The presence of a good honey base is the main condition for the successful development of a stationary apiary. This type of keeping honey bees has both obvious advantages and quite tangible disadvantages. And the success of beekeeping in this case largely depends on the preparedness of the beekeeper, his ability and desire to optimize his work.
Oddly enough it sounds, but the income will be greater if the number of bee colonies is reduced with the condition of minimizing labor costs and increasing the productivity of each bee nest.
The content of the article
- 1 Wandering and stationary
- 2 Everything is relative
- 2.1 Pros of stationary content
- 2.2 Cons of the hospital
- 2.3 Pros of nomadic content
- 2.4 Disadvantages of nomadism
- 3 Cold climate and way of keeping
- 4 Reference honey and hospital
Wandering and stationary
Let’s clarify the terminology again.
Stationary maintenance is a year-round finding of hives in one place (a site or, as beekeepers say, a point). Under favorable climatic conditions, bees hibernate here, on the street. This practice is common in the southern regions of Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova.
Outdoor hibernation allows bees to come out of hibernation at an early date, which favorably affects the spring development of families.
Movement is a move, transportation of hives from one place to another during the entire honey collection… Depending on the flowering nearby melliferous plants, it is possible to carry out from two to seven migrations during the summer period. The number of transfers also depends on the equipment of the apiary with the appropriate equipment and … the ambitions of the beekeeper.
More about the apiary on wheels: Wandering – features and prospects for the beekeeper
Everything is relative
Successful honey collection is largely determined by the climate of a particular area, namely weather conditions. Moreover, they differ depending on the current year. There are early and late spring, dry or rainy summer, warm and cold autumn.
Especially the presence / absence of rain affects the amount of honey collected. If they are absent, the plants secrete nectar poorly – the flow rate decreases. And with an abundance of precipitation, bees cannot work at full strength. In addition, high humidity does not in the best way affect the health of brood and young stock – dangerous rotten infections can develop.
Wandering solves problems with honey plants and rains. But it is not always possible. Someone keeps a small apiary in their personal plot and is simply not able to tear themselves away from the vegetable beds for a long time. Others cannot afford a truck or tractor with a trailer suitable for transporting bee houses.
Pros of stationary content
The advantages of a non-nomadic apiary include:
- the presence of specially equipped rooms (it is convenient to pump out honey);
- comfort when examining the hives – you can start work at any time convenient for the owners;
- hives are always supervised, no additional protection is required;
- there is an opportunity to engage in gardening, horticulture, keeping pets, poultry (for example, chickens).
Cons of the hospital
With this content, certain problems may arise:
- the emergence of a conflict with the closest neighbors is quite real – many people are afraid, and not without reason, of bees flying out for nectar;
- it is impossible to install many bee houses on one site (points) – usually it is about 50 hives;
- there is no way to get monofloral honey;
- due to weather conditions, there may be poor honey collection.
Pros of nomadic content
For the credibility of the picture, it will not be out of place to mention the merits of nomadism. After all, everything is known in comparison.
So, the obvious pros:
- greater yield of marketable honey, which means more income from the apiary;
- the possibility of obtaining honey from one culture, for example, from buckwheat (a monofloral product is appreciated in the market).
Disadvantages of nomadism
There are a lot of disadvantages to such content:
- hives wear out quickly from constant traffic;
- loading and unloading is a laborious process that requires outside help;
- the owner will have to live in field conditions or, as an option, hire workers;
- an apiary with such maintenance requires constant protection;
- you will have to purchase additional inventory;
- there will be expenses for transportation or purchase of their own transport, which is far from affordable for all beekeepers.
Cold climate and way of keeping
Stationary content brings a good income, provided a competent approach to business. Efficient farming always leads to an increase in the amount of honey extracted. It is quite easy to provide such economic activity in the southern regions. But in the conditions of a sharply continental climate, this is a rather difficult task.
The short summer simply does not allow full use of all the natural possibilities of insects. And if the summer is preceded by a cold, protracted spring, the receipt of any significant amount of the main beekeeping product turns out to be a big question at all.
For successful farming in the Siberian climate, the following points should be taken into account:
- Apiaries consisting of 30-40 hives bring quite acceptable income. An increase in the number of families leads to an increase in production volumes, but at the same time, owners cannot do without seasonal workers and additional investments in equipment and premises.
- Multi-body technology is required. It allows you to effectively use electric heating of bee houses. The 12-frame Dadant-Blatt hives equipped with removable trays give optimal results.
- In this case, do not forget about insulation. For the production of bee houses, a board not thinner than 40-45 mm is selected from pine or cedar. A three-layer insulation is also performed.
- To eliminate unnecessary hassle of fitting the hulls, the apiary is initially formed from interchangeable elements – complete unification must be observed. This will simplify and speed up all nest expansion work.
- Three buildings are enough for one family. Only in very strong nests does a fourth building have to be installed by July. During the period of active honey collection, you will need from two to four store extensions.
- For electric heating, Kinev’s false holders are used, excluding gross interference in the life of the bee colony. These insects do not need an intrahive “climate control”!
When forming an apiary according to the principles mentioned above, you can focus on the following calculations: for twenty bee colonies inhabited in the Dadan hive, 60 buildings and the same number of extensions will be needed.
Reference honey and hospital
Mature printed honey can only be obtained without problems in a stationary environment. Experienced beekeepers speak directly about this.
With the nomadic method of beekeeping, there is a great temptation to arrange conveyor production. Bee houses are installed, assembled from one building and three stores. Repeated disassembly and assembly of such a structure is a laborious process. Therefore, no one leaves unsealed frames inside the nest to ripen. Yes, and with the supply of land in the conditions of nomadism, certain difficulties may arise.
As a result, honey is pumped out of stores ahead of schedule, before it is fully ripe. Through pumping is often performed, when all the collected product is taken from the insects. It can be considered high quality with a big reservation. In essence, such honey is 100 percent raw.
Stationary content is not based on this rush. Honey ripens in hulls (subject to correct sorting of frames in preparation for the main bribe). It is the nesting honey obtained from the Dadanov hives that can be considered the reference. In a productive year, the beekeeper will have at his disposal two cases of such a product from each bee colony.
In conclusion, I would like to note that for many beekeepers, the type of keeping bees is exclusively a matter of habit. If a person started with a stationary maintenance, he will be engaged in it all his life, provided there is a sufficient melliferous base in the nearby area. And when starting with a nomadic content, they give preference to the seasonal movements of the hives as close as possible to the melliferous plants.
