Bee colony wintering in hollow-type hives in the North-East of the Kemerovo region, Russia

Present study discusses the effectiveness of the use of hollow-type hives with an objective to find new ways to improve the conditions for winter maintenance of bee nucleus, allowing them to maintain and quickly build up their strength in spring. It was found that the bee colonies of the experimental group overwintered much better. There were two identical colonies, the strength of which was equal to 12.5 ± 1.25 ths. pcs. The number of successfully hibernated bees was: in the experimental group - 10.4 ± 1.07 ths. pcs or 83.3% of the set for wintering and 4.0 ± 1.68 ths. pcs or 29% of the autumn bee population in the control group. Thus, the experimental group showed 100% survival rate of bee families comparing to the autumn number; the control group showed only 80%. During the winter period, the bee nucleus of the experimental group consumed 5.5 ± 0.22 kg of honey per a family, while the nucleus of the control group consumed 7.1 ± 0.18 kg, which is more by 2.4 kg. In terms of the main beekeeping parameters, the experimental group of bees showed better results than the control group. Therefore, the marketable honey yield from one bee family of the experimental group was 45 ± 1.5 kg; the control group produced only 30 ± 0.9 kg, which is 15 kg less. The wax yield was 0.34 ± 0.03 kg in the experimental group and 0.13 ± 0.02 kg in the control group, which is 0.21 kg less. In the experimental group, the strength of each family in the autumn period of 2021 was 19.9 ± 0.9 ths. pcs; in the control group it was 15 ± 0.6 ths. pcs, which is 4.9 thousand less. When analyzing the financial results, the application in the apiary of a new system of winter keeping of bee nucleus in hollow-type hives showed relatively high efficiency.