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On the appiaries of Slovenia

The second part

 

Milan Meglič’s decorated pavilion

Milan Meglič, a beekeeper on Kranjska Gora

Kranjska Gora was the next point on our trip. First we visited Milan Meglič’s apiary in Matuljak forest. Offering us some snacks in front of his beautifully decorated pavilion, the host spoke about beekeeping on Kranjska Gora, and about general problems of Slovenian beekeeping.

During his address he stated that we are at a turning point in beekeeping because of varroa, honey quality and honey promotion problems. He spoke about the necessity of comb in supers to be uncontaminated. He also mentioned the problem of gathering propolis, since the propolis took from a brood chamber can only be used for technical purposes, and its price in Slovenia is 15 €. High quality propolis is gathered with nets.  

Milan Meglič emphasized the importance of the amount of food in a hive. Speaking of using formic acid against varroa he said that after treating one should wait 12 days for the brood to come out, since varroa is killed in brood too. After honeyflow they use one short and one long treatment.

Later on Milan Meglič's colleague Marjan spoke about varroa protection program in their association. He also spoke about KBZ system (collective product mark) and about their system of controlling production. However, he emphasized that the country had not took over the system yet, and that it was all up to beekeepers’ association. Later, in the bus Mr. Poklukar said that around 300 beekeepers are in KBZ system.     

At Mr Gregorije’s on Kranjska Gora

We are on Kranjska Gora at the junction of three borders – Austrian, Slovenian and Italian, at 850m above sea level. It is the 18th of May, and we can see snow in the distance towards Alps, while apple trees and dandelion are blooming on the apiary. It was interesting that the bees were very calm, and that a swarm came out from two out of three apiaries that we visited that day.

It is easily noticed that some ponies are in the next yard and that the bees disturb nobody. Gregorije is a biologist and a follower of a healthy way of life and healthy eating habits. He keeps bees in a stationary pavilion and in around 25 – 30 high quality Langstroth hives. He modified those so that he can use AŽ frames if he adds plastic parts for making space between frames.  

Langstroth hives have mobile rear planks on the bottom board where an insertion for varroa is put. All bottom boards are tall and have nets and wattles so that bees cannot build extra comb. The bottom board is open during the whole winter.

For rearing queens he uses special bottom boards for 4 queen rearing chambers. Above entrances, inside the hive, there are some tunnels (5x7 cm) which serve as a protection against robbing. There are three 15mm thick screening boards. The middle one is a regular board, while the other two are feeders for both colonies separately. Two swarms overwinter on a deep bottom board in one Langstroth body. For queen rearing chambers he uses Roshfus bottom boards with double queen excluder. When he takes the queens out, he takes them from all the chambers of one queen rearing body. He has queen rearing boxes with 6 and with 4 chambers.  

Queen rearing bodies with several chambers

The third part of the report