Rebirth in 1984, starting from beekeeping in the mountains

Chapter 20 Selection of beehive placement sites
down the mountain.

Fang Hongan led Wang Tong not directly back to the earthen house, but took a detour and came to an abandoned orchard.

This orchard is a product of the collective era, and the main trees planted in it are peach trees.

Fang Hongan wasn't quite sure what kind it was.

Because the peaches produced are large, crispy and sweet, they are called sweet peaches.

During its heyday, the orchard had a considerable yield, and because the fruit was delicious, it was very popular and generated a lot of income for the production team in Shiwan Village.

But later, due to poor management and the influence of diseases and insect pests, most of the peach trees died. The dead trees were secretly cut down by villagers and used as firewood. Although the remaining ones survived and bore fruit every year, the peaches they produced were small, hairy, bitter and unpalatable.

Gradually, the orchard was abandoned.

However, the two did not go directly to the orchard.

Walking along the edge of the orchard, less than 5 minutes later, we arrived at a dilapidated thatched house.

This thatched house was built by Fang Hongan’s grandfather in his early years, and the land was Fang Hongan’s grandfather’s private land.

Going down from the orchard is the ridge area where the dry soil is most concentrated in Shiwan Village, which the villagers call Tuwanli.

Tuwan is mainly used to grow vegetables and sweet potatoes. A lot of sweet potatoes are planted. In addition to most of them being used to dry sweet potato shreds, a considerable portion is stored in the cellar.

In order to store sweet potatoes conveniently, Fang Hongan's grandfather dug a cellar here, and then built a thatched house like this on top of the cellar with wood and thatch.

This configuration of cellar and thatched house has a long history in Shiwan Village and is almost a fixed combination. It is mainly for waterproofing and also for convenience of rest.

When Grandpa Fang Hongan built this thatched house, he leaned against a large flat stone that was more than five meters high. He used the concave stone as a wall, and built a frame of fist-thick pine wood on the other sides, and then covered it with woven thatch.

The thatched house is not big and looks very dilapidated due to years of disrepair.

The two men walked to the thatched hut. Fang Hongan had brought Wang Tong here once before to collect the bees and had placed the two beehives there in advance.

Wang Tong knew that the beehive was in the hut, so he took two steps forward as if he was familiar with the place, found the cloth rope that tied the door, and helped Fang Hongan open the door of the hut.

There is a wooden board pressed on the ground in the middle of the thatched house, and under the board is the cellar for storing sweet potatoes.

Because it had not been used for many years, the wooden boards were covered with mud and dust.

And right on the edge of the dusty wooden board were the two beehives.

The beehives, whose carbonized surface was obtained by roasting wooden boards, seem to complement the desolate environment.

By moving these two beehives directly here, in addition to completing the bee transfer here, Fang Hongan also plans to use this thatched house as the first bee breeding site.

Compared with other breeding, bee breeding has considerable particularity and constraints.

When determining the location for placing the beehive, the first thing to consider is the issue of nearby nectar-producing plants.

Although the maximum nectar-collecting radius of the Chinese honey bee can reach 2 kilometers, there is no doubt that the closer the nectar-producing plants are, the lower the cost for the bees to collect nectar and make honey, and the faster they can produce honey.

In addition, many aspects must be considered, such as safety, confidentiality, and convenience of care.

Fang Hongan has thought of many solutions in the past few days.

In the end, the first breeding site was chosen to be this thatched house.

The thatched house is close to Tuwanli, which is the most concentrated dryland crop planting area in Shiwan Village, and there is no shortage of nectar-producing plants all year round.

Take the current situation for example, although it is already May.

However, Tianmang Mountain is at a high altitude and has a low temperature, and it is only now that the rape flowers are beginning to bloom.

As the most important oil crop for mountain people, more than half of the soil in Tuwan is now covered with golden rapeseed flowers. Rapeseed flowers are one of the most important nectar-producing plants in the southern region.

Placing the beehive in the thatched hut and the nectar-collecting radius of the Chinese honey bees can fully ensure that the bee colonies in the beehive have sufficient and continuous nectar sources to collect for the next month.

As long as the bee colony is stable, honey can be harvested in about 25 days at most.

In addition, after the end of the household contract responsibility system, villagers in small southern mountain villages like Shiwan Village have a strong sense of boundaries.

A thatched hut on a cellar like this one, no matter how shabby it is, most people would not rashly break in and open it.

Placing the beehive in a thatched hut also meets the considerations of safety and concealment.

Finally, although the thatched house was a bit shabby, the part close to the stone wall could provide complete shelter from wind and rain. On the contrary, those shabby thatched holes provided considerable convenience for the bees to enter and exit and for the ventilation of the beehives.

It can be considered as... turning a disadvantage into an advantage.

The two men entered the thatched hut. Wang Tong was worried that the bees in the cloth bag would suffocate, so he told Fang Hongan and prepared to open one of the beehives and began to help Fang Hongan start changing the hives.

"There's no rush!"

Fang Hongan raised his hand to stop him and pointed at the sky: "It's still a little early!"

"Morning?" Wang Tong scratched his head, somewhat confused.

The sun is now setting and the sky is gradually getting darker. According to Wang Tong, it is already too late.

But what Fang Hongan said naturally made sense, so Wang Tong naturally made an attitude of seeking advice and listening.

Seeing that he was eager to learn, Fang Hongan took the opportunity to explain it to him.

Moving bees to a hive is not just a matter of shaking all the bees in the bag into the hive.

It is necessary to ensure that the bee colony can fully accept the new nesting environment after entering the box.

Otherwise, even if they get in, all of them will escape after a day or two.

Then all the previous efforts would be wasted.

In addition to some preparations in the beehive, the time of changing the hive is also very critical.

The best time to transfer boxes is at dusk.

Because bees have the habit of returning to their nests in the evening, when they move to new hives at this time, even if they find that the hive environment has undergone tremendous changes, they will temporarily accept the changes in the environment out of habitual instinct, thus minimizing the stress response of the bee colony after moving to new hives.

There is still some time before the mountain sets, so it is not... the best time to transfer boxes.

Wang Tong listened patiently, met Fang Hongan's gaze, and nodded heavily.

He was still confused about the stress reaction Fang Hongan mentioned.

But this did not prevent him from remembering the key points of Fang Hongan's words.

In short...just choose to transfer the box when it's getting dark.

Seeing his expression, Fang Hongan guessed what he was thinking, and without further explanation, he turned around and hung the bag containing the bees on the vent of the hut.

With the good ventilation of the cloth bag, there is no need to worry about suffocation within two or three hours.

After doing all this, Fang Hongan waved to Wang Tong again.

The two began to prepare for the next step...

(End of this chapter)