. When the air warms up to +10-12 degrees, the hives can be moved from the winter hut to the apiary. During the day, when it gets warmer, the entrance is opened so that the bees can make their first cleaning flight (Figure 4).

Note: During the first flight, you need to carefully observe the behavior of insects, since this can be used to judge the general health after wintering. If the bees fly out together and return to the hive together, it means that the insects are absolutely healthy (Figure 5). Bees from weak colonies fly out sluggishly, and some do not rise into the air at all, remaining on the arrival board.

After the first flight, the family must be examined:

First of all, the presence of a queen in the hive is determined and the amount of food reserves is estimated. You can find out if there is a queen by the noise of the bees. If there is a queen, the insects hum evenly and quietly. The assessment of feed reserves is carried out very carefully, slightly moving the outermost frames. For a full-fledged family, 8 kg of honey after wintering is enough. If there is not enough food in the hive, install additional frames with honey or feed the insects with honey-sugar dough;
Next, you need to analyze the general health of the family and the hygienic condition of the nest. The nest cannot be disassembled;
The inspection must be done quickly, but carefully, so as not to disturb the bees or catch the brood.

Figure 4. Taking the hives to the apiary in the spring

If the bees have little food, after stable warm weather has established, they can be fed with sugar syrup (1 part sugar and 1 part water). The health of a family can also be determined by the condition of the streets between the frames. To do this, open the outer ceilings and count the number of streets with bees. Normally there should be 7-8 or more. If the number is less, the family is considered weakened.

After the first flight, the bees immediately begin cleaning the hive. Strong families independently remove dead wood, debris and wax residues in a few days, but the owner of the apiary can help them with this. First of all, you need to remove and disinfect the removable parts of the hive, or replace them if necessary.

Note: Particular attention is paid to the condition of the arrival board. Very often it is clogged with dead wood and wax dust. All debris must be carefully removed by moving it with wire.

If you detect a weak family, you need to do the following:

The nest is reduced, dividing the bees into two parts;
4 frames with brood are left in one part, and all the rest in the second;
This will prevent the brood from freezing;
Additionally, the nest can be insulated with a special mattress or pillow. It is important that insulating materials must be hygroscopic. Dry moss, tow or straw mat are excellent for these purposes.

When stable warm weather sets in, families are re-examined. This is the so-called spring inspection, during which the nests are sanitized and bad combs are discarded, replacing them with new frames. Factors influencing the determination of the health of bee colonies during the spring inspection are shown in Figure 6.

Note: During winter, bees sometimes develop diarrhea and the inside of the hive becomes contaminated with feces. Families from such hives need to be relocated to new and clean ones. Old hives need to be cleaned and disinfected.

Be sure to determine the suitability of frames with honeycombs by inspecting them in the light. If most of the cells are dark, the comb is discarded. Colonies without queens are replenished with nuclei (small colonies with queens) or connected to another strong colony that has a queen.

Figure 5. Behavior of healthy bees during the first flight

A week after the spring inspection, the outer frames of the hives are inspected:

If offspring appear between the outer frame and the insert board, ready-made honeycombs with a small amount of beebread and honey are placed in the nest.
Each new comb is installed with the last brood frame formed.
After the honey flow period, frames with artificial foundation are additionally inserted into the hive.

After the first body is completely filled with frames and honeycombs, the second one is attached to the hive, placing it on top. Two frames with brood and one with food are transferred from the lower part, and the free space is filled with empty frames with foundation. The procedure is repeated until the second housing is completely filled.

Note: Before starting honey collection, you need to prepare a sufficient number of spare combs. Typically, in areas of average productivity, 14 nesting combs are required for single-box hives, 24 for double-box hives and 40 for multi-box hives. For areas with higher productivity of honey collection, the norms are increased by about a third.

To store spare cells, special cell storage facilities are used. You need to make sure that they are not covered with wax dust. If this happens, the honeycombs are fumigated with sulfur dioxide three times with an interval of 10-15 days.

During honey collection, artificial foundation must be placed in the hives (the average norm is 0.5 kg per family). To strengthen the foundation on the frame, thin tinned wire is used.

The last inspection of the families is carried out approximately one and a half months after the spring inspection to assess the general condition of the apiary.

Preparing the site for the apiary

Spring care for bees first of all includes proper preparation of the apiary site. While the families are in the winter hut, you need to inspect the hives, paint them and place them in the apiary.

Note: To place bees, it is better to choose dry areas located near the area where honey plants grow. It is advisable that no power lines pass nearby, as bees are very sensitive to such radiation.

Before you start moving colonies into the hive, you need to carefully inspect them. Most attention should be paid to the uterus. She should survive the winter well, but if the queen dies or gets sick, it should be replaced with a new one. Experienced beekeepers advise replacing queens every one and a half to two years.

You also need to estimate the amount of feed. If there is less than 8 kilograms of honey, several unopened frames with honey are placed in the hive.

Techniques for caring for bees after wintering

Bee care techniques in March include preparing new hives for replanting colonies. In place of the old hive, a new one is placed and a printed frame with honey and beebread is placed in it. At the same time, the old hive cannot be taken far: it must be at arm's length from the new house so that the bees can quickly move into it.

In an old house, the frames are carefully inspected. If signs of diarrhea are visible on the frame, it is left in the old hive, and only clean frames are transferred to the new one. In total, an unopened frame with honey, one printed frame and a frame with brood are transferred to the new hive, after which they begin to transfer the bees themselves and their queen. Any empty or moldy comb from an old hive should be discarded.

Figure 6. Factors determining family health during the spring audit

In the future, you must ensure that the bees have enough honey to feed themselves. If the apiary is located in a place with active flowering of spring plants, insects will get food on their own. But, if there is no opportunity for a spring bribe, they will have to be fed.

Caring for bees in January

In winter, the main work in the apiary is not related to servicing the bees themselves. After the families are transferred to the winter hut, they begin to sort the combs, cull the frames and repair the hives.

However, we should not forget to maintain an optimal microclimate in the winter hut. The temperature should be no higher than +8 degrees, and humidity - 70-90%. To determine whether the bees have enough food, one of the hives with a strong colony is placed on scales in advance and weighed at each visit to the winter hut. An example of winter shelter arrangement is shown in Figure 7.

Note: In order not to disturb the bees, the winter hut is visited no more than twice a month, and only at the end of winter can you enter it every week.

The winter hut should be completely dark, and to inspect the hives you need to use a special flashlight with a red lamp. The fact is that bees do not distinguish the color red, and such lighting will not irritate them. The condition of families can be assessed by the noise. In a healthy family it should be even and weak. Stronger noise occurs when the microclimate is disrupted. For example, a winter shelter can be insulated or ventilated to increase or decrease the temperature, and to adjust the humidity level, wet burlap is hung around the winter shelter or containers with water are placed.

Sometimes bees begin to make more noise if the feed honey has become sugary and the insects cannot digest it. To clarify, inspect the floor of the hive: if particles of candied honey are visible on the floor, the insects are given liquid sugar syrup as additional feeding (one liter every 20 days). The neck of the jar is tied with gauze, and the container itself is hung on a ball of bees.

When visiting a winter hut, be sure to inspect the entrance, and if there is selection on it, it is removed and burned.

Peculiarities

The basis of bee care for beginners in winter concerns ensuring comfortable wintering conditions. A comfortable temperature is considered to be from 0 to 4 degrees. The room should be dark, but when the temperature in the winter hut rises, windows and doors are opened for cooling and ventilation.

It is also necessary to monitor the humidity level. It should not exceed 80%, since at elevated levels the honey will begin to sour, and the bees will get sick and die. With reduced humidity, honey in the hives quickly crystallizes and the bees begin to become very thirsty. Ventilation will help reduce humidity levels, and you can increase it using damp rags or containers of water.

Rules

Wintering is an important stage in caring for bees, because their productivity in the next season will depend on how the insects endure the cold season.

For wintering to be successful, you need to follow these rules:

Provide the bees with complete peace and darkness. The winter hut should always be quiet and dark, since any sharp sound or light can lure insects out of the hive prematurely.
There should be no rodents in the room that could damage the hives or disturb the bees.
The entrances are cleaned monthly to ensure sufficient air flows into the hive.

In addition, you need to constantly listen to noise in the hives. It should not be too loud and even. If the colony is not making noise, it means the bees are starving, and if the noise is too loud, the honey may have begun to crystallize in the hive and the humidity level in the hive needs to be increased.

Methods

There are several ways to overwinter bees: indoors and outdoors. If the hives are moved indoors for the winter, it is enough to follow the rules described above.

Figure 7. Internal arrangement and microclimate of the winter hut

If the hives remain in the apiary for the winter, they must be covered with a half-meter layer of snow, which will help maintain the temperature inside the hive. With the onset of a thaw, the ice crust is carefully removed from the surface, and the snow is loosened, trying not to make noise.

With the arrival of spring, the snow is completely removed from the surface of the house, the entrance is cleaned of dust and dirt, and a layer of clean straw is laid out near it.

Caring for bees in spring: video for beginner beekeepers

Caring for bees is considered a rather difficult task, so novice beekeepers need to take the advice of more experienced colleagues. Beginning beekeepers can find information about proper care of bees in the spring in the video below.

Caring for bees is the main task that a beekeeper who is just starting to create his own apiary will have to do. We are not talking about honey yet. Of course, it will be in small quantities, but that’s not the main thing.

The development and health of colonies, on which future productivity depends, is what should be of primary interest to every beekeeper. The only difference is that a beginner just learns this activity, while an experienced one works and shares knowledge.

If you create favorable conditions for the bees in the hive and unobtrusively help them at key stages of their life, then in a year or two you can get a good apiary that will begin to make a profit.

It is impossible to do this without proper and timely care - bees often get sick, do not build up strength well, due to the small number of colonies, their honey production is poor, and such colonies of insects generally have a very difficult time overwintering and often die.

Beekeeping is a complex science. It is not always easy for a novice beekeeper to understand all the intricacies of this matter. Nobody wants to ruin everything at the first stage.

Therefore, even before acquiring families, it is advisable for a beginner to know everything about how to care for bees from scratch.

The first concerns of a beekeeper

New bees are usually acquired in late spring - early summer. Early purchase is preferred.

During the season, insects will have time to build new honeycombs, increase their numbers, and provide themselves with good food by working in the honey collection. They will go away for the winter as a full-fledged family. Before the start of a good bribe, they will have to be fed, but this is not difficult to do.

There are different ways to become a bee owner:

Privately, purchase layerings or swarms with a fertile queen from amateur beekeepers.
Order bee packages from bee nurseries.

When purchasing packages of bees, you can count on the purebred insects and the absence of diseases, which must be confirmed by a veterinary certificate and a quality certificate.
It will be difficult for a novice beekeeper to determine the quality of bee material purchased from hand. This requires experience in working with insects, so it is better to invite a practitioner to help.

It is worth organizing and arranging a place for the apiary in advance to make it easier to care for the bees. At first, it can be arranged in the private sector, which is very convenient.

The main condition is the presence of nearby honey plants, a food supply for the population.

Another detail is the type of construction of the bee house. It is believed that bed hives are more suitable for novice beekeepers; caring for bees here is easier.

There is another opinion: no type of hive has any obvious advantages, there are only peculiarities in working with it.

So, the main selection criterion remains personal preference, and experience will increase.

Once the bees are placed in the hives, it is time for the beekeeper to take care of the apiary.

To do this, it is enough to carry out a quick inspection of the nest the next day after purchase and a week later to make sure that the family has settled safely in the new place. If the queen lays eggs, everything goes well.

You also need to add frames to the hive. If bees are acquired early, when there is no good honey, the weather is damp, cold, and non-flying, they must be supplied with food. The beekeeper must take care of the availability of supplies in advance.

In warm weather and the presence of flowering honey plants, empty frames are placed. The family applies the honey themselves.

To increase the ability to obtain more food, insects should not be allowed to build honeycombs on their own. To do this, frames with foundation are placed in the hive. They are alternated with existing rebuilt sections, placing new ones between them.

Having empty frames at the bees' disposal at the time of the main bribe is all they need.

The beekeeper should not often look into the hive unnecessarily and disturb the insects. If bees are actively flying for nectar, there are no sick or dead individuals near the entrance - the colony is developing normally. If it is necessary to install or replace frames, all work must be carried out quickly so as not to freeze the nest with brood.

For novice beekeepers, you need to remember that you need to care for bees carefully, because troubles can happen. Manipulation in the hive and inexperience of the beekeeper can sometimes lead to the loss or death of the queen. This is very bad, but you shouldn't get lost.

Bees cannot do without a queen, they begin to worry, get angry, and do not fly for nectar. Such a family is doomed, but you can add a new queen to them or merge them with another family. If you do everything quickly, the colony will continue its development.

What to do in August

The last month of summer is the time when the beekeeper has new worries.

During the day it is still hot, but the nights become cold and the bees fly out to work later. Many honey plants are fading, that is, the main harvest is ending. We can say that the main foraging season for insects has come to an end.

Caring for bees in August is as follows:

At the beginning of the month you need to inspect the hives. The main place here is occupied by the nest, which contains the brood. The remaining sections fall on honey frames. Strong strong families in favorable conditions (good weather, abundant bribes) could significantly increase the size of the colony over the summer, which increased their need for food supplies. If there are not enough food frames in the hive, the workers will begin to put honey in the center, occupying the frames intended for sowing. The last brood will be small in number, old bees will leave during the winter, which is unacceptable. If the nesting frames are filled with honey, they need to be removed and replaced with empty ones. The queen will lay eggs there, and the family will again have a young generation.
The hive may also contain frames untouched by bees or excess honey. At this time, a well-developed family should be accommodated in 12 complete frames of the “dadan” type or occupy 2 “ruta” buildings. The remaining frames can be removed. In multi-body hives, excess bodies and magazines are also removed. If there is a lack of food in the honeycombs, the bees need to be fed.
During the first half of the month, you need to monitor the work of the queens. Bad weather conditions and a sharp reduction in honey production can provoke her to stop laying eggs. An early cessation of scarring means a small number of young winter bees. It is necessary to give stimulating feeding with sugar or invert syrup. It is good if the queen continues laying eggs until mid-August, when the bees will need to be fed for the winter.
Feeding bees with syrup for the winter is a common practice in beekeeping. Its goal is to quickly replenish the family’s missing food supplies. There is no point in delaying this event, as the insects must have time to process it, put it in honeycombs, seal it and distribute it in the nest conveniently for themselves. All this takes time; moreover, bees can only work at above-zero temperatures.

Work in the apiary in autumn

Autumn is a period of active preparation of insects for wintering. Bee feeding ends in September. Now the entire supply is in their hive.

At the same time, the last young generation of bees appears, the frames with brood are empty. The bees begin to transfer honey there, placing it on top of the nest.

The beekeeper's job now is to inspect the hive and make adjustments if necessary.
Here's what caring for bees in the fall consists of:

Several middle frames, low-copper frames and honeydew, on which wintering of bees is impossible, are removed from the nest. For a strong family, leave 8-10 frames, moving them away from the edges of the hive. The average colony is left with only 6. This is called nest reduction. This technique helps bees comfortably survive the cold. Only young individuals and the queen go into winter. The number of bees in the hive is small. Bees do not occupy extra frames; they remain unclaimed since the fall. Bees will also not be able to use them in winter, since the club only moves upward. In addition, it is much easier for bees to maintain the microclimate in a reduced nest.
Manual assembly of the nest is not always carried out. If the bees have collected enough honey, placed it conveniently for themselves, and have a lot of food on the frame, there is no need to interfere. Only when food supplies are limited, frames are distributed manually, using any of the methods known in beekeeping (one-sided and two-sided assembly, beard, etc.).
Bees overwinter differently in different types of hives. In beds with two entrances, the frames are placed opposite the entrance, and the outermost ones are removed. If four bee entrances are placed on any side of a hive, the rest is separated by a diaphragm. In riser hives, the nest is always formed in the center. Food supplies in multi-hull hives are placed above the club in the store or second building.
The beekeeper's autumn chores also include the mandatory treatment of insects against varroa. Even if the presence of a tick could not be visually confirmed, treatment is still necessary. The disease is present in all apiaries, but mite-infested colonies overwinter poorly. It is most effective to carry out the treatment when only young winter bees remain in the nest, and their years have almost ceased.
The hives must be insulated for the winter. This work is partially done by the bees themselves, covering the cracks in the structure with propolis. The rest of the insulation must be carried out by the beekeeper. They do it around the entire perimeter of the nest. High-quality natural insulation is placed near the walls and on top of the frames. The top element under the cover is installed last to prevent overheating of the socket.
With the onset of steady cold weather, the bees become inactive, make their final cleansing flight and form a winter club. They no longer fly out of the hive. Now they can be placed in a permanent wintering place. They do this carefully, so as to disturb the insects less. This concludes the autumn work in the apiary.
That's all about how to care for bees in the first season.

Beekeeping is not an exact science, but an art.

There are simply no identical time frames for carrying out the same work.

The difference lies in the climatic characteristics of the region where the apiary is located, the duration of honey collection, and the type of farming. Nature can also make its own adjustments to the beekeeper’s calendar.

For bee breeding to be successful, you need to constantly look closely at insects, study them, and understand how they live. Then beekeeping will bring joy.

To make beekeeping a successful business, bees must be cared for all year round. These insects are quite capricious and require careful care, but, having learned all the intricacies of working in an apiary, you can not only feast on a medicinal product, but also make money by selling honey.

As soon as the temperature outside reaches eight degrees Celsius, the hives are placed outside and the bee families can begin to be transplanted. This is done this way:

The hive is removed from the ruts and set aside at arm's length. A clean hive is put in its place.
They print out the honey frame and place it in the new hive.
They print out the old house and check the condition of the first frame. If it is worn out and bees are sitting on it, then they need to be shaken back and the frame should be placed in a portable box. Then they check the next one. The frame that is not deflated and contains honey is transferred to a clean hive.
Next to the honey frame they place the printed one, and then the one containing the brood. Thus, you need to transfer all suitable frames from the old hive to a clean one, and then the bees and the queen.
Honeycombs that are worn out and covered with mold are thrown out of the old hive.

Now you need to see how much honey is in the nest; if it’s less than eight kilograms, then you need to add a couple more frames with honey, but not printed ones. These families may not be examined for a month.

Apiary with bribes

If the apiary is located in such a place that there are no bribes in the spring, then after the bees have been transplanted, a month later it is necessary to replenish their reserves of beebread and honey, which means that the nest needs to be expanded. A second body is added to the hive, brood is not placed there, only frames with honeycombs, each should contain two kilograms of beebread and honey, and seven frames with foundation are also placed in the body. Next, the family needs to be covered and insulated. If both bodies are not joined tightly, then the joint is lubricated with clay, which is mixed with sawdust. Now you don’t have to examine your family for another two weeks. Over the summer and autumn, the colonies should grow to such a size that the total weight of the bees is about three kilograms.

If the hives are placed as early as possible, then by the time the willow blooms, it will be time to expand the nests. During this period, frames with dry land are placed to expand the family. You can add a little foundation so that bribes are used more. Willow honey crystallizes very quickly and is therefore not suitable for wintering. After the bees collect honey from the willow, the apiary is transported to where the yellow acacia grows.

Caring for bees in summer

Summer for a beekeeper begins from the moment the insects are ready to swarm, this is approximately the beginning of June. You need to monitor the swarming and help the bees with this, otherwise they will not provide any income, and in winter they will completely die from hunger. You can only take one swarm from a hive. The first hatch occurs when the bees have feathered queen cells; the weather on this day is always clear, since a good queen is sensitive to weather conditions. Before the first bee appears, the bees fly out of the hive and fly around it in a cloud, then the queen appears and the swarm joins her. At this moment, the beekeeper stands nearby until the bees sit on the hive, and then caring for the bees after swarming is as follows:

Using a scoop and a scoop, the beekeeper collects insects. The scoop should be held in the right hand and all the bees should be shaken off at once if possible, the movements should be light and bouncing. It would be good to immediately catch the queen, then the bees will enter the swarm themselves.
Bees that do not want to fly into the swarm are driven by smoke, which is blown from the bottom up towards the swarm.
The swarm must be taken to a dark room and left for an hour, then listen to see if the bees have calmed down; if they are noisy and restless, most likely there is no queen with them. Sometimes the howl of a swarm means that there are several queens with them, then the bees need to be shaken out, all the queens found, left for them only one, and the rest put in cages.
If the swarm does not have its own queen, then someone else’s is given to it, and this is done in the evening. In the head of the hive you need to put pieces of sushi and a layer of honeycomb with a worm; as a rule, bees do not fly away from such a hive.

Towards the end of August, it is necessary to review all the hives to see how ready they are for wintering. Stores need to be removed, honey should be stored in dry boxes, dried food should be stored separately from honey on a shelf so that it is not damaged by moths.

Autumn bee care

Before sending the bees for the winter, you need to check the quality of honey and its reserves. If the autumn is dry, the bees can collect not from bribes, but honey rose and honeydew - sweetish excrement from aphids and scale insects. And the end result is honeydew honey. It has a dark color, stringiness and an unpleasant taste; it is not suitable for wintering bees; after eating such honey, insects begin to get sick. To determine whether there is honeydew in honey, you need to take a little sample from different families and places in the hive. You can take these samples to the laboratory, or you can determine it yourself; there are several methods:

Take honey and water in equal proportions and stir until completely dissolved. If there is a residue in the water in the form of flakes, then there was honeydew in the honey.
Take part of distilled water and the same amount of honey and add two parts of lime water, put on fire and bring to a boil; if flakes fall out, it means there is honeydew in the honey.

When honeydew is discovered, honey is pumped out of this comb, but not thrown away, but left for spring feeding. And in place of this frame they put a good honey one or with dry food; you can feed the insects with sugar syrup.

It is very important that all bees have strong colonies before winter, so that the insects survive the winter well; the last bribe, even a small one, is of great importance. It can be provided by honey plants that bloom late, such as buckwheat and sweet clover.

In the fall, it is also necessary to replace all old queens with young ones. But brood in late autumn is not always needed. If it gets sharply cold, the young bees will not have time to fly around and empty their intestines and will not overwinter well. It is not recommended to feed bees with sugar stimulants in the fall; such bees fly out weakened in the spring and are not willing to take advantage of the first bribes.

Nests are collected for the winter in various ways:

Completely on honey.
Partially on honey. In this case, you need to remove the honey frames from the hive and block the nest. There is no need to be afraid that the bees will become crowded; anyway, until spring the insects that are now in brood will be capable. Old bees are used to process the syrup.
On sugar syrup. It is given only twice at night every other day, about 5 liters per nest. To prepare the syrup, you need to dissolve 1.5 kg of sugar in a liter of water and cool.

In early September, the nest is collected for the winter:

Two frames with brood and honey are moved to the partition.
They are joined by layering with helper queens.
Make sure that the bees completely cover the frames on all sides.

Caring for bees in winter

The main technology for caring for bees in winter is to maintain the temperature in the wintering area at least zero degrees. A temperature of about 4 degrees Celsius is considered the most comfortable for insects. If it gets warmer, you need to increase ventilation. If it starts to get warm outside, the doors in the winter hut are opened wide so that fresh air can come in. In this case, the bees should be in complete darkness.

Comfortable humidity for wintering bees is 80%; if it is higher, the honey will sour and the colonies will begin to weaken and die. Humidity is reduced through ventilation. If, on the contrary, the indicators are below normal, then the honey will begin to quickly crystallize and the bees will become thirsty. You can increase the performance by hanging wet rags or placing a container of water nearby.

In addition, bees must be provided with:

Complete rest, any sudden noise or light will lure the bees out of the hive, especially if the temperature is positive.
The absence of rodents that can damage the hives and disturb the rest of insects with their vital activity.
The tapholes should be cleaned once a month to prevent the ventilation from becoming clogged. You need to clean it using a wire that looks like a poker, perform all movements carefully so as not to disturb the bees and make sure that human breath does not get into the entrance. Deadheads need to be examined; if there are bees without heads, it means there is a mouse in the hive, wet deadheads indicate humidity, swollen abdomens indicate nosematosis.

You need to constantly listen to the noise in the hives; if everything is normal, then the sounds should resemble the noise of the forest; if the sounds are too loud, then the air is dry, the temperature is elevated or the honey has crystallized. If there is no noise in some colony, this means that the bees are starving and need to be fed.

If bees spend the winter in the wild, then caring for them consists of covering the hive with snow, the layer of which should be at least half a meter. After the thaw, you need to immediately remove the ice crust and loosen the snow, while trying not to make a lot of noise. In the spring, the snow is cleared off, the entrance is opened, and straw is laid on the snow in front of it. You can watch the video for more information about caring for bees.

Most novice beekeepers are interested in the question of how to care for bees in winter. The cold season is the most difficult period of the year for insects, so they need to be constantly looked after and fed properly. Some beekeepers believe that the workers themselves cope with the winter and it is better not to disturb them. This is partly true, because bees are able to independently maintain the optimal temperature inside the club, but for this they need to be provided with a sufficient amount of nutrients. Today we will talk about the features of caring for bees in December, January and February.

Where do insects spend the winter?

There are two options for wintering bees: in specially equipped winter huts or outside. It's worth noting that the second option is not as radical as you might think. This may include the attic of a house or basement. During the winter, you may have many other worries, so you should start preparing insects for wintering in the fall. This includes carrying out preventive work and feeding with vitamins.

How bees spend the winter

With the onset of the first cold weather, the bees huddle together, which allows them not to react to severe frosts and tolerate them well. Here we can draw an analogy with penguins, which, by forming such clubs, survive in extreme temperature conditions. Nature has taken care of everything itself; man’s only task is to carry out periodic monitoring and provide assistance if necessary.

Towards the end of winter, the queen begins to lay eggs. This is a signal for the bee family - the time for the first flight will soon come.

Do I need to do any work?

As we said above, many beekeepers are sure that bees do not need any special care in winter. This is not so, because the strength of the family in the spring depends on how our insects spend the winter. Therefore, beekeepers are simply obliged to regularly conduct winter inspections. Below we’ll talk about how to properly care for your apiary in winter.

What care do bees need in winter?

Regardless of where bees spend the winter, regular care for them in winter is mandatory. If you do everything correctly, you can minimize losses and save the family. In the spring, the insects will feel good and this will give them strength to increase their family.

Care requirements

Ensuring a comfortable winter is not as difficult as it might seem at first. To do this, you need to follow only three basic rules:

Create conditions for the bees so that they can independently maintain the optimal temperature. The beekeeper needs to close all the cracks in the hive to protect insects from moisture and drafts.
Minimize the impact of external factors such as light and noise on the apiary. Bees especially don't like vibrations.
Regular inspection should be carried out in order to identify a concerned family in time and quickly take the necessary measures. The beekeeper's passivity can lead to anxiety spreading throughout the entire apiary, and then serious problems cannot be avoided.

Now you can see for yourself that there is nothing complicated about this. The main thing is to follow the rules and your bees will only become stronger after winter.

Preparing bees for wintering in a winter hut

Preparing for wintering in a winter hut is almost the same as when wintering in an attic or basement. The main difference is that in the latter cases it is necessary to additionally insulate the hive, because in the basement or on the roof the temperature can drop to very low levels.

It is worth noting that the optimal temperature during wintering directly depends on the type of hive construction. For open-type houses, 4-6 degrees is considered the norm. In closed hives the temperature range should be 0-3 degrees. The main guideline is the fact that water intended for insects should not freeze.

Some experts generally recommend maintaining sub-zero temperatures in closed structures - 5-6 degrees below zero. In their opinion, this will not harm the bees in any way, but on the contrary, the bees will be able to drink the resulting condensate, which completely solves the problem of lack of water.

It is important to monitor insects throughout the winter. It is enough to listen to their buzzing. Everything is simple here: an even monotonous noise - the bees are normal, a loud intermittent buzzing - some problems have arisen and they need to be resolved urgently.

Bright light and vibrations can disturb the bees prematurely, they will leave the hive and die in the cold. Therefore, it is important to make the winter hut as soundproof as possible and prevent bright rays of light from entering it. The task is not easy, but it is quite doable. By the way, if you decide to install a lantern in the winter hut, use a red light bulb, because the pupils of our workers do not perceive this color.

Now let's talk about the problem of a disturbed family. It is not difficult to guess that a clear sign of this is loud noise. The problem can be solved by cooling a specific hive or an entire winter hut.

To cool the hive, you need to take it outside. When moving a house, it is important to close its entrances. It is easier to cool the winter hut - just open all the windows and doors, but you must remain quiet and prevent light from entering. Therefore, the ideal time of day for cooling is night.

Wintering outdoors

If you decide to keep bees outside in winter, you should think about protecting the hives from external natural factors: cold, wind, frost. It is worth noting that when wintering outdoors, the entrances should be slightly open so that on warm days the insects can make cleaning flights. There is no need to worry if the hive is covered with snow. It will not harm the bees in any way, but will only protect them from wind and frost.

How many times can you visit bees in winter?

Each beekeeper decides for himself how many times he will visit the bees in winter. There are no clear recommendations here. When visiting bees, it is important not to make noise or allow bright light into the hive.

Work calendar

With the onset of the first frosts, it is necessary to begin to insulate the hives, regardless of where they will be located - outside or in the winter hut. In January, it is necessary to do preventive work and fertilizing.

In February, insects need to be fed with candy. In addition, it is advisable to study their dead.

Video

Spring is a busy time for any beekeeper. At this time, it is necessary to carry out a lot of work, eliminate the consequences of wintering and create a favorable environment for the cultivation and development of strong families. This requires a sufficient supply of food up to 12 kg per hive, optimal thermal conditions, high-quality honeycombs and young, highly productive queens. In strong families, by the end of spring, the queen begins to lay about one and a half thousand eggs per day, which is why the number of brood (eggs, larvae and bees that have not reached maturity) in the hives increases. Failure to fulfill at least one of the above conditions can sharply reduce the efficiency of the apiary. The article will discuss the technology of caring for bees.

After the bees have woken up, cleaned themselves (have gotten rid of the feces accumulated over the winter) and have flown around, you should immediately clean the hive and, to preserve heat, wrap it on the outside, lay or renew the covering, and add food. Such care for bees will help protect a bee colony that has successfully overwintered from extinction in the spring.

In order not to irritate or distract the bees from their duties, there is no need to disturb them unless absolutely necessary by frequently inspecting the hive. This is useless and harmful and can lead to bee theft, freezing and subsequent death of the brood. To carry out all apiary work in a short time, you need to draw up a plan in advance, prepare the equipment that may be required, food supplies and honeycombs.

Preparing the site for the apiary

First of all, it is necessary to calculate the required area so that all the families that survived the winter can comfortably accommodate it. Ash will help quickly remove snow in places where it is impossible to clear it, since it does not reflect sunlight. The most optimal distance between hives is 4 meters, 2-3 will be enough.
To prevent the bees, returning from their first flight, from landing on the still unheated surface of the earth and catching a cold, it is necessary to scatter straw or hay around the point; roofing material is also suitable for this purpose. Moisture sometimes accumulates under it, which can lead to infection of the bees. To avoid this, you need to remove it after each flight.

After preparing the place, you need to prepare stands for the hives, which you can make yourself or buy ready-made. Car tires or pegs are often used for this. It is necessary to position the stands in such a way that there is a slope on the side of the tap hole.
To ensure that nothing prevents bees from moving freely around the area, it must be cleared of debris and large fallen branches. Once the weather is good, you can set up the hives.

Exhibition of hives from winter hives

Once the temperature outside is comfortable for bees, within 14 degrees Celsius in the shade, the hives can be set up. This usually happens in the second ten days of April or early May. In order to detect the presence of varroatosis or nosematosis, you can send up to 50 young bees from each family for examination to a veterinary laboratory.
Immediately before removing the hives, you need to close the entrances and place insulating pillows on the nests, while trying not to disturb the bees. After installing the hives, the entrances are opened, starting from the back rows. In order for the bees to better remember the place where their home is located, bundles of straw are laid out on the landing boards. There is also a gangway leaning against them, along which it is convenient for bees freed from feces to enter the hive from the ground.

Before removing the hives, it is necessary to prepare a frame with 3 kg of honey and bee bread for each family so that they do not cool the nests; they are left in a warm room at night to warm up.

Bee care for beginners

Cleaning nests and disinfecting the hive

Caring for bees in the spring involves a number of activities. First of all, the nests are cleaned of traces of diarrhea, wax and propolis growths, since they create unsanitary conditions in the hive and make it difficult to disassemble the nest, which is necessary for inspection. Since this is a long and labor-intensive job, it should only be done after warm weather has arrived, with temperatures at least 16 degrees in the shade.
To avoid damaging the uterus during cleaning work, it is first protected by covering it with a special cap. When cleaning the hive, it is necessary to remove dirt from its walls and bottom, and from the frames. To do this, the hive is moved some distance back, and an already disinfected one is placed in its place. Next, the frames are removed one by one, and the bees are shaken off them into a new hive. The cleaned frames are covered with canvas and inserted into the new hive. The remaining bees in the hive are carefully swept onto the gangway of the new one so that they can enter it on their own.
After the hive has been released, it must be washed, disinfected with special means and dried under the sun. It is also recommended to burn it with a soldering iron lamp until the walls are slightly browned. Once this work is completed, another bee colony can be placed in the hive. Having a few spare hives available will help prevent delays.

When cleaning frames, special attention should be paid to removing stains from diarrhea, since they contain pathogens of infectious diseases and Nosema spores. Bees will clean dirty frames on their own, causing nosematosis and other diseases. Old darkened honeycombs containing sugared honey, clogged with beebread and affected by mold are removed from the nest. Since the procedure for cleaning frames is quite labor-intensive, some beekeepers who have a sufficient supply of them prefer to melt dirty frames into wax.
If there is a shortage of food, frames with candied honey, previously opened and sprinkled with water, are placed behind the diaphragm. Spraying is carried out daily until the bees have collected all the honey.
The outside walls of the hive are carefully puttied and painted. After transplanting the colony into a new hive, it must be insulated. Maintaining a constant temperature of 36 degrees in the hive will help the colony develop well. This can be achieved using special pillows that are placed on top of the canvas and on the side behind the insert board. They must be made of durable material, such as burlap, and filled with some kind of insulation.
Placing hives on car tires filled with sawdust, which accumulates heat from the sun, allows them to maintain the required temperature even at night, without cooling too much. With the correct thermal conditions, bees spend food more economically, they wear out less, and colonies develop faster.

Narrowing of nests

To make it easier for the bees to heat the brood and maintain the optimal temperature in the hive in early spring, you need to narrow the streets as much as possible to 9 mm, instead of the usual 12 mm. In addition, it is necessary to remove from the hive all frames that are not covered with bees, damaged by mice or infected with mold, as well as with a large number of drone cells.

Expansion of nests

The increased number of brood and young bees in the spring leads to the fact that the colony becomes crowded in a narrowed nest. She needs more and more comb frames to lay her eggs and store the collected nectar.
After the spring inspection, the beekeeper must monitor the development of the colony and, as necessary, add frames to the hive, thereby expanding the nests. If you are late with this procedure, the growth of the family will be delayed.
To expand the hive, you should add light brown, smooth, clean frames in which at least 2 generations of brood have already hatched; they should not have drone cells. In such honeycombs, which retain heat well, the queen lays eggs more willingly. Frames should be added approximately every 5 days. In strong families, add 2 pieces at a time, placing them on both sides of the brood.

Checking bee colonies

The first spring inspection of colonies is best done in the late afternoon in calm and warm weather, so as not to disturb the thermal regime in the hive and not embitter the bees. This procedure is necessary in order to identify the sanitary condition of the nest, determine the strength of the bee colony and the quality of the queen, as well as the quantity of brood and the quantity and quality of food. P
If its supply is insufficient (up to 4 kg), the family will be weak, and the queen will not be able to lay many eggs. A food supply of up to 12 kg will help the family to be well formed for the main honey harvest. Frames with spoiled honey are removed from the hive, and the bees are fed with sugar syrup.

The quality of the queen is determined by the amount of brood. A bad queen, which does not place the brood in the combs compactly or brings a lot of drone brood, is removed from the nest and replaced with a new one. If bees are sick with nosematosis, the beekeeper may not find brood in the honeycombs when there is a queen, in which case she is removed from the nest, and the colony is given urgent assistance as queenless.
The appearance of the uterus can also determine its condition. Unfrayed wings and healthy paws, a lighter color due to the body being covered with hairs and rapid movements indicate that the uterus is young and of high quality. Old queens darken as body hair begins to fall out and become sluggish. The vicious queen lacks claws on her hind legs and has a raised abdomen. Such queens urgently need to be replaced with benign and young ones in order to achieve strengthening and rapid growth of the family.
In a hive, bees occupy spaces between frames called alleys. If a family occupies 8 streets, it is considered strong. On 6 or 7 streets there are average families, on 5 - weak ones. Only a strong family is able to collect a large volume of honey and produce other bee products in large quantities.
For a strong family, up to 10 kg of honey and 2 frames of beebread are left for food. This will encourage the queen to intensively lay eggs, and worker bees to energetically collect the spring bribe and raise babies. In addition, such a reserve will allow the beekeeper to disturb the bees as little as possible by looking into the hive to check.

Caring for bees in spring video

Fixing queenless families

For high apiary productivity, it is necessary that each bee colony has a healthy and young queen, otherwise she will sharply weaken. The queen may die if she develops nosematosis or diarrhea, if the hives are damp or the colonies are disturbed by mice, or if the beekeeper moves the hives carelessly.
A bee colony can be corrected by connecting it with another colony that has a queen, or by replanting a fertile queen. The second method is preferable, since in this case the family is restored rather than liquidated. Spare queens are taken from the nucleus, which is a colony consisting of hundreds of bees and a queen. Once she is included in the queenless colony, the remaining bees are also added to the neighboring colony.

Usually bees, left without a queen, easily accept a new fertile queen into their colony. If this does not happen, it means that a vicious queen has gone unnoticed in the hive and needs to be removed.

Leveling the power of bee colonies

For an apiary to be effective, bee colonies must have approximately the same strength. The equalization of power changes for the better the mechanisms of development of bee colonies, which cease to depend on the quality of the queen. At the same time, the amount of brood increases, by the end of June honey reserves can increase to 45 kg, and the overall weight gain in June also increases, even in bad weather. In addition, the timing of swarming is shifting.
There are three ways to level the force. The first involves transferring several frames with brood from a strong colony to a weak one; in the second method, not only the brood, but also the bees are transferred; in the third case, only the bees are transferred.

The first option is more convenient to implement and leads to good results; as a result, both families become almost equal in strength. This cannot be said about the other two ways in which weak families still do not develop quickly enough, and strong ones begin to lag a little behind in it.