Central Russian bee: characteristics, description, photo

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The Central Russian bee is one of the most popular and widespread breeds. This variety was formed in the rather harsh conditions of the European part of our country. The undoubted advantages of the Central Russian bee beekeepers include endurance, high productivity and excellent winter hardiness.

General Description

The main distinguishing feature of the breed is the large size of the bees. According to this indicator, the Central Russian variety is second only to the Italian one. One-day-old bees of this breed weigh about 100 mg, the fetal queen - 200-210 mg. The proboscis of working individuals is 5.9-6.3 mm long. The uterus of the Central Russian bee is capable of laying up to 2000, and sometimes up to 2500 eggs per day, making only short breaks for "lunch" about every half hour. The body color of Central Russian bees is dark gray.

Features of behavior

Middle Russian bees have just a huge amount. To date, this breed is rightfully considered one of the best. But these insects also have one smallflaw. It is desirable to start them only for experienced beekeepers. The fact is that the Central Russian bee is extremely vicious. In addition, this species is not very good at protecting its own nests from attacks by other insects.

Central Russian bees are not prone to stealing. They carry honey first in a magazine extension or in the upper case. Further, workers collect it in brood. Honey of Central Russian bees has an attractive light color. These insects propolis their nests moderately.

Features of honey collection

In the winter hut, the Central Russian bee (photos of these insects are presented in the article) can stay for 6-7 months and easily withstands a flightless period. The honey collection rates of these insects are very high throughout the warm season. In the spring, the uterus begins to work rather late - as a rule, after a flyby. In inclement weather, bees of this species do not collect nectar.

From poor honey yields to good working specimens of this breed, they switch slowly. This is also considered some kind of disadvantage of the variety. But at the same time, Central Russian bees make good use of both monofloral and polyfloral honey collections. At the same time, during the season, working individuals collect nectar at the same time from no more than 4-5 types of flowers.

In terms of productivity, this variety surpasses most others. Gross yield of honey with proper care of families is about 25-30 kg. In some regions of Siberia, the Central Russian bee can collect up to 40 kg of this valuable product.

To unconditional benefitsbreeds, among other things, beekeepers attribute the ability not to lose productivity even in the worst years. During such periods, a Central Russian family can collect all the honey (both fodder and marketable) in just 7-10 days.

Reproduction

With artificial breeding, the Central Russian family usually grows a limited number of queens (most often up to 20 individuals). Cases of quiet change and cohabitation in one hive of two queens are extremely rare. The queens of this breed are very vicious towards each other. After withdrawing, they fight to the death until the strongest wins.

In the absence of a uterus, Central Russian bees do not become tinder for a very long time. During the harvesting of honey by workers, the hive queen stops oviposition. The uterus of the Central Russian variety, as already mentioned, is extremely prolific. In this regard, the breed is also second only to Italian bees.

The Central Russian variety has a very high tendency to swarm. Almost 50% of all families in the apiary come to this state in the spring. In addition, it can be very difficult for a beekeeper to restrain swarming. Most of the techniques used by beekeepers in such cases do not help. It is often possible to switch the bees to a working state only by breaking all the queen cells, except for one, after the release of the pervak swarm.

Where is the best place to breed

Most often this variety is kept in areas with harsh climatic conditions. In terms of resistance to low temperatures and endurance, the Central Russian bee surpasses all other known bees.today's breed. Usually this variety is bred in the Urals, in Siberia and in the north of the European part of Russia. In particular, there are many apiaries with such bees in Bashkortostan.

Being brought to the southern regions - to the Caucasus or Central Asia - the Central Russian variety, unfortunately, is weakening very quickly. Moreover, in such warm areas, these bees usually do not collect more than 12-17 kg of honey. It often happens that even by the end of the season, families completely cease to exist. Sometimes Central Russian bees are crossed with other southern pampered breeds. As a result, quite strong and hardy crossbreed families are obtained. But only in the first generation.

Features of breeding

Not a particularly complex technology of maintenance - this is what distinguishes the Central Russian bee. Its characterization was given above in all details. As you can see, the difficulties in its content are mainly only in increased aggressiveness.

The wintering of these bees usually goes well and calmly. In order for the family to come to the honey collection strong and in full force in the spring, the beekeeper needs to follow only general recommendations for keeping bees in the cold season.

Central Russian families do not need too much food for the winter. Usually 1-1.2 kg is enough for one hive. Central Russian bees put honey in a store extension and in brood. It is not worth pumping it out of these two parts at once, otherwise you can leave the brood without food for the winter. Central Russian bees are aggressive, but when pumping honey, this feature of their character, fortunately,usually do not show.

Breed problems

Unfortunately, at the moment, the popularity of the Central Russian bee has begun to slowly decline. The main reasons for this phenomenon are the malicious nature of insects (they cannot be kept in suburban areas) and the tendency to swarm.

Selection work on breeding non-aggressive varieties of Central Russian bees in our country, unfortunately, is not carried out. But not all beekeepers attribute the tendency to swarming to the shortcomings of this breed. In any case, this feature of the Central Russian bee is often used, among other things, for its popularization and distribution. After all, the productivity of this breed is really good. In addition, the Central Russian bee is one of the few varieties available for breeding in Siberia and the Northern Urals.

How to breed Central Russian bees: the method of swarm keeping

To obtain new highly productive strong colonies of this variety in experimental apiaries, a special experimental technology was developed not so long ago. According to this method, the planned swarming of Central Russian bees should be carried out in compliance with the following recommendations:

• in winter it is supposed to use only high-quality food stocks (moreover, in an amount of at least 3 kg when wintering outside);
• when assembling a hive for the winter, a horizontal full-copper frame should be placed on the nesting frames on the slats;
• during the revision of the upperbars of frames need to put a perg cake;
• active frame settling with foundation in the spring should not be used.

Hives in the apiary should be located with notches to the east. 2-3 days after swarming, the mother colony must be moved half a meter. In this case, the notch should be turned 90 degrees. A hive with a new swarm is installed on the vacated space.

Disease resistance

In this regard, this variety is also considered one of the best. In terms of disease resistance, it surpasses many other popular breeds, such as Buckfast or Carpathian. The Central Russian bee is not afraid of wax moth, foulbrood, is not susceptible to nosematosis, ascospherosis, etc.

Reviews about the breed of beekeepers

In general, the Central Russian variety has earned a good reputation among beekeepers. Its undoubted advantages beekeepers include the high energy of summer (and, consequently, the ability to take bribes at very long distances) and, of course, excellent productivity and unpretentiousness.

Experienced beekeepers recommend working with this variety of bees exclusively with a smoker. In addition, it is believed that you should not open hives with Central Russian bees without special need. Otherwise, it is unlikely that it will be possible to avoid trouble in the form of bites. When working with the Central Russian bee, it is also advisable to use special gloves. Actually, the movements of the beekeeper themselves when performing any manipulations in the hive should be calm andsmooth.

Conclusion

Despite everything, the Central Russian variety continues to be one of the most promising today, especially for breeding in the cold regions of our country. However, it is still worth buying such bees only for experienced beekeepers who know their business well. Working individuals of the Central Russian breed, although unpretentious, love to be well looked after. If the beekeeper feels insecure, the insects will quickly notice this and begin to behave very aggressively - they will bite at the first opportunity. In general, novice beekeepers should not choose such a variety of bees as the Central Russian for their honey farm. Carpathian, Caucasian and peace-loving buckfast (for warm areas) in this case are likely to be much better.