How do beekeepers give water to bees?

    Whether it is an animal or a human being, it is inseparable from the moisturizing of water. Water is one of the important substances for bees to maintain life. As large as a bee colony, as small as a bee needs water every day, if you pay attention, you can find that some bees are in Flying around the water is because of water collection, and the hot summer is the peak water demand period, but in the process of bee farming, sometimes there is more than one beehive in the bee farm, and not every bee colony is very close to the water source. So at this time, artificial watering is needed. Let's take a look at how beekeepers feed bees with water!

Single bee colony feeding method

1. Empty follower box feeding water

It refers to adding a follower box to the beehive ready to overwinter, but the inside of the follower box is empty. If the temperature is too low, you can cover the king board with a covering cloth, and then uncover the corner of the covering cloth for ventilation, and pass water when feeding water. This uncovers a corner to operate. If the temperature is higher than 0 degrees Celsius, you can also let the bees expand upward without covering the king board with a cloth. The method is to place a shallow plate on the corner of the following box, and then use cotton or sponge that absorbs enough water to put it on the plate, and the bees will take water by themselves. In order to improve the resistance of the bees, a small amount of salt can be added to the water. 0.2%.

2. Feeding water at the nest door

Use a plastic beverage bottle, such as a mineral water bottle, fill the bottle with water, then prepare a cloth strip with strong water absorption, put one end into the nest door and the other end into the bottle, the water in the bottle will follow the cloth strip Flowing into the nest door, the bees will go to the nest door to fetch water when they are thirsty, and the water in the bottle will be added again when it is dry.

3. Feeder water supply

The feeder is a beekeeping tool specially designed for bees to feed or drink water. If you use a feeder to feed water, you can choose to put clean water in the daytime to collect water for the bees, and at night, you can put sugar water or honey water in the feeder to feed the bees. One of the ways people like it.

4. Feeding water from drinking water tank

You can choose a drinking tank to feed water. The specific method is to fill the tank with water and place it in front of the nest door, and then dip a small piece of cloth into the nest door and introduce it into the nest door to facilitate the bees to collect water and prevent the bees from drowning. When it is larger, the water can be changed once a day. In winter, the cloth can be fed with warm water to prevent the cloth from becoming hard. If the drinking tank or the cloth is found to be hard, it needs to be replaced.

Multi-swarm feeding method

1. Basin feeding water

If the scale of the bee farm is too large and occupies a lot of land, the bee colonies that are farther away may be farther away from collecting water, which will waste the physical strength of the bees. You can choose to put a basin filled with water in the middle of the bee farm. In the middle of the basin, put wooden sticks or small wooden sticks and other pads exposed to sleep, and place the bees to have a foothold when they collect water, so as to prevent the bees from drowning. Due to the large amount of water in the basin, attention should be paid to keeping the water source clean and changing the water frequently to avoid bees getting sick due to changes in water quality. It is easy to change the water in the basin and keep the water clean. Human workload, this method is suitable for small-scale bee farms.

2. Water tank feeding

Compared with the above water basin, the water tank can hold more water and is more convenient. First fill the water tank, then put some weeds, wooden boards and other floating objects on the water surface, and then place the water tank near the beehive. , When the worker bees find the water source, they will go to collect water; due to the large amount of water in the water tank, it is not realistic to change the water frequently to keep the water clean, so some aquatic plants, such as water hyacinth, can be appropriately planted to adjust the water quality. The water surface of the tank is exposed for a long time. Be careful not to be polluted by pesticides, fertilizers, etc., which will cause the death of bees. This method is suitable for small and medium-sized bee farms.

3. Dig trenches to feed water

If the bee farm is on a large scale, it needs a lot of clean water. You can dig a ditch with a length of 1 meter, a depth of 10 cm, and a width of about 20 cm near the bee farm. The bottom of the ditch is covered with cement, and the rougher the ditch, the better. It is enough to ensure no water leakage. After digging, pour half-ditch water into the ditch, and then put some weeds, wooden boards and other floating objects in the ditch. The layout of the field is to dig a few more trenches to form lines to cover the nearby bee colonies as much as possible. This method is suitable for medium to large bee farms.

Summary: Feeding water is an indispensable work in bee farming. There are many ways to feed bees, not limited to the above methods. Beekeepers can choose according to the actual operation. At the same time, pay attention to when feeding water. : One is to prevent bees from drowning when collecting water, the other is to ensure the quality of water quality, well water, spring water, tap water, etc. can be selected, and the third is to add 0.5% of salt to the water for bees to collect.