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Predrag Cvetković

 

The most common mistakes and omissions in beekeeping

(Trans. by Oliver Mihajlović)

 

 

We will take two kinds of mistakes into consideration – one in the approach and organization of beekeeping and other in beekeeping technology. By its intensity they both vary from small to very serious mistakes which can make small or serious damage to a bee colony.

Every beekeeper approaches beekeeping according to his personality, his capabilities and expectations, while he chooses the technology according to his financial and other means, his knowledge and natural environment. There are no strict rules in beekeeping and the approach to it. Still, some natural laws of a bee colony development must be respected. Therefore, this time we will not examine beekeeping technologies, but what mistakes and omissions should be avoided.

Mistakes in approach to beekeeping

It is much easier to learn how to approach a hive than how to approach beekeeping and its organization

 

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Lack of love towards bees, negligence and greed are probably the biggest mistakes in the approach to beekeeping. All others come from these.

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An insufficient knowledge about bees and beekeeping technology is frequent with our beekeepers. Also, many of them stick to some errors, proclaiming their method the best, and all others wrong. Beekeepers often do not even try to understand the laws of a bee colony’s development. They often wrongly acquire other people’s methods without any criteria. One must always have some minimum knowledge.

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Instead of first learning about basics of beekeeping and maintaining bee colonies, some beginners try to achieve great income with some complicated methods, unclear even to themselves.

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Carelessness and negligence are definitely not the characteristics of a good beekeeper.

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Paying attention to details and aesthetics while overlooking the essence is also a mistake.

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Lacking money or time or for other reasons beekeepers often do not do some important things. It is much more important that all jobs be done properly and on time, even not perfectly, than to do some jobs best possible and miss some others.

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The absence of any planning or too much planning with complicating methods does not generate good results.

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Beekeepers do not work hard enough on increasing production and selling honey and other bee products, swarms and queens. That makes production less economical and results in high and uncompetitive price. Although love should be the basic reason for beekeeping, it is recommended that every beekeeper, even those with fewer hives, should strive for economical beekeeping by increasing production and producing different products.

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Beekeepers are often not interested in serious work and investments in beekeeping. A strong bee colony consumes much food, but produces much more. Equally, one should invest more in his apiary to get more.

Mistakes in beekeeping technology

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Making colonies have minimum of food or not enough food for a normal activity is one of the most serious mistakes. Bees will never consume more food than necessary. The importance of the amount of pollen in a hive is often underestimated. The absence of pollen is very bad for development of a colony esp. in autumn or early spring.

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Week and old queens make a colony weak and unproductive, and can result in its disappearing, esp. in autumn, winter or early spring. A beekeeper will not make a big mistake if he makes a colony with new comb and in good honey flow conditions bring up its own queen, although better methods for rearing queens are known. However, a much greater mistake should be if one does it with weak colonies, with no food, and with old and dark comb. It is wrong to expect that queens brought up in such conditions would ever have good brood.

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Choosing some complicated method of rearing queens, like implanting larvae, does not always guarantee that queens will be good quality, since an omission in one phase only can completely ruin the whole procedure.

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Keeping a weak colony is uneconomical and the expenses of maintaining it are bigger than profit. However, swarms with young queens are not considered weak colonies.

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Beekeepers often make mistakes by feeding bees late in autumn and exhausting them.

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Bad comb is a common mistake in beekeeping. That is old, dark damaged or curved comb with many drone cells. Such comb will never make brood expand like on proper new comb. Besides, there is a constant risk of diseases, lice or wax moth.

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Mistakes with adding frames are also frequent. One extremity would be not to expand brood space, or not to do it on time, while the other would be to expand the brood excessively and slow down progress of a colony. This is esp. the case with comb foundations. Beekeepers sometimes add foundations to weak colonies when there is no honeyflow and when weather is cold. Some beekeepers even put them among frames with honey. When a colony is strong and during honeyflow it is wrong to put foundations at the end of brood, since the queen will not have time to lay eggs there. A new foundation should not be added to weak colonies if the previously added one is still not drawn.

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Insufficient number of supers is also a frequent mistake. Strong colonies are kept from producing more honey which is directly decreasing possible income.

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Colonies are not treated against diseases (esp. varroa) on time, so serious damage is made. On the other hand, colonies can be excessively and improperly treated, which contaminates wax and honey, weakens bees’ immunity and make varroa resistant to medication. It is a mistake not to monitor the performance and efficacy of a particular cure.

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Bad location for an apiary is a significant obstacle for successful beekeeping. Sometimes a beekeeper cannot choose, but it is a mistake to keep bees on locations with humid air, harsh wind, not enough sunlight, or where the bees would be disturbed. Besides, locations for an apiary should have rich honeyflow.

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Mistakes with hive inspection are the most frequent since bees are disturbed when hives are opened too often and there is a danger of robbing when there is no honeyflow. Handling with frames carelessly is also frequent, esp. with young beekeepers.

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It can be considered a mistake if a beekeeper does not have a certain number of accessory colonies and swarms which could be useful in many ways.

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Having old, damaged or nonstandard hives unsuitable for moving is considered to be a mistake.

  

We cannot go on analyzing mistakes and omissions in beekeeping technology, since we would have to examine all existing methods. Mistakes can be made with every step – when hives are moved, when queens are brought up, when colonies are divided, etc. Mistakes appear when it is not understood that beekeeping is a complex process with many causes and consequences that must be taken care of, and when the basic rules of life of a bee colony are not well-known.