The strength of the bee colony depends on the fertility of the queen. The number and quality of working individuals in the swarm depends on its ability to reproduce quickly. IN good conditions the queen lives 3-6 years. However, already in the second year, its activity begins to subside. There is a need for replacement.
Independent breeding of queen bees for many beekeepers - current problem. Not only the future of the family, but also the entire apiary depends on a well-structured process.
The main criterion for breeding a strong uterus is a good bribe. Strong larvae will grow only on high-quality food. Under unfavorable weather conditions and lack of nutrition, females will emerge small and have low productivity.
The hatching of drones is carried out earlier than the laying of the queen cell. Males stay in the cells for 3 weeks. For full puberty it takes about 10 more days. Therefore, preparations for hatching queens begin only with the appearance of drone brood.
Basic rules for breeding queens
To breed a strong queen, you need to follow certain rules:
- Weed out bee colonies with weak seed material.
- Choose strong, healthy nests with high productivity and winter hardiness.
- Begin the process of breeding queen bees only after sealing the drone brood.
- Create ideal incubation conditions (temperature, humidity).
- Use large larvae.
- Carry out work strictly in accordance with the calendar.
Family choice
For breeding of drones and queens, selection begins with the “parents”. It is from them that young individuals inherit the necessary characteristics.
Main selection criteria:
- high productivity of honey collection for several years;
- winter hardiness;
- uterine fertility;
- disease resistance;
- weak tendency to swarm.
Tribal families are divided into two groups: patrilineal and maternal. Usually, out of three dozen selected bee colonies, the best 2-3 are left for breeding queens. All the remaining ones are used for the production of drones.
Important!
Families selected for breeding should not be related.
Paternal and maternal material must be taken of different origin. A strong swarm is taken from another bee farm. It must be located at least 20 km away.
How to distinguish the uterus
The Queen Bee spends all her time in the hive. She just lays eggs. It leaves the house when it is needed for mating. However, without her there is no family.
The main female of the nest is distinguished by a number of characteristics:
- thickened, long abdomen;
- lack of baskets for collecting pollen;
- no wax mirrors;
- slightly bent sting;
- body length - from 19 to 25 mm;
- weight - from 180 to 300 mg;
- the tips of the wings do not reach the end of the abdomen.
Insects serving the queen feed her only royal jelly. When the time comes to swarm, she is not fed. She feeds herself on honey. Loses weight and takes flight.
Family preparation
To breed new breeding individuals preliminary work It is recommended to start a year in advance. Additionally, they build up the strength of families before wintering and carry out a number of preventive measures:
- checking the quality of beekeeping products;
- preparation of high-quality feed;
- disinfection of hives;
- disease prevention.
They begin breeding queens only in the spring after a complete replacement of overwintered individuals. The family must have at least 4 frames of bee bread and 10 kilograms of honey. A strong swarm usually weighs more than 2.5 kg.
What to do with the queen bee
The queen cell is sealed after laying out after 8 days. A female needs 17 days to develop. A working individual requires 4 days more.
The uterus, having reached maturity, comes out by gnawing the top of the queen cell. She can destroy the remaining cells. In order to obtain a complete hatch of females, the larvae are covered with cells. They are given royal jelly every day. Young insects should not be left in isolation for a long time. They are put into nuclear hives, specially designed for temporary housing of a small family.
Insects are thoroughly checked. If defects are found, they are destroyed.
Important!
If the breeding females are successfully bred, the extra individuals are not disposed of. The required number is used for layering, the rest are sold.
Artificial withdrawal methods
The process of self-production of queens usually does not cause any particular difficulties. However, this requires:
- experience;
- knowledge;
- conditions;
- the presence of purebred families.
Important!
Fertile queens are produced by selection of one species. When crossing different breeds hereditary characteristics are lost.
Emergency removal of uterus
This method is considered one of the simplest. Frames with clutch and brood are taken from the strongest family. Upper part The honeycomb is cut out in the form of a hole 4 cm by 3 cm. Only two larvae are left. The prepared trimmed frame is installed in a queenless nest. Insects lay a queen cell within three to four days. When a sufficient number is formed, they are cut off.
Insulator
This method makes it possible to breed up to 10 females. In a strong family, the womb is taken away. She is isolated. Mature brood is also located here.
The structure is covered with frames, blocking the exit of the uterus, and placed back. The nucleus is formed within 3 days.
Fresh brood is cut off along the lower border and placed back in the house. The queen cells are cut out two to three days before ripening. After the young animals emerge, they are placed in cores.
Nicot system
This method of breeding queen bees requires some preparatory work.
Necessary materials:
- cassette (honeycomb with a grid and a plexiglass lid);
- bowls (up to 100 pieces);
- holders;
- plinths with fastenings for the grafting frame;
- cells.
The work is carried out in several stages:
- The cassette is installed in the central part of the frame in several ways: with dry material, with foundation, or empty (attached to a block).
- A grafting frame is being made. Any one will do for this. Can be used with defects.
- The cassette is polished and cleaned by bees. The structure is placed in the hive in advance. No less than one day. The cassette is smeared with honey or sprayed with honey. The bees get used to the new object. During this time, the honeycomb will be saturated with the smell of the nest and warm up to the desired temperature.
- We plant the “queen”. We close the plug. Along the passage between the cassette and the frame, insects freely pass to the queen for feeding. The cells are checked every other day. If the queen has laid a clutch, she is released. The frame with the Nicot honeycomb is put back into place. Bowls with one-day-old larvae are placed on a grafting frame.
- A family is being formed. All honeycombs without brood are removed from the hive. Only the frames with beebread remain. The center is left free. Honey reserves are located behind the diaphragm. A week before loading the grafting frame, ceiling feeders are installed. The family is fed syrup with pine infusion. Sometimes cobalt is added. The uterus is deposited in 3 hours. On the fifth day, the family is monitored and all fistulous queen cells are removed.
- Installation of the grafting frame in the prepared place. The bowls must be placed quickly so that the larvae do not have time to cool and dry out.
- Reception of larvae is carried out according to the calendar.
- Culling queen cells is a simple process. Usually they get rid of small, crooked ones, leaving straight and large ones.
- You need to prepare for the selection of young females. All queen cells are placed in cages so that after the first one comes out, they do not lose the rest.
- The emergence of the uterus, control of the reception and subsequent laying of eggs.
Plaque on the queen cell
Scheme of dividing a family by raid: A - divided family; B - joint family
The method is effective when it becomes necessary to eliminate the swarming state of the nest. It is used if the family has established swarm queen cells before selecting the cuttings. It is too late to form layers, but it is possible to return the swarm to working condition. The method of division “by raiding the queen cell” immediately mobilizes the bees to work, and the queen’s egg-laying efficiency is not reduced.
The method has been successfully used in different regions and helps stop swarming. The method is used immediately when the first signs appear.
Output in syringes
This method saves valuable breeding “material” from internecine struggle. Practice has shown that you need to use a 20 ml syringe. The piston should move easily and not jump out. This “equipment” will cost much less than specialized tools.
To make a uterine insulator you will need up to 12 pieces of syringes for each rail, a drill with a drill with a diameter of 2.8 mm. The drilled holes are cleaned with a knife. Plastic bowls are attached inside each tank.
The method is quite convenient and economical. Preserves a large number of queens. Containers are convenient for transporting insects. They provide free access of air.
Hatching in the incubator
5-6 days after artificial and natural swarming, bees grow more than 10 queen cells. If there is an abundant supply and the behavior of the insects is calm, they can be left. Individuals are raised in an artificial incubator. The device can be purchased ready-made or made by yourself.
The work is carried out in several stages.
- The queen cells are pruned only after they are completely sealed. You need to act carefully, since the age of the young shoots is unknown.
- When making incubators yourself, you need to install heating elements, a thermostat to maintain temperature, provide humidity and install ventilation.
- A conventional egg hatching apparatus has shown itself to work well in practice. poultry. The conditions it creates are suitable for storing queen liquor.
- The temperature remains constant - 34 0 C. The humidity level is 75%. You need to feed by hand.
Future queens emerge on the 16th day from the day of laying.
Natural withdrawal methods
Swarming
A very simple method of breeding queens, since no beekeeper intervention is required. When certain conditions are created, the swarming process can be accelerated. To do this, three frames with brood are placed in the hive, and the empty ones are removed. The bees immediately begin to build queen cells. Beekeepers create layers on them.
This method has several disadvantages:
- there is no possibility of forecasting;
- there is no control over the quality and number of females at the exit;
- If the appearance of the queen bee goes unnoticed, she will fly away and take part of the family with her.
Fistula parents
When the queen is lost, the colony begins building a new queen cell and transfers several larvae to “queen” feeding. A queen hatched in a short time is called a fistula queen.
Beekeepers use this bee ability for emergency recovery to breed queens. To do this, the queen is taken from a strong swarm. Together with the brood, it is placed in a new home. Workers from 2-3 frames are also placed here.
In an old nest, noticing the absence of a queen, family members begin to prepare queen cells. Those that were laid on immature larvae are left for blasting, while those on adults are cut off.
This method allows you to quickly obtain a queen and increase the family. Such females are small in size and have low fertility.
Benefits of self-withdrawal
Obtaining young queens on your own has a number of positive aspects:
- The hatching of females is planned.
- Young animals are received in the required quantity and within a specific time frame.
- Breeding individuals are not playful. They are characterized by high productivity.
- For hatching, larvae of a certain size and age are taken.
- The method allows you to avoid large financial costs.
Errors when breeding queens
Novice beekeepers, due to a lack of experience and certain knowledge, often make mistakes when breeding breeding individuals. Experienced beekeepers do not recommend:
- engage in selection in the absence of a pure breed;
- shake the honeycomb;
- carry out activities in the absence of necessary conditions (temperature, humidity);
- do not delay the vaccination process.
Helpful Tips:
- During vaccinations, use additional tools: binocular glasses, a flashlight, a special spatula. This will allow you to perform the procedure accurately, without wasting extra time.
- The largest larvae, identical in size, are selected. Most often they are located closer to the center of the cell.
- To obtain large eggs, the queen is placed in an insulator.
- It is better to discard small, uneven queen cells.
- The family-teacher should be fed food containing protein and carbohydrates.
- The presence of open brood in the raising family is mandatory. In such a nest there are many bees that produce milk.
Queen breeding calendar
For any type of breeding work, clear deadlines have been established. When planning, you need to consider the following points:
- It is good to get queens early, given that the development from larva to fertile individual takes a whole month. However, first you need to get strong drone offspring.
- When determining the number of queens, the strength of the family is taken into account. Often the hatch is divided into several batches to gradually populate the cores.
- The withdrawal of the last batch must be completed before the main harvest, so that the division of families does not affect the honey yield.
The action plan is drawn up in accordance with the queen bee hatching calendar. Usually, each beekeeper chooses a convenient form for himself. This can be a table or circle where the days of the month and the stages of growth of the larva are indicated.
Removing queen bees does not require a lot of labor and large material costs. The main thing is to follow the rules. Work only with a strong and strong swarm. Create optimal conditions. Compliance with the basic recommendations will give a guaranteed result in the form of strong offspring.
Each bee colony has one queen, often referred to by beekeepers as the queen. She lays eggs and ensures the reproduction of the bee colony.
The queen bee can live up to 8 years, but she is usually replaced every 2 years, as the level of reproduction decreases further. Therefore, novice beekeepers are often interested in the answer to the question of how to remove the queen bee, because without her, not only will it not be possible to get honey, but the entire bee colony will die. Of course, you can buy a queen bee or a bee package, but in this case you will have to spend a significant part of your profit every year.
Knowledge about breeding queens will be needed for:
- replacing old queens;
- carrying out breeding work;
- preventing the formation of swarms;
- detecting tinder fungi;
- seeding control.
How to distinguish a queen bee from worker bees?
The queen stands out from the rest of the bee family. It is much larger, its length is 2-2.5 centimeters (size may vary depending on the breed). The body is elongated, and the abdomen extends beyond the wings.
Queens are divided into:
- fruit - sow worker bees;
- barren - they lay eggs from which drones hatch.
Fruiting insects weigh 0.025 grams, and infertile insects weigh 0.02 grams.
Cycle, stages and timing of larval development in the queen cell
Removal of queens is necessary if there is an old or weak queen in the hive, as well as her poor egg production. This process can be carried out naturally or artificially. The procedure includes several stages:
- sowing - a larva hatches from the fertilized egg, which the bees protect and feed with royal jelly;
- then the bees fill the queen cell with food and seal it;
- the larva grows and gradually transforms into a pupa;
- a young queen emerges from the pupa and gnaws a way out of her house.
The entire process of hatching queen bees takes 10-12 days. The young queen must fly around and mate with the drones over the course of a week. Moreover, after 3 days she lays fruit seed. Otherwise, the queen bee will seed with drones. If it is not replaced, the bee colony will die.
Basic rules for breeding queens
In order for the breeding of queen bees to be successful, the following rules must be observed:
- carry out all manipulations with strong, healthy and winter-hardy bee colonies, characterized by high honey productivity;
- provide optimal conditions for incubation (appropriate temperature and humidity);
- create high-quality paternal (provide seed material) and maternal (raise queen bee) bee colonies;
- start breeding mothers after the bees seal the drone broods (in this case, drones and queen bees will appear at the same time);
- complete all work in a timely manner (the queen hatching calendar presented at the end of the material will help you comply with this point).
The optimal time for hatching queens is the end of spring - the beginning of summer, when the air warms up to 18 degrees Celsius. The whole process takes 10-12 days. The beekeeper must be able to determine the age of the queen cell by its appearance: older ones are darker below. By controlling the queen cells, the beekeeper will be able to:
- prevent swarming;
- determine the time of swarming;
- prepare layering.
Methods for removing the uterus
There are 2 known methods of breeding queen bees: natural (it is very simple and does not require special knowledge or labor) and artificial (allows you to get the optimal result). When choosing a method for breeding maternal individuals, it is necessary to take into account the climate of the area, weather conditions, and the characteristics of the apiary. It is possible to select the optimal method only through experimentation. For everything to go well, again, it’s a good idea to carefully study the breeding calendar.
The removal of queens occurs in stages:
- A frame of light brown comb is placed in the breeding colony near the open brood.
- The family is constantly fed with honey and beebread.
- The frame itself must be checked daily to detect seeding in a timely manner.
- When the hatching of the larvae begins, a queen, part of the worker bees and 2 frames with brood should be separated from the nurse colony.
- In the upper part of the frames with the larvae, a horizontal gap 5-6 centimeters high is cut out. Then, using a stick, they thin out the entire row: one larva is left, and two are destroyed.
- The prepared frames are placed in the center of the nest of the parent family, which is first partially emptied.
- On the larvae left in the honeycombs, insects lay queen cells.
- On the tenth day, the queen cells are cut out and placed in cages, which are placed between frames with brood or in layering.
- The old queen, workers and brood are returned to the foster family.
The main disadvantage of the method is damage to the honeycombs. To remove the fistulous uterus, you will need to cut the honeycomb. In this case, it is possible to obtain only a quarter of the brood, and the remaining honeycombs are broken, as a result of which the larvae die. Therefore, experienced beekeepers use a different method. They melt first-class white wax and make bowls out of it, into which the larvae are placed using a special stick.
Natural ways
Natural methods include swarming and obtaining fistulous queen bees.
Swarming
This method is very simple, since a swarm can form without human intervention. If necessary, the exit of the swarm can be accelerated by creating the necessary conditions. 2-3 frames with brood are added to the hive, and frames without brood are taken away. In this case, the insects will begin to lay queen cells on which they form layering.
But this method, despite its simplicity, is considered outdated and is rarely used by beekeepers. Its disadvantages include the inability to predict the formation of queen cells and determine the quality and quantity of hatched queens. In addition, if the beekeeper does not notice the appearance of new queen bees, they will fly away, taking with them most of the working insects.
Fistula queen bees
In some cases, the queen dies prematurely. In this case, the bees build a new queen cell from several ordinary cells and in the shortest possible time hatch a new queen bee, which beekeepers call a fistula queen.
Beekeepers use the ability of insects to recover queens in emergencies to artificial withdrawal queens in normal conditions. For this purpose, choose strong family, remove the queen bee from it and transfer it, along with two frames of brood, to a new hive.
Worker bees from 2-3 frames are also shaken into it. Soon a new layer will form in the new hive. In the old home, the bees, noticing the absence of the queen, will begin to take radical measures and prepare fistulous queen cells. But the beekeeper must ensure that they are laid on immature larvae. If they are found on adult larvae, they must be cut off.
This method allows you to hatch mother insects in a short time and quickly increase the size of the family. However, fistulous uteruses are small and less fertile. But there are many ways to improve the quality of such individuals.
Artificial ways
Except natural methods, beekeepers also have several artificial ones at their disposal, among which the most common are:
- extra;
- with insulator;
- Nicot system;
- Kashnovsky's method.
Emergency method
This method is also simple and very fast. The strongest family is selected and a frame with eggs and young brood is taken from it. A hole is cut out in the upper part of this frame (4 centimeters wide and 3 centimeters high).
The lower walls of the cells are removed, leaving two larvae. The frame is then placed on a family that does not have a queen. After 3-4 days, the bees should lay a queen cell. When a sufficient number of queen cells are formed, they are cut off. Queen bees bred in an emergency way are characterized by good quality.
With insulator
This method will ensure the hatching of a large number of queen bees (from 5 to 10). First of all, a strong family is selected, the queen is removed and she is placed in an isolation ward consisting of two frames. A frame with mature brood and cells intended for laying eggs is also placed in the insulator.
The prepared structure is covered with frames so that the queen does not escape, and returned back to the hive. After three days, the formation of the nucleus begins. For it, they take three frames (with brood from the insulator, with honey and dry food), worker bees from 2-3 frames and a queen bee from the insulator.
On the frame with fresh brood, cut off the bottom border and return it to the hive. 2-3 days before the appearance of the queens, the queen cells are cut out and left to ripen. When the queen bees emerge, they are placed in the nucs.
Nicot system
Before using this technique, you will need to prepare:
- a cassette consisting of a grid and a lid;
- bowls with holders;
- plinths attached to the frame;
- cages for queen bees.
A hole is cut out in the central part of the frame in which the cassette is fixed. Then prepare the grafting frame and clean the cassette. The mother is placed in the prepared structure. The grafting frame is transferred to the nurse family and the process of breeding the queen bee is monitored.
Kashkovsky method
When the bees start collecting honey, they make a layer, for which they use the old queen, worker bees, sealed brood, wax, frames with dry bread, beebread and honey. In the old hive it will be created emergency situation, which will ensure the formation of fistula queen cells, of which only the best are left. After some time, the queen is removed from the layer, and the family is united in one hive, where a new queen will appear.
What to do with the queen bee?
When the queen leaves the queen cell, the remaining members of the bee colony gnaw off the remaining cells. To prevent such a situation, the larvae are covered with cages 10 days after they are moved to the foster family and given food every day.
The resulting queens should not be left in cages for a long time. They need to be placed in nuclei or used to create new layers. Each individual is carefully checked in advance. If the slightest defect is detected, the uterus is destroyed. If you have too many queen bees, you can sell them.
Usually there is only one queen in a bee colony. If another one appears, the stronger one will kill the weaker one. But some beekeepers manage to ensure that two queens live in one hive, which allows them to double or triple the bee colony and significantly (by 50%) increase honey yield (pump out 40 kilograms of honey weekly).
Queen breeding calendar
To complete all the work in a timely manner, you will need a queen hatching calendar based on Cebro. It can be in the shape of a circle or a table and shows when the necessary manipulations should be carried out, and also allows you to draw up a work plan, track and coordinate the development cycles of the mother.
If you wish, you can use any type of calendar, but a combination of two options will be optimal. If you set the larvae, the calendar will tell you when they need to be transferred to the family of educators, and when to choose queen cells.
If queens are bred simultaneously in several hives, it is better to attach a separate calendar to each one to avoid mistakes.
There, in the newly-minted hive, you need to shake off the bees from two or three additional frames. Thus, we will get a formed layer, which we place for further permanent residence in the apiary. Well, what happens in the old hive? There, the bees were left without their queen, so they were forced to take radical measures, namely, to lay fistulous queen cells. In this case, it is imperative to ensure that the queen cells are laid on immature larvae. Otherwise, they need to be cut off.
The quality of such fistulous queen bees is quite satisfactory. Let us remind you that today more than one method has already been invented to improve their quality and create the most optimal conditions for this, but more on that in another article. The only disadvantage of this method may be that the queen cells are placed too close on the honeycomb. When they are cut, the entire honeycomb is damaged.
Artificial withdrawal
The simplest method
To do this, again, you will need to determine the strongest family, and then the breeding of the queens is carried out as follows. We select from this family a frame on which young brood and eggs are sown. A small hole is cut in the upper third of the frame, approximately 3 cm high and 4 cm wide. All lower walls The cut cells are removed and only 2 larvae are left. Now the frame can be placed in the nest of a queenless colony and in three to four days it will be possible to check the laying of queen cells.
When the bees have laid the number of queen cells you need, you can start cutting off the fistulous ones. If no queen cells are found, then the family has a living queen, but something is wrong with it. Individuals bred in this way are of good quality and the beekeeper can always control the process. But it is better, for optimal results, to use a calendar for breeding queens. Below is a video about how you can urgently remove a queen bee.
Another easy way
Hatching queens using this method is used when it is necessary to hatch at least five to ten queens at the same time. As you probably already understood, the main criterion for the quality of the offspring will be work on strong family. We find such a family in our apiary and place its uterus in a special two-frame insulator. A frame with mature brood and a frame with cells for laying eggs are also placed here; it will be light brown in color. The structure is covered with frames on top to prevent the queen bee from escaping.
The insulator is placed back into the colony between the frames with the brood. On the fourth day you can begin to form. It will consist of three frames: with honey, dry food and brood from the insulator. We add working individuals from two or three more frames to it. And we put the uterus there from the isolation ward. The frame with fresh brood is taken into the house, where the lower border of the beginning of the appearance of larvae is cut off. Such a frame is placed back in the family from which the queen was originally taken.
Now we wait about four days and check the bookmark, while removing all the fistulous queen cells. When there are approximately two days left before the appearance of the mothers, the queen cells are cut out. Then they are put back to ripen. After the release of the mothers, we place them in the cores.
Other methods
The simplest methods for breeding queens are described above. They are also the most used among domestic beekeepers. All other methods are based on the above. It is true that there are newer methods, but they have not yet been thoroughly developed in practice. Therefore, they will not be mentioned in this article.
Criteria for successful withdrawal
Although the task is not difficult, it still requires compliance with some basic rules or criteria, without which all the beekeeper’s efforts will be in vain. The first and most important thing is to carry out all the work on a strong colony, then we can talk about the good quality of the new queen bees. Second is provision optimal conditions, including diet and temperature required for good incubation. And finally, this is the creation of high-quality paternal and maternal bee colonies.
The main task of the paternal family is to breed high-quality and early drones. After all, they are the ones who must provide the uterus with an abundance of seed material. Without them, even a high-quality maternal specimen will not be of any use. The task of the maternal family is to raise good queens. At the same time, it must be remembered that it is necessary to form maternal families when there are sealed drone broods in the paternal ones.
Calendar
A successful conclusion also directly depends on the timely completion of work. A delay could lead to disruption of the entire event. Therefore, every beekeeper should have a calendar nearby.
Below are two such calendars, one in the form of a table and the other in the form of a circle. Guided by them, you can accurately trace the development of maternal individuals and draw up a clear schedule for hatching them.
Video “Queen breeding for beginning beekeepers | Honeycomb cutting method"
This video from the Beekeeping and Nature channel shows the removal of queens for novice beekeepers using the honeycomb trimming method.
The main function of the queen bee is to lay eggs. There is only one fertile individual in the family. Bees take care and protect their mother. She has her own retinue, which provides her with nutrition (royal jelly).
The queen bee, or “Queen” as beekeepers call her, is the parent of all the bees living in the hive. In nature, its lifespan can reach up to 8 years., but in beekeeping the queen is usually replaced with a young one after 2 years. This is due to the fact that active sowing of eggs occurs in the first two years, then reproduction decreases. The beekeeper can change it earlier if it does not give good results.
Now let's talk about what a queen bee looks like. It can be easily distinguished from worker bees by its shape and size. It has an elongated body, reaching a size of 2-2.5 cm. Its abdomen, unlike other bees, protrudes beyond the wings. There is a sting at the end, but it is used for protection from other queen bees.
Has smaller eyes. Weight - 0.025 g, and barren - 0.020 g. Weight and size depend on the age of the bee and the breed. Uterus can be fertile or infertile. The first ones sow with worker bees, while the second ones sow with drones.
How long does it take to hatch queen bees from scratch naturally?
Let's look at how and how many days the queen bee hatches? For those beekeepers who are seriously involved in apiary work, this knowledge is necessary for the following reasons:
- To replace an old individual with a young one.
- For breeding work.
- To prevent bees from swarming.
- To control seedings.
- Helps identify tinder.
The queen bee hatching process begins with the sowing of an egg. The fertilized egg hatches into a queen, which subsequently breeds worker bees. Polypores emerge from infertile seeding.
The queen sows eggs into a bowl built on honeycomb. From it a larva develops, which is cared for and protected by bees. The larva of the future queen is fed with royal jelly and the queen cell continues to be pulled out of the bowl. On the 7th day they seal it.
Before sealing it, they fill it with food for the larvae. It is royal jelly. For those beekeepers who collect it for sale, this is the most convenient time for collection.
How many days does it take for the queen bee to hatch and emerge from the queen cell? Before leaving the queen cell, the larva, feeding on milk, grows and turns into a pupa. From pupa to uterus. It still ripens for some time in the queen cell. On the 16th day there is an exit from the queen cell., by gnawing it out.
Beekeepers involved in breeding queens should know that the darker the queen cell is below, the older it is. The first queen that emerges will destroy the remaining queen cells. Control of queen cells and the release of individuals will allow beekeepers to prevent a swarming state in the hive. Guess the time of the possible departure of the swarm. It will help to form layering on mature queen cells.
During the first time after leaving the queen cell, the young queen gains strength and eliminates the remaining queen cells. At the same time, they are divided into fetuses and polypores. Those individuals that fly around and mate with drones within 7 days become fertile. The whole family is involved in this process. If this happens, after 3 days the hive should be seeded with worker bees.
The uterus can live 5 years, but for honey production it is not practical to keep it for so long. After 2 years it should be replaced with a young one, because after this time seeding decreases. Autumn sowing ends early, and spring sowing begins later. If the queen has not flown around, then a drone infestation will appear in the hive. Such a family is doomed to death. The polypore should be removed and a fertile individual should be introduced.
Cycle, stages and timing of larval development in the queen cell by day
Queen bee hatching schedule.
Bees live according to their own laws and all development periods often depend on the microclimate in the hive, the strength of the colony and weather conditions. Therefore, the exit of the uterus may be a day earlier or later. Hatching time for queen bees stretch from 26 days to 30 or more.
Without mating with drones, it is impossible to obtain a fertile queen. But the number of drones in the hive must be constantly monitored. How does a drone develop?
The drone is formed in the same way as the worker bee, but has a longer development cycle. If you look closely at the honeycombs, the cells with drones in the honeycombs are larger. They have a convex, loose lid. From egg to adult 24 days pass. The drone will be ready to mate on the 33rd day. Therefore, it is important to look at the calendar and not miss this time.
How is a queen hatched without a larva?
A simple method that beekeepers use to get a young queen without buying. Popular in private apiaries and accessible to beginners. To succeed in breeding the uterus, you should choose a strong family. If more queens are required, then several families are selected.
In the central part of the body, more precisely in the space between the frames, an insulator is installed where oviposition will take place. If the insulator is not available, then they can be replaced with honeycombs. At the stage when larvae appear in the honeycombs, they are planted in the prepared layering.
Keeping two queens in a hive - controversial issue, so in natural conditions There is only one queen in the family. When the second one appears, the strong one will kill the weak one. But some beekeepers strive to maintain two queens in families and thereby double or even triple the size of the family. Thanks to the powerful growth of colonies, a larger amount of honey can be pumped into the main honey flow. Beekeepers strive to pump out 40 kg of honey per colony every week.
Further actions of the beekeeper
- After 6 hours, the honeycombs with the laid eggs are taken. They are taken out of the hive.
- Using a heated knife, a strip with laid eggs is cut out.
- On one side, cut to half the height. Of the three cells, one will remain.
- On the remaining cells with larvae, use a stick to carefully widen the holes (artificially make bowls). Queen cells will be lined up here.
- A strip prepared in advance is attached to an empty honeycomb frame.
- A hole is made no more than 5 cm high (parallel to the block located on top).
- The strip is glued with melted wax or wooden pins. It is taken into account how many queens are required and the same number of holes made.
Raising a queen bee
The queen is raised where the larvae are selected. The frame is placed in the place of the one that was removed before. There will be a cluster of worker bees who constantly monitor order, the timely delivery of royal jelly and the alignment of queen cells.
Thus, the family turns into educators. Before the appearance of the uterus, the queen cell is cut out and placed in a nucleus or cells. In this way, the individual is raised without transferring the larvae.
Basic breeding rules
The queens are raised at the same time as the drone brood (thus producing mature drones).
- A fertile individual appears with good honey collection.
- The queen grown from large larvae is better than from small ones.
- For hatching, larvae that are 12 hours old are used.
Two-queen maintenance of a bee colony
Two-queen maintenance of bee colonies allows you to increase the hives to the main honey flow and in this way you can increase honey collection by 50%. It is advisable to maintain this method in central Russia and in its northern regions, since the honey collection period in these areas is short and most often ends in July.
Advantages of two-queen keeping bees in multi-hull hives:
- in winter, feed consumption is reduced (due to mutual heating);
- seeding increases;
- Bee activity increases;
- honey collection increases.
Flaws:
- bulky and heavy hives;
- deterioration of ventilation;
- difficult to prevent swarming;
- When viewing the frames, you need to disassemble the entire structure.
In double-hull hives
This method is used in hives with two bodies (12 frames) and two magazines. During the flowering of the willow, the nest is expanded with wax. Thus, by the beginning of May, 8 seeded frames appear. If bees lay queen cells on them, the body is removed and installed nearby.
Instead, they put a housing with half the frames and a source. It is closed with a blind partition and a body with a uterus is installed on top. The entrance should be turned in the other direction.
After 4 days, the queen cells are removed from the lower body. Cells turn in one direction. There are now two “queens” working in the hive. They are kept until honey collection.
During the main honey collection, the septum is removed. Since there is only one queen in a hive, when families unite, the strong one kills the weak one.
In multi-hull hives
With the help of two-queen colony maintenance, beekeepers in multi-hull hives build up strong colonies for the main honey harvest. To do this, in the first ten days of May, the queens begin to hatch. From the second half of the family, they occupy two or three buildings and organize a branch in the upper one. A barren individual and a queen cell are placed in it. At the end of the month, sowing of the honeycombs begins.
Now work begins on actively growing families with two queens. On layerings of 6-8 frames, a dividing grid is placed for 1-2 days. After the body is filled with frames with foundation. Place a separating grid and a housing on top. The old "queen" is removed. A new layer is made on it.
These colonies do not swarm and have a larger number of worker bees that emerge from the upper buildings. Thus, the mass of collected honey increases.
In sunbeds
For some, keeping bees in hives with two queens is more convenient.
With this method, you take a sunbed with 16 frames, which are divided by a dividing grid. In each department there is a family with a uterus. In this form they overwinter and grow in size in the spring.
In the summer, a general store is installed, a building with bars. As families grow, shops are added. Thus, the honey yield increases.
From all that has been said it is clear that main role The queen is playing in the hive. As you can see, breeding a queen bee is not difficult if you know the matter. The main thing is to adhere to the specified scheme and then you can breed the individual from scratch. It determines how much honey you harvest. With skill and knowledge of handling the queen of the hive, you can increase the productivity of the apiary.
On the territory of the North-Western zone of Russia, including the Pskov region, due to the natural and climatic conditions for bees, there is an early, weak and long-lasting harvest of the nectar-bearing conveyor type, with stronger short-term honey collections from willow and other spring honey plants, as well as at the end summer - from forbs.
Under favorable conditions, it is during these periods that marketable honey is collected.
Weak summer support, often interrupted by unfavorable weather conditions, contributes to the mass swarming of bee colonies, which ultimately leads to their weakening by the autumn season and wintering.
Such families, after wintering in the spring, cannot productively use bribes from willow trees, even in cases where weather conditions permit.
Thus, from the above, it is concluded that in the conditions of the North-West, it is possible to fully use bribes and obtain adequate income from beekeeping only if natural swarming is prevented.
At the same time, it is necessary that anti-swarming techniques throughout the beekeeping season be aimed at increasing the number of brood and bees from each overwintered colony using layering with high-quality queens and, thanks to this, contribute to obtaining high honey yields, both in the current year and in the spring next year.
Therefore, the issues of using bribes from willows, preventing swarming and hatching of queens, forming anti-swarm layering, preparing families and layering for the main July-August bribe and using it, increasing the strength of families for wintering and its implementation, replacing old queens in families with young ones have always been of concern and worry beekeepers in North-West Russia, including me.
Having been in this industry for over 60 years, I constantly strive to find the simplest and most accurate answers to all these questions. Moreover, I keep the 200 bee colonies that belong to me not at one, but at six stationary points located at a distance of up to 60 km from my place of residence.
In this situation, the main task is to maintain bee colonies without swarming, since it is impossible to guard and collect swarms at the same time at 6 points.
As a result of painstaking searches and findings, in the 90s, in my apiary, a swarmless method of beekeeping was developed and put into practice in the conditions of the Pskov region according to a strict calendar plan.
The main conditions of this method are:
1. Keeping bee colonies in three-dimensional three-hull hives.
2. The spring expansion of nests of families upward is carried out not by store extensions, but only by placing second buildings.
3. Early spring hatching of queens at each point.
4. Formation of not one, but two anti-swarm layers from each overwintered colony on 14-day queen cells without searching for queens.
5. Bringing the formed layers to the July-August bribe to the strength of full-fledged families with the placement of second buildings on them.
6. Independent use of these layerings in late summer harvest.
7. Post-bred joining of the cuttings to the main families, with the simultaneous replacement of old queens in the families with young ones from the cuttings.
8. Assembling nests of reinforced families for wintering in two buildings, with nesting frames placed in the second buildings, and magazine frames in the lower ones.
9. Providing strong families with food for the winter in such a way that all the frames going into the winter are filled with honey and beebread.
10. Wintering of bee colonies in two buildings with enhanced, but not drafty, ventilation, and with an under-frame space increased to 17 cm.
11. Successful use of strong bee colonies next year using willow and other spring honey plants, if weather conditions permit.
One of the main components of the developed beekeeping method is the method of artificial hatching of queens at each point from two-day-old eggs.
Its essence is as follows:
In the spring, when the colonies of the apiary or point have developed to the volume of the hive and have 8-9 frames of brood, second buildings are placed on all the main families of the apiary, using dividing grids.
When placing them, these buildings are replaced with 2 frames of food and 3 frames of the youngest brood.
The queens of the main families always work only in the lower buildings.
On the same day, the second buildings are placed on the breeding families-educators.
At the same time, queens are found in them and on 2 frames of young brood and on 2 frames of food, together with the bees, they are transferred to the second buildings, separated from the lower ones by dividing grids.
After 7 days, queens are found in the second buildings of breeding families, and for 2 days they are placed in one-sided insulators, on combs in which brood has never been hatched. Insulators are made from dividing grids.
2 days after this, layerings are formed from the second buildings of breeding families, into which isolators with queens are rearranged.
In the lower buildings of breeding families, where by this time all the brood is sealed, wells are prepared between the brood frames for placing grafting frames in them.
In this state, without open brood and queens, breeding families remain for 3-4 hours.
At this time, the point is supplemented with brood and food from the second buildings of the main families.
At the same time, from their lower buildings, to the second, 3 frames of the youngest brood and 2 frames of food, without bees, are rearranged.
At the end of the working day, when the bees of the breeding families feel orphaned, two-day-old eggs are inoculated for the artificial hatching of queens.
At the same time, insulators are removed from the layerings formed from breeding families, the queen is released from them into the layering, and the sown honeycombs with two-day-old eggs are removed.
In the car or directly on the lids of the hives, these honeycombs are cut into strips with one row of cells with eggs.
In these strips, the eggs are thinned out in such a way that each egg for grafting is left through 2 empty cells, in which the eggs are crushed with a match.
After thinning the eggs, the strips are glued (smeared) to the slats of the grafting frames with the side in which there are no eggs.
The frames grafted in this way are placed in the wells between the brood in the lower buildings of the nurse colonies, on which the queen cells are laid.
12 days after grafting, 14-day queen cells are used to form anti-swarm layers and nuclei from the main colonies.
This method of breeding queens turned out to be very convenient and simple for use directly in apiaries in the field. It fits seamlessly into the recommended method.
The effectiveness of this method of beekeeping is eloquently demonstrated by the apiary indicators: there is no death of families during wintering, families do not swarm, and up to 130 kg of marketable honey is collected for each overwintered family.
Over the past ten years, this method of beekeeping has undergone scientific testing and refinement at the Experimental Apiary of the Beekeeping Department of the Pskov Research Institute of Agriculture, research fellow which I am.
The results of these tests showed that when applying the above method of beekeeping in the conditions of the Pskov region, the yield of marketable products for each overwintered bee colony increases several times, compared with the traditional beekeeping technology used by beekeepers in the region, and in some years reaches 190 kg, which is an excellent indicator in the conditions of the North-West.
For the development of this method of beekeeping I was awarded the Diploma of the Presidium Russian Academy Agricultural Sciences "For the best completed scientific development of 2007."
The results of its inspection were brought to the attention of Russian beekeeping workers at All-Russian conferences on beekeeping, held in Pskov. A presentation of this method and experimental materials were published in the journal “Beekeeping”, in the brochure “Work Calendar of a Beekeeper in the North-West Zone of Russia” under my name, as well as in the publication by L. N. Borodina “To Help the Beekeeper” under the name “Tsebro Method” .
Personally, I have repeatedly spoken on this issue at meetings and gatherings of beekeepers in many regions of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, trying to implement the method into practice as quickly as possible.
It seemed that having received such material, proven by practice and science, most beekeepers would immediately use it in their apiaries and increase the honey yield of their bee colonies several times. But, unfortunately, this did not happen. Only a few, more experienced apiary owners began to use this method and get excellent results.
A logical question arises - why is it being introduced into practice so slowly?
During conversations with beekeepers, it turned out that the main obstacle to its development is the method proposed in it for artificially hatching queens from two-day-old eggs, although, as it seemed to me, it is the simplest and most accessible for beekeepers.
It turned out that many apiary owners are frightened by what they consider to be the complexity and labor-intensiveness of all the recommended methods of artificial breeding of queens, including the one proposed by me. Most apiaries do not have the inventory and equipment necessary for artificial hatching of queens. Because of this, many beekeepers do not use the proposed methods of breeding queens.
In their apiaries, most of them use the simplest and most primitive method of breeding the so-called fistula queens, which was used by their fathers and grandfathers.
To breed such queens, they use frames with young brood, given into queenless families, into small layers and even into nucs.
Beekeepers know that this is not The best way obtaining queens, but it is the simplest and most accessible to perform.
Therefore, discussing questions about beekeeping methods and methods of breeding queens, beekeepers asked, based on the achievements of beekeeping science, to develop and offer for practice the same simple and affordable way withdrawal of the uterus, as well as fistula. But in order to obtain high-quality queens, at the right time and in the right quantity, and not to deteriorate the gene pool of the apiary.
When asked why queen breeding according to the “Kemerovo” beekeeping system, long ago developed by Professor Vladimir Georgievich Kashkovsky, is not used in amateur apiaries, all beekeepers state that this method is not applicable in apiaries in North-West Russia for the following reasons:
1. According to this system, it is recommended to remove fistulous uteruses at the beginning of the late main bribe. At the same time, in the main families, old queens are found and layering is made on them, after which queenless families lay fistulous queen cells. It is almost impossible to find queens during this period, when families are the strongest.
2. This system does not contribute to the swarm-free maintenance of bee colonies, since by the time the queens emerge during the main harvest, in our zone, all colonies will be swarmed.
3. Families, left without queens during the main bribe, work worse at honey collection and collect less honey.
4. Queenless main colonies lay many fistulous queen cells on the larvae of different ages, and at the birth of the first fistulous queens, grown from more mature larvae, the families release swarms.
5. Culling queen cells laid on old larvae requires sorting out all the brood frames of the families, which takes a lot of time, especially during the main harvest, which leads to the distraction of families from honey collection.
There are many other reasons why the “Kemerovo” beekeeping system is not applicable in honey collection conditions in our area.
In our apiaries, the removal of queens should not be carried out during the autumn harvest, but in early spring and should be carried out without removing queens from the main colonies, which significantly increases honey yield.
In addition, the new method of removing fistulous queens should eliminate the search for old queens in families and the use of additional tools, equipment and inventory, and should be available to every beekeeper, regardless of his practice, experience and age, as well as the number of families in the apiary. This method of breeding queens should fit into any method of beekeeping, including the one proposed by me - with the formation of two anti-swarm layers from each overwintered colony.
At first it seemed that all these requirements were practically impossible to fulfill. But after a long search and experiments, we managed to resolve them and develop a simple way to breed high-quality queens in each family.
It is carried out during the pre-swarm period of development of bee colonies, with the aim of using the resulting queens to form anti-swarm layers and nuclei, as well as for the autumn replacement of old queens in the main colonies with young ones, when combining the layers with families for wintering.
The basis for this method of breeding queens has long been famous instinct bees, in which a group of bees of a family with a small amount of young brood, isolated from the queen, immediately begins to breed a queen from young larvae. It is also known from practice that if after some time this group of bees with fistulous queen cells is reunited with the family, but the queen of the family is not given the opportunity to destroy these queen cells, then the bees continue to raise them as with a quiet change of queens and do not lay new queen cells.
In addition, it is known that the more bees there are in this isolated group, the better the quality of the queens they raise.
It turned out that it is not difficult to obtain such groups of bees for starter layering from each colony if the families have second buildings with food and brood, separated from the first buildings with queens by dividing bars.
In this case, you only need to shake off the bees from the frames of the second buildings in hives with closed entrances, intended for starter layers, and give them honeycombs with young brood to lay the queen cells. These queenless bees will immediately lay fistulous queen cells on these combs.
Based on all of the above, a new withdrawal method has been developed quality queens in each family.
This method is primarily recommended for beekeepers who love small apiaries, who for some reason do not use any methods of artificial breeding of queens. But it can also be successfully used in large apiaries by professional beekeepers.
Work on breeding queens using this method begins with the installation of second buildings for all colonies of the apiary, which in strength have 10-12-14 streets of bees and have on average at least 8-9 frames with brood. At the same time, 6 frames of the most mature brood are left in the lower buildings of the families, and all other frames with brood without bees are rearranged into the second buildings. Two honey and beebread combs without bees are also transferred there.
Instead of the taken frames, in the first frames, after every two frames with brood, 3 frames with foundation are placed, and behind the last frames with brood - frames of honeycombs and food, including 1 honeycomb with drone cells for hatching early drones, up to a full set of frames. These drone combs are placed in the father families - the best families of the apiary.
Dividing grids are placed on the frames of the lower buildings, and for insulation - polyethylene films, which cover the frames of the lower case, except for the outer 5 frames. After this, the second buildings are placed on the first ones.
In the second buildings, frames with brood and food are suspended above the 5 frames of the first buildings that are not covered with film and are limited by insert boards. The nests are insulated.
After 9 days, when in the lower buildings the previously placed frames with foundation are mostly rebuilt and filled with brood, the second buildings are supplemented with brood and food up to 10 frames.
At the same time, two frames of food and three honeycombs with young brood are moved from the first buildings to the second ones, without bees, including one freshly built honeycomb containing eggs and larvae of all ages.
Instead of 5 frames selected from the first buildings, 3 frames with foundation and 2 frames of combs for brood are placed in them.
After this, dividing grids are placed on the frames of the lower buildings, second buildings with 10 frames are placed, and the nests of the families are insulated.
At the end of the day or on the second day, after many young bees have risen from the lower buildings of the colonies to the second ones to serve the brood raised there, bees from the second buildings are selected for starter layers, for which hives intended for the first layers are used .
In each such hive, place one honeycomb, partially filled with liquid sugar syrup, one insert board and lay it on a canvas that allows air to pass through well.
After this, from the second buildings of families, 2 frames with food and one freshly built comb with eggs and larvae of different ages, intended for laying fistulous queen cells on them, are rearranged into the hives of the starter layerings, together with the bees.
After rearranging these frames and limiting them with insert boards, all the bees remaining there are shaken off from the honeycombs remaining in the second buildings into the starter layers. The starter layerings are covered with mesh canvases.
The starter layer hives are closed with lids, under which, for ventilation, wooden slats-latches taken from the main hives or pegs - frame dividers are placed.
Formed starter layers are placed behind the hives of the main families, in their shade.
In the second family buildings, the remaining frames there are limited to an insert board and the nests are insulated.
It is convenient to form starter layers into empty third buildings of families in the same way as in separate hives, and with the same ventilation device.
Before installing the third buildings with starter layers on the families, the second buildings are covered with canvas, sheets of cardboard, roofing felt and films so that the sounds and smells of the families do not penetrate into the starter layers. This significantly increases and accelerates the laying of queen cells in starter layers.
Having sensed the queenlessness, the starter bees begin to build fistulous queen cells on the young larvae, and immediately feed them as if they were queen bees.
In the starter layering there are enough bees to generously feed 5-6 queen larvae for 1-2 days.
From families that are angry, sick, weak, or with bad queens, starter layers for laying queen cells are not formed. Up to 20 percent of such families should be selected. Subsequently, anti-swarm layers formed from these families are given queens or queen cells obtained from the breeding or best families of the apiary. In this way, the quality of families in the apiary is improved.
More experienced and skillful beekeepers, depending on their qualifications, before placing frames with brood intended for laying queen cells into layer starters, can carry out their preliminary preparation using one of the methods suggested below:
Method I: Using the thin end of a ballpoint pen or a sharpened pencil, expand the top of 10-15 cells with one-day larvae, to orient the bees on which cells to build queen cells.
Method II: Direct or semicircular pruning is performed and part of the combs with brood below the rows of cells with one-day larvae is removed. These combs, without thinning or with thinning of one-day-old larvae in the lower rows, are placed in starter layers.
Method III: Cutting out windows of different lengths and heights of at least 4 cm in honeycombs below the rows of cells with one-day-old larvae intended for laying fistulous queen cells. The cutting should be carried out no closer than three rows of cells from the honeycomb fastening wire. At the same time, in combs from breeding and best families, the windows are cut out much longer in order to lay a larger number of queen cells.
On the second day, in the evening, the frames from the starter layerings along with the bees are moved to the second buildings of the families. All the remaining starter layer bees in the hives are also shaken off there. After this, some of the bowls with larvae placed on the combs with brood are inspected and culled. Bowls with the largest and smallest queen larvae, as well as empty ones and those connected to each other, are eliminated. Up to 4 bowls are left for each main family, and in breeding and best apiary families - up to 15 larvae floating in royal jelly.
After culling the queen larvae, the second buildings are insulated.
Subsequently, families in the second buildings, where there are no queens, continue to raise the queen larvae left to them, and do not lay other queen cells.
5 days after transplanting the starter layerings into the second buildings of families, when the queen cells reach 11 days of age, the formation of the first layerings from each colony or apiary is carried out from their second buildings, where there are no queens at that time.
On this day, in the morning, one frame of honeycombs, partially filled with water, one insert board, and a mesh canvas are placed in each hive for layering. The hive entrances for layering are closed. For each main family, 3 frames with foundation and 1 honeycomb are prepared.
Before starting the formation of layering, a quick inspection of the combs of the second buildings of the families is carried out in order to determine whether the queens are working there.
Layerings are formed by rearranging from the second buildings of families into hives for layering 2 frames with food, 2 frames of the most mature brood, with bees sitting on these 4 frames, as well as shaking off the bees from the remaining combs of the second buildings, except for the frame with queen cells.
The second buildings are removed from the nests of families, and one frame with young brood without bees is selected from the lower buildings and placed between the frames with brood in formed layers to keep the bees in them from flying off.
From the lower buildings of the families, 2 frames of the youngest brood and one frame of food, without bees, are rearranged into the second buildings to attract young bees necessary for the formation of the second layer to the second buildings.
The remaining frames in the first buildings are limited by insert boards, dividing grids are placed on the frames and the second buildings are placed.
At the end of the day, the cutting holes open slightly by 2-3 cm.
Three days after the organization of the first layering, second layering is formed from all families of the apiary, in exactly the same way as the first.
In addition, after removing the second buildings from the families, one frame with brood containing fistulous queen cells is selected from the nests of the first layerings, and after the elimination of the queen cells, these frames are placed in the first buildings of the families.
The lower buildings of the families are equipped with 6 brood frames, including brood frames from the second buildings, if there are few of them in the first ones, three frames with foundation and the required number of combs.
In the second buildings, the remaining frames with brood are left, 3 frames with foundation and the number of combs missing from the set of buildings are placed.
In the evening, 14-day queen cells taken from the second buildings of the main breeding and best families of the apiary are distributed to all layerings, and the entrances of the second layerings are opened by 3-4 cm.
The remaining queen cells after distribution to the layering are enclosed in cells and placed between the frames of the second buildings of several strong families. These families are flagged.
3 days after this work, the emergence of queens from the queen cells in the layerings is checked, and spare young queens are planted in those in which the queens did not emerge.
On the same day, one prefabricated nucleus is formed from each two families, by selecting from the second buildings of these families 1 frame of printed brood or 2 frames of food, with bees sitting on them, depending on the strength of the families. Additionally, 3 frames of bees are also shaken into the nucs from each colony.
Young queens are placed into the formed cores in cages partially filled with candy and sealed with wax with punctures.
Nuclei are placed with right side hives of the main families at the same points.
6 days after the formation of prefabricated nuclei, all layerings are given 1 control frame with brood of different ages to determine the presence of queens in them. These 2 frames, for two layers from each family, are taken without bees from the lower buildings of the families, where, instead of them, 2 frames with foundation are placed.
The frames with brood given to the layering are also the first reinforcement of the layering.
3 days after the control frames are given, the presence of queens in the layering is checked according to the indications of these frames. If their brood, in any layer, contains fistulous queen cells, this indicates that there is no queen in this layer, and another queen from the reserve is added to it.
10 days after checking the control frames, the second layering is carried out. From the main colony, 1 frame of mature brood without bees is taken for each of the two layers. In exchange, 2 frames with foundation are placed in the family.
Subsequently, until the end of June, the layerings develop independently, and at the beginning of July, the second buildings are placed on them, on dividing grids, with 3 frames of brood being transferred into them from the first buildings.
At the main bribe, the cuttings participate as full-fledged families, and in the fall they join the main families. In families, old queens are replaced with young ones from the offspring. Some of the cuttings can be left over the winter for sale next year.
Mastering by beekeepers the proposed simplest method of breeding fistulous queens in each family, as well as the method of forming and using layering, will allow them to increase the marketability and profitability of their apiaries several times.
Of course, more experienced beekeepers in large apiaries can use any other method of breeding queens from eggs or larvae known and available to them. But for swarm-free maintenance of bee colonies in our area prerequisite is to place second buildings on the families, remove the queens in any way, form two anti-swarm layers from each overwintered family and use them in the July-August honey harvest.
When tested in practice, only this method ensures the highest productivity of bee colonies; in addition, due to the resulting layering, it allows increasing the number of families in the apiary or organizing their sale.
The annual breeding of queens in each family significantly increases their quality and improves the gene pool of the apiary.
