Hive management

Hive management is a term used in beekeeping. The term describes all the intervention techniques a beekeeper may perform to ensure hive survival and to maximize hive production. Hive management techniques vary widely depending on the objectives. The most common objectives are:

The dependent factors for honey production are the duration and timing of the honey flow in a certain area. Duration and timing of a honey flow may vary widely depending on local predominant climates, weather during the honey flow and the nectar sources in the area. Good honey production sites are the far northern latitudes. In the summer, as days grow longer, bees can fly and forage for longer hours increasing the production. Migrating beekeepers also take advantage of local bloom of agricultural plants or wild flowers and trees. In mountainous regions a beekeeper may migrate up the mountain as the spring and summer bloom progresses.

It has been shown that a larger bee colony will produce relatively more honey. Therefore, the early buildup and spring feeding and subsequent prevention of swarming are of high priority. Several different methods such as the Demaree method, Checkerboarding and opening up the brood nest have been advocated to prevent swarming.

Once a good location for an apiary is selected, techniques under the control of a beekeeper for maximizing extracted honey production depend mostly on maximizing the number of foraging bees at the peak time of the honey flow. Techniques may include interrupting brood production right before the main honey flow to free up nurse bees for foraging. A main objective is to prevent swarming.

Comb honey production requires many of the same techniques that are required for the production of extracted honey. In addition, the colony must be very strong and have comb building traits. Honeycomb for direct consumption as comb honey is always created the same year it is harvested.

Honey combs may also be harvested by crushing the comb and squeezing out the honey. This is the lowest cost method of producing honey. Keepers of the low-cost top-bar hives use this technique to harvest honey. The technique may also be used for the frames of Langstroth hives. The so-called cut comb are sections of sealed honey comb that are cut out of the frame. If the cut comb is to be consumed not crushed only the purest beeswax foundation may be used.

...
Wikipedia