How to prepare hives for the next harvest?

Beekeeping, like any other agricultural activity, must be planned respecting the production cycle, which, depending on the region, can be more than one per year. The most anticipated moment of the production cycle is the harvest, also called “harvest”, the period in which a certain product is harvested. In beekeeping, the stages of the production cycle are sometimes defined or characterized in different ways – and we can summarize them in three moments:

1. Acquisition and preparation of materials: at this stage, materials are acquired or constructed; the hive and materials attached to it must be cleaned and any necessary maintenance must be carried out (such as, for example, stretching wires and gluing the honeycomb wax);

2. Population, maintenance and preparation for production: At this time, the beekeeper actively captures or through bait boxes, divides already established colonies or purchases from other producers, performs maintenance inspections, apiary cleaning, control of diseases, pests or predators, exchange of combs, exchange of queens, union of weak colonies, feeding and others;

3. Harvesting, extraction and storage: the harvest itself, when the beekeeper removes supers with ripe honey, extracts it (through different processes) and stores it, closing the production cycle with commercialization.

Beekeepers call “pre-harvest” the period that precedes the main flowering, a time when some management practices contribute strongly to achieving good productivity. The beginning of this moment occurs 45 to 60 days before the beginning of the production flowering, when the beekeeper removes old combs and begins to provide a stimulating energy supply, and a pollen substitute, if necessary.

The stimulating energy supply must simulate an entry of nectar, that is, a more fluid syrup, being supplied constantly, in order to simulate a flowering. This process is known as “bee sequencing”, and respects this period due to the biological development cycle of worker bees, with at least five days for the queen to resume her laying rhythm, 20 days for the emergence of each adult bee from birth. queen posture and another 20 days for the new bees to become forager bees, able to collect nectar from the flower that begins to open.

The supers, even during this period, must be prepared, the frames with combs that are not in good condition replaced or renovated for this harvest, it is recommended that there be at least two supers for each hive that will go into production.

The addition of honey supers to the hives must take place immediately after the stimulant feeding with syrup has stopped, in order to avoid contamination of the honey that will be prepared by the bees. How many supers should be added at a time and in which position to place a second super are common questions for those starting out in beekeeping, and the answer depends on the situation.

Planning and frequency of visitation help to define how many honey supers to add at the beginning, because, if the viewing interval is long, it is necessary for more than one super to be placed at once, many fail to harvest a good volume of honey due to the lack of supers when the bees need it, realizing a week later can mean 10 kilos of honey less in the strongest hives. If the visit interval is longer than 15 days, it may be necessary to add two or three supers right from the start. The second super can be added just above the first, and this must be respected especially when there is posture in the first super. When there is no posture in the first super tree, the new one can be added underneath it, as this seems to stimulate the work of the bees in both. Then, everything can be harvested at the end of flowering.

Harvest time happens a few times a year. Therefore, having the hives prepared is essential to have a good harvest. The sequence of management that favors productivity begins with the exchange of old combs, then with stimulating feeding, the preparation of supers and the end of feeding with the addition of supers. These activities must be included in beekeeping planning and can make all the difference at harvest time.

Profitability in beekeeping is supported by three pillars: (1) cost control, (2) productivity and (3) good marketing. The preparation of the hive for the harvest directly influences the first two. Therefore, including these practices in planning has the power to make the harvest much sweeter!

By Heber Luiz Pereira, beekeeper, doctor in zootechnics, consultant for HP Agroconsultoria and Colmeia Viva, a program of the National Union of the Plant Defense Products Industry (Sindiveg)