A new year of beekeeping! On behalf of the entire API SÜDZUCKER team, we would like to wish you a successful year full of new opportunities and happiness, with plenty of nectar for your bees! Thanks to the many of you who follow us, we are able to support you for the fourth year in a row!
SIMAPI and BEECOME, the international beekeeping equipment fairs in France and Germany, are over. Those were wonderful events that brought together many beekeepers from all over France, Germany and beyond. Now it is time to get back to our beehives to feed the colonies with Apifonda candy (sugar paste). This month, I am going to present my methods for feeding beehives using sugar paste. How should you place it? How do you maintain the insulation? Then we shall take a look at honey sweets, a home-made recipe to share with the family!
We’re now coming into the season for beekeeper trade fairs and conventions. In autumn, FNOSAD and SIMAPI will be the key events for lovers of all things bees and honey. This may be an opportunity to find equipment for future investments (e.g. beehives). After looking at the work for this month, this article will focus on the quality of wood.
Professional beekeepers have finished their season while amateurs are sometimes a little behind on the harvest and above all on the treatment of Varroa. In this article, together, we will look at the month’s work to be planned before focusing on the bees’ fascinating skills.
30,572 tonnes is the amount of honey that French beekeepers produced in 2022. Shall we do better this year? Yet this does represent a considerable 55% increase on 2021. Will July’s drought have affected the honey in our apiaries? August is a harvest month, however, and it is time to take out all the frames. Together, we shall look at the month’s work to be planned before focusing on varroa mites in this article.
France is split into regions where the weather has been advantageous and others where it has not. Our foragers have been able to benefit where rain was followed by sunny days. In the coming weeks, many beekeepers will start the summer harvest (sunflowers, lavender, etc.). Together, we shall look at the month’s work to be planned before focusing on the propolis and the brood’s development.
Did you know that only 1% of the foragers in a beehive gather propolis. In terms of weight, it’s the smallest harvest: from 50 to 150 g/year on average.
April is a very busy month for beekeepers. They are very often needed by their bees, especially when they have a lot of apiaries, which involves lots of movement. Together we shall look at the month’s work to be planned before focusing on the queen and the drone in this article.
Did you know that a swarm can reach almost 80,000 bees at the moment? This is a sign of overpopulation. A swarm may be forming for the bees and it is a race against time for the beekeeper.
March is the sign of a new start for beekeepers. With temperatures rising in the south of France, it’s time to take a look at the brood. Together, we’ll look at the right habits to prepare your hive in the best possible way.
Did you know that although the queen stopped laying in winter, she’s gradually starting up again and will be laying almost 2,000 eggs a day now?
This month in your API blog of the month, we’re going to talk about beeswax, an important material in the beehive. The beekeeper gathers it to be processed during the autumn, when the season is quieter.
The wax lids recovered from the frames during uncapping will be used to make honeycomb-textured beeswax sheets. Did you know that on average, our bees need to produce 8 kg of honey to make 1 kg of wax?
This month in your API blog of the month the focus is on hive insulation. When the temperature drops considerably and the rain sets in in our areas, we need to prepare our bees for winter.
Choosing a feeder is not always easy. We’ll take a look at the different models on the beekeeping market. Did you know a hive needs 12 to 15 kg of food (honey or supplement) to get through the winter?
