In the spring, beekeepers carry out additional bee development. The purpose of this event is to increase the brood. Apiary activities are aimed at obtaining honey. Therefore, in order to have more honey, propolis and other variety of products in the summer, it is necessary to remember about the spring growth of brood. In beekeeping, the term “brood” is perceived as the process of passing through all stages of bee development: from gamete to adult.
Everything about spring strengthening of bee colonies
The process of spring development of bee colonies is an important working moment in the apiary. Quantitative and qualitative indicators of the whole season depend on the quality of its holding. All the work of the beekeeper during this period is aimed at creating favorable conditions for the development of the bee family.
In the spring, every member of the family must restore life potential. There is not much time for this, so the atmosphere of creating a nest should help to accelerate this process. The prospect of coming to collect honey with unprepared bees does not smile at anyone. Therefore, the organization of the spring development of bees is the most important stage of beekeeping and it must be approached in good faith.
In winter, work begins in the apiary to prepare for the next season. To prevent insects from losing their strength over the winter, you need to know how to feed the bees. For the bee family, this is a protein-enriched food. It is advisable not to use artificial additives to feed the bees.
Important!
They are not useful, but they can harm the bees.
Every beekeeper should understand that natural nutrition is most beneficial for the health of the bee family. Therefore, it is necessary to feed the bees in the spring with natural substances.
In April, all insect species undergo a generational change. This process can take place in two ways. Weak families are renewed more quickly, but their numbers are reduced by 50%. The strong spend more time on updates, but they also have less losses.
Reduction of the bee nest
The spring process of bee brood growth is carried out by an unusual method. This is the contraction of the bee’s nest. Basically, all beekeeping schemes came to us from Siberia. At the beginning of the 20th century, Blinov first used such an ambiguous method for the development of a bee colony. His secret was that you need to correctly group the frames in the hives themselves.
The main idea of this process is to leave as many frames in the hive as the bees will completely cover. This will create a comfortable environment for the brood. A narrow space is created between the bees. The brood is comfortably located there.
Otherwise, it will be randomly distributed. In most cases, the highest percentage comes from the top. It is obvious that temperature conditions play an important role in brood growth.
Association of bee colonies
Bees undergo many changes during the winter. Weather conditions, quality and nutritional value all affect their development. Often, beekeepers resort to such a technique as uniting families in the spring. Experience, responsibility and attention are the main qualities of a beekeeper that must be activated during this period.
The goals of uniting bee colonies
The stronger the bee, the more productive its activity. The strongest link in the system will be healthy anyway. They will be able to adapt to the environment. A healthy family is able to find food for itself, create a comfortable condition for the life of each individual. It will be able to endure the winter with the least losses and is able to bring the necessary volumes of high-quality honey.
The process of uniting bee colonies can solve related problems. These include:
- The weakened survive due to this association. If you combine two weakened branches into one hive, its productivity will increase several times. This is beneficial for the beekeeper because the volume of honey will also increase.
- Creation of the main honey cake family. It is the process of combining a weak branch with one with a honey bee.
The solution of these problems is mainly aimed at developing the strength of the bee and the volume of honey production.
How to combine two bee families
In spring, the protective function of insects decreases its strength. Beekeepers need to take advantage of this moment in order to organize the merger of two families in the spring. There are many ways to accomplish this. One of them is unification. In order to protect both the beekeeper and the bee family itself, the procedure should be carried out in early spring. The time must be chosen in the evening. Every novice beekeeper should be able to carry out it with minimal consequences for the bees and for himself.
The step-by-step instructions include the following steps:
- Move selected families to one place.
- Isolate the uterus with a special mesh.
- Separate the space around the nest with a partition.
- Frame with bees of a weak family, move to this place.
- Insulate and close the nest.
- Connect both hives and use smoke to drive the bees out of the weak. Do not touch anything until morning.
- Remove the empty combs and empty the uterus.
If everything is done correctly, the unification of families will be painless for both, and the beekeeper will receive a strong family of an improved look.
Expanding the bee’s nest
For the normal development of each bee colony, it must be provided with a comfortable and spacious place. Tightness, according to the latest beekeeping research, significantly reduces the productivity of bees.
A little breeding
Natural selection, which is the basic principle of the development of all living organisms, also exerts its influence here. The bee family survives in favorable conditions for them. It is full of food and a spacious hive. Where space and comfort are scarce, the queen will not lay as many eggs as the beekeeper needs. This, in turn, provokes a weakening of the family.
Spring for insects is the time to create a honeycomb. The beekeeper uses it to expand the multi-hive. Adults occupy two levels here, the rest is reserved for brood.
Cleaning the hives
Comfortable conditions for the development of bees in spring is not only a spacious and warm place. It’s also about cleanliness. A cleaned hive helps the development and reproduction of the bee colony. In the spring, the beekeeper is cleaning the hives. A planned flyby of bees takes place. House cleaning involves vertical cleaning, you need to get to the very bottom. The beekeeper will have to open its bottom, remove beams and pallets. They must be thoroughly cleaned out and removed from last year’s debris and dead individuals. The mesh itself is washed and cleaned. After rinsing, cleaning, the dried parts are put into place.
Making layering
There is a method that can speed up productivity and reduce the likelihood of swarms. Layering is the process of developing an individual colony to build up worker bees.
How to make layering correctly
To make the layering correctly, a number of actions are carried out in accordance with the algorithm:
- Free the hives with strong bee colonies from the two brood frames.
- Move to a separate hive as it accumulates.
- To develop faster, it is better to install from the middle.
The positive qualities of the created type are in its ability to collect such a volume of honey to provide nutrition for the offspring in winter. And in insects, the need to create a swarm is reduced.
Features of early layering
A warm spring day is a good time for cutting. When the procedures for moving the frames are completed, the bee house is insulated. They additionally put frames with water and honey. Then a queen is attached to these young bees. It will take only 3 weeks for the development of a full-fledged nest after fertilization of the female gamete.
The complete development cycle of a bee can be traced by day. Within three days from the egg, the larva completes the stages of bee development. Each member of the family carefully protects the honey bee, maintains comfort.
This method is good because only strong and healthy individuals are taken for brood development. Although the frames are taken from different hives and the whole process starts from scratch, the effectiveness of this method is obvious. The spread of representatives between the nests with positive performance is a good indicator, as it indicates the development of the apiary. The main thing for the beekeeper is to approach this process in good faith, observing the sequence, all the rules and subtleties.
