Methods and Key Technical Points for Rapid Bee Reproduction

Bees generally collect nectar during the day and make honey at night, and they can also help fruit trees complete the task of pollination. Many beekeepers raise large numbers of bees. So what are the methods for rapidly reproducing bees?

1. How do bees reproduce quickly?

1. Moderate flight: Spring is a key period for bee reproduction, and at this time the bees, after experiencing winter, will have a large amount of waste deposited in their intestines. The presence of this waste is not conducive to the growth and reproduction of bees, so allowing moderate flight can excrete the waste from the body.

2. Hive insulation: Spring is a time when the weather and temperature are changeable, especially in early spring when the outside temperature is relatively low and simply cannot reach the temperature required for bee larvae to grow. At this time, beekeepers need to warm their hives.

3. Queen rearing and colony splitting: In spring, the queen bee in a colony is mostly an old queen raised in the previous year. After two seasons of egg laying, the old queen's peak egg-laying period is basically coming to an end, so it is best to carry out queen rearing and colony splitting as early as possible.

2. How to split a colony?

1. Splitting within the same colony and same box: One week in advance, open an additional entrance, and according to the condition of the colony, adjust the brood combs and honey-pollen combs on both sides to be equal. Use a middle partition board to divide it into two from the center, and the next day introduce 1 egg-laying queen bee or a virgin queen cell on the side without a queen.

2. Splitting between the super box and the bottom box: Set up the bottom box well, and place the super box on the flat box. Then take out 2 to 3 combs with bees and brood from the colony and put them into the prepared bottom box or super box, and the next day introduce 1 egg-laying queen bee or a virgin queen cell.

3. Splitting after moving to a new site: Before moving the apiary, prepare the egg-laying queen in advance. Then, after moving to the new site and before the bees have made their orientation flights, take combs with bees and brood, at least 2 to 3 combs, and put them into a prepared empty bee box, and the next day introduce 1 egg-laying queen or a virgin queen cell.

4. Splitting during the queen replacement season: 2 to 3 days before the queen cell emerges, take out the original queen together with bees and brood, 2 to 3 combs, as a reproductive colony to continue reproducing. Introduce 1 virgin queen into the original colony to let her mate. The split colony can be used as a reproductive colony and can be moved away from the original apiary or placed in the original apiary.

3. How should bees be managed?

1. Superior queen: The speed of colony reproduction and the level of production mainly depend on the quality of the queen bee. A young and robust queen bee has strong egg-laying ability, the colony develops rapidly and can maintain a large colony, and the worker bees also have strong collecting ability, work actively, show less swarming fever, and produce higher yields.

2. Strong colony: A strong colony is the foundation of high yield, and the strong colony of the Chinese bee is based on the actual situation of the Chinese bee, and each period has its own standard for a strong colony. Only a strong colony can fully give play to the queen bee's egg-laying ability and resist the invasion of diseases and pests, and safely pass through summer and autumn.

3. Sufficient honey: Sufficient stored honey in the hive can help the colony get through difficult times when nectar sources are lacking in the field. If honey is lacking in the hive, it will cause unrest in the colony, abandonment of larvae, and the queen stopping egg laying, and may even lead to robbing bees and absconding.

4. New combs: Chinese bees like new combs and dislike old ones. New combs have large cells and fresh wax. The queen bee especially likes to lay eggs on new combs, and reproduction is fast. The worker bees cultivated are robust and strong in collecting ability, and wax moths are less likely to occur in the colony.

5. Density: Chinese bees like density, and the number of bees should always be kept proportional to the number of combs. In winter, a dense colony can help overwintering. During the honey flow period, a dense colony can promote fast honey storage, early maturity, and high yield. During the summer period, density can reduce colony decline and make it difficult for enemies to invade.

6. Over-summering: Over-summering is a difficult hurdle in raising Chinese bees in the south. To safely pass the summer, in addition to the above conditions, attention should also be paid to shading, providing water, strictly preventing enemies, and keeping the colony quiet.

The reproduction of bees is relatively fast, and with a large colony, the speed of harvesting honey will also increase. It is hoped that the above introduction can help beekeepers rapidly reproduce bees.