Preparation of bees for wintering

Preparing bees for the upcoming winter is a crucial stage in the life of every beekeeper. On how well the families will bear the cold season, in many respects will depend on the forthcoming harvest of honey and the preservation of the scale of the apiary.
With the onset of the first frosts, beehives with bees must be brought into the room for wintering. They should be serviceable and fully manned, without any holes on the side walls and the bottom not provided for in the design features. At the same time, feed for the family, stored for the winter, should be enough for the whole period. It is stored only with good honeycombs. Unsuitable nest frames should be replaced in a timely manner. If the land is used for a long time, the offspring of the bees, which are taken out of it, will be dwarfish, because no full conditions for its development have been created. The suitability of the nesting frame can be determined by light: cells suitable for the removal of honeybees of a honeycomb freely pass rays.
It should be borne in mind that in the lean year, there may be a lack of feed frames. In this case, it is necessary to pre-feed the bees with sugar syrup in advance. However, the processing of granulated sugar into honey is fraught with wear for the bee generation, so it is necessary to take care of the generation change and calculate the brood brood in such a way that the newly emerged individuals do not participate in the processing of sugar syrup. Feeding the family with a liquid solution affects the uterus: this circumstance encourages her to lay eggs. And, as a consequence, there is an additional burden on the family. Such a framework is better to remove from the hive. And by spring one should wait for a lamentable outcome: families will be weak or die at all. The nature of the brood of each family must be able to regulate: leave working bees, which bring the greatest profit, and get rid of drones. The latter must be cut with a special knife from the top of the frame.
From the moment the egg is laid by the female, before hatching, the formed individual passes, as a rule, 23 days. This is the average value that is characteristic of bees, but the period of appearance of drones and queens is a little more.
Before the onset of wintering, about a month, you need to stop inspecting the hives. At this time the bee club is being formed, the state of the bees is changing. They begin to behave differently and once again disturb the family is not worth it. Any excitement can affect the upcoming winter, and after all it is so important after the winter to get a normal working family.
The room, where beehives with bees will be in winter, is called an oshanik. Usually this is a one-story wooden structure, which must meet a number of requirements:
Dried;
Without foreign garbage;
Absence of rodents.
It is necessary to dry the room in summer, on sunny and clear days. If the dampness persists, the bees will bear the hibernation worse. The removal of rats and mice is also worth taking care of in advance in order to have time to get rid of extraneous smells and the presence of chemicals in the air.
The omshanik consists of two different parts: the tambour and the main room. The tambour prevents the penetration of cold into the room, hives will be stored. The room should not have windows and doors should not be, this extra precaution will protect the bees from freezing.
During the entire wintering period, the beekeeper sometimes needs to visit bees. It is important to know the state of the family, for this it is enough to lean against the walls of the hive and listen to how the bees behave. If they feel good, you will hear a healthy buzz. But silence is a bad sign, indicating either severe exhaustion, or the death of the family.
And although the winter is a quiet time in the apiary, the work of the beekeeper will still be there. During wintering, you should prepare well for the upcoming season, repair defective beehives, purchase the necessary materials, prepare frames, study the necessary literature on the breeding of bees. It is also important to stock up on the necessary number of empty hives to fully meet the period of swarming families and not miss the chance to settle the family in a timely manner in a new empty house.
On the shelves of specialized stores for beekeepers began to appear feeding, stimulating the active growth of the family in the spring. At the heart of their principle of action is the artificial urge to breed the offspring. This product is also available in online stores. Its cost can vary, but the network has more choice of suitable prices for products.