Correct Methods and Operating Steps for Disinfecting Beehives

We all know that in our country the honey market is very large. Many people like to drink honey in their daily lives, because many people regard honey as an excellent health tonic, and honey on the market is not only for people to drink themselves; many buy it as a gift to give to others. Therefore, honey prices on our country's market are also rather chaotic.

Beehive disinfection methods  

1. Formalin  

Take one part formalin and add 9 parts water to make a 4% aqueous solution. Soak empty combs and small beekeeping tools in it for 24 hours, shake off the liquid thoroughly, rinse with clean water and dry. Load the combs into supers, 8 combs per box. Remove the iron gauze from one empty comb box with a screen window, add 5 super combs on top, cover with a wooden outer cover, and paste the gaps tightly and cut them away. Use a carbon source, or add 2 parts potassium permanganate to the liquid, quickly paste the opening tightly, and fumigate with the resulting formalin vapor for 24 hours.  

2. Sulfur dioxide  

Use 3-5 grams of sulfur per super of combs, light it, and fumigate the combs in a sealed manner.  

3. 10%-20% limewater  

Take 5-10 kg of quicklime, add 50 liters of water, and spray and brush the ground and walls to disinfect overwintering rooms and bee yards.

Beekeeping feeding methods  

1. Supplementary feeding: that is, artificial feeding carried out when nectar sources are scarce. The methods are:  

① Supplementary honey feeding. Honey can be diluted with warm water at 20% (for crystallized honey, add a little water and heat to dissolve). The diluted honey can be fed to bees by the method of pouring it into combs or by pouring it into a frame-type feeder.  

② Supplementary syrup feeding. Syrup is made by adding white sugar to water at 50%, heating until fully dissolved, then cooling until slightly warm. It is best to add 0.1% citric acid to the syrup to aid digestion and absorption; brown sugar should not be used at this time.  

2. Stimulative feeding: artificial feeding carried out during the colony reproduction period and the bees' production period. Generally, a small amount of 60% honey liquid or 50% syrup is given. In early spring, once every other day; later, as consumption increases, once a day. The time starts 40 days before the honey flow period and continues until a large amount of nectar and pollen is collected from outside. Each frame of bees can be given 50-100 grams of syrup per feeding.  

3. Feeding pollen: the purpose is to supplement protein feed. In the late overwintering period and early spring, feed pollen preserved from the autumn of the previous year; soybean flour can also be used as a substitute. The feeding methods are as follows:  

① Liquid feeding. Add pollen to syrup at 10 times the amount, boil, and after it cools, place it in a feeder for feeding.  

② Cake feeding. Add an equal amount of honey or syrup to pollen or substitute pollen, stir thoroughly and evenly, make it into a cake shape, wrap it in plastic paper with both ends open, and place it on the top bars for the bees to feed on. This method is often used when cold waves occur.  

4. Feeding water and salts: generally each colony needs to collect 200-300 milliliters of water per day. Place water in a feeder or put a wet towel on the screen cover so they can collect water on their own. Add 1% table salt to the syrup.

Is beekeeping profitable  

Beekeeping, that is, honeybee farming, is the business of artificially raising honeybees to obtain their products, including honey, royal jelly, propolis, pollen, beeswax and other products. It is included within livestock production in the broad sense, so in a broad sense honeybees are also livestock. The history of honeybee farming is several thousand years long, and the use of honey began in the fishing and hunting era. Every year when spring warms and flowers bloom, many beekeepers drift from place to place with their beehives. The bees smell the fragrance of flowers and busily work among the blossoms, collecting pollen and making honey. This is also the busiest time for beekeepers. Until September, the beekeepers, like migratory birds, return home with the sweetness of the harvest.  

However, today's honey market is not so “sweet”. What worries beekeeping experts is that with the continuous updating of processing technology, honey has become “hard to tell true from false”, and “standard honey” is running rampant on the market.

Market prospects for beekeeping  

1. According to records, as early as 3000 years ago people in our country had already begun to consume honey. With the development of agriculture, the beekeeping industry and agriculture have become closely integrated. Bee pollination greatly increases agricultural yields, and it is also the measure with the greatest potential for increasing production. For example, when bees pollinate strawberries, they not only increase the fruit-setting rate, but the fruit is also large and plump, with few deformed fruits, high yield and good taste. Especially for the first crop, the income from the first crop alone accounts for 30% of the income of the entire production period, and the ripening period is concentrated, bringing it to market 3-5 days earlier, increasing yield by 700 kg per mu and increasing income by more than 2000 yuan per mu.  

2. The application of bee pheromones has made breakthrough developments in controlling swarming, preventing robbing bees, preventing pesticide poisoning, improving collection efficiency and pollination efficiency, and in royal jelly production technology and other aspects. The development of the beekeeping industry and the improvement of beekeeping technology will be of very great significance in promoting the sustainable development of agriculture and the industrialization of agriculture. It can not only provide humanity with large amounts of natural nutritious food and health-care medicines, and some products are also raw materials for the chemical industry; it also pollinates crops, improving the yield and quality of agricultural products, and also plays a role in maintaining ecological balance and improving the ecological environment.

In our country's rural areas there are many people who keep bees, but the honey that the bees kept by different people can produce is different, and in our country the honey market share is very large, and the honey market is also rather chaotic. The price situation of honey is very deep, and the profit differences in between are very large.