Robbing prevention is key to winter beekeeping, and the precautions must be kept firmly in mind

Honeybees are social insects, and their lives change along with the alternating seasons, so winter management is a key point in beekeeping. The quality of winter management is related to the success or failure of the bees overwintering, and also to the reproduction speed and production efficiency at Spring Festival time, so what problems should be noted in winter beekeeping? Preventing robbing is the key!

1. Preventing robbing

The most important thing in winter beekeeping is preventing robbing, because there are no flower sources in winter, and the Chinese honeybee (Apis cerana) has an extremely keen sense of smell, so robbing is very likely to occur in winter. With even slight improper management, bees will rob each other of stored honey and attack each other, bringing great harm to the colony, and in severe cases causing the entire apiary to be wiped out.

Robbing can be prevented by narrowing the hive entrance to protect the robbed colony, and by strengthening feed supplementation to give the colony sufficient food. Be careful not to drip syrup outside the hive, as it may lure outside bees to attack. If robbing has already occurred, measures such as hiding the hives and moving the boxes should be taken promptly to stop losses in time.

2. Rearing overwintering bees

In winter the queen bee's egg-laying ability declines, causing fewer and fewer new bees to be born, and the colony gradually ages. Therefore, new high-quality queen bees must be reared in time to replace old queen bees with low egg-laying ability. Besides the queen, worker bees are an important part of the colony; they handle the entire colony's nursing and foraging work, so they consume a great deal of energy and generally die in large numbers before the beginning of spring. Therefore, to avoid a decline in the colony's reproductive capacity and productivity after the beginning of spring, a batch of worker bees should also be reared in winter.

3. Insulation treatment

Winter temperatures are low, and the temperature difference between day and night is very large. Low temperatures will freeze bees to death and also affect the colony's feeding and activity. Under low-temperature conditions, bees consume large amounts of food to raise their body temperature and resist severe cold, causing heavy consumption of feed. Therefore, in winter, attention must be paid to good insulation measures. In addition, the beekeeping site should be far from flower sources, so as to prevent bees from freezing to death while foraging.

4. Overwintering feed

There are very few flower sources in winter, and the bees' food cannot be replenished in time, so large amounts of stored honey are consumed. At this time, feed must be supplemented artificially. Generally, high-quality feed that does not crystallize is chosen, and some disease-prevention drugs are added to prevent diseases. Honey combined with white sugar can be boiled into syrup as feed. The feed must be kept clean and hygienic, and mixing with oil and the like must be strictly prevented.

If honey is chosen as overwintering feed, simply mix 50 kg of honey with 3-4 liters of water, and heat to 70 degrees until it dissolves and becomes crystallized. If white sugar is chosen as feed, first bring 30 liters of water to a boil, then add 50 kg of white sugar. After the white sugar dissolves, heat to 100 degrees, remove and cool.

The above is Tuliu.com's introduction to winter beekeeping management measures. To help bees overwinter safely, it is necessary to promptly rear overwintering bees, prevent robbing, carry out insulation treatment, and prepare sufficient overwintering feed. Beekeepers can refer to the content of this article as a reference.