Beekeeping techniques

Two-queen keeping of bees has recently gained great popularity, however, this is not the only method of arranging an apiary that has gained wide acceptance among novice beekeepers. Every year, more and more new methods of beekeeping are replacing old technologies, designed to increase the rates of honey collection, however, there is no ideal among them. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, therefore, when choosing one or another method of beekeeping, it is important to focus on the local climatic conditions, the type of bees in the apiary and the structure of the hives.

Modern methods of beekeeping

Almost all modern beekeeping methods are aimed at achieving the following goals:

• strengthening of bee colonies through breeding works;
• providing bees with a sufficient amount of food without losing honey for sale (the amount of collected honey should be enough for both the beekeeper and the insects);
• ensuring safe wintering of bees.

In other words, each method of beekeeping in one way or another implies an increase in the profitability of the apiary.

Classification of beekeeping methods

When choosing a beekeeping method, it is important to consider its main purpose. All ways of organizing life in an apiary are usually classified according to the following areas:

• increased rates of honey collection;
• breeding of a bee colony;
• an increase in the total number of worker bees, especially at the beginning of honey collection;
• improving the safety of wintering;
• preventing swarming;
• protection of the queen bee.

Cebro method

The method is named after its author, the famous amateur beekeeper V.P. Tsebro. Beekeeping using his technology provides for increasing the productivity of bees to the maximum possible limits. At the same time, all work is carried out strictly according to the schedule.

The main principles of beekeeping according to Cebro:

1. The bees are kept in three-body hives with a large volume.
2. In the spring, during the growth of bee colonies, store inserts are not removed. Instead, the second building is being completed.
3. Weak colonies of bees are discarded, leaving only strong and healthy families in the apiary.
4. On the 14th day of the development of the queen bee, preferably at a late flow, it is recommended to create 2-3 layers and organize a new bee colony.
5. Immediately after the bribe, the formed layers are combined with the main family. The queen bee is removed.
6. To increase the honey yield, bees need to ensure the most comfortable wintering. For this, insects are fed with high-quality complete feed and provide good ventilation of the hives. Best suited for wintering are double-hulled hives, where a store is placed below and a nesting frame on top.

The advantages of beekeeping according to the Cebro method include the minimum dryness after wintering and the absence of swarming. There are no pronounced shortcomings.

Kemerovo beekeeping system according to Kashkovsky

Beekeeping according to the method of V.G. Kashkovsky in many regions of the country replaced the traditional Soviet system in the 50s of the 20th century.The prerequisite for such a transition was the laboriousness and significant time consumption of the old technology: it was necessary to frequently inspect the bee hives, to shorten and expand the nests in one frame. In this regard, the department of the beekeeping agricultural station of the Kemerovo region began to develop a new method, the purpose of which was to simplify the care of bees and increase the honey yield by 2-3 times.

The Kemerovo beekeeping system is based on the following provisions:

1. Strong colonies of bees are kept in wide streets (up to 1.2 cm), and they are not reduced in spring. Also, honeycombs not inhabited by bees are not removed from the hive.
2. The procedures for examining and dismantling bee hives are reduced to 7-8 times a season.
3. In production, fistulous queens are used. This greatly reduces the volume of work on breeding and replanting queens.

The advantage of this method of beekeeping is the possibility of keeping a large number of unrelated queens in the apiary. The disadvantages of some beekeepers include the need to break out excess queen cells.

Canadian beekeeping

Canadian beekeepers use bee breeding methods aimed at maximizing honey yield and increasing insect immunity. When organizing the life of bees in an apiary, they adhere to the following rules:

1. The bees are fed in the fall with maple syrup. Top dressing is introduced starting from the end of August, and the syrup is necessarily diluted with "Fumagillin". The drug strengthens the immunity of bees, as a result of which they are less likely to get sick.
2. Winters to Canada are harsh, so Canadian beekeepers close their hives in October. Wintering takes place in one building, where the bees form a dense ball and thus spend the winter.
3. Spring swarming is not considered a big problem by Canadians. If the bees occupy 9 frames, then it is recommended to add a magazine and a dividing grid to the hive. Under no circumstances should the hives be allowed to overflow. To do this, it is necessary to install store extensions in them in advance to increase the honey collection.
4. The queens are usually replaced every 2 years. Replacement of old individuals is carried out only in the presence of young queens, which is possible from June to the end of August.

Pros of the Canadian beekeeping method:

• easy wintering;
• increased rates of honey collection;
• excellent immunity of bees.

More information about beekeeping in Canada can be found in the video below:

Beekeeping 145 frame

Recently, beekeeping technology is gaining more and more popularity, in which bees are kept in low-wide hives on a frame with a height of 145 mm. The idea of ​​creating a new type of hives first came to the mind of the American K. Farrar, who is considered the founder of this method of beekeeping.

The hive on the 145th frame is a structure consisting of a main box, a removable bottom, a roof and a sub-roof. 4 bodies and 2 brood extensions are allocated for 12 frames.

Features of keeping bees on the 145th frame:

1. In the spring, after the clearing flight, the bees are taken out of the winter house. Then the bottoms of the hives are replaced.
2. When the weather is warm, the nests are cut. Winter brood is replaced with foundation.
3. After 2-3 days, the uterus is moved to the lower part of the hive and a Hahnemannian lattice is placed. When the brood is sealed, layering for the mother liquor is made from above.
4. At the end of April, the foundation body is installed under the dividing grid.
5. During the pollen collection period, pollen collectors are set up.
6. Honey is collected immediately after the bribe.
7. Weak families are discarded and not allowed to winter.

The advantages of beekeeping for the 145th frame:

• compactness of hives;
• the ability to rearrange the bodies, making it easier for the bees to adapt after hibernation;
• accessibility to work with parts of the structure.

Contactless beekeeping

Non-contact beekeeping is considered to be the most humane in relation to insects and as close as possible to their natural way of life. Sometimes the method of non-contact beekeeping is even called natural. The adherents of this technology are convinced that this is the only way to get pure healing honey without any food additives, chemicals and antibiotics.

The basis of this method of breeding bee colonies is the placement of insects in hive-logs USH-2, the structure of which resembles tree hollows - places where bees settle in the wild. This method was popularized by V.F.Shapkin, who created a new type of hive, having previously studied the Old Russian beekeeping onboard. According to him, bees do not need human control in order to fruitfully produce honey, so interference with their lives should be minimized.

The USh-2 type hive consists of a combined bottom, 4-6 buildings and a roof. The internal cross-section of the hive should not be less than 30 cm. The internal structure of the hive encourages the bees to have honey storage and brood in the lower part of the structure, just as in the wild. When there is not enough space, insects crawl under the entrance. Ultimately, the breeding of bees in the USh-2 using the contactless method of beekeeping allows you not to disturb the bee colony once again during household work (pumping honey, for example).

When the apiary is prepared for winter using this method, it is enough to leave 18-20 kg of honey.

The advantages of beekeeping using the Shapkin method in such a hive are as follows:

• simplicity of design;
• tiered content;
• good performance of the thermal insulation of the bee dwelling;
• the ability to work with separate buildings;
• the ability to keep bees in the wild in the winter;
• facilitating the nomadic process;
• the ability to use standard frames;
• control of swarming bees;
• the availability of household work, in which there is no direct contact with bees - at any time of the year, you can take out the combined bottom from the USh-2 type hive, clean it from dead wood or replace it.

As a disadvantage of non-contact beekeeping, the small size of the cross-section of the hive is sometimes called. With such parameters, it is difficult to breed a large strong family.

Cassette beekeeping

Cassette beekeeping is based on placing bees in lightweight compact versions of conventional hives. In appearance, the cassette pavilion resembles an elongated chest of drawers with small drawers, each of which represents a separate bee house.

Advantages of cassette beekeeping:

1. Bees can live in such a dwelling all year round. In this regard, there is no need for the costs of special storage for honeycombs, the installation of winter houses and seasonal transportation of hives.
2. The productivity of the apiary increases 2-3 times, especially when installing a mobile cassette pavilion for bees. Honey collection is increased due to the movement of bee colonies from one honey collection base to another.
3. Saving space, which is especially important when doing beekeeping in the country.

There are also disadvantages to the cassette method of beekeeping. For example, during the period of prolonged rains, the cassette pavilion can become damp, and debris accumulates at the bottom of the structure.

Double-queen beekeeping

Double-queen bee housing is a beekeeping method in which insects live in dadans or multi-hive hives, while workers from two brood colonies interact through connecting pathways. Both families are equal.

Bee dwellings are equipped with 16 frames, separated by a lattice. Each bee colony has 8 frames at its disposal. In the summer, a store insert is attached to the hive.

Advantages of two-queen keeping bees in multi-body hives or dadans:

• bees hibernate more easily due to the larger number of individuals (this makes it easier for insects to warm each other);
• the cost of feeding bees is lower;
• bee colonies are getting stronger;
• the intensity of oviposition of the uterus increases.

The disadvantages of double-queen keeping bees include high costs for hives, difficulty in working with bulky structures and poor ventilation of dwellings - in such conditions, bees can start swarming.

Beekeeping by the Malykhin method

VE Malykhin created his own beekeeping method based on the technology of brood regulation and reproduction using a special isolator.

Key points:

1. At the end of the season, two uterus are placed in the isolator: a fetal and a duplicate.
2. Two or more queens can hibernate together.
3. In the autumn, they get rid of lingering broods.

The main advantage of this beekeeping method is that the bee colony can heal on its own.

Batch beekeeping

Batch beekeeping is a form of bee breeding in which families are sent in bags to other farms, after which they are destroyed. The batch beekeeping method is very popular in regions with overhead wintering and a good honey base. Instead of spending money on organizing a comfortable wintering of bees, in such climatic conditions it is easier to buy new packs of bees produced in the southern regions every year.

Pros of batch beekeeping:

• high yield of marketable honey;
• no need for autumn and spring revisions, as well as other seasonal beekeeping operations (installation of a winter house, bringing bees into the winter house, cleaning the point from snow);
• the possibility of using hives with thin walls, which simplifies the work in the apiary.

The main disadvantage of this beekeeping method is the high cost of purchasing bees annually.

Blinov's method in beekeeping

The beekeeping method, based on the technology of A. Blinov, is aimed at ensuring a safe wintering of bees and creating optimal conditions for growing brood in the spring, when the bee colony is weakened after winter.

The essence of the method is as follows:

1. In early spring it is necessary to cut the nest of the bee colony. For this, half the frames are left than the bees usually inhabit. The rest of the frames are carried away behind the dividing wall.
2. In the reconstructed nest, the queen does not form a compact brood, which makes it easier for the bees to warm it. As a result, they use less energy and feed, which increases the productivity of the apiary.
3. After 15 days, they begin to gradually move the septum as the uterus sows the next frame.

The beekeeping method according to A. Blinov is most effective only when used on weak bee colonies. Strong colonies do an excellent job of handling all brood laid by the queen.

Bortevoy and log beekeeping

As the name suggests, the log-based method of organizing an apiary involves placing bee colonies in logs. When using log beekeeping, honey is collected only once a year. As a result, the indicators of honey yield are insignificant, however, the time spent on its extraction is also much less. In addition, the quality of honey in log beekeeping is always higher than in frame beekeeping.

As far as beekeeping is concerned, it is the oldest, wildest form of beekeeping. This is a system in which bee families live in natural or artificially hollowed out hollows. Of course, this is practically not the way bees are bred these days, when there are many more efficient ways to produce honey.In particular, log beekeeping is much more convenient than onboard beekeeping: the apiary is concentrated in one place, there is no need to regularly go into the forest and climb trees.

The advantages of log beekeeping in comparison with frame beekeeping include the following points:

1. The deck is much stronger than composite structures.
2. Making a deck is very simple. Basic knowledge of carpentry is enough.
3. In winter, decks keep warmth more efficiently.
4. In the spring, it is more convenient to remove the debris from the deck.

Cons: the decks are not transportable, and the possibility of impact on bees is minimal.

Conclusion

Two-queen keeping of bees, as well as other methods of beekeeping, are aimed at increasing the efficiency of the apiary. Some methods are distinguished by a humane approach to bees, others imply, first of all, getting the maximum possible amount of honey. The most important thing when choosing a particular method is not to forget that in different areas and with different breeds of bees, you can get completely different results.

Recommended entries

Nosemacid for bees

Pchelodar Cobalt: instructions for use

Podmore bee: tincture on alcohol and vodka, application

Shelf life of propolis

What is the difference between a bumblebee and a bee, photo

Mordovnik ball-headed honey plant

The queen bee: how it appears, what it looks like

Apimax for bees

What is royal jelly