The annual development cycle of a bee colony. Stages of bee development, formation of an adult Formation of an adult insect
Bees in the Tyumen region usually spend the winter where they stay for approximately six months: from November to early April. From a warm spring day at an air temperature of 10-13°C or higher. At this time, willows and coltsfoot bloom.
In July and continues until the end of the month (linden, sweet clover, and in some places fireweed), the daily weight gain of the control hive reaches 8-10 kg. (August-September) the harvest is unstable, with interruptions, the daily gain does not exceed 100-200 g.
In the conditions of the region, no brood is observed in the family. the family increases slightly if there is a sufficient amount of honey and bee bread. The first 3 weeks after the exhibition there is weak growth of the family in favorable weather. From the fourth week the family grows, but during the main bribe the family growth is weak. With the end of the main bribe, in the first days after its termination, the number of bees is reduced by 50-55%.
The life of bee colonies depends not only on natural and climatic conditions, but also on anthropogenic factors. Thus, untimely measures in the apiaries of the region can cause the death of bees, so there is a need to conduct research work to determine the periods of growth and development of bee colonies in the conditions of the Tyumen region.
The work was carried out in apiaries of the Tyumen region, in the laboratory of the Department of Anatomy and Physiology of the Tyumen State Agricultural Academy together with employees of the laboratory of bee diseases at the All-Russian Research Institute of Veterinary Entomology and Arachnology. The determination of the biological characteristics of bee families was carried out in accordance with the Methodological Instructions for Conducting Experiments in Beekeeping (Rybnoe, 2000) and Methods for Conducting Research Work in Beekeeping (Rybnoe, 2002).
As a result of the work, it was revealed that in the conditions of the Tyumen region, the following periods can be distinguished in the annual life cycle of a bee colony.
First period- - time from the moment the last brood emerges in the fall until the queen begins laying eggs in the second half of wintering. During this period of the bees' life (November-February) there is no brood in the nest. The bees are gathered into a club.
Second period- . Bees increase their honey consumption and also begin to use bee bread; the honey crop load can reach up to 30 mg. The fecal load also increases noticeably. In the region, this period occurs at the end of February and the beginning of March. At this time, brood begins to appear.
Third period- - the first week of life of bee colonies after the exhibition of bees from the winter hut (from April 4 to April 10). The bees make a cleansing flight, bring water, bee bread, and nectar to the hive, intensively clean the nest, and the queen’s egg production increases.
Fourth period- (from April 10 to May 5). It is similar to the previous one, but the bees usually complete the processing and redistribution of honey reserves in the combs in the first week.
Fifth period- from May 6-20. In the presence of honey collection, the wax-building activity of bees is well demonstrated. This stage is characterized by the construction of only bee cells: first brown, and then snow-white. Bees are good at rebuilding artificial foundation. The family begins to grow noticeably. The queen begins to lay eggs in the drone cells.
Sixth period- from May 21 to June 5. During this period, the family grows rapidly. The amount of brood raised increases, and many young bees accumulate. In the afternoon hours, friendly indicative flights take place. Bees build foundation well. The beekeeper should strive to extend this period as long as possible, increasing the ventilation of the hives, expanding the nests, and providing the bees with artificial foundation to build up the combs. This period, like the previous one, is most favorable for organizing layering.
Seventh period- . Lasts from June 5 to June 20 and is characterized by the construction of drone cells. Bees do not rebuild artificial foundation, but sometimes in certain areas they rebuild bee cells into drone cells.
Eighth period- . The swarming state lasts from June 20 to June 30. There is a lot of brood and bees in the family, the formation of combs stops (with the exception of bowls). Bees gnaw holes on artificial foundation and sometimes build bowls on its surface. The egg production of the uterus is reduced.
Ninth period, which lasts from July 1 to July 10. This period is characterized by the presence of queen cells in the bee colony, egg laying by the queen and the construction of honeycombs are reduced. On the day of departure of the swarm, flights of young bees are observed.
Tenth period- . Starts on July 10 and lasts until August 5. The growth of the bee colony slows down, and the bee mortality rate is low. The main task of the beekeeper during this period is to provide the bees with a sufficient number of combs (cells).
Eleventh period- . Lasts from August 15 to 30, when the main honey flow ceases (for example, during dry winds), a sharp reduction in the number of bees in the colony is observed, the intensity of which subsequently weakens. The bees' flight stops, a tendency towards theft appears, the bees' malice increases, and the drones begin to be expelled.
Twelfth period- . It is characterized by the formation of a club initially in the cold night time, and then during the day. Lasts from August 30 to September 30 - until the last brood emerges, after which the first period begins.
Thus, the results of the studies showed that the growth and development of bee colonies largely depend on the natural and climatic conditions of the region. In the conditions of the Tyumen region, twelve periods were identified in the annual life cycle of a bee colony, which strictly alternate, each of them is a continuation of the previous one. Changes in the duration of periods depend on the weather conditions of the area. Knowledge about the periods of development of families will help beekeepers carry out appropriate planned work in a timely manner: prepare bees for wintering, remove families from the winter hut on time, expand the family’s nest, prevent swarming and other measures, thus increasing the efficiency of keeping bees.
S.A.PASHAYAN,
K.A.SIDOROVA,
M.V.KALASHNIKOVA
Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "Tyumen State
Agricultural Academy"
N.M. STOLBOV,
State Scientific Institution "All-Russian Research Institute of Veterinary
entomology and arachnology"
magazine "Beekeeping" No. 6, 2012Literature
1. Elfimov G.D. Beekeepers Experience. Adviсe. Recommendations. - Sverdlovsk, 1985.
2. Elfimov G.D. Beekeeping of the Northern Trans-Urals. - Tyumen, 2005.
3. Zhdanova SV. Periods in the annual life cycle of a bee family // 13th Int. beekeeping congress. - M, 1961.
4. Zherebkin M.V. Wintering of bees. - M.: Rosselkhoz, 1979.
5. Zherebkin M.V. On the physiological processes occurring in the large intestine of the honey bee // XX Anniversary International. beekeeping congress. - M.: Kolos, 1965.
The role of the queen in the bee family is difficult to overestimate, because she is responsible for breeding offspring in the nest. Without a full-fledged female capable of reproducing in a bee colony, the number of drones that are not able to work increases sharply. This means that the family quickly dies from hunger. That is why it is important to know how the queen bee develops and how to behave with the bees during this time so that the process is as efficient as possible.
Development of the queen bee
When studying queen bees, first of all, pay attention to what they are like. As a result of numerous studies of bees, many scientists have concluded that the queen bee is not the top of the hierarchy in the family. Rather, she acts as an equal member of society, who has her own role, like other individuals. And yet, in terms of external characteristics, the female differs from her relatives. Its length is 25 mm, while the body is more slender than that of worker bees. The color is usually darker, the sting, in comparison with other insects, is much smaller.
All uteruses, although similar to each other, are divided into several types. The main criterion for their classification is origin. In accordance with it, they distinguish:
- fistula;
- quiet shift individuals;
- swarming queen bees.
Fistula
This type of female develops if the main queen of the family dies or disappears from the hive, and young larvae remain in the nest. The bee colony soon abandons all its duties and goes in search of a new female. At the same time, the remaining bees transfer some of the larvae to “queen” feeding. In parallel, the cell with the developing larva is rebuilt into a fistulous queen cell. It differs from the swarm one in that it is made in the shape of a bowl, the edges of which protrude above the adjacent cells.
Fistula queen cell
The number of bowls in a nest varies. Such queen cells can occupy either 1-2 cells or more than 10. After the development of several queens, the bees themselves carry out a selection, choosing the most developed female from the total number. But quite often there are situations when insects cannot cope on their own, and several queen bees remain in the nest at once. Here the help of a beekeeper is already needed.
It is worth noting that the quality of fistulous uteruses is significantly inferior to swarming ones. In a normal situation, the larvae are fed a certain type of food from the very beginning. It determines the development of the queen bee or worker. If the transition to uterine food is carried out later, the female undergoes biochemical changes that make her inferior.
For this reason, experienced beekeepers advise keeping fistulous individuals only as a last resort, in the absence of a full replacement.
Uterus of quiet shift
Quiet shift queen bees are hatched strictly in the spring-summer period, which distinguishes them from fistulous bees, which can appear at any time of the year. Their development is a natural stage in the family's progress. When the main queen begins to lose her productivity due to illness, injury, or advanced age, the bees raise a replacement for her in advance. To do this, a maximum of 3 high-quality larvae are selected, which from the very beginning feed on the “mother” food.
Quiet shift queen bees
When new females are born, the family chooses the most suitable one. After the choice is made, the insects remove the old female. Most often, the quiet change method is used by novice beekeepers who simply do not interfere with the life of the hive at this stage. This is where its name comes from.
Swarm queens
Queen bees of the swarming species develop during the preparation of the colony for swarming. This process is also a natural stage in the development of bee colonies. When the time comes, the bees hatch a young queen in the swarm queen cell. Usually their number in a nest can reach 10-20 pieces. When a young female with greater potential is released into the hive, she replaces the old one. At the same time, the second one, as unnecessary, leaves the hive with some of the young bees and drones in search of a new home.
This type of queen is usually the most productive. They are most often raised in warm weather in strong colonies that can provide ample food supplies and an optimal number of nurse bees. As a result, the expectant mother has access to a large volume of royal jelly, which means she grows up stronger.
Development of the queen bee from egg to queen cell
Despite the differences in origin, all types of queen bees go through common stages of development. The beginning of this development is the laying of an egg. A full-fledged uterus, ready for reproduction, can hatch only from a fertilized egg. The offspring of a barren female are exclusively drones.
The entire process of development of the mother of the family at this stage consists of:
- The egg is laid in a honeycomb cell or in special uterine bowls.
- After 3 days, a larva emerges from it. A significant part of the family is involved in feeding her. Moreover, feeding for swarming and quiet queens is carried out exclusively with royal jelly at all stages of development. In the case of fistulous individuals, the larva is transferred to the uterine food at the moment when the family needs it.
- Over the next 7 days after hatching, the queen cell is pulled out around the larva, parallel to feeding. At the end of the work, the bees seal it, having previously filled it with a sufficient amount of food reserves.
Important. Knowledge of such subtleties of bee colony development also has significant practical value. If at the time of inspection the beekeeper finds open fistulous cups, he can determine that the last sowing took place 4-5 days ago. If swarming queen cells are visible, the beekeeper can prevent bees from swarming in time.
From queen cell to barren uterus
The second stage begins immediately after sealing the queen cell. It consists of the following stages:
- The sealed larva continues to actively feed and develop. If there is enough food, it turns into a pupa. At the end of the development of the pupa, the uterus itself appears, which still matures in the cell for a certain time.
- On the 9th day from the moment of sealing, maturation comes to an end. The barren female is already formed enough to gnaw through the walls of the queen cell.
- After being released, the queen bee immediately goes to other queen cells and destroys them. The only exception is that the family is in a swarm state.
For amateur beekeepers, this stage goes virtually unnoticed. But for more experienced specialists involved in queen breeding, this stage is especially important. In addition, it is also extremely important in the formation of layering or the prevention of swarming.
Maturation period
During the 9-day period of maturation of the uterus, it is quite difficult to determine the exact age of the sealed queen cell. But assumptions in this regard can be made based on the color of the bottom of the cell. The darker it is, the older the queen cell.
Development of a barren uterus and its mating
Over the next 10 days, the queen bee, having just left the queen cell, mates and carries out the first sowing. This period is also divided into several stages of development:
- During the first 3 days (sometimes 5) the female gains strength. At the same time, the destruction of the remaining queen cells takes place.
- On day 5, the queen leaves the hive and circles around it. The purpose of the event is to navigate the area and remember the location of the hive.
- Exactly 2 days after the approximate date, the nuptial flight takes place. At this time, the drones, ready to mate, rush after the queen. But only 5-6 of the fastest and strongest catch up with her. Mating is carried out with them.
- Three days after the nuptial flight, on the 10th day from leaving the queen cell, the queen bee carries out the first sowing.
It is extremely important to remember that bee colonies should not be disturbed at this time. If the queen is startled during a mating or orientation flight, she may fly away. At the same time, at a great distance, she often loses her way and cannot return back to the hive, which is why she dies without food.
If you still disturb the hive, you must adhere to these rules:
- The inspection should be carried out as carefully as possible, preferably without smoke or other irritating factors. In this case, it is carried out no later than 11 am.
- Honey from the hive during this 10-day period is taken after 17:00, when the bees are no longer so active.
Further life of queen bees
As already noted, the young queen sows for the first time on the 10th day after leaving the queen cell. After its discovery, the hive is closed and for another 10 days, it is advisable not to inspect it. After this time, the beekeeper inspects the clutch again. If a large number of cells are sealed with a minimum number of gaps, it means that a good quality queen has been bred.
It is also worth watching the seeding for the next 4 days. If the eggs are infertile, the hatched queen is a tinder. In this case, it needs to be replaced.
Important. Speaking about the future life of the queen bee, it should be noted that its duration is 5 years. Moreover, the first 2 of them are the most productive. Further, the quality of seeding drops significantly. The total number of eggs decreases, and the percentage of tinder eggs increases. At this time, the beekeeper can observe a sharp decrease in the number of bees in the family. Accordingly, the volume of honey they produce decreases.
To correct the situation, beekeepers replace the old queen every 2 years. The ideal option is a quiet shift. At the same time, the beekeeper himself provokes it.
Deviations in the development of queen bees
During the development of the uterus, certain non-standard moments may occur. Of course, they are rather the exception to the rule, but they still occur. For example, the process of maturation of the female in the queen cell, under the influence of microclimate conditions in the nest, can be delayed or, conversely, take place several hours earlier.
Exit of the uterus from the queen cell
But, some beekeepers testify that they observed the queen emerging from the queen cell with a difference of a day from the expected date of appearance. In their opinion, this process also largely depends on the external temperature regime.
Delayed maturation of the queen can be observed in a weak bee colony or layer. The strength of such formations is not enough to create the proper climatic conditions in the hive. This means that the maturation process may deviate from the norm.
Often the sowing time itself may come later. The female takes off on a mating flight only in case of favorable weather conditions. If there is bad weather in the region on the 10th day, the flight may be delayed for a day or two.
To a certain extent, this process is influenced by the beekeeper himself. If the family is greatly disturbed within the 10-day period from the female’s emergence from the queen cell, the mating flight is postponed. It may also be influenced to a certain extent by the state of the bee colony. If she is preparing to swarm, mating is usually postponed.
Reference. Thus, the theoretical development time of the queen bee is 26 days. But taking into account the actual timing of each stage, the specified time period usually increases to 30 days or more.
Conclusion
The development of the queen bee is an extremely delicate process. The beekeeper must be well versed in the peculiarities of its breeding. This will allow you to control and direct the process of development of the family as a whole, preventing swarming, or promptly removing queen bees from the hive. In any case, it is a high-quality healthy uterus that is the key to the strength of the family and its productivity.
The development of the bee, drone and queen is divided into embryonic and postembryonic and consists of several stages: egg, larva, prepupa, pupa. begins from the moment of fertilization and is the process of formation from an egg of a complex multicellular creature - a larva. The postembryonic stage is the process of transformation of a larva into an adult. By the way, bee larvae, young bees in any apiary are called “baby”.
The structure of a bee larva
The bee larva has a simple structure: a small head and a white worm-like body consisting of abdominal and thoracic segments. The outer shell is covered with a thin chitinous layer.
Among the internal organs (the same as those of an adult, only less developed), the intestine plays an important role, the front wall of which is presented in the form of a short tube with muscles. Their contraction allows the bee larva to absorb liquid food. Along the midgut, which occupies a good part of the body, excretory organs stretch - 4 Malpighian vessels. The hindgut has a curved shape with an anus at the end. No food debris gets into it, since the middle and hind intestines do not communicate with each other. The connection of these sections occurs at the end of the described stage. The heart of the larva is located in the dorsal region and consists of 12 chambers, while the adult insect has 5. The respiratory organs are tracheal trunks distributed throughout the body with multiple branches. The fat layer is highly developed, accounting for about 60-65% of the total body weight. The reproductive organs and nervous system are in their infancy; eyes and olfactory organs are absent. The lower lip contains opening spinnerets. They produce a substance with which the larva spins a cocoon.
Artificial hatching of queens: basics of the method
The ovaries are located between the intestines and the dorsal vessel. The larvae of worker and queen bees are similar in the number of egg tubes. During the prepupal and pupal stages, the larval organs and tissues disintegrate. The egg tubes also degenerate, of which about 5 remain in an adult.
In the queen larva, the formation of the ovaries continues into the pupal stage. The formation of numerous egg tubes in the larva is biologically important: in the event of the death of the queen larva, bees are able to produce a “fistulous” uterus in return. This natural phenomenon formed the basis of the artificial
Bee larval development
As soon as the larva emerges from the egg, it immediately lies at the bottom of the cell and falls into the caring arms of the adults, who immediately begin to diligently feed “their child.”
Nurse bees deposit at the bottom of the cell a large amount of royal jelly (5 times the weight of the larva), which is produced in the pharyngeal glands and is characterized by high nutritional properties. The milk of bee larvae contains fats, carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, and vitamin B. The larva, performing constant rotational, squeezing and unclenching movements with its body, continuously eats the stored supplies and grows right before our eyes.
Period of active growth and uncontrolled appetite
If a “newborn” individual weighing 0.1 mg has a length of 1.6 mm, then in a day it manages to grow by another 1 mm. Two days later her growth is already 6 mm. Regarding mass: after 5 days from the moment of birth, its indicator exceeds the initial one by 1400-1500 times. Such uncontrolled weight gain has a positive side: a huge amount of nutrients accumulates in the larva’s body, which are a reserve during the period when food is unavailable. Starting from the third day, the diet becomes more varied and enriched with porridge made from pollen and honey. In addition to providing the young generation with food, nurse bees constantly visit the growing larvae every minute. The total number of visits for the entire period of the larval stage is in the thousands.
Sometimes it happens that bees throw out larvae. This circumstance occurs due to diseases (sacbrood, European foulbrood, ascosferosis and others) that have affected the bee colony, or this is done to regulate the quantitative indicator. Assuming that there is not enough food for everyone, the bees get rid of the extra mouths. The release of larvae can also occur due to starvation.
Molting: stages
The rapid growth of the larva does not affect the size of its outer clothing - the shell, which only stretches slightly. As soon as the latter becomes small, the bee larva, whose name among beekeepers sounds like “baby,” immediately changes it to a larger one that matches its size, leaving the discarded clothes in the cell. During the process of growth and development of the larva, 4 moults occur, each of which lasts about half an hour.
By the sixth day, the bee larva has enlarged so much that it occupies the entire cell. At the same time, no fundamental changes occur to the larva itself and its body. The insect molts for the first time 12-18 hours after birth. The second shell change occurs after 36 hours. The third time the robe is renewed after 60 hours from the moment of hatching, and the last time after 78-89 hours.
Pre-pupal larval stage
The bee larva then enters the pre-pupal stage. The bee seals it - stretched along the length of the cell and positioned with its head towards the hole - with an air-permeable porous cap consisting of 2% water, 46% light brown mass containing pollen and 58% wax. The sealed insect is immediately freed from accumulated food debris by compressing the walls of the stomach and tearing its back part. This specific feature of getting rid of excrement only at the end of feeding helps maintain the necessary cleanliness in the hive, as well as protect the resulting food from contamination.
Preparing to become a chrysalis
As soon as the bee larvae in the honeycombs are freed from undigested food debris, they immediately begin to spin a cocoon, that is, to entwine the inner cavity of the cell with the secretion of the spinning glands. The worker bee larva does not feed during such responsible work; The queen bee pauses to eat and creates a cocoon with a hole directed toward the bottom of the cell. It is from there that the bee larva feeds while working. The cocoon of working larvae has no holes. The future bee remains in the larval stage for 6 days, the drone for 7 days, and the queen for 5 days.
The honey bee larva experiences another molt while in the cocoon. True, now this process is not similar to the previous ones: a special liquid is released from the surface of the body, which helps to separate the old and formed new cuticle. During the last molt, the rudiments of all appendages that were previously located on the inner side of the body shell move outward, and their gradual formation into the outer parts of the body. In this way, the bee prepares for transformation into a pupa. The pre-pupal stage in the bee and queen larva lasts 2 days, in the drone larva - 2 times longer.
Formation of an adult insect
The changes that began in the pre-pupal stage gradually transform the shapeless insect into an adult: the abdomen, chest and head are formed, on which antennas, mouthparts, as well as simple and compound eyes are already drawn. In the thoracic part, the formation of the rudiments of legs and two pairs of wings occurs. The dorsal rings, tergites, enlarge on the abdomen. The abdominal semirings - sternites, cover the lower part of the abdomen and are connected to each other and to the tergites by a thin film. The fat body decreases sharply, because with the end of nutrition it is only a source of energy for the transformation of larval organs.
The nutritional reserves accumulated in the body during the intensive period of feeding are gradually formed into future organs. Along the way, a change in body color occurs: from light yellow through purple to black or brown. The coloring process begins with the eyes and proceeds to the head, chest and abdomen.
Final larval stage
The final stage of larval development is the pupa - outwardly similar to an adult insect, only with a white color. Being in a state of complete rest, without food, the developing insect experiences dramatic changes: some organs disappear completely, others partially. As soon as this process is over, the pupa will turn into a working queen, drone or bee; with its upper jaws it will gnaw through the lid and leave the cell.
Worker bees help the young queen get out; they chew off the top of the cocoon, as a result of which it becomes gray-white. It is by this color that one can determine from which cell the new queen will hatch. The general development cycle from egg to adult insect lasts 21 days for a worker bee, 16 days for a queen bee and 24 days for a drone. For the high-quality development of all representatives of the bee family, the nest must have a constant temperature of +34-35 o C, as well as sufficient food supplies and the number of nurse bees.
Bees are a joy, or Experience of a natural approach in beekeeping Lazutin Fedor
Bee colony development cycle
Bee colony development cycle
So, we already understand that a large number of fresh, clean honeycombs provides scope for the development of a bee colony, but their absence slows down and completely stops it. As a result, a natural development cycle of the bee colony is formed, the duration of which depends on the size of the dwelling at its disposal and on the vitality of the colony itself.
Understanding the natural cycle is perhaps the most important thing in a natural approach to beekeeping. After all, only based on this understanding will we be able to decide how to treat our charges and develop those few operations that need to be carried out in the hive throughout the year.
This understanding will allow us to understand why the owner of a multi-hull hive has to constantly struggle with swarming, and how to make sure that the bees in our hives work quietly all summer, collecting honey and preparing for winter.
So, pay attention! The most important information about honeycombs:
· Bees spend a lot of effort building honeycombs. It is estimated that by withdrawing one gram of honeycomb, bees eat less than eight grams of honey. Over the summer, a strong family is able to “delay” up to 15 Dadan (or 10 one and a half) frames. And fill it with honey - several times more!
· Honeycombs are used by bees many times, that is, more than one generation of bees is hatched in one cell and reserves of honey and beebread are accumulated more than once.
· Gradually, the honeycombs on which the bee brood is hatched darken and eventually become completely black. The cell walls thicken and the diameter decreases.
· Bees do not use old (black) honeycombs, leaving them for fresh ones.
· Bees cannot chew black honeycombs in order to build new ones in their place. Or don't they? In general, they don't do this.
· The bee family rarely uses old (last year's) honey reserves, preferring nectar or fresh honey of this season if there is a bribe. Old, often already candied, honey accumulates in the hive and lies as a “dead weight”, being a bait for various kinds of living creatures.
That is, the general picture of the life of bees in a hollow is as follows: bees are constantly building new honeycombs, mastering the empty space at their disposal. The queen switches to work from old honeycombs to new ones, and black, spent honeycombs with reserves of old honey remain unused. What does this lead to?
Moreover, a strong family will build up a small hollow in a season and, after overwintering, will be ready for swarming. This is understandable: all free cells with the beginning of honey collection are quickly filled with nectar, the queen has nowhere to sow, the young bee has nowhere to build, and the nest overheats due to overcrowding.
In a large hollow, bees will build the comb sideways and downwards from year to year, gradually moving away from the black, waste layers. In the second and, perhaps, in the third year, the bees are unlikely to swarm, building up a large strong colony (meaning the Central Russian breed), but over time, having exhausted the entire space of the hollow, they will begin to release one strong swarm after another.
Thus, the life of a bee family in a hollow tree follows the law of cyclicity, characteristic of nature in general, and living especially. At the end of the cycle, the duration of which depends on the size of the hollow, the strength of the bee swarm that inhabited it, the summer bribe and other factors, the family leaves the hollow, leaving its contents to numerous lovers of bee delicacies, ranging from wax moths to bears.
Through their efforts, in a very short period of time it will be cleaned and prepared for the introduction of a new swarm.
This, in my opinion, is the long life cycle of a bee colony. But there is also a small cycle that is no less important for our practice - the one that a bee colony lives through throughout the year. This is what we will discuss further.
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From the author's bookNest of a bee family Under natural conditions, bees settle in tree hollows, crevices or other sheltered places. The base of the nest is made up of parallel hanging wax honeycombs, fixed at a distance of 9–13 mm from one another. Each honeycomb consists of cells
From the author's bookLife activity of a bee family in different periods of the year Spring-summer period In spring and summer, bees are most active. During this period, they do a lot of work, and in a certain sequence. The transition of bees from one type of work to another occurs in
So, we already understand that a large number of fresh, clean honeycombs provides scope for the development of a bee colony, but their absence slows down and completely stops it. As a result, a natural development cycle of the bee colony is formed, the duration of which depends on the size of the dwelling at its disposal and on the vitality of the colony itself.
Understanding the natural cycle is perhaps the most important thing in a natural approach to beekeeping. After all, only based on this understanding will we be able to decide how to treat our charges and develop those few operations that need to be carried out in the hive throughout the year.
This understanding will allow us to understand why the owner of a multi-hull hive has to constantly struggle with swarming, and how to make sure that the bees in our hives work quietly all summer, collecting honey and preparing for winter.
So, pay attention! The most important information about honeycombs:
- Bees spend a lot of effort building honeycombs. It is estimated that by withdrawing one gram of honeycomb, bees eat less than eight grams of honey. Over the summer, a strong family is able to “delay” up to 15 Dadan (or 10 one and a half) frames. And fill it with honey - several times more!
- Honeycombs are used by bees many times, that is, more than one generation of bees is hatched in one cell and reserves of honey and beebread are accumulated more than once.
- Gradually, the honeycombs on which the bee brood is hatched darken and eventually become completely black. The cell walls thicken and the diameter decreases.
- Bees do not use old (black) honeycombs, leaving them for fresh ones.
- Bees cannot chew black honeycombs in order to build new ones in their place. Or don't they? In general, they don't do this.
- The bee family rarely uses old (last year's) honey reserves, preferring nectar or fresh honey of this season if there is a bribe. Old, often already candied, honey accumulates in the hive and lies as a “dead weight”, being a bait for various kinds of living creatures.
That is, the general picture of the life of bees in a hollow is as follows: bees are constantly building new honeycombs, mastering the empty space at their disposal. The queen switches to work from old honeycombs to new ones, and black, spent honeycombs with reserves of old honey remain unused. What does this lead to?
Moreover, a strong family will build up a small hollow in a season and, after overwintering, will be ready for swarming. This is understandable: all free cells with the beginning of honey collection are quickly filled with nectar, the queen has nowhere to sow, the young bee has nowhere to build, and the nest overheats due to overcrowding.
In a large hollow, bees will build the comb sideways and downwards from year to year, gradually moving away from the black, waste layers. In the second and, perhaps, in the third year, the bees are unlikely to swarm, building up a large strong colony (meaning the Central Russian breed), but over time, having exhausted the entire space of the hollow, they will begin to release one strong swarm after another.
Thus, the life of a bee family in a hollow tree follows the law of cyclicity, characteristic of nature in general, and living especially. At the end of the cycle, the duration of which depends on the size of the hollow, the strength of the bee swarm that inhabited it, the summer bribe and other factors, the family leaves the hollow, leaving its contents to numerous lovers of bee delicacies, ranging from wax moths to bears.
Through their efforts, in a very short period of time it will be cleaned and prepared for the introduction of a new swarm.
This, in my opinion, is the long life cycle of a bee colony. But there is also a small cycle that is no less important for our practice - the one that a bee colony lives through throughout the year. This is what we will discuss further.
Life of a bee colony throughout the year
It is known that each individual worker bee lives relatively short - about 40 days. During this time, she manages to live a useful, rich and vibrant life, the stages of which are described in detail in specialized literature. At different periods of its existence, it has to clean the cells, feed the young, pull the combs, fly for a bribe, guard the nest and do much more for the benefit of its bee family.
The worker bee begins its complex and varied work activity almost immediately after its “birth”. And here’s what’s surprising: no one teaches her, doesn’t take final exams and doesn’t give her work orders - at every moment she herself knows exactly what and how she needs to do.
And this question, of course, remains outside the scope of research. The behavior of a bee is traditionally explained by omnipotent instinct, that is, it is not explained in any way. Yes, this is understandable - after all, here begins the realm of the spirit, in which materialistic science is completely powerless.
But if you look closely, you can easily see manifestations of the spirit in any living creature, if you stop considering everything that we are used to as simple and obvious.
But this is a completely separate topic, lying aside from the path of our research. As usual, we skip the description of the stages of life of an individual bee, referring the curious reader to traditional literature. And we focus on the information that can only be collected bit by bit.
The idea of a hive as a box with a certain number of bees is fundamentally wrong. A bee colony is constantly dynamic, and the number of bees in it depends on the activity of the queen and changes greatly throughout the year. In the spring there are very few of them, they behave sluggishly, and allow you to calmly inspect the nest. At this time, the winter bee still predominates in the hive, whose task is only to overwinter and raise its spring shift.
The queen begins to sow already at the end of winter, but she sows only a little, gradually increasing her egg laying. However, as soon as the first bribe has begun, the daily sowing rapidly increases, and after a while a mass of young bees begins to appear in the hive. This is clearly visible: every day the young go out for flight, forager bees with bright spots of pollen on their hind legs every now and then plop down on the entrance, and there is a friendly, joyful buzz in the apiary.
In central Russia, spring growth occurs from mid-April to mid-May, and during this time it is necessary to meet the spring inspection - the only operation of the year that requires disassembling the nest. The best time for it is the beginning of May, when a steady early bloom has already begun, but the bees have not yet reached full strength. At the end of the month it will be more difficult to do this!
But we are getting ahead of ourselves. So, by the end of May (don’t forget to take into account the latitude of your area), the bee colony has already gained decent strength. Somewhere at this time, a short period of practically no bribe awaits her, when the spring honey plants have already faded, and the main ones have not yet come into force. At this time, families that have enough space inside the hive continue to develop, and those who find themselves in cramped circumstances can already release a swarm.
This natural mechanism can easily be used by a natural beekeeper who decides to expand his apiary. After the spring revision of the nest, he stops placing frames in the hive and closes the gap under the partition leading to the free space (details of the hive structure will be below), thereby limiting the possibility of family development. After the swarm has left, you will need to open the gap and, by moving the partition, place the frames.
This simple procedure allows you to get as many swarms as you need, and at the most favorable time - at the beginning of summer. Strong swarms planted at this time will not only have time to prepare well for winter, but can also produce some honey.
If you don’t need swarms, then you just have to make sure that the family always has fresh foundation for construction and room for development. In this case, with a probability of 80-90 percent, the Central Russian bee will not enter a swarm state, preferring to grow stronger during the summer, filling the entire volume provided to it.
That is, every spring we put the bees in the situation of a large empty hollow (as discussed above), in which there are no old reserves of honey and old black land, but there is a lot of space and opportunity for development.
This is the competent use of natural mechanisms.
Our main bribe occurs in June and early July. Anyone who was at the apiary at that time knows what a unique spectacle it is. The whole apiary is buzzing, like one huge hive. The bees, in a continuous succession, quickly fly out of the entrance and, returning back with a heavy load, fall heavily onto the landing board. With darkness, the flights stop, but fan bees still remain on the landing board, expelling warm air filled with an amazing honey aroma.
During August, the activity of the family gradually decreases, the number of bees in the hive decreases. And the curious researcher again faces the question: how does the queen, even in the midst of an abundant harvest, know that the honey flow will soon decline? She needs to reduce her productivity in advance (three weeks in advance!)! Science says that bees, by conspiring among themselves, give her less food. But a worker bee lives a little more than a month, so how does it know the annual natural cycles? Moreover, from year to year they can shift by a couple of weeks?
According to my feelings, a bee family, living in a particular area from generation to generation, forms a part of the local Nature, and because of this, it simply “knows” the weather at least six months in advance. And this is not surprising - after all, many plants, as scientists have discovered, prepare for winter differently depending on whether it is mild or harsh.
This remark directly relates to the chapter in which we will talk about bee breeds, as well as to some recommendations that can be found in beekeeping publications.
One of them is to “help” the bees grow a family for the main honey harvest. To do this, it is proposed to insert electric heaters into the hives in early spring or give incentive feeding in the spring, and so on... There are a lot of methods! What this leads to is sometimes described by practicing beekeepers who are not shy about talking about their mistakes.
For example, the mass of a bee was artificially increased. And here it’s a long spring, or the rains have started to pour in! The main honey harvest has been delayed by two weeks, the bees are having problems, and there is controversy in the magazines: what did they do wrong? It was necessary to build it up, but a little later and in a different way! Beekeepers read and experiment again... Do you think I'm exaggerating? Not at all. Read the old files of the magazine "Beekeeping" - it's all there.
So, by the end of August - mid-September (always at different times!) the queen stops laying eggs, and three weeks after that the last brood comes out.
Bees “born” in the fall no longer participate in the work. Their task is to survive the winter and raise spring brood. They live many times longer than the summer bee, moving little and, accordingly, not wearing out at work.
When the daytime temperature outside drops to 10 degrees, the bees practically stop flying and gradually begin to gather in a club. The most difficult time is ahead - winter.