A Detailed Guide to Three Common Methods of Artificial Colony Division in Honeybees
For beekeeping, it is now a very well-developed industry in the breeding sector. We all know that the honey market is very complex, it is hard to buy pure honey on the market, and there is no unified regulation for honey prices, so the honey market is actually quite chaotic right now.
Three Methods of Artificial Colony Division
1. Unequal division method. Unequal division means taking out part of the bees and brood combs from one colony and splitting it into two colonies, one strong and one weak. This method is suitable for colonies that are showing swarming fever. From a colony showing swarming fever, take out 2 to 3 frames of sealed brood, and place one frame of honey and pollen comb together with the old queen into a new hive box. Place it far away from the original colony, and plug the entrance loosely with green grass so the bees slowly chew it open. Inspect the original colony, select and keep one good-quality queen cell, and cut off all the other queen cells, or introduce an artificially reared queen cell or a laying queen. If there is a long time before the honey flow, you can gradually strengthen the divided colony with sealed brood combs; otherwise, you can merge the divided colony back with the original colony.
2. Equal division method. The specific procedure is: 45 days before the honey flow of the local main nectar plants, move the original hive box 30 to 40 cm to the side, and place an empty hive box 30 to 40 cm opposite it. Put half of the bees and combs, together with the queen, into the empty box, and arrange the combs in both boxes properly. After about half a day, introduce one laying queen to the queenless colony. When the flying bees return to the nest, they will fly into these two boxes separately. If fewer bees fly into one of the boxes, move it a bit closer to the original site.
3. Mixed division. Mixed division means taking 1 to 2 frames of sealed brood with young bees from several colonies, and combining them as conditions allow into a divided colony of 3 to 6 frames. The next day, introduce a laying queen or a mature queen cell to the divided colony. Alternatively, in late spring and early summer, when a colony has developed to 10 frames, with 6 to 8 frames of brood, take out one frame of sealed brood with bees from such a colony every 6 to 7 days, and combine them into new divided colonies. About 15 days before the major honey flow, stop taking brood frames from the 10-frame colonies, so that they can develop into strong colonies of 5 to 18 frames of bees by the time the major honey flow begins.
A Basic Understanding of Honeybees
Before keeping bees, let us first learn some knowledge about honeybees. At present, 7 million colonies of honeybees are kept in our country, of which 90% are European honeybees imported from abroad, including the Italian bee and the Northeast black bee, and another 10% are Chinese bees. The Italian bee, or Italian honeybee for short, is widely kept in North China and Northeast China. The Italian bee queen has strong egg-laying ability, and the worker bees have strong brood-rearing ability. It not only plays an important role in production but is also an important breeding material.
The Northeast black bee is a transitional type of the European black bee. It has strong reproductive ability and good overwintering performance in cold regions. However, in low-latitude regions it cannot maintain strong colonies. The Chinese bee, or Chinese honeybee for short, is suitable for living in regions such as Northeast China, Northwest China, North China, East China, and Southwest China. The Chinese bee flies nimbly, has a keen sense of smell, is diligent, and has strong disease resistance, cold tolerance, and heat tolerance. However, its honey yield and royal jelly secretion capacity are slightly lower than those of European honeybees. Through this introduction, you can choose the appropriate variety according to the specific conditions of each region and adopt corresponding keeping measures.
Beekeeping Equipment
1. Beehive: The beehive, which is what we often call the honeycomb home, is the place where bees live, reproduce, and store food. The beehive consists of several parts, including the outer cover, grass curtain, cover cloth, inner cover, combs, division board, and queen excluder. Both sides of the comb have thousands of neatly arranged, interconnected hexagonal cells.
2. Comb: A comb fixed to a wooden frame is called one frame of comb. According to the amount of honey, pollen, and larvae on the comb, they are called honey comb, pollen comb, and brood comb respectively. According to the age of the brood, brood combs are further divided into: egg comb, larval comb, sealed brood comb, and empty comb. A beehive holding 10 frames of comb is the most widely used standard beehive. By adding supers on top, the nest can be expanded in time.
3. Bee space: The distance between the combs is called the bee space.
4. Queen excluder: The queen excluder is used to separate the brood-rearing area from the honey-storage area, which helps the honey mature and facilitates honey extraction, improving production efficiency.
Preparations Before Beekeeping
1. Plants from which bees can collect nectar and pollen are called nectar plants, and nectar sources are the foundation of beekeeping production. Before deciding on a location for placing bees, you must clearly investigate the types, area, flowering period, and other conditions of the nectar plants. The main nectar plants from which large amounts of commercial honey can be collected include rapeseed among oil crops, melilot and alfalfa among forage and green manure crops, jujube among fruit trees, pagoda tree among forest trees, and chaste tree among shrubs. Usually, one colony of bees needs about 2 to 4 mu of nectar plants. You should also clearly understand the flowering periods of various nectar plants and the honey production from placing bees over the years. The location for placing bees should be chosen within 2 km of the main nectar plants. The closer the apiary is to the nectar plants, the better. There should be a clean water source near the apiary, such as a lake, a small stream, or a canal, to ensure water for the bees to collect and water for the daily life of the beekeepers. The apiary should be chosen on flat, dry, sunny ground, with an open southeast side and no obstacles.
2. It is best if there is a small hillside or a house or fence on the northwest side. Places with loudspeakers, street lamps, or insect-attracting lamps nearby are not suitable for placing bees.
3. When purchasing colonies, you must choose the bee species according to local conditions such as nectar sources and climate. In the plain areas of Northwest China, North China, and Northeast China, where summers are dry and there are large nectar sources with long honey flow periods, you can choose the Italian bee. In the mountainous areas of Northeast China, where winters are long and cold, springs are short, and the main nectar plants flower early, you can choose the Northeast black bee, which has strong cold tolerance. If the local area is mountainous and there are no concentrated large nectar sources, you can choose the Chinese bee.
Although the market prospects for honey are very good, keeping bees still requires certain methods and skills. Moreover, some people may find beekeeping somewhat dangerous because they are afraid of being stung by bees, but as long as you master the skills and methods of beekeeping, honeybees are actually very friendly to people.