Catching worker bees to secrete milk to feed the queen, earning hundreds of millions of dong

(Baonghean.vn)- Beekeepers create 'fake queen buds' (also known as buffalo nipples) to trick worker bees into secreting milk to feed queen bee larvae.

With the advantage of forests, forest gardens, and a variety of fruit trees, in recent years, beekeeping in Anh Son has grown increasingly.

Coming to village 1, Thach Son commune, asking about Mr. Bui Duc Vinh's house, who has been raising bees for honey for many years, almost everyone knows.

Mr. Bui Duc Vinh, village 1, Thach Son commune, takes care of his family's bee colony. Photo: Huyen Trang.

Gently lifting the beehives to check, Mr. Vinh said: Beekeeping is a long-standing traditional profession of his family, but since 2012 he has expanded the scale, because according to him, beekeeping can take advantage of free time, and moreover, it brings high income. "Bees can reproduce themselves to develop, in a year, beekeepers only need a few months to invest in food at the time when trees do not have flowers or have few flowers; the remaining time, bees will find food from nature and make honey."

Currently, Mr. Vinh always maintains 70-100 colonies/year. In addition to selling honey, Mr. Vinh also breeds to sell colonies in large quantities, helping to earn 70 million VND/year after deducting expenses. The efficiency is ten times higher than agricultural production.

With the advantage of forests and many forest gardens, it creates favorable conditions for bees in the area to develop well. Photo: Huyen Trang

Not only raising bees for honey, many people in Anh Son mountain also raise bees for royal jelly. Mr. Nguyen Trong Viet, village 8, Khai Son commune said: His family started raising bees in 2013, at first only raising a few dozen colonies, then gradually realizing that beekeeping has high economic value, he expanded to 400 colonies. After learning that the market for royal jelly is large, he researched and learned to produce royal jelly right at home.

According to Mr. Viet, because of lack of experience, the first batches of queen bees all failed. Then, as he learned and worked, he gradually learned that the process of extracting royal jelly requires strict adherence and is based on the natural instincts of bees.

From November of the previous year to May of the following year is the ideal time for royal jelly exploitation. At this time, beekeepers need to create “fake queen buds” to trick worker bees into secreting milk to feed the queen bee larvae.

The fake queen buds were created by Mr. Viet to trick worker bees into secreting milk to feed the queen bee larvae. Photo: Huyen Trang

"Creating royal jelly requires a lot of bee food and reduces the labor of the bee colony to be able to produce precious drops of milk. However, the work is quite elaborate and hard, so not everyone has good techniques to create queen bees. Depending on the number of beehives, 2-3 fake queen buds can be placed to collect milk. After harvesting, royal jelly must be stored in a cold environment," said Mr. Viet.

Considered as a natural nutrient, good for health and skin beauty, therefore, the royal jelly product of Mr. Viet's family is consumed as soon as it is produced. With over 400 colonies, including dozens of colonies specialized in raising royal jelly, each year Mr. Viet's family harvests about 10 liters of royal jelly and more than 4 tons of honey, earning from 100-150 million VND/year.

Many bee products such as beeswax, honey, and royal jelly from Anh Son people are trusted by the market. Photo: Huyen Trang

In addition to the economic benefits from honey, beeswax, and royal jelly products, beekeeping also helps fruit orchards grow well thanks to regular pollination. Therefore, many people in the mountainous district of Anh Son have combined beekeeping with fruit tree planting, creating a diverse source of income.

Currently, the whole Anh Son district has about several hundred beekeeping households with thousands of bee colonies concentrated in communes such as Long Son, Khai Son, Phuc Son, Cao Son...

Xuanzang