beekeepingblog.pro

beekeeping from beginners to pro

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Apiary’s profitability and income from the apiary

Profitability of the apiary is a measure of its economic efficiency, in other words, the yield or income from the apiary. It is determined as the ratio of net profit to the cost of production multiplied by 100%. Net profit is the difference between the total income and business expenses. A simple example: let's suppose that you spent USD1000 for the development and maintenance of your apiary, USD2000 were received for products sold; 2000 - 1000 = USD1000 of net profit. I.e. 1000/1000x100%. So, the apiary’s profitability is 100 percent. Of course, an ordinary beekeeper will say: "Why do I need these economic indicators?" But in this article, we will talk about the components of income from the apiary and the factors that affect this figure. Sure, large industrial enterprises have managers, economists and accountants, but the beekeeper is the only master of his simple home apiary - he is a manager, economist and accountant.

http://www.beekeepingblog.pro/2016/10/apiarys-profitability-and-income-from-the-apiary.html

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Successful wintering of weak colonies

All beekeepers, regardless of their experience, are interested in the problem of successful wintering of weak colonies. Bee colonies going into winter are not always strong enough, and therefore a novice beekeeper should be aware of what to do with the weak colonies. 

Strength of the colonies depends on a number of factors: age and quality of the queen; long honey flow period that wears out the bees; presence of diseases, mites; time of nucleus formation or swarm catching; breeding; conditions for the fall bees’ build-up (warming of beehives, presence of supporting honey flow, stimulating fodder, and flowering of late pollen plants).

http://www.beekeepingblog.pro/2016/10/successful-wintering-of-weak-colonies.html

[beekeepingblog]

Why the honey bees need for fall cleansing flight

Experienced beekeepers know why the bees require fall cleansing flight. How it is important for young bees to make first flight during fall. In practice of beekeeping, the entire period of pre-winter bees’ buildup ends by this event and by formation of the winter ball. The later the bee colonies will flight at the apiary, the better they will winter. In this article you will learn how fall flight is important for successful bees’ wintering.

http://www.beekeepingblog.pro/2016/11/why-honey-bees-need-for-fall-cleansing-flight.html

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Ventilation of beehives in winter is the key to successful wintering

Ventilation of hives in winter, in addition to the colony strength, stock of high-quality fodder and the conditions needed for the bees plays an important role for successful wintering. It is needed for gas exchange in the hive (fresh air inflow and carbon dioxide outflow) as well as for the release of extra water vapor.

http://www.beekeepingblog.pro/2016/11/ventilation-of-hives-in-winter-is-key-to-successful-wintering.html

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Wintering of honey bees in a cellar

Wintering of honey bees in the cellar (basement) is the only method of saving bee colonies until the spring in areas with harsh, frosty, windy, prolonged winters. Therefore, it has a lot of supporters. In my area with unstable winter and extreme temperature drops (-5°F at night and +41°F in the daytime), it is also preferable to carry weak colonies to the cellar. In this article you will learn about how to prepare the cellar, carry the bees thereto and care of the bees during this period.

http://www.beekeepingblog.pro/2016/11/wintering-of-honey-bees-in-cellar.html

[beekeepingblog]

Honeybees listening in winter

Many novice beekeepers are interested in the methods for the bees listening in winter.

Many novice beekeepers are interested in the methods for the bees listening in winter. Beekeeping books contain a lot of information about it. But beekeepers that have learned almost all the secrets of beekeeping do not pay much attention to this technique. Because it is almost impossible to help wintering bee colonies, if they have any significant problems. The only thing you can learn reliably by ear is whether bees are alive or not. In this article you will learn how to listen the bees in winter, about the kinds of bee colony sounds at this time, and why experienced beekeepers do not rely on this method.

[beekeepingblog]

Organization of the apiary, next steps

Once you have taken the first step and you haveacquired the bees, apiary organization continues with proper care and conditions for development of acquired bee colonies. Therefore, a novice beekeeper should become acquainted with the biology of the bee colonyat early stage. 

Why do we need knowledge about the bees’ biology? Beekeeper needs to know everything about the composition of the bee colony in order to distinguish the worker bees from the drones and queens. And much more, but first things first.

It is necessary to know exactly how many days pass from the egg to the bee, drone or queen. Especially it is necessary to know everything about queens and to be able to calculate their escape from the queen cell, time of mating flyby, time of first seeding and monitor it all. Because there is no colony without the queen.

Read more: http://www.beekeepingblog.pro/2016/10/organization-of-apiary-next-steps.html

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Fall absconding or collapse of honey bee colonies

Fall absconding (collapse of honey bee colonies) is a phenomenon when in autumn, a hive fully prepared for wintering (from the point of view of science and practice) at the next inspection or when bringing bees into the winterer becomes absolutely without bees or with a small number of bees, which will not survive until spring. Bees could suddenly disappear at any time of the season as a result of a variety of reasons: nest with old black frames, diseases (especially varroosis), overheated hives (if the hives are under the sun) and other reasons. In this article you will find particularities of fall absconding or collapse of bee colonies, and causes of this phenomenon at the apiary (in my opinion). 

http://www.beekeepingblog.pro/2016/10/fall-absconding-or-collapse-of-honey-bee-colonies.html

[beekeepingblog]

Honey bee diseases, their causes and pathways

Honey bee diseases result in significant losses for beekeepers. They weaken the bee colonies and reduce the amount of honey per colony. In this article you will find the causes and pathways of various diseases in the apiary. Because if not treated, they can cause the death of bee colonies. 

Treatment and prevention of diseases at the apiary require additional expenses. Also, the beekeeper needs additional time for the treatment and elimination of causes and, more importantly, their pathways. All this reduces the profitability of the apiary and increases the cost of beekeeping products. It is therefore necessary to prevent diseases. If they emerge, you must take urgent measures to treat the colonies.

Read more: http://www.beekeepingblog.pro/2016/10/Honey-bee-diseases-their-causes-pathways.html 

[beekeepingblog]

• To make 100 g of honey, a bee shall visit about one million flowers: http://goo.gl/uclJ6R  

[beekeepingblog]

Did you know?

To make 1 kg of honey, a honey bee shall fly for nectar about 150 thousand times: http://goo.gl/uclJ6R #facts #honey

[beekeepingblog]

How do bees convert the nectar?

Not everyone knows how bees convert the nectar into honey. Honey is considered as a special, unique product, the production of which begins in the tissues of honey plants. Then, at a certain temperature and humidity, the nectar evolves in the flowers of honey plants. Bees gather it into their honey stomach and carry home. Worker honey bees pass it to the receiving bees. The work of the honey bee colony is completed in the beehive. But how do honey bees convert the nectar? How do they make honey? Such questions arise in children most often, but not every adult knows the answers thereto. The duties within the honey bee colony are strictly allocated between all its members. Each working morning begins with exploring the area around the apiary by scout bees. They return to the beehive, and using terms understandable to them only (dancing), show the sources direction and nectar content to other honey bees (blooming  honey plants and honey flow capacity). Then, worker bees leave the beehive, find flowers and gather the nectar through their pharynges (sometimes called the proboscis), and fill their honey stomachs with it.

Read more: http://www.beekeepingblog.pro/2016/09/how-do-bees-convert-nectar.html

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Healing properties of honey

Despite the fact that the healing properties of honey are known to many people, its consumption as a beekeeping product today still leaves much to be desired. I, as a beekeeper and product supplier, cannot ignore this topic. Because this unique product that was given to us by Mother Nature is applied by people for a variety of culinary, gastronomic, medical, cosmetic and other purposes. Honey is a beekeeping product most commonly used by people. Bees make it of nectar and honeydew, adding their own enzymes and organic acids thereto.

[beekeepingblog]

Beehive is a home for bees

Home for bees or beehive is the first thing the novice beekeeper needs to purchase. Let's talk about the bee house in more detail. We know that the honey bees live on Earth for a long time. In the wild, the bees live in tree holes or rock crevices. There they build their honeycombs, forming nests. Primitive people have learned to extract honey. But honey extraction methods were wild, and the bees had to be killed. Hence the designation - a wild honey harvesting. At that time people were looking for the honey bee settlements, killed them and took the honey away. But, over time, beekeepers began to make artificial hollows in trees. Thus the era of wild-hive beekeeping began. Inside the wild hives, people also had to kill the honey bees to extract honey. Moreover, it was impossible to influence or control the life of bee colonies in the wild hives. In course of time, the beekeepers settled the honey bees into logs, preliminary making a hole or wild hive. Logs with honey bees could already be transported closer to the beekeeper's home, and migrate with them. But the beekeeping was still wild. During honey extraction the bees were killed. At the same time, first beehives made of straw skeps.

Read more: http://www.beekeepingblog.pro/2016/09/beehive-is-home-for-bees.html

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Where, when and how could you buy honey bees

With the approach of spring, many people that want to launch an apiary, are interested where, when and how could they buy honey bees. I can tell you that many of my readers are turning to me with these questions. Who else but experienced beekeepers could answer them? Therefore, I decided to tell about it to my readers and for all people interested in this subject matter. Among all the questions that are referred to in the the title of article, the first question I answer you is “when”. Since this is the first question that has to be understood by novice beekeeper.

http://www.beekeepingblog.pro/2016/09/where-when-and-how-could-you-buy-honey-bees.html

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How much honey is produced by one hive?

Amount of honey produced by one hive at an apiary for a season depends on a variety of factors. Because such value is quite different in various countries, regions, areas and even districts. Experienced beekeepers know that such an amount is different even in the adjacent apiaries and in the adjacent hives. Someone is satisfied with 20 - 30 kg per honey bee colony, and feeds the bees with sugar syrup in winter, while for someone even 100 - 150 kg per season is not a record. In addition, the honey bees receive only natural fodder in winter, rather than substitutes. 

In this article you will learn how much honey is produced by one hive in the apiary, and which factors affect this value. I know that many novice beekeepers are interested in this matter even more than in problems of biology of the honey bee colony. Unfortunately, these beginners will not become experienced, professional beekeepers. Many people think that once they buy the hive and honey bees, they will immediately bring 100 kg of honey. But it is not so easy.

http://www.beekeepingblog.pro/2016/09/how-much-honey-is-produced-by-one-hive.html

[beekeepingblog]

Beekeeping from scratch - myth or reality?

Beekeeping from scratch – this topic is interested for many people who want to have their apiary. But I dare to disappoint you - beekeeping from scratch or without financial investment is impossible. 

So when people talk about it, we mean absolute zero of knowledge and experience in beekeeping. I even admit the theoretical possibility of such a beekeeping as a hobby. But in order to develop the hobby into a profitable apiary or engage in professional beekeeping, we need investments. 

And the more they are, the faster you will get into the beekeeping. Get into the beekeeping means the development of your apiary to a certain number of bee colonies, after which you will be able to constantly expand you apiary at the expense of obtained profit. 

http://www.beekeepingblog.pro/2016/09/beekeeping-from-scratch-myth-or-reality.html