Expert Advisory Details

Experts' advice for Beekeeping

Examine the honey bee colonies, only if necessary, at noon time on a calm and sunny day. Don’t keep the colony exposed for a long time; examination and interior needful be done very quickly. If the colonies have sealed honey from toria crop, extract it in the start of winter before it gets granulated in the combs itself. Unite weak and queenless/laying worker colonies with the average strength queen-right colonies so that they are able to maintain the required brood nest temperature and pass the winter successfully. If the colonies are short of honey stores and/or weather is harsh for bees' foraging, provide concentrated sugar syrup (sugar:water = 2:1) as supplementary feeding, preferably in empty combs. If the colonies are still lying in shade, shift these to sun gradually (less than 3 feet daily). Don’t keep the colonies in the wide open all around, rather these be placed with one or two sides blocked as wind breaks. Keep only as many number of combs in the colony as are just sufficient according to bee strength. Remove all the extra empty combs and store them properly. Plug the cracks and crevices in the hives and provide winter packing for protection of bees from low temperature. Commercial beekeepers should migrate their colonies to raya/gobhi sarson growing areas.