Mobile apiaries for effective crop pollination and honey harvest increase
For students
4 min read
Bee pollination is an indispensable agricultural practice that increases the yield of entomophilous crops by tens of percent. It is impossible to replace natural pollen transfer with fertilizer application, irrigation, or other technological operations. Furthermore, the economic effect of high-quality pollination of fields and orchards significantly exceeds the income from the sale of honey itself.
- Yield increase for sunflower and buckwheat — 40–60%
- Yield increase for melons and sainfoin — more than 100%
- Value of additional crop production compared to beekeeping products — more than 10 times
- Average honey productivity of one stationary bee colony — no more than 20 kg
- Unrealized potential of bee colony productivity — 80–100 kg
Every year, apiaries suffer serious losses due to the lack of timely warnings about field chemical treatments. If a beekeeper uses mobile platforms, in the event of a pesticide poisoning threat, they can promptly evacuate the apiary to other honey plants instead of locking the bees in the hives.
Conditions for successful plant pollination
To get the maximum return from bee pollination in a field or orchard, it is necessary to follow technological requirements:- Use mobile transport means that minimize physical labor and time required to prepare colonies for transport.
- Populate hives with bee breeds that are regionalized for the area and best suited for pollinating specific crops.
- Conduct annual performance appraisal of bee colonies based on their productive qualities and biological characteristics.
- Replace queens every year.
- Strictly observe zootechnical and sanitary-veterinary rules for keeping bees, both at the stationary site and when transporting to flowering crops.
- Apply progressive bee care methods.
Choosing equipment for a mobile apiary
For transporting bees to fields, mobile pavilions, platforms, or trucks equipped with a hydraulic manipulator are used. When working with a manipulator, hives are pre-installed on pallets (2–6 units each), which eliminates manual loading. Mobile pavilions are assembled on the basis of tractor or automotive trailers, semi-trailers, or on a chassis frame. The frame is made of lightweight metal, covered with boards or plywood, and the roof is covered with galvanized iron or another heat-insulating material without resin. For protection against heat, walls and the ceiling can be made double-layered, with a heat-insulating layer. There are two ways to place hives inside a pavilion:- Shelving. Hives are installed on both sides of the trailer on shelves in two or more tiers. Entrances are directed toward slots in the pavilion walls. Before transport, the entrances are closed. At the parking site, the hives can be unloaded and placed across the territory.
- Cassette. Along the walls, cabinet sections divided into cells of several tiers are mounted. Frames with combs are placed in retractable horizontal cassettes. In such pavilions, bee colonies are kept all year round without unloading.
Equipping a closed compartment for inventory and reserve hives under the frame between the trailer axles provides the structure with additional stability during relocation.
| No. on diagram | Element of the mobile apiary installation structure |
|---|---|
| 1 | Support stand |
| 2 | Ladder |
| 3 | Movable frames |
| 4, 5 | Tie rods |
| 6 | Rear axle |
| 7 | Inventory box |
| 8 | Load-bearing frame |
| 9 | Front axle |
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