Wintering bees in omshanik. Beekeeping for beginners

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

Strong bee colonies with enough honey for food can endure winter frosts down to -40 degrees outside. But in colder areas with a long (up to 5-7 months) winter period, the best alternative would be to overwinter bees in a omshan.

Why the bee doesn't hibernate

The family prepares for winter during the entire active spring-summer season, except for the breeding season. Bees stock up on honey, grow a large generation of working individuals. They do not hibernate like other insects, because they are not adapted to the accumulation of nutrients in their body. Individually, individuals cannot endure the cold. Before wintering, bees cluster in a club in the form of an ellipsoid. Inside it, they sit more freely and can move around. Due to the movement in the center of the club, heat is generated up to 25-30 degrees. In the outer layer, the bees, clinging to each other, form a dense shell with a thickness of 3 to 7 cm with a temperature of about +15 degrees. Gradually they change places - from the center they fall into the shell and vice versa. Being in relatively active movement andfeeding on honey from sealed frames, gathering in a club for warmth, they save their lives. The wintering of the bees in the omshanik facilitates this difficult period for them.

Features of winter behavior

Fodder stocks of bees are placed at the top of the hive, closer to the rear wall of the nesting area. Below, against the notch, they grow brood. Here they form into a club, which they form even at positive temperatures: in weak families - at +13 degrees, in strong ones - at +8. The top half of the club is always placed on a large area of sealed frames.

The bees warm the honeycombs with their warmth, the wax on their lids melts, and some of the cells are printed. Water vapor from the air penetrates into them and dilutes the honey that the bees feed on. The club gradually moves upward along the combs, heading towards the back wall of the hive. If there is enough honey in the frames, the bees move quietly along the spaces between the frames.

At the beginning of wintering, the desired temperature in the club is maintained by heat from the bees in the process of their life. When cold, the club shrinks. Bees occupy interframe spaces and free honeycombs. To keep the club warm, they begin to eat more food.

When it is completely eaten, the bees are forced to move to neighboring frames. But they can make such a transition only at a sufficiently high temperature in the hive. If the outside temperature is less than zero, then the club is not capable of movement. The bees are restless. The club may split in two, resulting in the death of one or both of its halves.

Food supply

Overwintering of bees in omshanik reduces honey consumption. Individuals united in a club slow down the rhythm of life. Metabolic processes in their organisms are less intensive. Bees in a club need 20 times less food than those separated for the same time. In the first month or two wintering, they eat up to 700 g of honey in 30 days. By the end of the period, the consumption per month is at least 1.2 kg. If the wintering of the bees in the omshannik went without problems, and by spring the brood appears in the hive, then the amount of food doubles.

They leave frames with at least 2 kg of honey and there are free cells in which the bees of the wintering club will be placed. Then it will remain dense, and it is easier for the bees to maintain the temperature with less food. In addition to honey (carbohydrates, microelements), at least 2 frames with bee bread (protein food) are stored for each family. It is necessary for feeding the brood in the spring. Cells with bee bread must be preserved - filled with honey, sealed with a wax cap, otherwise the bread will get moldy and spoil.

Preparation of fodder combs

For a successful wintering, take care of the preparation of fodder combs. Beekeeping for beginners is sometimes quite difficult, so take everything as seriously as possible. Honeycombs are harvested in the first half of the season, and the order of installation of frames for food depends on the system (design) of the hive. Let's make a reservation right away that the honeycombs are not new and not old, but "used" - light brown.

In double-casebefore honey collection, combs with printed brood are placed in the center of the 2nd building. Of the multi-hull, such cells are placed in the center of the upper one. The removed frames are not pumped out - they contain food for the winter. In beds in front of the main honey collection, combs with printed and open brood are placed side by side in the center, pushing light and black ones to the edge of the nest. 4-6 nesting frames are placed in the extension hives in the center of two extensions, and half-frames are placed along the edges. Bees work out first those combs that are in the center. As soon as the nests are half sealed, they are taken from the hive, but the honey is not pumped out - this is winter food.

For reference: honeycomb frame 43.5 x 30 cm holds honey 4 kg, 43.5 x 23 cm - 3 kg, provided that the cells are filled on both sides.

Correct honey

Beekeeping for Beginners draws particular attention to the fact that not all honey is suitable for winter food. In order to avoid honeydew toxicosis for wintering bee colonies, it is necessary to leave frames with honey without honeydew, collected in the first half of the honey collection. If a family hibernates on honeydew, then some of its members do not survive until spring - they begin to have diarrhea. Survivors soil the nest with feces, which threatens with a dangerous parasitic disease - nosematosis.

Fast crystallizing honey collected from willow, sunflower, sainfoin, thistle, cruciferous plants (rapeseed) is not suitable for wintering. It cannot be liquefied. The bees wintering with such honey become restless from thirst. A family weakens or dies of starvation with a supply of crystallized honey.

When harvesting feedlight brown combs are used, in which several generations have been bred. They are less thermally conductive than light ones, retain heat better in the nest, and the queen is more likely to lay eggs in them in the spring. In old black combs with the embryos of honey crystals remaining in them, fresh honey quickly hardens. Wintering will be unsuccessful, because the bees need liquid honey. Light combs, in which there were no broods of bees, are cold, the uterus begins to lay eggs in them late, and the development of brood in them is delayed in spring.

Feed storage

The stock of food in sealed combs is stored in chests with a tight lid, in nest boxes, in extensions. The storage place should be dry and cool, out of the reach of mice. Before placing the honeycomb, the bars of the frames are thoroughly cleaned of dirt: diarrhea stains, wax growths, propolis.

Omshanik for bees

The place for construction is chosen on a dry site (groundwater depth is not closer than 1 m from the floor), on a small slope (for the flow of melt and rainwater), with protection from the winds. Omshanik is made inaccessible to mice that ruin the hive, impervious to light and noise that disturb bees.

Depending on the conditions of the area, buildings can be ground, underground and semi-underground. The most common are underground, buried to the height of the walls in the ground. In winter, they will have an even temperature, in the spring it will remain lower, which is important for the successful completion of wintering. The walls of the shed are brick or rubble, the tree is quickly affected by the fungus.

Lack of groundwinter quarters: the walls are excessively cooled in winter, and under the spring sun they overheat when it is too early for the bee to stop wintering. In the ground room, a thermostat is needed for the omshanik - it will maintain the set temperature.

In semi-underground walls, half the height is buried in the ground. Such omshaniki are usually built on the side of a mountain.

Omshanik for bees consists of walls, floor, ceiling, roof, supply and exhaust ventilation. Inside they make racks for beehives. The door opens inward, it is insulated with felt, upholstered from the street with roofing iron.

The size of the winter hut determines the type and number of hives. The height from floor to ceiling is 2.5-3 m. The hives are placed on racks or one on top of the other. Single wall occupies 0.6 sq. m area. Double-walled and hive-lounger - 0.7-0.9 sq. m. Distance from walls to hives - 10 cm, between rows - 90 cm.

Ventilation and room temperature

Humidity and temperature of wintering bees must be maintained at a constant level. Permissible fluctuations of the latter are from -2 to +4 degrees, but the optimal one is from 0 to +2. When it is cold, the bees eat a larger amount of food, and their intestines overflow with feces, and diarrhea begins. Excess heat makes them extremely anxious.

Relative humidity of 75-85% will be favorable. A higher one will cause dampness of the omshannik and hives, an excessive one will liquefy the honey, which makes it sour. When eating sour honey, the bees develop diarrhea, they weaken and die. Low humidity is not enough to liquefy honey, itcrystallizes, the bees die of thirst and hunger.

Need supply and exhaust ventilation to regulate humidity and temperature in the barn. Fresh air enters through pipes under the floor, warm air with water vapor is drawn out by a pipe on the ceiling and is discharged outside under the roof. Adjustment of the inflow-exhaust is carried out by valves. A family needs a hole with a cross section of 8 square meters. see From these data and calculate the cross-sectional area of \u200b\u200bthe pipes. If necessary, they are satisfied with several.

Moving to the "winter apartment"

In summer, the omshanik is well dried, the floor is covered with dry sand, the walls and ceiling are whitewashed. Do not rush to move the hives. In autumn there are warm days for the bees to fly around. When should bees be brought in for the winter? Usually in mid-November in the northern and central regions, early December in the south.

Wintering of bees in a barn is acceptable, if its walls are insulated, the walls of the hives are covered with reed mats, and silence and darkness are ensured. The construction of a real omshanik is an expensive and labor-intensive business. The wintering of bees in a barn is more reliable than in an open space under winds and snowfall. The bee is not afraid of the cold, but of hunger, dampness and drafts, and the beekeeper is afraid of thieves if the bee is away from home. Features of a successful wintering of an apiary in a barn are different than the wintering of bees in a shed.