What are some practical tips for extracting honey by spinning the combs in the four seasons?

The main economic benefit of beekeeping comes from extracting honey by spinning the combs. As the seasons change through the year, the method of spinning honey also differs. Taking the Yangtze River basin as an example, the basic principle of spinning honey is: in spring be early, in summer be frequent, in autumn be steady, in winter stop.

1 In spring be early

After the beginning of spring, the queen bee begins to lay eggs, the worker bees go out to forage, and their enthusiasm for rearing the young rises day by day; especially the Chinese bee (Apis cerana), when the temperature turns warm but still cold, flies about searching and collects scattered nectar. They generally produce their first batch of mature honey around the end of March, and apart from feeding the brood and their own consumption, there is still surplus stored, which together with the leftover overwintering feed lays the foundation for early-spring honey spinning. Because the flowering plants of spring gradually increase, spinning honey early can promptly free up the honey-storage cells so that there are cells to store honey when @#@255@#@ the honey comes in, thus stimulating the worker bees to actively leave the hive to collect honey and promoting the colony to reproduce and develop as early as possible. However, spinning honey early does not mean scraping the honey away completely; you must always leave enough rations for the colony.

2 In summer be frequent

The number of times honey is spun in summer should be appropriately increased. Especially in early summer, the main nectar-source plants bloom and secrete nectar one after another, the field bees bring in honey quickly and in large amounts, and the house bees process it day and night; therefore, on the premise of ensuring sufficient feed honey, spin frequently. For example, during the flowering period of citrus, rapeseed and jujube trees, honey can generally be spun once every 3 to 5 days. Frequent spinning can prompt the worker bees to collect honey actively. After the flowering period of the main nectar sources ends, scattered nectar sources follow, and at this time the interval between spinning should be appropriately increased, generally spinning once every 15 to 20 days. Entering the hottest period of midsummer, there are very few flower sources, and honey extraction can be paused for a while.

3 In autumn be steady, in winter stop

First, autumn flowers are noticeably fewer than summer flowers, the worker bees' honey collection decreases, and honey spinning must be done in moderation. The main nectar sources in autumn are wild flowers such as buckwheat flowers and wild chrysanthemums, and generally spinning honey 1 to 2 times is enough. Second, after autumn comes winter, when nectar sources are even fewer, the climate is cold, and the worker bees leave the hive less, so autumn honey spinning must also take into account leaving enough feed for the colony. For storing overwintering feed, it is better to leave more surplus than to have too little and run short, otherwise it will add no small amount of trouble to overwintering management work and may even cause losses to the colony. Taking the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River as an example, for the Chinese bee (Apis cerana) the overwintering feed of 400 to 500 g of stored honey per comb is enough, while western bees (Apis mellifera) need much more; taking 5 combs as an example, each colony needs 12 to 15 kg, that is, 5 to 6 honey combs must be prepared to meet its overwintering needs.