Purposeful carpathization of bees in the Fergana Valley began in the last 6-8 years. Not unfounded criticism of the Central Asian outbred bees by the main consumers of bee packages - beekeepers of Kazakhstan and Russia, forced the region's beekeepers to start breeding competitive bee breeds required in the market. At the same time, it was necessary to take into account the local natural and climatic conditions - this is a hot, dry summer, characterized by a weak honey flow, with a long active period and a short winter.

The most optimal was the use of the Carpathian bee breed. Several factors contributed to this. Firstly, the high market demand for this breed of bees, secondly, the possibility of effective breeding, both in mountainous regions and in the flat part of the Fergana Valley, and, thirdly, high honey productivity in comparison with local bees.

Every year, from 500 to 1500 fetal breeding queens of the Carpathian breed are imported to the region, mainly from the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine from the pedigree apiaries of V.A. Gaidar. The distribution of queens in the valley is approximately as follows: part of the queens (from 50 to 100) is transferred to the Osh regional society of beekeepers of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. A significant part of the queens, due to the greater number of bees, is distributed among the beekeepers-queens of the Fergana, Namangan and Andijan regions of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The distribution of breeding material is carried out through the sale to beekeepers of mature queen cells, bred in specialized apiaries by experienced beekeepers-mother breeders of the region from purebred Carpathian queens, taking into account their lines. Distribution of breeding material through the sale of mature queen cells has several obvious advantages.

First, there is an almost unlimited number of reproducible mother cells. So, only in the office of the Fergana Union of Beekeepers from April 10 to May 5, from 12 to 15 thousand queen cells are sold. Beekeepers-mother breeders of the Namangan company "Aziz-94" in the same period sell more than 10 thousand queen cells, while for their apiaries they withdraw more than 5 thousand queen cells from pedigree queens of the Carpathian breed.

Secondly, it is the low cost of mother liquors. Their mass production in specialized apiaries makes it possible to sell queen cells at a price of $ 0.3-0.5, which is quite affordable for almost all beekeepers.

Thirdly, the optimal withdrawal time. In the second half of April - early May, there is a massive sale of bee packages and the organization of layering in order to form new bee colonies. It is during these periods that the mass demand falls, and, accordingly, the mass withdrawal of mother liquors.

Fourthly, the convenience of replanting and using the mother liquors. For this, a day before the distribution of queen cells, families are formed into 2-3 frames with young bees, in which there is 1 frame with a small printed brood. Nuclei are left in the same apiary. After the gathering of flight bees, they are given mature queen cells. Young bees accept Carpathian queens more easily, which was especially important in the initial period of bees' carpathization. After 3-4 days, check the yield of queens and their quality, if necessary, give again a mature mother.

And fifthly, the possibility of carrying out selection work on the carpathization of bees in the region, regardless of the knowledge and desire of individual beekeepers. In this case, the biological feature of the queens is used to produce drones of the original parent breed, without taking into account the species of the drones mated with it. Long-term use of Carpathian queens in the region has led to saturation of the area with drones descended from purebred Carpathian queens. Even in apiaries of beekeepers who do not acquire queen cells or purebred imported Carpathian queens, there is a forced carpathization of bees due to the saturation of the region with Carpathian drones. To date, the carpathization of bees in the Fergana region is about 85-90%, and in the Fergana Valley - up to 75%.

Private beekeepers are interested in breeding the Carpathian bee breed for several reasons. An increase in honey productivity by 30-50% is noted by almost all beekeepers. At the same time, there is a multiple decrease in swiftness, an increase in the intensity of growth and, accordingly, the strength of bee families, the winter hardiness of bees and resistance to diseases are improved. Purebred families do not tolerate our summer heat worse, they have to pay more attention to shading the hives, their ventilation, but this is fully compensated by an increase in productivity. It is also important that when selling bee packages for Carpathian families they give a high price, and local mongrel bees are practically not in demand.

The natural and climatic conditions of the Fergana Valley make it possible to receive 1-2 bee packages from a hibernating colony during April-May and restore the main colony in the first case for honey collection, and in the second - to build up the strength of the family for successful wintering. Beekeepers of the Fergana region annually sell more than 30 thousand bee packages, including up to 20 thousand bee packages exported to Kazakhstan and Russia. Fergana Regional Bee Union coordinates all the work of beekeepers waters.

The breeding apiary of the Union consists of 500 purebred bee colonies. For the mass production of mature queen cells for sale in the Union of beekeepers, a four-day cycle of giving larvae to families-educators is used. This technology is shown in Table 1.

Table 1.

Technology of mass production of mother liquors

for implementation in the Fergana Union of Beekeepers The main sign for the beginning of the formation of families-educators is the appearance of the first drones. After that, in early April (on an odd day), the first group of 30-35 educators is formed. The day before, the entire apiary is treated with one of the anti-varroatous drugs to give all families a single smell. The nurses are formed by teams from different families, frames with only printed brood with bees are selected, for every 2 frames, bees are additionally shaken off from 1 frame of the open brood. The nurse consists of 6 frames of the printed brood, about 8 frames of bees and a side feeder-limiter. They are placed in 2 in lounger hives on 24 frames, separated in the middle by a diaphragm. Immediately after the formation of the educators, they are taken to another point, where they are together with purebred Carpathian families. Starting from the first day, in the evenings, bees receive 0.5 liter syrup. The next day, in the morning, the teachers are given the first batch of 36 larvae on 1 grafting frame. The second batch of larvae is given to these educators after 4 days, while the first grafting frame is transferred closer to the diaphragm. If bees pulled a small number of queen cells or small ones, the number of larvae given for education is reduced to such families; if necessary, after receiving the first mothers, such families are disbanded into cores. 2 days before the sealing of the queen cells, the educators are treated with one of the anti-varroatous drugs, which makes it possible to cleanse the Varroa family of ticks and prevent them from entering the queen cells. All further work on the removal of mother cells is clearly shown in the table.

The formation of two groups of educators allows for the 10th day after vaccination to receive from the 1st group and on the 12th day from the second group from 600 to 800 queen cells, and starting from the 14th day and then every other day - up to 1500 or more queen cells. The selection of mature queen cells from educators is carried out in the morning, they are implemented from the office of the Union of Beekeepers, where the incubator is located, from 9 to 12 noon on even days. This work has been carried out by the Union for more than 10 years, so all beekeepers in the Fergana Valley are notified and know about it. Basically, all queen cells are sold according to preliminary orders, which allows beekeepers to plan their work on the formation of cores, layering and the sale of bee packages. Part of the queen cells from each batch is left to control the output of the queen bees and their quality, which are then used in their apiary. Usually, in incubator families, the yield is 96-98%, but when selling overpaid queen cells, beekeepers add up to 10% of queen cells in case of marriage. The greatest need for mother liquors occurs from April 16 to April 30, further there is a decrease in demand, but the need for mother liquors remains until May 20-24.

From time to time, brood frames with bees are taken from the families of the main apiary to strengthen the caregivers, as when forming young bees are added and kept in the same apiary until the evening for the gathering of flying bees. When the educators are reinforced, infertile frames with a small number of bees are selected from them, from which 2-frame cores are formed. For this, the apiary has about 100 core beehives, each for 9-10 places. When forming layers, they are given infertile queens obtained by controlling the yield of mother liquors and the quality of the queens.

Transportation of queen cells from the office of the Union of Beekeepers to the apiary is carried out in the simplest containers-thermoses or portable boxes for frames. The containers are an ordinary odorless cardboard box (!), On the bottom of which plastic eggplants (bottles) from drinks with water heated to 40-420C are placed. A layer of cotton wool 2-3 cm and a clean canvas are laid on them, into which the mother liquors are laid. A slightly larger layer of cotton wool is again laid on top of the mother liquors. During the preparation of the container and the laying of the mother liquors, the temperature reaches the optimal level - 35-370C. This makes it possible to transport mother liquors over a distance of 100-200 km or more. When distributing queen cells to layering, to prevent bees from gnawing them, it is recommended to wrap the queen cell with a strip of wax, thin foil or tape, leaving the head part open.

In the initial period of carpathization, the reception by local bees of purebred Carpathian queens after their release from the queen cells was 30-50%. Even after the start of laying eggs, the bees sometimes killed the Carpathian queens and brought out their own. It was necessary to form layers for a very small number of recently hatched bees, strengthening them after fertilization of the queen with mature brood at the exit. And only due to the high productivity and demand for Carpathian bees, the Fergana Beekeepers' Union managed to carry out work on the carpathization of bees in the valley. Currently, in the Fergana region, about 10 beekeepers-queen breeders are engaged in the production of mature queen cells from purebred Carpathian queens. Similar work is being carried out in the Namangan and Andijan regions of Uzbekistan and the Osh region of Kyrgyzstan. All work on the carpathization of bees in the valley is coordinated by the Fergana Union beekeepers and is currently carried out taking into account the linear belonging of the Carpathian bees. Explanatory work is carried out among beekeepers to improve the breeding qualities of bees and strict control is carried out to prevent the import of other bee breeds.

High mountains around the Fergana Valley and favorable climatic conditions provide a unique opportunity to create reproducers for purebred Carpathian bees in the region, subject to the annual delivery and renewal of broodstock from Transcarpathia. The Fergana Union of Beekeepers is faced with the task of improving the production technology of early bee packages, creating and expanding brood apiaries in order to spread Carpathian queens to other regions of Uzbekistan, as well as for export abroad.

Sh.R. Suyarkulov,

Chairman of the Fergana Regional Union of Beekeepers,

Cand. agricultural sciences.

E-mail: fspbee@gmail.com

Photo by Marcel Minzafarov