Preparation for the bees' wintering: calm, dry, warm and with the uterus

As soon as the main bribe is completed and the stores are removed from the hives, preparations for the bees' hibernation begin immediately. The sooner you take care of this, the easier it will be for the bee colonies to winter, the less they will have a scuffle, the faster they will "spring on the wing" in the spring and start harvesting honey again.

First of all, immediately after the end of the main bribe, conduct a detailed audit of each bee family and find out what condition it is in. Do not be outwitted by a seemingly strong family: if there are no brood and testicles in the combs, most likely, it is left without the uterus. Check this: put a couple of days in the middle of the nest honeycomb with young larvae and testicles. Then examine it, and if it reveals plaited queen cells - your suspicions are confirmed.

In autumn large nests are no longer needed, because by the end of the main bribe the number of worker bees is much less than at the beginning. First of all, you need to remove the honeycombs, on which there is not enough honey. If they have young larvae, they need to be moved to the edge of the nest in order to exclude the placement of the brood by the uterus.

Preparation of bees for wintering is also in the so-called autumn build-up. It eliminates the contradiction: in the autumn, the laying of eggs by uterus is reduced, and a good wintering of the family is a large proportion of young "autumn" bees in it. Increase the autumn egg laying can be replaced in the family of the old uterus to a young one. And this process must begin at the very start of the main bribe, so that to the second half of the family already had a young womb. It is for this period that she has to mate with the drones, which are still present in sufficient numbers. At the end of the main bribe, all of them will be expelled by bees from the hives. In families with young uterus eggs are deposited in autumn well. This is also facilitated by the autumn feeding of bees and the warming of the nests of families from above and along the sides.

Advising how to prepare bees for wintering, experienced beekeepers pay attention to the sweet discharge appearing on the leaves of some trees and bushes - the fall. Often it is collected and brought to the beehive hive, when the main bribe is completed. This is how the honey is formed, which in winter often destroys whole bee colonies. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to conduct a thorough study of the quality of honey before wintering. The analysis is carried out by mixing in a tube one piece of honey and distilled water, adding two parts of clear calcareous water to them and heating the solution to a boil. If in it in a precipitate there will be a flake - padevyj honey is found out. Such honeycombs are to be removed from the nest, they must be replaced with flower honey, which was harvested at the beginning of the main bribe.

The final preparation for the wintering of bees is carried out after the removal of the main mass of the brood. The number of frames in the nest is determined based on the number of bees. Each honeycomb should contain at least 2 kg of sealed honey. Insulate the nests should take into account the temperature of the winter hut: bees can suffer from both hypothermia and overheating. The flasks must be protected by protectors from mice with cutouts sufficient for free passage of the bees.

Preparation for the wintering of bees is completed by placing them in special winterhouses, where the temperature is kept in the range of +4 ... + 6, and the humidity of the air is 80-85%. This is especially important if the region is "famous" for harsh climatic conditions. Winterers are prepared in summer and autumn, airing, drying, destroying mold, insulating, etc. The room should be ventilated, as bees emit water vapor and carbon dioxide.

The fact that the preparation for the wintering of bees was a success, will be witnessed in the winter by a quiet and even hum in the hives. If you hear a dissatisfied noise - the room is cold or excessively warm, there is not enough fresh air or it's damp. Sometimes tapping on this or that beehive (just do not abuse it), hear a friendly, quickly fading echo. This is a good sign: a family with a uterus and safely winters.