Immediate work of the first days of the spring season

Since the first spring cleansing flight, the life of a bee family has increased dramatically. Bees begin to work vigorously, and the uterus to increase the laying of eggs. Every day the brood increases. But at the same time, old bees are gradually dying out. It takes an average of about a month and most of the old bees are killed or, as the beekeepers say, is “rasterized.” If few young bees have gone to wintering, but more old ones, then in the first month of the spring season the family may be weakened, since the output of young bees does not have time to cover the loss of old bees.

If we take appropriate measures, the families of bees will not only not weaken, but will become stronger every day. This can be achieved if we ensure that as many as possible of the young bees are taken out in the fall and that the wintering of bee colonies is carried out as best as possible. In addition, it is best to insulate the nests in the spring immediately after the exhibition of the bees from the hibernator and provide the bees with enough food – honey and perga. This can largely save old bees from vain flights and rastering and quickly build up young bees.

The slower the wintering bees will be ripped, the more they will be able to raise the young. And this will lead to an increase in the pace of building up the strength of the family, as a result of which it is possible to obtain an increased collection of honey and wax.

It must be remembered that the spring period is extremely important. The more attention will be paid to bees at this time and the more care will be taken for them, the more products will be received from them.

The bee families themselves from the spring are gripped by the desire to bring out as many young bees as possible. This desire should be used by the beekeeper and conduct business so that no circumstances detain the development of the family. To

do this, in a beehive, besides a sufficient number of bees and a good uterus, it is necessary: ​​heat, good honeycombs and considerable supplies of food. It should be remembered that the growth and development of the family is at the expense of processed feed. In order for the family to reach its peak in time, it is necessary, first of all, that it always has a fairly large amount of feed (6-7 kg.).

With abundant fodder reserves and other favorable conditions, families have the opportunity to raise a lot of brood and bring out full-fledged bees, almost regardless of the weather conditions and the bribe. Provided with fodder, the family develops normally even in a slightly unfavorable spring according to climatic conditions.

Fig. Limitation of the nest according to the method of Blinov

The strength of the family is of great importance. Weak families are more easily exposed to diseases and pest attacks. A small number of bees in such families can neither heat nor feed a large number of brood. Bees of weak families are much inferior to bees of strong families and in quality, as they are weaker, less efficient and less durable.

Uteres in weak families lay few eggs, and bees poorly feed brood. As a result, such a family does not reach great power to the main bribe, which is why it can not give a high yield of honey.

The work of the beekeeper in the first days after the exhibition of bees should consist in creating conditions in families that are most favorable to development, egg laying by the uterus and brood rearing, and, consequently, the fastest growing of the strength of the family.

Reduction of the nest.

At the first opportunity, it is better on the day of the exhibition of bees, but not later than the next 1-2 days, the nests are reduced. The fact is that for many families the winter nest becomes excessively large, and the bees do not cover all the frames, and therefore can not maintain the temperature necessary for the brood, especially in single-walled hives. In this nest, the uterus is deprived of the opportunity to lay many eggs, and the family may be severely retarded in its development.

To avoid this, after the exhibition of bees, you should either cut the nests by removing all unnecessary frames that are not covered by bees, or make a nest restriction.

Reduction of the nest should be performed until the bees cover all the remaining cellular frames in the nest.

The restriction of the nest is done according to the method of the Russian beekeeper AG Blinov. On the day of the exhibition or the next day, take the frame on which the uterus is located, as well as all the frames with the brood, and transfer them to one side of the hive. Add the 2-, 3-frame, suitable for laying eggs with the uterus, but with perga and a small amount of honey. All these frames are separated from the rest by an additional pluggable board with a passage under it for the bees.

Of course, the leaf should be narrowed and stay where the uterus and brood are. In this case, the uterus for the first 2-3 weeks after the exhibition, while the cold weather keeps and frosts possible, produces egg laying only on the given framework.

On cold days, all bees are bored near the uterus, on the brood and warm it. In addition, bees partially transfer honey from the insertion board into the compartment with the uterus and feed more intensively. Thanks to this, the laying of eggs by the uterus and the brood rearing of broods are significantly increased in comparison with those families where this restriction was not.

Usually, after 2 weeks, but no later than 3 weeks after the insertion of the plaque, it is removed and a honeycomb is put in its place for egg laying by the uterus. In the conditions of Ukraine, this method greatly accelerates the spring development of bee colonies.

In order to improve the thermal conditions in that part of the nest where the uterus is located, instead of setting up the insertion board, it places a bee space in one of the central frames. To do this, he applies neatly connected thin bundles of straw, placing them between the side slats of the frame and the walls of the hive. In this case, the nesting frame plays the role of an insert board without cooling the nests

Warming of hives.

One of the most important conditions contributing to the rapid development of the bee family in the spring is heat. Therefore, from the moment of the exhibition, the bees from the winter queen must be thoroughly insulated with hives and nests. To this end, some beekeepers place their nests not in the side wall but in the middle of the hive, and they are fenced off from their sides by two planks, and the space between the boards and walls of the hive is filled with a warming material. If the bottom of the beehive is thin, cold, then under the hive dry leaves are scooped up, they are given a straw bedding or mats are used. Sometimes the donja is sewn from the bottom with straw. In a well-insulated nest, bees consume less energy, and consequently, they consume less honey. In addition, the development of families in the spring is faster.

If the families are kept in 12-frame hives that do not have paving stones, then after the exhibition, bees should be put on them, in which the pillows or some other warming material is put in place: material.

In addition to the cover canvas or wooden ceiling and overlaid on them in the spring of newspaper or other paper, so-called warming cushions and straw mats are used to insulate the nest.

A warming pillow is a mattress or a wide sack that is not tightly stuffed with any porous insulation material, for example, a stick, dry leaves, straw sticks, moss, bonfires, hay, buckwheat husk, shavings, etc. Materials that attract mice should be avoided.

Very good pillows are made from a simple cheap felt used in construction. The pieces of the right size are lined with cheap sacking so that the felt does not fray and does not clog the hive. Such a pillow is easy; bend and cover the nest not only from above, but also from the sides.

The side straw mats, at 7-8 cm thick, need to be sized so that they touch tightly to the side walls of the hive, and the upper ones to all four walls, representing a really warm ceiling.

If there are no dividers in the hive framework, then it is very useful to narrow the streets up to 9-10 mm to better heat the brood, so that less heat can evaporate and the bees can cover and better heat the large brood area. In the spaces between the upper bars are inserted racks of length 470 mm and thickness 9X12 mm. After 3-4 weeks, the reed can be turned with a wider side or removed altogether, and the streets are brought to normal width.

In spring and autumn, cushions or mats protect the nest from the cold, and in the summer from the heat. Warming of nests with paper is used only in the cold season – in spring and autumn.

After performing the most urgent spring work on the apiary, you need to install a so-called control hive.