Breeding bees for beginners may seem like an easy task. However, this is not entirely true; the issue should be approached thoughtfully and with thorough preliminary preparation. In Russia, not so few people are interested in beekeeping, and many of them do not have a specialized education. All of them are united by a love of nature, a respectful and thrifty attitude to it, as well as the absence of allergic reactions to bee venom.
Every year there are more and more people who want to organize bee breeding. "Where to begin?" they think. Not many people conduct a thorough analysis before opening this case. There are not rare cases when an unexpected desire to breed bees turns into insurmountable obstacles: an allergic reaction to bee venom is detected, fear of being stung or lack of necessary conditions for their maintenance. Not everyone is eager to work from dawn to dusk, and there will be plenty of such concerns. As a result, such people suffer losses, bee families die, and all the work done is in vain. Simple recommendations will help to avoid the sad development of events.
Who can beekeeping do?
How to master beekeeping for beginners? Where to begin? The first thing you need to evaluate yourself. A true bee lover should have a combination of many qualities:
- knowledge of nature and its laws;
- accuracy when handling insects;
- iron nerves and steel endurance (to endure stings, which will be not enough).
Beekeeping skills come with time. The difficulty lies not so much in learning the special methods of caring for bee families, but in the ability to choose those that are best suited to existing climatic conditions.
The amount of time it takes to bee
How to calculate the time that beekeeping requires for beginners? Where to start its accounting? It all depends on the skill level of the beekeeper and the automation of his movements when performing similar operations. The statistics collected during the study of this issue are as follows: caring for 1 bee colony will require 834 minutes for 1 season. Simple calculations make it possible to establish that the beekeeper spends 10 hives at the beginning of the season from 5 to 6 hours a week.
Number of bee colonies
Considering the breeding of bees for beginners, the master class will dwell on the issue of the number of beneficial insects. In this matter, it is necessary to proceed from the specific conditions available on the site. The optimal amount for an inexperienced beekeeper will be from 3 to 6 bee families. Such a number of hives will make it possible to work out the technology of insect care well, immediately looking at the future.
In this case, the beekeeper will immediately plan streaming work with bee families, not limited to just one. Due to the lack of experience, a person may not keep track of a large number of hives. The more active the start of bee breeding, the closer the time when the apiary will develop to the planned size. Such a strategy does not guarantee the absence of errors (including fatal ones), however, risking dozens of bee colonies is much more dangerous.
Place for apiary
Have you already decided on which area the bees will live? Breeding and maintenance for beginner beekeepers can not do without solving this issue. It is good if the beginning beekeeper has the opportunity to choose a site for the location of the hives. It is better to dwell on the one whose conditions are closest to the native ones for bees.It is desirable that hills, lowlands and other relief elements are nearby.
Well, if within a radius of 2 km from the apiary there are wild honey plants. A positive thing is the presence of natural protection from prevailing winds, for example, a slope or tree planting. An apiary should be lit by the sun, and not hide in the shade of buildings or forests.
Apiary area
The influence of the area of the plot on the breeding of bees for beginners may not be entirely clear. However, there are standards for the placement of hives: the minimum distance is from 3 to 4 m. If the bee houses are in rows, then the distance between the latter must be maintained from 4 to 6 m.
Not everyone has such spaces of land at their disposal. In many suburban areas have to put hives much denser. They are placed in all free places: under the trees, along the buildings on the sunny side, near the fence, under special canopies. The installation density of bee houses reaches 1 per m2.
What to wear?
To master the breeding of bees for beginners (a photo of the process demonstrates this) it is necessary in overalls, which have rather stringent requirements:
- hygiene;
- convenience;
- protection of all parts of the body from bees.
There are several options for the beekeeper's special clothing:
- Bees of the southern regions are characterized by peacefulness, therefore, only a net covering the face and a white robe are visible on the beekeeper.
- Central Russian bees are more aggressive, especially at the time of their transportation. The dressing gown has been replaced with a gray thick-woven jumpsuit. Bees are annoyed by clothes of dark shades with a pile (they are confused in it). Their reaction to sweat, gasoline or smoke, which impregnated the fabric, will not slow them down.
- Abroad, beekeepers additionally wear rubberized or tight gloves. But to inspect the hives in them is extremely inconvenient.
Beekeepers with experience have learned to monitor the behavior of insects and, having noticed the first signs of irritability, soothe them with a smoker. The reaction of bees depends on the cleanliness, accuracy and dexterity of the beekeeper. Often you can find a bee lover working with them without a net. Such people try to cover their hair with a white hat.
The event log
Keeping records of completed work, the situation in bee families and much more is much easier with the help of the beekeeper's diaries. Bee breeding for beginners is not complete without the results of examinations recorded in the journal with the obligatory recording of the actions taken, errors detected in order to improve the work of the apiary in the future. Each family is considered individually in order to calculate the most productive and strong among them. In the future they are used in breeding work.
Each bee family is given up to two pages in the magazine. In the header, its serial number, uterus data (year of birth, breed, origin) are prescribed. Records are in columns, their approximate names are as follows:
- Date of inspection.
- What was given (honeycomb, framework, syrup, etc.).
- What took (honeycomb, bees, brood).
- What is left.
- Results of the year.
Individual beekeepers make notes on cards stored under the roof of each hive. Starting the inspection, the beekeeper looks at the result of the previous one, recalls the work done and plans further actions.
Weather
Does the weather affect bee breeding? For beginners and experienced beekeepers, this is a good guide. Depending on what is now outside the window, work is planned for the current day. Based on long-term forecasts, important events are being prepared from transporting bees to studying the nature of the main bribe.
Not always the beekeeper has the opportunity to get up-to-date weather information in the near future, because he is away from the city or there simply is not enough time for this. How then to act? Rely on your own intuition and folk signs, transmitted from time immemorial.
Bee breeding for beginners in the Urals
Ural is rich in honey plants. On its territory is about half the area occupied by linden.Cultivated plants are cultivated: buckwheat, sunflower. The combination of natural and agricultural honey plants allows you to get a good yield of marketable honey in apiaries of the Urals.
One of the important points of the Ural beekeeping is the wintering of insects. They try to extend the period of honey collection, because then the family will better survive the cold time.
The Southern Urals is the territory of botany beekeeping. Here, this method is used in 95% of cases. The most common breed of bees in the region is Central Russian. The key task of landowners is to expand the territories occupied by honey plants. With their help, it is possible to increase the productivity of apiaries in the Urals.
Since ancient times, local honey was considered the best in the country. Such a result is given at the cost of incredible effort. Long winters and short summers have a significant impact on the life of bees. Favorable for insects are only a few months. The requirements for families are increased because the period of honey collection is shortened.
Each zone of the Urals has its own characteristics of breeding bees. The Northern Urals, with frosts and large snow cover, cold summers with a large amount of rainfall, are the most severe in relation to insects that have to collect a fall from fir and fir. An apiary should be confined to a meadow or forest edge.
The Middle Urals are not much more comfortable for bees due to unpredictable weather. The content is not much different from the northern regions. The Southern Urals is a good place for bees to live. Apiaries are actively protesting, honey bee fields are being restored. Such events are important for the country, because honey and other bee products are actively used in the treatment of a number of diseases, as well as for food purposes.
