How To Care For Your Beehive?

Beekeeping can be a fun and yet a very challenging task. Indeed, installing a beehive is a lot easier than maintaining it. If you think after installing the beehive and bringing in the bees that your job is done, think again. It is equally important to care for your bees and beehive after installing them. Start it immediately after the installation work is done. Right maintenance will create encouraging conditions for the honey bees and support a healthy honey harvest.

How to Care for Your Beehive?

1. Repair the Damaged Part of Your Beehive

Just like any other structure, beehives also need care and maintenance. It might begin to deteriorate with time or get damaged due to bad weather. It can result in damages such as deforming, breaking, contaminating, corroding, and more. Bees can also get hurt by insects, ants, and other large animals like your pets. If you find any damaged parts, you need to repair them immediately. And if things are beyond repair, replace them. Fixing and replacing can fortify the whole hive and provide it a lot more protection against harmful elements.

2. Replace Any Missing Beeswax

Beeswax is very important in a beehive. Bees use it to make honeycombs. It strengthens the entire structure when it starts to get hard in the joints. It can be lost during harvesting honey or caring for the beehive. So you need to be very careful when you are handling the structure. If you by mistake detach the wax, you should put it back in place. In case the wax is lost, replace it. You can get the replacement beeswax from another hive with excess beeswax.

3. Set Up A Rain Cover And Install A Shade

Weather can be unpredictable and unfavorable conditions can hurt the bees and beehives. Rain can damage the hives, wind can create other problems, etc. So as to keep your hive safe from rainfall, install a rain cover so that the raindrops would not fall directly on the hive. Similarly, to protect your beehive from direct exposure to the sun, you can install a shade structure. However, it would be better to use the shade on very sunny days. And if rainwater enters into your beehive, you can tilt the structure to let the water come out.

4. Control Wood Insects

There are creatures like woodlice and termites that feed on wood. If you have a wooden hive, they might destroy your hive. So you need to control them. You can apply different treatment methods like soil treatment, liquid form insecticides, etc. You can also do it by keeping the area clean where beehives are located. You can control them by removing any plant remains or keep the area well maintained.

5. Safeguard Your Hive Against Animals Like Bears, Raccoons, mice etc.

Everyone knows how harmful animals like bears and mice can be for apiculture business. Bears can destroy hives and chomp the honeycombs. In order to prevent that you can create a fence around your hive. Then you can place your hive on an elevated stand to avoid attacks from skunks and mice.

If you want your beehive to survive for long, you would have to maintain and care for it. There are various things you can do, and you need to do it to help your bees.