Beekeepers start very early. As in the video dedicated to beekeeping, spring work in the apiary has been held since March, and in some cases since the last days of February. At the first signs of heat in insects, winter stupor gradually disappears, and they quickly begin to actively engage in putting the hive in order. Early spring work in the apiary and preparation for a round-up
However, for the first time, the beginning beekeeper’s spring work in the apiary should not be in a hurry and interfere with the livelihoods of bee colonies. After wintering, they are quite vulnerable, they do not tolerate temperature fluctuations, extraneous interventions and daylight. In the room where the hives are located, use a red lantern, and perform actions inside the hive quickly and painlessly for residents.
What activities will be really useful and timely? How to conduct the spring arrangement of the apiary?
Video for beginners about how to start at the apiary in the spring months, will help prevent annoying mistakes and help you prepare well for the new season and honey collection.
The first thing that bees do with the arrival of heat is cleaning the cells for future eggs. As a result of enhanced processing of bee bread and honey, the insect body produces an additional amount of waste.
In this situation, as long as the bees do not fly out of the hive, it is dangerous and excessively active intervention, and illiterate feeding.
Feeding and preventive work in the apiary in the spring
Artificially feeding bees in the apiary in the spring is only if insects are deficient in food. For this, honey and powdered sugar are made from candied sugar and dissolved in a water bath, they are wrapped in several layers of clean gauze and, covered with a film, laid out over the frames. You can do the same if during the spring work in the apiary the beginning beekeeper has full honeycombs.
Read also: What kind of beekeeping equipment does a beginner beekeeper need
While all the bees are in the hives, and the main parasites and pathogens are not yet active, the time for recovery and prevention of common diseases. Here are just a few tips given by experts in doing work at the apiary in the spring:
- To this end, when detecting symptoms of Nozema, fummagillin is injected into the composition of a sweet cake 2 grams per 1 kg of top-dressing.
- Sugar syrup used for dressing is flavored with dill oil at the rate of 3 grams per liter. This measure helps prevent the spread of varroatosis.
- For the same purpose, an insecticide-filtered infusion of a liter of water, 10 grams of dried eucalyptus leaves with 1 kg of sugar is used for this purpose.
- As a means to increase immunity, 30-40 grams of pine or spruce needles decoction per liter of syrup is added to the feed.
A video about spring work at an apiary will also suggest other useful tricks that will be of interest to both beginners and experienced beekeepers.
Arrangement of an apiary in the spring of
Before the exhibition of bees, it is important to carry out all work on arranging an apiary, including:
- cleaning the area from last year's garbage;
- preparation of places for the installation of hives, it is better that these were the same sites as last year;
- installation of drinking bowls and filling them with clean water with a little salt added.
When it comes time to transfer the hives from the winter house, it is necessary to wait for consistently warm weather, when the air will be heated to 12–15 ° C.It is better for a beginning beekeeper to carry out this spring work in the apiary on a calm windless day, otherwise it will not be easy to keep track of the departing bees.
The removal of hives is carried out extremely carefully, avoiding jerks, roll or blows. When all the houses are arranged, you do not need to hurry and immediately open a large number of hives. First, the most “noisy” families are let out, then in turn open openings to 1–2 hives in each row. The following families are released at intervals of a few minutes.
Anyone who is engaged in beekeeping, a video about spring work in the apiary will help you quickly navigate and without a loss to enter into the new honeymoon season.
Read also: Formation of bee slips
Cleaning flight and revision of families
Upon departure, an experienced beekeeper easily receives information about the status of bees. The more active the insects, the better they spent the winter, and at the moment they are freed from the excrement accumulated during the winter.
Weak bees can not climb high enough, and sometimes they do remain on the walls or letke. This situation is most often observed in several cases:
- over the winter the family was left without a uterus, and now the insects are in a kind of confusion;
- in the hive was not enough food and over the winter the insects weakened;
- hive population is hurt by Nosema or has been attacked by ticks.
If the beekeeper reveals such problem families during the first fly-around, the spring work schedule at the apiary always includes checking the condition of all the nests and cleaning them.
All sorts of garbage that has accumulated over the autumn and winter months, and all honeycombs with signs of mold can be removed. In order to prevent mortality from spreading the infection, it is buried or burnt. In place of the defective framework, the beekeeper puts a spare, with honey, thereby taking care of members of weakened families. Do not forget about checking and restoring insulation that has deteriorated over the winter.
Since there is already brood in the hives by this time, all work on the apiary in May and other spring months are carried out very quickly and carefully, so as not to force the hive. Families that have lost their uterus need to be understaffed by inserting the uterus into a hive in a nucleus cell.
Novice beekeepers and everyone who is interested in beekeeping and spring work in the apiary, a video on this topic will allow you to better understand the sequence of operations and clearly present all the nuances of each stage.
Cleaning and revision of beehives in the spring in the apiary
The most convenient way to deal with beehives, the bottoms of which are easily removed. In this case, the bottom of the structure is carefully passed with any tool that allows you to remove all the build-up during the winter. Then the surface is washed with hot water or doused with boiling water and dried. The soldering lamp gives the greatest disinfecting effect.
If at the disposal of a novice beekeeper conducting spring work in the apiary, whole beehives, then there can not do without spare houses, where they rearrange the framework. After cleaning and revision of the hive space, all contents are returned to the site in the original order.
Frames with honey and perga, located on the edges of the combs with broods, must be opened and watered with warm water. For food, bee colonies are allocated 3–4 frames with honey and one less with perga. If there is no such amount of feed in the spring, the feed is carried out at the expense of syrup or sweet cakes based on honey and powdered sugar.
Read also: Photo and description of honeybee breeds
Spring quickly wins possession from winter, and every day the beekeeper has more and more important troubles and worries. The work at the apiary in May consists in the formation of the layering of bee colonies and the preparation for the first bribe in the new season.
Since approximately one month after the first departure, almost all of the overwintering generation of worker bees is dying, it is replaced by the young individuals of this year. To keep the hives from bleeding off, and the egg production of the uterus was at a high level, until fresh spring nectar appeared, do not forget about top dressing. When the brood occupies most of the frames, except the most extreme ones, they put out additional honeycombs with a small amount of honey on top, with which cells are opened when installed in a hive. If the beekeeper does not have ready frames with honey, you can use the empty ones, having previously treated them with syrup.
The onset of stable warm weather suggests the need to expand yearlings and remove pillows. If this is not done on time, the danger of swarming and loss of the family increases dramatically. And with the flowering of the first melliferous plants, spring work in the apiary goes into the stage of preparation and receiving the first bribe.
Spring work in the apiary - video
