Winter management technology of Chinese honey bees

Chinese honey bee is the abbreviation of Chinese honey bee , which is distributed in all provinces of China. As a green ecological industry with small investment, low risk and quick results, Chinese bee breeding is a way to get rich by achieving rural revitalization . Let’s talk about the Chinese bee overwintering management technology.

1. Encourage bee colonies to stop spawning at the right time

Although Chinese bees cannot imprison their queens and kill off their offspring like Italian bees, in order to preserve the strength of the colony, they can also shrink the hives, feed large amounts of overwintering feed , and promote honey pressure, so that the queen bee's egg-laying circle will continue to shrink, eventually reaching a point where there is no place for her to lay eggs, resulting in cessation of production. At the same time, increasing the ventilation of the hive and lowering the hive temperature can also prompt the queen bee to stop laying eggs as soon as possible.

2. Choice of wintering place

Judging from the wintering of bee colonies in recent years, it would be better if the bee colonies are placed in a shaded place. If it is inconvenient to move the bee colony, you can take shade measures for it. For example, a shade net or sunshade can be placed above the bee colony to prevent direct sunlight from reaching the beehive and the hive door, so as to maintain a constant temperature and avoid excessive temperature differences between day and night.

3. Insulation packaging for bee colonies

When a bee colony is injured by heat, some friends will say it is because the packaging is too thick, but this is not the case. The packaging of the bee colony should be thicker so that it can keep out the cold and heat. The heat damage to the bee colony is not caused by the packaging being too thick, but by the packaging being too tight. Just like a room, no matter how thick the walls are, the temperature will not be too high as long as the windows and doors are open. However, if the packaging is well insulated and tightly sealed, the bee colony will easily be injured by heat. Therefore, it does not matter whether the bee colony is packed earlier or later. The most important thing is to open the nest door, uncover the covering cloth on the beehive, and ensure ventilation of the bee colony.

4. Strengthen the ventilation of bee colonies

Ventilation of the bee colony is very important during the wintering process. In winter, the external passages of the bee colony are mainly the hive door and the top cover. Many bee lovers often ignore the ventilation of the bee colony during the packaging process and only know to keep the hive door. Fearing that the bee colony will be cold, some cover the cloth too thickly and leave no gaps; some fold the cloth at too small an angle, resulting in poor ventilation of the hive; some use wooden barrels for breeding, and cover them too tightly with mud, which also causes poor ventilation.

5. Adequate honey and powder feed

Warm winter increases the activity of the bee colony to a certain extent, and the bee colony consumes more feed, so the bee colony must be fed sufficient feed before wintering. Generally speaking, in the north, a bee needs to keep at least one honey comb, and reserve a few more honey combs in case of emergency.

6. Strong groups should take necessary measures

Under warm winter climate conditions, there is a certain risk for strong groups to overwinter. At present, most beekeepers use 3 to 4 combs to overwinter. If the bee colony has 5 to 6 combs or more, it should be lightly packed or not packed, and the ventilation of the colony should be increased. If it reaches 7 frames or more, it should be overwintered in supers.

7. If conditions permit, you can take indoor wintering

Wintering rooms generally have good thermal insulation properties, are easy to adjust the indoor temperature and humidity, and take into account safety, a quiet environment, and darkness indoors. When the outside temperature drops below 0℃ and has stabilized, and the ice and snow in the shade no longer melt, the bee colony can be carried into the wintering room. It is better to bring the bee colony into the room late rather than early, so that the bees can make the most of the last warm weather to defecate.

In short, the overwintering of bee colonies must change with the times and cannot remain unchanged. It must be flexibly controlled according to changes in the climate. However, no matter how the outside temperature changes, it is fundamental to always keep the bees in a normal overwintering clustering state in order to ensure the safety of the bee colony overwintering.