Forest beekeeping makes it possible to obtain especially aromatic marketable honey, which is appreciated in the market not only for its taste, but also for its medicinal properties.
An apiary in the forest is an economically viable activity, provided the honey bees are kept properly.
The content of the article
- 1 Borting – the origins of the trade
- 2 How to choose the right place
- 2.1 Secrets of placement
- 3 Honey plants of the forest and forest-steppe zone
- 3.1 Forests overview
- 4 How to improve efficiency
- 4.1 Features of the content
Borting – the origins of the trade
It so happened historically that beekeeping was actively developing precisely in the forest zone. The people involved in this trade were called bee keepers from the word boron or pine forest.
Bees at that time were kept in tree hollows, then in specially prepared logs. For Russia, this was the traditional way of obtaining honey.
An entertaining video about beekeeping:
The forest product of beekeeping helped well with colds and ailments of the cardiovascular system. Such honey was a kind of standard – an indicator of quality. Forest apiaries were extremely popular. But over the centuries, the traditional beekeeping was gradually replaced by the maintenance and breeding of bees, which is more familiar to a modern person.
We can safely say that the point with hives in the forest today is a return to the origins, to the Russian traditions of beekeeping.
How to choose the right place
Even before installing bee houses, it is necessary to find out how things are in a particular area with a honey base. What kind of plants grow here, how long do they bloom? If the steppe zone can be inspected independently, then in the forest such an inspection is not always possible to carry out by the forces of the apiary owner.
It would be wise to contact the local forestry, where they will consult on a topic of interest without any problems. Foresters are well aware of what shrubs and trees grow in the forest, what grasses grow in glades and adjacent meadows or fields.
Nectar is secreted by plants and herbs, depending on the area. So, in the central zone of Russia, bees collect up to 100 kg of nectar from a hectare of field plants. On meadow pastures for livestock, the average is only 10-11 kg, and in swamps and swampy lowlands, insects receive up to 20 kg of this feed.
In order to correctly calculate the fodder reserves, it is necessary to multiply the area by the productivity of a particular melliferous plant, most often found in the area. The working area should be understood as a distance of 1,5-2 kilometers around the perimeter of the point.
Secrets of placement
When placing, you should consider the following factors:
- At the forest edge, the productivity of the apiary will be higher, since here insects have direct access to nearby meadows and fields, where the plants bloom almost until late autumn.
- When placing on a clearing, the features of the relief are taken into account. The point (platform) should be as flat as possible. This makes it easier to install the hives in even rows. It is advisable to protect insects from the prevailing winds with dense bushes or a hill.
- A good road must lead to the point. Of course, this is very rare in the forest. But it is free transport access that will give good results. To simplify the task, it is recommended to use an SUV or a truck, because the bees will have to be examined both in early spring and rainy autumn.
- Bee houses should not be in dense shade. The holes are directed in such a way that the rays of the rising sun freely fall on them. Then the bees will start working 30-40 minutes earlier.
- You can protect points from animals with a reliable fence. It will also prevent mushroom pickers and hunters from accidentally entering the territory. It should be borne in mind that only the owners’ residence in the apiary will protect from theft. A dwelling house is being built here for the summer. Either the points are guarded by people hired for this purpose, as an option, foresters can look after it.
- Hives in the forest can stand both all year round (in a relatively mild climate), and taken out into the forest only for the summer. If stationary placement is planned, you will additionally need a utility room for storing inventory, frames, pumping out honey, and a warm wintering house (omshanik).
- Particular attention is paid to the proximity to large reservoirs – it is important to take into account the location of the main array of melliferous plants. Insects should not cross the water during a bribe – they lose orientation, and when they are tired and loaded with nectar, they drown. And high air humidity adversely affects the development and health of young bees.
- An apiary in the taiga needs particularly reliable protection from large animals like bears. One fence is not enough here. It is necessary to use various security devices and home-made electric shepherds, scaring off annoying gourmands.
- Poorly thinned forests do not yield sufficient honey harvest! The more sun, less often tree plantations, the richer the grasses and shrubs.
And the most important thing is the tree species. The main source of nectar in the forest belt is linden, elm and maple. If there are no such plants, there will be fewer bribes. Worst of all, if there is only a dense plantation of aspens or birches.
Honey plants of the forest and forest-steppe zone
As noted above, when placing an apiary, one should take into account the varieties of local vegetation, which can serve as a rich honey base for insects.
In the forest-steppe, there are such grasses-melliferous plants and shrubs, depending on the type of the main forest:
- Buckthorn and hazel bushes grow in alder groves;
- blueberries and heather are found in birch forests;
- hazel and buckthorn grow in aspen forests;
- in pine forests, light and fairly sunny forests, you can find thickets of thyme, blueberry, heather, lingonberry.
The main melliferous base in the forest-steppe is represented by caustic sedum, bilberry, buckthorn brittle, forest raspberry, goldenrod, field bark, heather, and loosestrife.
In forest zones, a rich harvest of honey is provided by snowdrop, blackthorn, cherry-plum, linden, various species of willow and maple, bird cherry, willow, honeysuckle, buckthorn, mountain ash, lungwort, angelica.
Forests overview
A pine forest overgrown with thyme and shrubs is the most productive in terms of nectar production… It is a dry forest with a well-developed grass cover. It is rich in shrubs like mountain ash, viburnum, hawthorn, barberry, forest pear, buckthorn. Productivity in the early spring and summer period is about 40-50 kilograms per hectare.
A pine forest overgrown with blueberries is found in lowlands… Oaks and birches grow here occasionally. There are willow, honeysuckle, viburnum, mountain ash, as well as thickets of raspberries and blueberries, which provide the main summer bribe. Productivity is similar – up to 40-50 kilograms.
Heather pine is the most common type of forest… It can be found in almost any region of the forest-steppe. Grass and shrubs occupy up to 90% of the vegetation here. The most common are lingonberry, blueberry, elderberry, viburnum, bird cherry, hawthorn. Heather thickets can provide up to 100 kilograms of honey per hectare.
An aspen forest overgrown with hazel helps bee colonies in early spring development… These are small, free-standing arrays.
Aspen forest with buckthorn undergrowth is widespread throughout the middle lane… The grass cover here is insignificant – it is grouped in sunny areas between the bushes of buckthorn, hazel, viburnum, bird cherry, blackthorn, wild rose, hawthorn. The yield of nectar is up to 30-40 kilograms.
Combination of birch forest and blueberry thickets in a mixture with mountain ash, hazel and buckthorn gives productivity also up to 30-40 kilograms.
A birch forest, overgrown with heather, is widespread in the temperate climatic zone… It has a rich undergrowth with a dense grassy cover. It is found mainly in the areas of pine forest felling. Such a forest provides up to 100 kilograms of honey per hectare in late summer.
Alder forests with buckthorn undergrowth – a source of not only honey, but also pollen… They grow in lowlands and swampy areas near water bodies. The main source of plant pollen (pollen) is black alder. Raspberries, valerian, and lambs can be found between buckthorn bushes. From such a forest, insects receive abundant food from early spring to mid-summer.
Olshanik mixed with hazel helps bee colonies to develop in the early spring period Is a good source of pollen. The grass cover here is insignificant, but black currant, elderberry and bird cherry are found in abundance.
Alder groves with ash, elm and oak trees grow in river valleys… In such forests, there is a weak undergrowth and insignificant grass cover. Among the bushes you can find elderberry, buckthorn, hawthorn and bird cherry. The most common herbs are meadowsweet and meadowsweet.
Since the flowering of plants is seasonal, it makes sense to organize a nomadic movement in nearby forests in order to maximize the use of the natural resources of the region by bees:
- Early bribes are provided by hazel, alder, buckthorn, willow, pine and birch forests with thickets of thyme and blueberries.
- And the main honey harvest is carried out at the expense of birch and heather pine forests, where goldenrod, loosestrife, motherwort are found from grasses.
How to improve efficiency
Improving the efficiency of forest apiaries can be done in two ways:
- Use all the possibilities of obtaining marketable honey and pollen, and not just the main honey collection. That is, to wander through the forests with the hives.
- Help worker bees fly long distances up to 2-4 kilometers by creating favorable conditions for them.
If the flight range of insects is increased by only 500-800 meters, the area of honey collection will double.
The secret to increasing efficiency in the second way is as simple as possible:
- bee colonies must be constantly in working order – then insects fly away from the hives by 2-4 km;
- at the same time, the uterus change every year in order to reduce the swarm instinct to a minimum;
- all nests must be strong and healthy.
A strong nest means a family that has come out well from wintering. Insects in it are healthy and start collecting nectar from willow crops by the end of April. In such a beehive, by the fall, there will be good stocks of feed, a lot of bees-nurses, a young queen, a sufficient number of cells – the “queen” should not be limited in worming.
Features of the content
Best of all, insects hibernate on the so-called narrow-high frames with dimensions of 300 by 435 millimeters (inverted Dadanov frame). The result is a stand-up hive with a nest of 12 frames and stocks of feed in the upper stores (frames 300 x 175 mm are installed here).
This is how the work of beekeepers in the forest looks like:
The list of works, taking into account the flight of bees over long distances:
- The bees are forcibly woken up in early spring, giving them top dressing in the form of a dough from a mixture of crushed pollen, bee bread, powdered sugar and liquid honey. A kilogram of feeding is given per nest.
- At the same time, the prevention of nosematosis is performed. “Nozemat” is issued at the rate of 2,5 g per ten bee colonies.
- The nests are carefully insulated (in winter they can be kept uninsulated if the climate permits).
- In mid-March, podmor is cleaned out of all hives to make spring cleaning easier for insects. Dead bees are taken to the laboratory for analysis, the results are entered in the veterinary and sanitary passport.
- At the beginning of April, immediately after the flight, an inspection is carried out – you can combine the preliminary and the based spring revision. If necessary, brood frames are placed in the nests to check for the presence of a queen.
- Then honey stocks are monitored every week. Each frame should have a kilogram of honey. For example, in a hive with ten nesting frames, it is necessary to have at least 10 kg of food. To speed up the fermentation process, honey frames are regularly printed just behind the brood. At the same time, each frame should have a small supply of food in the upper part.
- The build-up is carried out in the following way. As soon as the brood covers the extreme frame, the honeycombs freed from the honey are installed immediately behind it (the uterus will sow here), and next to it is the honey frame printed with a fork again. Drying is not placed in the middle of the nests!
- In drinking bowls, coniferous infusion or a decoction of pine buds is given. Dispensing cobalt with 50% syrup (2 liter tablet) increases brood quantity by one third. In mid-April, for the prevention of diseases, 200 ml of syrup is fed twice per family with the addition of coniferous infusion or medicine.
- The change of queens is performed in the second decade of May. Previously, at the beginning of the month, layers are formed from families on old queens. In donor families, after 9 days, all fistulous queen cells are removed and breeding ones are installed. In 12 days after emergence, young “queens”, as a rule, begin active worming.
- The moment of finding broodless colonies is used to fight Varroa – strips with acaricide are installed in the middle of the nests. After this event, the nesting rate decreases four to five times, and in the future the parasites do not affect the productivity of insects in any way.
- In order to expand the area of honey collection, queens are caught in layers by mid-June, they are enclosed in cells and placed in the streets for a week. The forest area is conducive to long-distance flight – the wind does not kill young bees. They will act according to the situation: in the absence of flowering plants nearby, they will look for them at a more distant distance from the nest.
- By the end of the month, training for long-distance flight, the layering is installed on the main family through dividing grids – the already mentioned beehive-riser is obtained. In this case, the cells with the uterus are removed. Each layer will carry honey to its own body – old insects work there. Young bees at this time move freely between the bodies. The cuttings are kept in a separate building until the end of the honey collection, that is, until about the end of July.
- After that, all ripe (sealed honey) is selected. In the hive, only the lower building with shops is left – there is a nest and an unripe honeycomb.
- Fall jobs include feeding sugar syrup, removing excess honey-drenched edge frames, and cleaning up the top stores. The nest formed has 9 to 12 frames. They listen to hives during wintering, starting in January.
In conclusion, I would like to note that the use of forests can bring high incomes to the beekeeper. But at the same time, he should devote time and attention to the study of melliferous plants, their productivity. And also to provide bees with healthy development and comfortable maintenance for the development of new honey areas.
