Detailed Explanation of Key Technical Points for Four-Season Beekeeping Management

Four-season management, as the name implies, means spring management, summer management, autumn management and winter management.
China has a vast territory, and the temperature difference between north and south is very large. The flowering and nectar-secreting times of crops are also different, so it is difficult to have a unified four-season management method. However, in most parts of China, the egg-laying pause stage of bee colonies is in winter, and spring is the stage of resuming egg-laying, development and swarming. In the south, the egg-laying pause stage is in the hot summer, and autumn is the stage of recovery and development. The main purpose of beekeeping is to obtain more honey and royal jelly during the production stage, so efforts should be made to grasp the recovery of bee colonies, rapidly develop colony strength, split colonies early, and cultivate strong colonies in time to meet the production stage. For apiaries that are fixed or make short-distance small migrations, strong colonies should be maintained during the main nectar flow to achieve high yields. Some apiaries, after the local main nectar flow, will make long-distance large migrations to chase flowers and obtain nectar; their production period is very long, so strong colonies should be maintained during several main nectar flow periods. Therefore, four-season management of honeybees should be adapted to time and local conditions and applied flexibly. Here we mainly introduce the common parts, and only briefly introduce the special ones.
　　
I. Spring Management
Spring refers to the period from when the queen bee resumes egg-laying and the colony resumes development to before the main honey-collecting period. In most parts of China, the queen bee begins laying eggs around the Beginning of Spring, new bees gradually replace the old overwintering bees, and with the continuous rise in temperature and the appearance of nectar and pollen sources, colony strength develops continuously. Generally, only after 2 to 3 reproductive cycles can a strong colony be formed. Spring management of bee colonies should focus on resolving the contradiction between low temperature and rapid colony reproduction.
1. Strengthen insulation
In early spring, temperatures are low, the temperature difference between day and night is large, and cold waves and frost often occur. If insulation is poor, bees must consume large amounts of honey to maintain the temperature needed for larval development and increase activity, causing overwintering bees to become overworked and die early. This not only causes excessive consumption of feed, but also causes spring decline of the colony, and in severe cases may freeze larvae and pupae to death. The main methods for strengthening insulation in spring are:
(1) Remove surplus combs so that bees are densely packed and every comb is covered with bees. As the temperature rises and colony strength develops, in order not to affect the expansion of the egg-laying circle, the density can be appropriately reduced.
(2) Fill the empty spaces in the hive with insulating materials and promptly replace and sun-dry them to raise and maintain the temperature inside the hive. Seal hive cracks and screen windows tightly with paper or mud.
(3) For weak colonies below medium strength, it is best to adopt two-colony clamped-box rearing, that is, two colonies kept in one brood box separated by a partition, each using its own entrance. In this way they can warm each other, and the largest egg-laying circle will certainly appear on both sides of the partition. The egg-laying circles of the two colonies form a unified whole, and because insulation is good, reproduction speed can be accelerated.
(4) Adjust the entrance according to temperature changes. In spring the entrance should be appropriately reduced. Only when the temperature is above 8°C and there is no wind should bees be allowed to go out for defecation flights. In spring the entrance should not be opened in the middle of the hive, but rather toward the side. On clear, fine days, gradually enlarge the entrance in the morning and gradually contract it in the afternoon, as long as worker bees can enter and leave without crowding or fanning.
(5) Open the hive for inspection as little as possible. When it must be opened, choose a sunny, warm, windless noon and do it quickly to reduce heat loss inside the hive. In early spring, beekeepers should carefully observe from outside the hive, especially during defecation flights. From the worker bees' flying, defecation and water collecting, judge whether the colony has overwintered normally. If problems such as queen loss, water shortage or honey shortage are found, handle them promptly. Only after most bees in most colonies have flown out of the hive for activity should you choose a noon with a temperature above 10°C to open some colonies for spot checks and inspect stored honey, bee numbers, queen egg-laying and so on. Movements should be gentle and quick. Only when the temperature reaches 14°C and there are some nectar sources outside should a full hive inspection be carried out, and then different feeding and management measures should be taken according to the condition of each colony.
(6) Remove outer packaging in good time. According to colony strength and temperature, gradually remove outer packaging or insulation: first remove the top, then the surroundings, and finally the bottom of the hive; first remove from strong colonies, then from weak colonies. Insulation inside the hive should be gradually removed as the hive nest expands.
　　
2. Stimulative feeding
Proper stimulative feeding in spring can stimulate the queen bee to lay eggs and is a way to promote colony development. However, stimulative feeding should be carried out when there is a certain amount of stored honey in the nest. In early spring, each comb should have 0.5 kg of stored honey. If stored honey is insufficient, first feed once to make up the deficiency, then carry out a small amount of stimulative feeding. It is best to start when a small amount of pollen and nectar sources appear outside. During cold waves, it should be paused to avoid stimulating bees to fly out and causing worker bees to freeze to death. The amount of stimulative feeding should be small and the frequency should be frequent; otherwise, too much honey stored in the nest will again restrict the queen's egg-laying. After the colony's defecation flight in early spring, add pollen combs in time so that each frame of bees has 100 to 150 grams of pollen. If insufficient, feed honey-pollen sugar cakes or other pollen substitutes. In spring, bees should often be provided with drinking water, because the queen has begun laying eggs and worker bees need water to feed larvae. Generally, one end of a cotton strip is placed in a water container and the other end is trailed in front of the entrance, or foam plastic or similar material is soaked with water and placed in front of the entrance for bees to collect water.
　　
3. Expand the egg-laying circle, adjust combs and add combs
The size of the queen's egg-laying circle has a great relationship with the colony's rate of increase. Beekeepers often swap the front and rear positions of combs fully laid with eggs so that the egg-laying circle quickly expands to the whole frame. If the rear part is capped honey, or the egg-laying circle is limited by capped honey on the outer ring, it is necessary to cut open the honey caps with a quick knife heated in boiling water. The method is to cut from front to back or from inside to outside, letting the bees move the stored honey to the outer edge of the comb so as to expand the egg-laying circle. When there are three frames of brood combs, the egg-laying circle is often two large and one small; the small one can be moved to the middle. When there is too much stored honey on the comb, it should be separated appropriately. Honey separation should be carried out when the temperature is above 15°C, and brood combs must not be left outside the hive for too long. After taking the above measures, if the brood area of individual colonies still cannot expand, this may be due to poor egg-laying ability of the queen. These two colonies can be merged into a two-queen colony, and the queen can be replaced later. The brood combs of these colonies can also be swapped with large-area brood combs of strong colonies to fully utilize the nursing ability of these colonies. But if in early spring weak colonies cannot expand the egg-laying circle because of poor insulation and nursing ability, it is better to take the egg and larva combs from weak colonies to assist strong colonies and replace them with empty combs for the queen to continue laying. After the new bees of the strong colony emerge one after another, then transfer capped brood combs with young bees from the strong colony to the weak colony. This method of first supplementing the strong with the weak and later supplementing the weak with the strong is also a way to expand the egg-laying circle and promote balanced development.
Three to four weeks after the egg-laying circle expands, new bees emerge successively, old bees are gradually eliminated, and brood combs in the nest are complete in all stages. Although the number of bees is similar to that in early spring, they are mainly young and middle-aged bees, and quality is greatly improved. The colony has entered the development stage. At this time the temperature has already risen, early nectar source plants are blooming, and the queen's egg-laying speed accelerates. At this time, empty combs can be appropriately added so that combs are slightly more numerous than bees. At first, add combs that have been used for one or two years. Empty combs should be placed between honey-pollen combs and brood combs, that is, on the outer side of the brood combs. When there are good nectar and pollen sources outside, new combs or half-built combs can be added, and empty combs can be placed in the middle of the brood combs. When the colony is collecting large amounts of nectar and pollen, foundation frames can be added to let bees secrete wax, build combs and lay eggs. After four or five additions of combs, combs become more numerous than bees. Under good insulation conditions in the hive, it is enough if each comb has 50 percent bees. If the hive nest is not expanded and the bees remain crowded, swarming fever will be caused.
　　
4. Control swarming fever
When the spring colony develops to a certain extent, swarming will occur when Italian bees have 7 to 8 frames of brood and Chinese bees have 4 to 5 frames of brood. When capped queen cells appear in the colony, the mother bee's abdomen shrinks, and egg-laying drops significantly until it stops, these are signs of swarming. Before swarming, worker bees slack off and the queen stops laying. This is unfavorable to colony development and the utilization of nectar and pollen sources. Especially if swarming occurs during the main nectar flow, it will disperse colony strength and affect honey collection. Doing good work in breeding improved stock and strengthening feeding management can prevent and control the occurrence of swarming fever:
(1) Select good stock and replace with new queens. When artificially breeding queen bees, choose colonies that are not prone to swarming and can maintain strong colonies as breeding stock and nursing colonies. Each year about half a month before the nectar flow period, replace old queens with new queens.
(2) Appropriately control colony strength during the reproduction period. When the colony grows and the number of young bees increases greatly, capped brood combs can be taken out in batches and stages to organize or strengthen new splits.
(3) Harvest honey early and frequently. Taking out stored honey from the nest is effective in preventing and controlling swarming fever.
(4) For strong colonies, adopt the method of continuous royal jelly production, making full use of the nursing ability of worker bees, which can effectively avoid swarming.
(5) Eliminate inferior combs and actively build combs. Remove old, drone-cell-heavy and irregular inferior combs early, add foundation to build combs, and expand the egg-laying circle.
(6) Regularly cut out drone brood and natural queen cells.
(7) Add combs in good time, enlarge the entrance and bee space, improve ventilation in the hive, and keep the colony in an active state.
(8) Colonies showing swarming fever should be dealt with early. In addition to cutting out queen cells, first, add egg and larva combs: take away all capped combs in the nest and transfer in egg and larva combs from new splits and weak colonies, so that each frame of bees has one egg and larva comb. Because nursing work is increased, swarming fever will be suppressed. Second, add empty combs: take out all brood combs or capped brood combs in the colony and replace them with empty combs and some foundation frames. Third, swap hive positions with weak colonies to reduce bee numbers and lower colony strength.
(9) Breed queens early and carry out planned colony division. Good natural queen cells can also be used for swarming.
　　
II. Summer Management
Summer is the main honey-collecting period. At this time, except for a few swarms and weak colonies, most are strong colonies. Therefore, summer management is actually management during the nectar flow period.
1. Preparatory work before the main honey-collecting period
In order to ensure high yields of honey and royal jelly during the main nectar flow period, efforts should be made to keep large numbers of worker bees in the colony in an active working state, concentrating strength on collecting nectar and producing royal jelly. This work cannot be done in time if left until the main nectar flow period; preparations must be made fully according to the beekeeping production plan, local conditions, the starting date of the main nectar flow, and how various nectar sources connect.
(1) Nurture age-appropriate forager bees
According to the developmental dates of worker bees, nurturing more age-appropriate forager bees must begin two and a half months before the main nectar flow period, replacing old queens, selecting new queens with high egg-laying ability, strengthening feeding management, promoting colony reproduction, and cultivating strong colonies.
(2) Build combs and add supers in time
During the main honey-collecting period, each production colony must have more than 16 combs for the queen to lay eggs and for storing pollen and honey. These combs should be built early and in large numbers before the main nectar flow arrives by using auxiliary nectar sources. Because bees generally do not store pollen in new combs, building and using as many new combs as possible is also a good way to prevent old combs from storing pollen, compressing the egg-laying circle, and making the colony prone to swarming fever. When the brood box is rather crowded with bees, with more than 7 to 8 frames of bees, and most combs are occupied by brood and honey-pollen, the first super should be added. After adding the super, there are various ways to arrange the combs. Generally, transfer 2 capped brood combs with bees from the brood box into the super, then fill the vacant positions in the brood box with empty combs. Place a queen excluder on the brood box. In the super, put the brood combs in the middle, add one honey comb and one empty comb on each side respectively, and place partitions on the outside. Some only add 4 to 5 combs on one side of the super, of which 2 to 3 are empty combs suitable for the queen to lay eggs, with pollen-honey combs on the outside, and insulation frames outside the partition, without using a queen excluder. This is suitable for places where the time until the main nectar flow is relatively long and the temperature is relatively low. Generally, 5 to 7 days after adding the super, a full inspection should be made, destroying and reforming queen cells, adjusting the hive nest, and successively adding combs or foundation frames according to colony strength.
　　
2. Management during the main nectar flow period
(1) Adjust the colony's hive nest well and organize honey-collecting colonies well
The honey collection of strong colonies is far higher than that of weak colonies. During the main nectar flow period, an apiary can artificially adjust colonies and hive nests and organize some strong colonies for honey collection; the honey output is much higher than if every colony collects honey. Besides the method of merging weak colonies before the nectar flow period, a relatively simple and easy method is the main-secondary pairing method: for two side-by-side hives, move the secondary hive away so that field bees join the main hive. The foragers of the main hive are then concentrated. According to colony strength, add combs or add a second super (placed between the brood box and the first super, with the same comb adjustment method as adding the first super, and a queen excluder placed on the brood box). For the moved secondary colony, although foragers are reduced, there are still many nurse bees, which is favorable for reproduction and can create conditions for honey collection in the next nectar flow. In order to achieve high yields during the main nectar flow period, some apiaries use methods such as replacing queens with queen cells, restricting the queen from laying eggs, and replacing unsealed brood combs with empty combs to reduce the internal duties of honey-collecting colonies and urge worker bees to go out foraging earlier for high yields. The method is to take the queen with two or three frames of bees to form a small colony, and the next day introduce a queen cell to the original colony; before the honey-collecting period, put the queen into an introducing cage and do not let her lay eggs, then release her at the beginning of the main nectar flow period or after a period of time, and replace the unsealed brood combs of the honey-collecting colony with empty combs. Using the above methods can increase honey output, but all will more or less affect colony reproduction and development, and colony strength will be significantly weakened. They can only be used when the interval between two main nectar flows is relatively long, and management should be strengthened even more to prevent queen loss and swarming fever. In order to resolve the contradiction between honey collection and reproduction, when organizing honey-collecting colonies, the principles should be grasped: "strong colonies collect honey, weak colonies reproduce," "new-queen colonies collect honey, old-queen colonies reproduce," "single-queen colonies collect honey, double-queen colonies reproduce," and adapting to time and local conditions. It is also common for honey-collecting colonies to take out some brood combs before the honey-collecting period and supplement capped brood combs during the honey-collecting period to sustain colony strength and adjust the hive nest. At the end of the honey-collecting period, colonies should be adjusted in time, and recovery and multiplication work should be done well. Chinese bee colonies that are too strong are prone to swarming. Although small colonies can also collect honey, the yield is very low. Therefore, generally strong colonies with 5 to 6 full frames of bees and 8 to 10 combs are used for honey collection.
(2) Strengthen ventilation
During the nectar flow period, air circulation in the hive should be strengthened to accelerate evaporation of water from honey and reduce the bees' honey-ripening work. The entrance can be fully opened, the hive cover and body ventilated, and the window also opened. Widen the distance between pollen-honey combs in the super and enlarge bee space. In the brood box, leave space for two or three combs to facilitate ventilation. If there are no robbing bees or enemies, the super can also be offset forward by 20 mm.
(3) Arrange honey extraction time and extract honey at the right time
The nectar collected by bees must undergo ripening and evaporation of water before it matures. Immature honey contains much water, has few nutrients, and is also prone to fermentation and spoilage, so it cannot be stored for long. If honey is not extracted at the right time, worker bees will slack off; extracting honey at the right time can stimulate bees to actively collect nectar and ensure honey quality. When bees cap about 1/4 of the honey cells, or a considerable portion of honey cells are closed in a fish-eye shape, and when shaking bees the nectar in the lower uncapped honey cells does not splash, this is the sign of mature honey. During the main nectar flow period, honey is generally extracted once every 3 days, taking out honey combs separately and replacing them with empty combs. For convenience, beekeepers should prepare empty boxes containing empty combs and replace mature honey combs colony by colony with empty combs. During the major nectar flow of the main nectar source, whole supers of honey combs can also be exchanged. Stored honey in the brood box should also be harvested regularly to let the queen increase egg-laying. For honey combs with capped brood, honey should be shaken out first. When shaking honey, be careful not to bump or press the comb surface, and return them promptly to the hive for insulation. For honey combs with larvae, larvae are easily separated out during extraction, so extraction should be postponed; otherwise, shake especially carefully and gently. Honey extraction is generally carried out in the morning. Extracting honey when bees are busiest collecting nectar will interfere with the bees' work and also easily mix in immature honey collected that day.
(4) Other management work
During the nectar flow period, a full inspection of the brood box should be made every 5 to 7 days. If queen cells and cell bases are found, they should be destroyed immediately, without neglect or omission. Drone cells should be cut out and discarded in conjunction with honey extraction. If sudden incidents such as robbing bees, swarming fever, diseases and pests, or poisoning are found, handle them early to avoid spread and expansion causing losses. Before the nectar flow period ends, sufficient feed honey should be left in the nest for use in bad weather or when moving.
　　
3. Summering management of bee colonies in the south
Summer has hot weather, lack of nectar and pollen sources, and severe enemies. This is a difficult time for beekeeping in South China. If feeding and management are poor, colony strength will be greatly weakened, causing autumn decline. On the surface, the difficulty of summering is caused by high temperature, but in essence it is the result of lack of nectar and pollen sources. As long as there are nectar and pollen sources, bees can still collect during the cooler morning and evening temperatures in the hot season, and the queen does not completely stop laying. Summering management mainly focuses on the following points.
(1) Prepare early for summering
Queen bees of southern colonies do not have a long egg-laying pause period and decline relatively quickly. Before summering, replace last year's old queens with new queens. Adjust colony strength: during the summering period, colonies can be built into 8 to 9 frames of bees where there are nectar and pollen sources, and into 3 to 5 frames where there are only very few auxiliary nectar sources. If colony strength is too strong, consumption will increase; if too weak, it cannot recover under unfavorable conditions. Before summering, leave sufficient feed; each colony should store 5 to 6 honey combs and 2 pollen combs.
(2) Carry out small migrations
When possible, move the apiary to places with nectar and pollen sources or auxiliary nectar and pollen sources.
(3) Shade and cool down
During high temperatures, if the temperature inside the hive is too high and it is exposed to sunlight, it will cause adverse consequences such as melting combs, death of larvae, and curled wings of young bees. Therefore, in summer colonies should be placed in ventilated, shady places. If conditions permit, place them in mountain forests, seaside areas and other such places. This should be done in South China, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and North China. If there is no shade forest, a shade shed can be built, or an empty super can be added on top of the hive, with gauze covering between the super and the brood box so that bees cannot enter the empty super, thereby lowering the temperature inside the hive.
(4) Feed water and spray water
Summering apiaries should have a good water source; otherwise, water should be fed frequently or water combs placed in the hive. In high-temperature weather, water can be sprinkled around the hives.
(5) Supplement feed
Although sufficient feed was left before summering, if the apiary lacks or has scarce nectar and pollen sources, feed should be supplemented in time so that the hive always maintains 2 honey combs and 1 pollen comb. Supplementary feeding is generally done in the evening, and it is best to supplement by cutting open capped honey combs.
(6) Prevent diseases, pests and pesticide poisoning
Curled-wing disease is common in summer colonies. The reason is that before summering there is a good pollen source, the queen lays a large number of eggs, and brood combs often exceed the number of bees. Worker bees are unable to regulate temperature and humidity in the hive, causing abnormal development of bee brood. Therefore, before or during summering, the queen's egg-laying should be appropriately controlled, and the hive nest should be promptly compacted so that bees and combs match or combs are slightly more numerous than bees. Summer is the season when enemies harm bees most severely. All localities can actively kill them according to the living habits of the enemies. Summer is also the season when pesticides and insecticides for killing mosquitoes and flies are used heavily, so attention should be paid to preventing pesticide poisoning.
　　
III. Autumn Management
In autumn, except for buckwheat, most parts of China no longer have main nectar sources, and the temperature drops. Doing autumn management well is an important foundation for ensuring the colony's safe overwintering and colony development the following year.
1. Nurture age-appropriate overwintering bees
So-called age-appropriate overwintering bees refer to worker bees that have not participated in collecting activities or conducted defecation flights. If there are many age-appropriate overwintering bees in the colony, overwintering is safe, feed consumption is low, and colony strength develops quickly the following spring; otherwise, overwintering is difficult, worker bees die early, and spring reproduction is also slow.
Nurturing age-appropriate overwintering bees should begin at the beginning of the last main honey-collecting period. Methods such as replacing old queens with poor egg-laying with new queens, extracting stored honey from brood combs during the major nectar flow, and selecting new combs suitable for egg-laying can be used to expand the egg-laying area as much as possible. At the end of the nectar flow, take out surplus honey combs, appropriately supplement empty combs, keep bees and combs matching, strengthen insulation in the hive and stimulative feeding, and promote the queen to lay eggs. However, when the temperature is relatively low, the queen's egg-laying should be controlled, because at low temperatures worker bees emerging later cannot conduct defecation flights, which is unfavorable for overwintering. In order to ensure overwintering colony strength, 2 to 3 weak colonies can be kept in the same hive, and before overwintering one queen can be selected and retained while the colonies are merged. In this way, the number of colonies appears reduced, but overwintering colony strength can be enhanced, development the following spring is fast, artificial division is early, and the colony can also develop faster.
2. Store overwintering feed
Selecting and retaining capped honey combs is a main task of autumn management, because feeding honey or syrup temporarily before overwintering increases the workload of bees. If honey combs cannot be capped in time, they are likely to deteriorate in winter and cause bee dysentery. Experienced beekeepers select and retain four or five combs with flat surfaces, no drone cells, and that have been used for rearing several generations of bees during the first honey extraction of the last main honey-collecting period of the year. They place them at the side of the super and enlarge the bee space. By the second honey extraction, these honey combs are all capped and can be taken out for storage. If not enough are retained at one time, more can be retained at the second time. The number of honey combs retained depends on the length of the colony's overwintering period. Generally, one honey comb is retained for each frame of overwintering bees. In severe cold areas, more can be retained; apiaries that migrate to the south in winter can retain fewer. Overwintering feed honey combs should be stored well in a cool, ventilated place. To prevent damage by wax moths, fumigation with sulfur and other drugs can be used. The method is to place 8 honey combs in each super, place several supers on empty brood boxes, light sulfur inside the box, close the entrance tightly, cover the top super with a screen cover and outer cover, and seal the gaps between boxes tightly. Several supers with stored honey combs can also be placed on a strong colony and kept by this colony's bees until used during overwintering. If for some reason the last main honey-collecting period failed to retain or retain enough overwintering feed, then before the queen nearly stops laying, urgently feed the colony to sufficiency within three or four days with thick syrup (2 parts sugar, 1 part water) or honey solution (10 parts honey, 1 part water). After the honey combs are capped, take them out or leave them directly in the nest as overwintering feed.
3. Treat mites and prevent diseases
In autumn, colony brood combs decrease rapidly, while the number of bee mites increases greatly. In order to ensure the colony's safe overwintering, mite treatment should begin before nurturing overwintering bees. When treating mites, capped brood combs can be transferred to other colonies; after the capped brood emerges, carry out the same fumigation treatment. After the queen stops laying and most capped brood combs have emerged, mite treatment is more effective. In autumn, adding antibiotics, sulfonamides and other drugs during stimulative feeding and supplementary feeding can prevent the occurrence of infectious diseases.
4. Store combs
For combs taken out from colonies in autumn, scrape off propolis and wax scraps on the combs with a scraper, shave protruding cell walls flat with a sharp knife, then spray and disinfect with a 5% benzalkonium bromide aqueous solution. After the medicinal solution air-dries, store them and keep them properly. Combs are generally stored in supers, 8 per box. According to comb quality, store honey combs, half-honey combs, pollen combs, empty combs, half-built combs and so on separately. Before storage, fumigate two or three times with sulfur or carbon disulfide. When fumigating with sulfur, use 3 to 5 grams of fully burned sulfur per 10 combs, fumigating for 4 hours each time. If conditions permit, build a sealed storage room convenient for fumigation and rodent-proofing, with racks for combs; it would be even better to have ultraviolet disinfection equipment.
5. Do other management work such as preventing robbing bees
In autumn, especially late autumn, nectar sources are lacking, and robbing bees are relatively likely to occur. Improper mite treatment also easily causes robbing bees, so beekeepers should do preventive work well. In addition, in low temperatures, pay attention to insulation in the hive, appropriately reduce the entrance, and keep bee numbers appropriately dense.
　　
IV. Winter Management
After the weather becomes cold and settled in winter, bees stop flying when the daytime temperature does not exceed 10°C. Bees in the hive begin to cluster, and strong colonies cluster later than weak colonies. As long as there are more age-appropriate overwintering bees, sufficient feed, honey combs used to arrange the hive nest well, insulation and packaging inside and outside the hive done well, and quiet maintained, the colony can overwinter safely.
1. Arrangement of the overwintering hive nest
The general requirements for the overwintering hive nest are appropriately dense bee numbers, easy clustering, and neatly arranged light-brown honey combs (combs used for more than 1 year and having reared several batches of young bees).
(1) Overwintering of single-queen colonies
Generally, place 2 to 3 lighter small honey combs in the middle and 1 to 2 large honey combs on each side. In cold areas, the arrangement method of reducing the hive nest and enlarging bee space can be used: place all large honey combs in the nest and enlarge bee space to 15 mm, so that bees fill the bee spaces down to the lower frame bar.
(2) Overwintering of double-queen colonies
Place a partition in the middle of the hive, put the two lighter honey combs on each side of the partition respectively, with larger bee space or space between the partition and honey combs, and place heavier honey combs on the outside. This arrangement allows the two small bee clusters to unite on both sides of the partition and form one large bee cluster, which is favorable for winter insulation and spring queen egg-laying.
(3) Overwintering in supers
For strong colonies with more than 8 full frames of bees, place large honey combs in the super and small honey combs and empty combs in the brood box. In winter, the bee cluster begins between the brood box and super, and as honey is consumed, the bee cluster gradually moves into the super.
2. Insulation inside the hive
In winter, appropriate insulation should be provided inside the hive according to region and colony strength. For insulation inside the hive, generally place insulation partitions outside the honey combs, place insulation frames or insulation materials such as straw and cotton on the outside, cover the screen cover with several sheets of paper or cover cloth with good insulation and moisture absorption, then place insulation materials such as straw mats and cotton pads on top; cover the hive cover well, and seal screen windows and cracks tightly.
3. Insulating outer packaging for outdoor overwintering
For colonies overwintering outdoors, insulating outer packaging should be carried out after the ground freezes. For outdoor overwintering sites, choose places sheltered from wind, facing the sun, and relatively dry. For packaging, generally use straw curtains to surround the left, right and back of the hive, spread straw under the hive bottom, and add straw or straw mats between hives, above the hive cover and behind the hive according to temperature. In areas where winter temperature is not lower than minus 15°C, the front of the hive does not need packaging. In areas where temperature is lower than minus 15°C, the front of the hive should also be packaged with straw curtains and so on, leaving only the entrance for ventilation. In severe winter, use methods such as piling snow and piling soil to strengthen insulation. If outdoor overwintering is managed well, colonies are basically not damaged by stuffiness or heat, do not suffer dysentery, consume little feed, have low mortality, and multiply quickly in spring. At present, severe cold areas also mostly use outdoor overwintering.
4. Indoor overwintering
After freezing begins outdoors, place the hives on bee racks more than 40 cm above the ground indoors, generally with three tiers of hives, strong colonies below and weak colonies above. Keep room temperature between -4 and 4°C, relative humidity 75% to 85%, and maintain darkness and quiet indoors.
5. Management of overwintering colonies
Overwintering colonies should not only be kept warm but also ventilated to prevent stuffiness. Generally, it is better to be cold than hot. Except for colonies overwintering in supers, the entrance should be appropriately larger, or longer and a bit lower. On the side without the bee cluster, fold up a corner of the cover cloth or paper on the screen cover at the rear corner of the hive for ventilation. After the overwintering hive nest is arranged, keep the colony as quiet as possible, and do not open the hive for inspection easily. On sunny days, shade the colony. Wooden slats, cotton wadding and other objects can be gently placed outside the entrance to prevent bees from being stimulated by sunlight to fly out and freeze to death. In winter, every ten days or so, beekeepers use a wire hook to remove dead bees from the hive bottom to prevent blocking the entrance. Observe each colony from outside the hive, listen to the sound of the bee cluster, see whether there is moisture inside and outside the entrance, and check whether dead bees have swollen abdomens and are damp, in order to judge whether the colony is frozen, stuffy, or has indigestion, etc.