Factors that determine the livability of the bees of Carpathian breed in winter

Abstract

The livability of the bee colonies in winter is an important breeding characteristic that depends on the breed of bees and paratypical factors such as: weather conditions during the winter and in the summer, the strength of bee colonies, availability of feed, disease and pests of bees, etc. The purpose of this work was to assess the livability of the bee colonies of Carpathian breed in winter under the environments of climatic conditions in the Kaluga region. The object of researches was bee colonies of Carpathian breed in apiary LLC Belyaevo Podvorye, which located at a distance of 30 km from the regional center of Kaluga. During the winter period 2019–2020 the daytime temperature was 4,2 °C higher than last year. The average temperature from November to March was 2,6 °C. The strength of bee colonies before wintering in the fall of 2018 was the average of 9,1 streets that was by 2,1 streets more than in 2019. However, the livability of bee colonies during the winter period of this year was 98,1 % that was by 21,2 % higher than the previous year. The decrease in the strength of the Carpathian bee colonies did not have the negative influence on the wintering result. In the spring of 2019 nine bee colonies were culled and merged. The results, which have been got on the base of the inspection in 2020 one bee family were to be culled. Stocks of feed for bees for the winter of the previous year were completely enough. In the spring of this year eight bee colonies have been fed several times due to insufficient feed supplies. The age of bee queens according to spring examinations for two years was the same: 70 % of queens of the last year of birth and 25–26 % of the year before birth.