Honey is very popular in many areas. So it is not only lubricated on the bread roll for breakfast. Honey is also very suitable for the health and care of the body. But the honey must first be produced by the bees, in order to be harvested by the beekeeper.
The bee colony does not go through a bee year like a calendar year. Thus, summer is the beginning of the bee year for bees. In late summer, i.e. in the months of August and September, the bees accumulate their winter supply. The queen now offers a high laying performance and thus a large number of winter bees are taken care of. These winter bees only have to do minor work on the hive before the bee colony prepares for hibernation.
In October the last brood hatches and the bees start to form the winter grape. The winter grape is a union of bees around the queen. Muscle tremors produce heat. Thus, even at sub-zero temperatures, up to 25 °C can be created inside the winter grape around the queen. If the outside temperatures are around 8 °C, the first cleaning flights are undertaken, in which the bees empty their faeces bubbles.
February brings with it the end of the winter rest and the Queen again offers an increased laying performance. This allows the bee colony to develop rapidly. The working bees begin their work and until May a strong bee population of about 60,000 bees develops from a winter grape of about 15,000 bees. Now the people are beginning to divide. The old queen moves out with the old people and the hive is inhabited by the new bee colony. The pulling swarm then forms a new hive. In the new people, a new queen bee hatches, who is immediately mated and immediately starts her work.
Before the winter preparations begin again soon, however, the so-called drone battle begins. This means that old, processed bees and drones, as well as the drone brood, will be removed from the cane.