Do a good job in winter management of Chinese bees to promote high honey yields

Bees

    Winter is the flowering and nectar-flow period of the high-quality nectar sources mountain osmanthus and wild Elsholtzia, and if the nectar flow is good and the bee colonies are strong, better economic returns can be achieved.

    1. Before the main nectar flow, merge weak bee colonies into medium or strong colonies to form stronger foraging colonies, which is conducive to high honey yields.

    2. Place the apiary in a sheltered, sunny spot with long sunlight hours, and during the main nectar flow, strengthen the external insulation of the colonies at night, such as covering with plastic sheeting, to reduce the honey consumed by bees maintaining a constant temperature. Remove the plastic sheeting in the morning.

    3. Extract honey once every 8—10 days, or extract honey as soon as more than one third of the upper honey cells are capped.

    4. When the nectar source is near its end, stop extracting honey.

    5. Winter temperatures are relatively low, and bees rearing brood need to consume more sugar to maintain a constant hive temperature, so colonies with little stored honey should be supplementary fed sugar, in a ratio of 1.5—2 jin of white granulated sugar to 1 jin of water, to prevent the bees from starving to death.