Four key points for beekeeping in early autumn: do these well and the colony will be stronger

In summer and autumn (early autumn), the weather is hot, bees work at high intensity, their lifespan is greatly shortened, the queen lays fewer eggs, and bee deaths outnumber births, so colony strength generally shows a declining trend. If management is slightly poor, the number of bees can drop below 40%, making it impossible to produce royal jelly. Therefore, beekeeping in summer and autumn should do the following four things well:

1. Use high-quality new queens to lay eggs, expand the egg circle, and accelerate the breeding of new bees.

2. The apiary should be chosen in a place with air circulation and tree shade, or grass curtains should be covered over the hives to prevent sunlight from heating the hives and increasing nest temperature, which makes the colony restless; enlarge the entrance so the air inside the hive circulates; when the weather is too hot, spray cold water outside the hive and feed cool boiled water; for crowded colonies, add supers early, increase empty combs and foundation frames, and expand the hive; use young bees to produce royal jelly.

3. Prevent pesticide poisoning. In summer and autumn, pesticides are applied frequently in farmland, so control bees from leaving the hive. If poisoning is found, first remove the toxic feed on the combs, then feed thin honey liquid made of honey and water at 1:4 or licorice decoction; if it is organophosphate poisoning, atropine should also be used for rescue: mix 0.3 kg of honey water with 2 ml of 1% atropine sulfate, spray it directly on the bees, and let the bees suck it from each other to achieve the purpose of rescue.

4. Persist in stimulative feeding. To stimulate the queen's egg laying and the worker bees' enthusiasm for rearing brood, feed the bees with thin syrup every evening when the weather turns cooler. To prevent disturbing the bees while feeding, you can make a rectangular shallow tray yourself and put it inside the hive for feeding. If there is not enough feed in the nest, first feed enough with thick syrup in one go, and then feed stimulatively day by day afterward.