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This page contains the most frequently asked questions related to the biology of bees, beekeeping, and bee diseases. If you do not find the answer to your question, feel free to ask the editor and get it via e-mail.

 

Bee, Queen, Drone

  1. How many bees are there in a hive?
  2. How long does a bee live?
  3. How far do bees go?
  4. How many drones are there in a hive?
  5. What is their role?
  6. Do bees recognize their hive?
  7. Do bees recognize their owner, the beekeeper?

Beekeeping 

  1. How much honey can be produced in one hive?
  2. What is the greatest amount of honey that can be produced in one hive?
  3. Are bees supposed to be fed in winter?
  4. When am I allowed to move the hives with bees within an apiary?

 

Bee diseases and damages to bee colonies 

  1. What happened with my colony which died during winter time? What I found were dead bees in empty cells and on the floor, 4 frames of comb without honey in the middle of the hive and all other comb full of honey.
  2. Why did a small colony in a DB hive die in front part of the frame where there was brood, when there was enough honey in the rear part?
  3. What happened with my colony? In autumn I found the hive empty, without a single bee, but with the comb full of honey. Was it destroyed by wasps, which there were many of at that time?
  4. If sealed brood cells have little holes on their caps and there are dead pupae in, is it foulbrood?
  5. How do I recognize foulbrood?
  6. Does every occurrence of diarrhea in the hive mean dysentery?
  7. Can bees die of cold?

 

 

How many bees are there in a hive? 

Depending on the season, on the average there can be from 15000 to 50000 bees, even more.

  

How long does a bee live? 

During the year bees live 45 to 50 days, while winter bees live 5 to 6 months.

  

How far do bees go? 

On the average bees fly up to 2km (1.5mi), but during honey flow they can go up to 5km (3mi) 

 

How many drones are there in a hive? 

During summer there are from several hundreds to one thousand drones in a hive.

  

What is their role? 

Their main role is to fertilize the queen. They also take part in making microclimate in a hive.

  

Do bees recognize their hive? 

Yes, bees remember the position, the shape and the color of its hive.

  

Do bees recognize their owner, the beekeeper? 

No, they do not. 

 

How much honey can be produced in one hive? 

That depends on honey flow conditions and the strength of a colony. In Serbia the average is from 15 to 20kg. 

 

What is the greatest amount of honey that can be produced in one hive? 

In favorable conditions strong colonies can produce 70 and even 100 kg of honey in several honey flows, and rarely, very strong colonies can produce that much in one honey flow. 

 

Are bees supposed to be fed in winter? 

Yes, but only if they do not have enough food and they are in danger to die of hunger.

  

When am I allowed to move the hives with bees within an apiary? 

The hives can be moved when bees are not flying out, but this must be done very carefully in order not to shake the bees off the frames. If bees are flying out, moving hives is possible but gradually, e.g. you can move a row of hives one or two feet forward or backward, and do that again tomorrow, and so on. Moving hives left or right must be slight, but if there are not many hives in the apiary, and if they are far from each other, even they can be moved a little more. 

 

What happened with my colony which died during winter time? What I found were dead bees in empty cells and on the floor, 4 frames of comb without honey in the middle of the hive and all other comb full of honey. 

They died of hunger since they could not reach the honey left or right.

  

Why did a small colony in a DB hive die in front part of the frame where there was brood, when there was enough honey in the rear part? 

The queen began laying eggs, and the colony could not abandon the brood in order to reach the food. Since it was a weak colony, it died of hunger.

 

What happened with my colony? In autumn I found the hive empty, without a single bee, but with the comb full of honey. Was it destroyed by wasps, which there were many of at that time? 

No, it was contaminated with varroa or maybe with some virus; it went weak, and the rest of the bees with the queen abandoned the hive. 

 

If sealed brood cells have little holes on their caps and there are dead pupae in, is it foulbrood? 

No, the brood might have got cold or the colony had varroa.

  

How do I recognize foulbrood? 

In case of foulbrood instead of sealed brood you would find rotten larvae in state of elastic mass or seemingly empty cells with little holes on their caps and dry remains on the bottom and side in a very thin layer. 

 

Does every occurrence of diarrhea in the hive mean nosema?  

No, diarrhea can occur because of normal discharging of food bad digested after a long period spent inside the hive. It can also be a sign of dysentery. Nosema, moreover, can occur in late spring with no symptoms of diarrhea.

  

Can bees die of cold? 

A normal healthy colony which has enough food can never die of cold. Actually, bees never die of cold directly, but indirectly i.e. because of other reasons like lack of food, impossibility to reach the food, disease, exhaustion of a weak colony which is unable to produce warmth etc.

Translated by Oliver Mihajlović