How to keep bees in spring to promote reproduction?

Spring is the season when bees begin their yearly reproduction. Doing a good job of spring breeding will lay a solid foundation for the whole year's beekeeping production. It is extremely critical, and every management task must be carried out with full effort.How to raise bees in spring? How to promote reproduction?

1. How to raise bees in spring?

1. Timely defecation flights of overwintered bees. Choose clear, warm, windless weather with a temperature above 10°C, remove the insulation materials outside the hive and the hive cover, warm the comb in the sun, and prompt the bees to leave the hive and fly, so as to expel the feces accumulated in their intestines during the winter, restore their normal metabolic function, and prolong their lifespan. If the weather is clear and fine, they can continue to defecate, and when the temperature is suitable, the insulation facilities can then be removed.

2. Hive insulation. In early spring, the outside temperature is much lower than the suitable temperature needed by bee larvae, and cold waves sometimes strike, which is very unfavorable to bee reproduction: many bees engaged in raising the temperature will lead to increased feed consumption and shortened bee lifespan. To make the colony reproduce quickly, insulation measures must be taken. In combination with the early-spring hive inspection, tidy the hive, remove surplus empty combs, keep more bees than combs, and narrow the bee space to 8mm. For small colonies with 1-2 combs of bees, keep two queens in the same hive to help with insulation; fill the remaining space in the hive with insulation material, wrap the outside of the hive with straw, and cover it with plastic film. In the morning and evening, the entrance should be narrowed, and the hive should not be opened too frequently for inspection, to prevent heat loss.

3. Feed supplementation

After the spring colony begins brood rearing, feed consumption more than doubles. During the brood-rearing period, when there is still no nectar source or pollen source outside, supplementing pollen is especially important. Tests have shown that rearing one bee larva consumes 120-145mg of pollen, and cultivating 1 comb of bees requires about 150g of pollen. Therefore, after inspection, for those colonies lacking honey and pollen, honey and pollen feed should be supplemented in time. When the outside temperature is relatively low, it is advisable to supplement honey and pollen combs; when the outside temperature reaches above 12°C, then feed honey water (or syrup) and pollen cakes. Honey water should be fed enough within two or three days, and afterward, to improve the colony's brood-rearing capacity, additional reward feeding can be carried out until auxiliary nectar and pollen sources appear outside, then it can be stopped. Reward feeding should be appropriate, to prevent feed from pressing the combs and shrinking the egg-laying area. When a cold wave comes, feeding should be stopped.

4. Adding combs to expand the hive. For colonies with more bees than combs, when 2/3 of the brood comb is capped, add the first comb. Among them, for strong colonies, add a comb when the brood area reaches 70-80% of the total comb area; for weak colonies, add a comb when a large number of new bees emerge. When adding the 2nd and 3rd combs, it should be done under conditions of normal weather, early nectar flow, a balance of bees and combs, a healthy egg-laying queen, more than 70% brood combs, continuously rising temperature, and sufficient feed; otherwise, adding combs can be delayed. For adding combs, choose flat combs with honey and pollen, and trim them flat by 1-2cm with a sharp knife to facilitate the queen's egg laying.

2. How to promote bee reproduction in spring?

1. Seal the hive for insulation

Place the 1 comb after compacting the combs in the center of the hive, place a partition board on the side of the comb near the neighboring hive, and place another partition board on the other side, then place insulation material outside the boards. On rainy days or relatively cold evenings, cover the entire hive with plastic sheeting, but do not block the entrance completely. In the evening, depending on the temperature, the entrance can be closed.

2. Auxiliary feeding

After compacting the combs, carry out auxiliary feeding from the bottom of the hive every evening. Put sugar water or honey water into the feeder at the bottom of the hive. The first feeding can be 350 to 400 milliliters per colony, and afterward it depends on the number of bees and the size of the egg-laying area, with a small amount of corner honey on the comb being suitable.

3. Shaking bees and compacting combs

During spring reproduction, place every two hives side by side. On a windless evening, feed each colony 250 to 300 milliliters of sugar water (sugar-to-water ratio 1:1) or diluted honey. Two hours later, when the bees are excited, clustered, and the temperature inside the hive has risen, the bees can be shaken down and the combs compacted. Keep 1 comb in the hive, which can promote the queen to lay eggs quickly.