So the long-awaited spring has come, and with it the time has come to conduct the first spring bee fly-over. This event is joyful for the beekeeper and at the same time carries with it many tasks that need to be solved here and now. To avoid problems during the honey season, bees should fly around according to certain rules. It is impossible to ignore this event and let everything take its course. Bee colonies can weaken. As a result, you may not get honey at all.
In winter, they are in the hive, and do not have the opportunity to fulfill their physiological needs. As a result, the intestines of bees are not cleansed and their weight can reach up to 50% of the weight of the bees themselves. Therefore, the flight of bees in the spring, which is also called cleansing, is so important.
The first spring flight of bees
Before starting the spring flight of bees, preparatory measures should be taken. First, the entrances are cleaned from the dead. After this operation, it is necessary to wait 2-3 days in order to reassure the families.
General practice has shown that it is better to set up hives in the evening and start flying around the bees the next day. Accordingly, it is necessary to closely monitor the weather forecasts so that the day designated for the release of bees is suitable in terms of temperature and other indicators.
Experienced beekeepers will confirm that by the way families fly out of the hives, it is possible to accurately diagnose the condition of the families. Strong strong families, well endured wintering, come out of the hives slowly.
On the contrary, if they are in a hurry and fly out in a crowd, then most likely they are experiencing some kind of problem. Pay attention to the entrance and the front wall of the hive for signs of diarrhea. Lack of honey, diarrhea and nosematosis are the main problems that can be plagued by poorly wintered families.
First of all, revise the problem families. If there is no activity in the hive, it must be urgently opened and inspected. It is not uncommon for a family to look dead. However, the bees are not dry and are located on the frames in tangles.
In this case, you can try to revive the family by spraying it with warm syrup. A hive with a problem family is insulated from the inside and outside. Meanwhile, such measures, as a rule, are futile. She still will not be able to fully recover by the honey harvest and will become an unnecessary burden on the entire apiary.
At this point, the event can be considered over. Usually, the flight time does not exceed an hour. After that, the bees will fly around on their own as needed and depending on the weather. Once again, we emphasize the importance of this action. Having cleared the intestines, they can successfully withstand rainy and even frosty spring days.
Bees flying in a greenhouse
Unfortunately, the climate is changing and ceases to please even in favorable climatic zones. Often it is time for the bees to fly over, but the weather does not allow. In this case, an early flight of bees in the greenhouse can be organized.
If you have a ready-made greenhouse on your site, then this simplifies the task. It only needs to be prepared. If there is no greenhouse, then you will have to build a temporary one. To do this, the site is cleared of snow from the site and a frame is erected to the height of a person.
The frame is covered with plastic wrap and all cracks are carefully sealed. The size of the greenhouse is determined based on the number of hives, but it is not recommended to make too large. A large room will be more difficult to warm up.
Hives are brought into the greenhouse at night or in the evening. If there are a lot of hives, then it is better to carry out the work in several passes to avoid the wandering of families. During the day, the greenhouse will warm up in the sun, and they will start flying around. If the temperature is low enough, an additional heater can be installed in the greenhouse.
After completion, the bees are collected, which were left to sit on the greenhouse film. They are taken to weak families. In the evening or at night, the hives are removed and the next batch is brought in. It is better not to carry out top dressing in the greenhouse. Meanwhile, such a fly-over can be carried out not only in early spring, but even in winter.
Early flight of bees in the room
A greenhouse can help us out in many cases, while in severe frosts, it will not be possible to fly around the bees in it. If the need arose to conduct a very early flight to save families, then it can be carried out in the room.
Sometimes there is simply no other way out, despite the laboriousness of the process. This procedure is carried out in the daytime in sunlight. If natural light is not enough, it is supplemented with artificial.
The temperature in the room should be about 25 degrees Celsius. The window must be protected with gauze so that the bees do not get hurt when they try to fly out. A beehive is set up in the room opposite the window.
The peculiarity of the indoor flight is that it is not the hive entrance that comes off, but its ceiling. After completing the flyby, families gather in a ball in the hive. However, a lot remains to crawl along the ceiling and walls. As long as there is lighting in the room, all the bees will not return to the hive.
In order for them to return to the hive in the room, it is necessary to create a darkening and lower the temperature. The cover of the hive is closed, and dim lighting is installed in front of the entrance. This process is long and laborious and is possible with only one hive at a time.
If artificial lighting is used during a room flight, then fluorescent lamps are the best option. They prevent injury from high temperatures.
We diagnose the state of a bee colony by flight
Diagnostics of the state of families is mainly carried out by visual observation. Of course, experience is very important for this, but a beginner beekeeper can also determine the state according to certain criteria. After flying around, healthy bees immediately begin to work and clean the hive. They fly around in a friendly group and in large circles.
Families that have poorly endured the winter are the first to fly over. Their intestines are the most crowded, and they tend to quickly get rid of the heaviness. Their flight does not differ in coordination and lasts longer than that of healthy families.
Bees that are undernourished are lethargic. Conceptionally, they fall or cannot take off at all. If you hit the hive, they react poorly and quickly subside. Bees affected by nosematosis or diarrhea do not take off immediately. They have clearly swollen abdomens, and they crawl along the taphole for a long time and stain it a lot. The bees affected by ticks also take off not immediately and ruffle their wings.
The presence of many drones in the hive signals a bad queen or its absence. The first flight of bees without a queen is rather chaotic. Such families fly several times and do not go straight to the hive.
Works during the spring flyby
During the first flyby, a lot of work awaits the beekeeper. Families are being fully audited for their health. This audit is not carried out in order of priority, but depending on the condition of the families. The weakest families are examined first. This is a necessary and important job. If you have a large enough apiary, the revision can take several days.
Work is also underway to replace the hive bottoms and roughly clean them. It turns out first aid to those in need. Spring feeding is given in the form of honey or bee bread. The type of feed depends on your current needs.
Nucleuses with high-quality queens are attached to those families where the queen died. In case of illness of families or suspicion of illness, examination and treatment is carried out. The nests are also reduced by removing empty frames.
According to the brood, the quality of the uterus is assessed. How it is located has a lattice or solid structure. Humpback is revealed. If there are any suspicions of low quality, then it is taken into account. The uterus is changed if necessary.
Treatment against ticks in the spring is not necessary if the apiary was treated in the previous fall. However, with a high degree of contamination, it is necessary to disinfect. In this case, the main attention should be paid to the paternal families. Mites prefer to parasitize on drones and this can lead to the inability to fertilize the queens.
Let’s summarize the main points that must be taken into account and followed when working in an apiary in early spring:
- Family audits;
- Replacement of hive bottoms;
- Rough cleaning of hives;
- First aid;
- Spring feeding;
- Assessment of the quality of the uterus;
- Anti-mite treatment.
How it becomes clear that the cleaning flight of bees is an important and necessary event. Moreover, it is vital for families. If you carry it out with the utmost care, you will be rewarded with a good collection of honey and the good health of your charges. The hope that nature itself will do its job, in most cases, does not justify itself. The behavior and lifestyle of domestic bees are significantly different from those of wild bees. Households must be constantly looked after and closely monitored. Only with this approach there will be order in your apiary.
