INITIAL RESULTS FROM A RESEARCH OF THE POSSIBILITIES FOR PRESERVATION OF QUEEN BEES IN THE WINTER SEASON THROUGH HIGH-TEMPERATURE WINTERING IN MULTI-SECTION NUC HIVES AND WEAK BEE COLONIES

P. Hristov, Tc. I. Tcvetanov

Abstract: There is no method in the world that provides efficient enough preservation of queen bees in the winter sea¬son.
The aim of the research is to examine the contemporary achievements in preserving the queen bees through high-temperature wintering of bee colonies.
The following trials were made:
- wintering of nucs between the glasses of a heated room, following the method of Toshkov;
- wintering of nucs in a heated room, following the method of Komissar;
- wintering in compound multi-section nuc hives.-
The results revealed stable high percentage of survival of the micro-colonies following the method of Toshkov and variable results in the other two trial groups, depending on the temperature of the environment.

Keywords: queen bees; survival; winter; wintering in compound multi-section nuc hives

Date published: 2017-03-15