A strong and healthy honey bee colony is important for the best productivity. It ensures your beekeeping operation is able to meet the costs and demands of running it.
If you haven honey bee colonies that are not living in a poorly managed space, the colony can get weak quickly or over a period of time. The beehive you are keeping the colony in requires to be well made and the beehive environment well controlled.
Honey bees do most of the work required for environmental conditions stabilization in the beehive. Sometimes, however, a little help from us beekeepers is needed. The major areas to keep in mind are;
• Aeration – Make sure the beehive is well aerated. Honey bees are living organisms and require oxygen for their metabolism. Fresh air entering the beehive is necessary for the maintenance of optimum oxygen levels in the beehive. Carbon dioxide is one of the products of honey bee activity. Its accumulation in the beehive can be fatal for honey bees.
• Temperature control – Honey bees are able to control the temperature of the beehive. They do this by posting some bees at the entrance of the beehive to flap their wings and induce airflow into the beehive. In the process, they ensure ventilation of the beehive and implement some humidity control. Very hot beehives are not good for brood and can kill adult bees.
• Humidity Control – very humid beehives face many challenges and are plagued by problem after problem. It is better to have a beehive that ends up getting very dehumidified than one that is damp or moist. Diseases, pests, and parasites of honey bees find easy life in wet beehives than dry ones. A very humid beehive also has problems bringing the water content of honey to the proper level.
• Access Control – Your beehive should have some access control of one form or the other. The access restriction and control should target animals other than bees that may want to reach the beehive, humans that are not authorized to access the apiary and the beehives therein, and bees that do not belong in a specific beehive gaining access to the beehive for robbing or due to drifting. The measures to employ vary by individual beekeepers. On the entrance of the beehive, entrance reducers and moving screens are popular equipment in beekeeping.
If you haven honey bee colonies that are not living in a poorly managed space, the colony can get weak quickly or over a period of time. The beehive you are keeping the colony in requires to be well made and the beehive environment well controlled.
Honey bees do most of the work required for environmental conditions stabilization in the beehive. Sometimes, however, a little help from us beekeepers is needed. The major areas to keep in mind are;
• Aeration – Make sure the beehive is well aerated. Honey bees are living organisms and require oxygen for their metabolism. Fresh air entering the beehive is necessary for the maintenance of optimum oxygen levels in the beehive. Carbon dioxide is one of the products of honey bee activity. Its accumulation in the beehive can be fatal for honey bees.
• Temperature control – Honey bees are able to control the temperature of the beehive. They do this by posting some bees at the entrance of the beehive to flap their wings and induce airflow into the beehive. In the process, they ensure ventilation of the beehive and implement some humidity control. Very hot beehives are not good for brood and can kill adult bees.
• Humidity Control – very humid beehives face many challenges and are plagued by problem after problem. It is better to have a beehive that ends up getting very dehumidified than one that is damp or moist. Diseases, pests, and parasites of honey bees find easy life in wet beehives than dry ones. A very humid beehive also has problems bringing the water content of honey to the proper level.
• Access Control – Your beehive should have some access control of one form or the other. The access restriction and control should target animals other than bees that may want to reach the beehive, humans that are not authorized to access the apiary and the beehives therein, and bees that do not belong in a specific beehive gaining access to the beehive for robbing or due to drifting. The measures to employ vary by individual beekeepers. On the entrance of the beehive, entrance reducers and moving screens are popular equipment in beekeeping.
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