The bee colonies are best purchased in the spring or summer. Spring is the best time for beginners because the colonies can start their development. The beekeeper will be pleased to see that the spaces between the bees will be filled with bees that begin their work and, on days with outside temperatures of 15-20 ° C, the flight activity is stimulated.
He may also be disappointed when, for example, one of the colonies collapses and this colt may be lost due to lack of experience. It may also happen that instead of hardening, the colonies will decrease numerically in the spring.
The cause may be an area in the vicinity treated with chemical means of pest control, becoming dangerous to bees, such as an orchard or a crop of technical plants. Disappointing is the loss of the litter.
When you should buy a bee colony?
The purchase of bee colonies in summer or autumn is recommended for beginners when young colonies have efficient and young mattresses.
The development of the young colonies is stimulated by a suitable feeding until the formation of the winter frost with the last days of the flight. The practice is different if the colony is purchased in the spring.
The works in the autumn colonies are fewer. They end with the gathering of feeders and the preparation of colonies for winter. Winter settlements are not recommended. In this season it is impossible to make an assessment on the colonies.
The beginner would be disappointed when the colonies placed in the garden would not fly. He is curious. He wants to see if what he has read or heard about bees behavior is proven in practice, he wants to observe them, which in winter is impossible.
Pick the good ones
Only good colonies or breeds will be purchased for a special reason: the beginner is advised not to start making bees with bee swarms. However, it is a beautiful experience to introduce a swarm into a hive. However, there is a high probability that from this colony, coming from a brood of bees will form another brook next year.
This gives a certain uncertainty in the care of the colonies and even a certain disappointment, especially when the brook is lost.
The inclination towards the wheel is often linked to aggression. Such bees have made the “beginner” suffer and his family terrified his neighbors. That is why it is very important to obtain soft bees, with their hive as a whole.
The number of correct colonies that the young beekeeper should place in his hive is 3 to 5. Despite the necessary interventions and mistakes, it is unlikely that, for example, all 3 colonies will die simultaneously.
If one colony dies, the other two remain. He has the opportunity not to repeat his mistakes. Apart from this, there is also the danger that if the beginner loses his only colony, his desire to grow bees will disappear.
It turned out that, if the beginner is guided, permanently advised by a beekeeper with practical experience, he gains self-confidence and optimally cares for bee colonies. The most difficult question is for a beginner to choose the correct hive and frame size.
The decision is not simple because the market offers a multitude of hives and frames.
The following benchmarks will be taken into account: the personal premises (age, health), the offer of picking in the region, the period and the place (early picking, picking in the forest), etc. If at all these points of reflection the predispositions to diseases or the age of the beekeeper are gathered, a hive with back handling will be preferred, especially when practicing early picking.
A young beekeeper, for example, who intends to go to harvest in the forest, will use a simple hive with maneuvering on top, with “zander” frames or “Dadant” hives.
In the pastoral, a beehive comprises 20 or more colonies. The store will be equipped with the necessary means. Experience in recent years has shown that beginners are increasingly using hives with handle up, with frames zander or hives Dadant.
The stationary beekeeper who most prizes the harvests obtained from flowering trees is favored by the small measures at the soups, and when it is followed to use more crops, frames with larger measures will be used.
