GAF
The queens in creating more exportable funds
The ingenuity, learning and observation of the farmer José Estrada in the production of queen bees, in the province of Santiago de Cuba, allow him to triple those insects that are key to obtaining honey, one of the main exportable items of the Island.
It is clear and precise when stating that, in addition to being the colony's center of reference and its point of cohesion, it is the mother of all the individuals in the hive and makes it the carrier of genetics, it will be as good or bad as his queen is. During his 40 years dedicated to beekeeping, providing himself with good material constitutes the priority to have queens of the Cuban Creole species, healthy, prolific, productive and well prepared to defend themselves against diseases. Its work is carried out from the Granjita Siboney ecological queen bees center, belonging to the Cooperativa de Crédito y Servicios 4 de Abril, in the municipality of Santiago de Cuba, where it achieves 200 copies a month and more than 2,400 a year for beekeepers. from the municipality of Guamá and other sites in the eastern territory. As a veterinarian and training in Cuba and abroad, bibliographic studies, observation and comparison, he reduced the volume of the nucleus and adapted it in such a way that the production of queen bees increased ", indicated José Estrada, who at 68 years old teaches the trade to his son Adonis. A traditional coupling nucleus uses bees, wood, sheets of stamped wax and artificial feeding and all this is summarized in the usufruct of two hectares of idle land that it received in the area of ??San Rafael, Consejo Popular Siboney, where there are several types of beehives . Maternal, paternal, artificial boxes, incubators, fertilization nuclei, honey plants in all seasons of the year, working veils, an intense sweet smell and the flight of insects reveal the hatchery, less than 30 meters from the road. His passion for queens led him to organize this space together with his wife and two children and although he can provide weekly for honey producers, it is difficult for him to move in a job that corresponds to sellers and performs on his own and looking for alternatives . The availability of queens at the time of assembling the nuclei is essential, because when the swarm is orphaned it undergoes a series of processes to obtain the new queen and many times the flower season does not allow this delay, that is why having them from the breeding centers means the success of a good beekeeping campaign. Estrada's effort is towards that goal, because it also happens that within the same apiary when new genetics are not entered for a long time, negative traits such as swarming or consanguinity are enhanced that can be solved with a replacement or incorporation of new mothers. Whenever the peasant beekeeper talks, his ideas are aimed at increasing the figures and quality of organic honey and its derivatives with excellent medicinal and aesthetic uses and a strong exportable line with an important market in Europe. For the selection of his queens, he is based on several factors that he ordered from the health and hygiene of the hive because he will work more efficiently with less interventions from the beekeeper. Another aspect points to the prolificacy for a successful campaign in a spring full of flowers or not and ensured that old queens, consanguineous, infertile and not very productive, will not supply these cattle. There are bees that collect much more food than necessary and are of great interest but taking care that this fruit is legitimate and not because they steal production from their neighbors that will generate problems at times when the nectar input is poor, Estrada said. The morning was not enough to learn more about how much this experienced beekeeper can tell about the interesting world of bees and the need to change queens. A quiet environment and the conditions created with two-man alternatives: needles, cups, food, stoners, veils, suits, tanks, respond to initiatives to create more exportable funds, and challenge cruel imperial policies that also seek to stop beekeeping development in Cuba.
