Advice For Novice Beekeepers. Part 3

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

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Keep bees - don't lie in the cold

Swarming bees

In no case do not plant immediately, if there is no bribe, a newly caught swarm into someone else's bee colony - the bees of this bee colony can interrupt the swarm, even if the swarm bees are with honey. If you want to connect a newly caught swarm with another bee family, do not connect it immediately, but after a few days and only through the newspaper.

Once, having caught a swarm, on the same day in the evening I launched it into another bee colony through the entrance. “Once swarm bees with honey, they will not be killed in a strange family,” I thought. The next day, getting up early, I was saddened to find that the whole swarm that I had launched into someone else's bee colony had been killed. If I connected the swarm not on the same day as I caught it, but a few days later, and connected it through the newspaper, then the bees would connect gradually and, perhaps, the swarm would remain whole. Only their queen could have suffered, because two queens cannot live in one bee colony. And the bees would have to choose queens. Since any bee colony lives for the "future generation", it is in its interests to choose the healthiest and most fertile queen. There were cases when a bee colony accepted a swarm and killed its queen, and the swarm, which came with the swarm,left to live with her family.

I do not advise you to combine a caught swarm with a bee family that is in a swarm state. First, take the bee colony out of the swarm state and only then connect it with the captured swarm through the newspaper. A strong bribe helps to bring the bee colony out of the swarm state. But if there is no strong bribe, and you are not going to create it artificially, cut out from the bee colony all the queen cells that the bees laid. If you miss at least one mother plant, then the swarm from this family will definitely fly away.

When a swarm leaves its family, it grafts onto the nearest tree or bush. The height of the inoculation depends on the age of the uterus: if the uterus is old, the swarm sits low, and if the uterus is young, it can graft on the tallest tree that is in your area or near it. He will sit there for about three hours, until the scout bees sent by the swarm find shelter. But if the swarm leaves its family, and the weather suddenly deteriorates, then the bees do not necessarily return back to their "home", to their hive. In my practice, there were cases when a swarm lived on a tree waiting for good weather for about seven days!

Once, watching the bees, I saw with horror a swarm flying out of the hive. Due to the rainy weather all week, I could not see this bee colony and take measures to prevent bees from swarming. First, the swarm flew to the top of the pine, but then descended a little and sat on the trunk of the top of the spruce, the height of which was about 9 meters. It was impossible to get to the swarm, since I did not have a ladder of this size. Moreover, the branches at the top were thin. Then suddenly it started to rain. And instead of flying away in a few hours, the swarm stayed at the tree to spend the night - as if he was giving me a chance to take it off. He hung like that for several days, and I walked around the tree, but I could not help it. When the weather improved, the sun came out, he calmly left my site and flew to an unknown home for me.

Since the swarms sometimes sit high, the beekeeper needs to be able to climb trees. After all, he must not only climb to the swarm, but also, sitting high on a tree, be able to skillfully plant it in the swarm, while enduring bee stings! Therefore, before allowing the swarming of a bee colony and having bees, think: can you do such acrobatic "tricks"? I recommend that if you are going to allow swarming, you need to take care that there are no tall trees in or around the site.

But if you don't want your bees to swarm, consider the following:

• while there is no bribe or there is, but very bad, divide the bee colony in half. In the part that was left without a queen, the bees will lay queen cells in order to bring out another queen. In the same half, place the frames with the printed brood from the half with the old queen. Then, when the main bribe begins, unite the two families into one again. In this way, you will avoid swarming of the entire bee colony, and if you are lucky, you will bring out a young queen. Just remember that in the half that you left without a queen, the bees will take care of themselves and begin to work fruitfully only when they hatch a young queen, which flies around and starts laying eggs;
• if dividing the bee colony is impractical, try to load the bees with work. The more work a bee colony has, the less bees "think" about reproduction. It is very good when there is a strong bribe. Then the bee colony will mobilize all its relatives to bring as much nectar as possible for itself and for the "future generation". The instinct to get as much food as possible is higher than the reproductive instinct of bees. But if the weather deteriorates, and the bees cannot even fly out of the hive, then after a few days they can go into a swarm state. So that the bee colony in bad weather could not even “think” about swarming, some beekeepers at this time begin to give it sugar syrup. Thus, they give the bees work, and the bee colony does not think about swarming.

But bees can swarm not only from a lack of work, but also from a lack of "living conditions": if they are cramped in the hive, some of them will fly away to look for new spacious housing. Sometimes bees swarm when they realize that the queen has nowhere to worm - all frames are filled with honey or bee bread. In these cases, so that the bees do not feel crowded in the hive, I recommend expanding the bee nest in advance. To do this, you can put additional boxes with dry land and foundation (if the hive is multi-hull) or additional stores (if you keep the bees in a bed).

Freedom to collect honey

True, this can only be done in warm weather. Free space in the hive is also very important for honey collection. It is necessary for bees to make honey from nectar. Therefore, I recommend: if there is a strong bribe and the weather is warm, put one additional building or store with land, where the bees will put the newly brought nectar, which will gradually ripen.

Several years ago, in the fall, when forming a bee's nest for the winter (you can read how to prepare bees for winter in my article in # 8, 2013), I gave the bees sugar syrup so that they could supplement their incomplete frames and seal them. Some families took syrup well, and a few hives took almost nothing. When I examined these hives, I saw that the bees had nowhere to put syrup and even more so from it to make honey. In the hive there was no free space for this - free honeycombs! Therefore, if in the summer during the honey collection the bee colony will work poorly for you, be sure to see if it has free combs, where the bees can put the newly brought nectar.

Some beekeepers have a deficit of frames during a bribe, because of this, during a bribe, they have to take unsealed honey from the bees and pump out the unsealed honey, and put the frames back in the hive. When selecting honey, I advise you to take from the hive only completely printed frames, in extreme cases, there should be at least two-thirds of the printed frames. Unprintable honey can be taken only if the bribe has not been more than three weeks. If you hurry up and pump out unprintable (unripe) honey, then it can turn sour afterwards.

But mature honey can also deteriorate if stored in a damp room, where it can absorb a lot of moisture. Therefore, I recommend storing the pumped honey only in a dry place. Be sure to ensure that no water gets into it.

Good luck in keeping bees and a good bribe for the new season to all novice beekeepers!

Dmitry Mamontov, beekeeper

Photo by the author