Reproduction is an important part of the life of insects. In beekeeping, the study of the stages, methods and forms of reproduction of bees helps to preserve and effectively increase the population of bees in the development of an apiary. We will tell you how, using special knowledge, you can influence the natural processes of the hive.
There are two forms of bee breeding. They, in turn, are divided into several breeding methods.
Natural reproduction
All types of honey bees reproduce by vegetative-sexual methods. There are 2 such methods.
Population increase
For the functioning of the bee family, it is necessary that there are 3 types of bees inside the hive:
- the queen bee is the queen whose only job is to lay eggs;
- working bees - who carry honey and look after new generations;
- drones are males whose only function is to mate with the uterus.
To mate, many male bees fly to a special place to meet the queen. During mating, the drone does not fertilize the bee, but only fills its special organ with sperm.
At one time, the uterus mates with 10-20 males. About 100 million sperm accumulate in the queen's oviducts. Seed liquid will be stored and used for the next 4 years. But, they change the uterus every 2-3 years.
The queen fertilizes only some eggs: moving through the oviduct of the bee, they can be fertilized, clinging to the seminal duct. The queen bee will lay about 2,000 eggs per day. If the egg is fertilized, then it will make either a working bee or a queen. If the egg is not fertilized, a drone will result.
When the queen's seminal fluid runs out, it slows down the laying of eggs, new bees grow in the colony (they are controlled by working bees), which either leave the hive with part of the swarm or replace the old queen.
Swarm
Swarming - reproduction of bees by separation of the swarm with their new bee and relocation to a new place of residence.
In the spring, a large number of young individuals appear that are able to feed 5 times more larvae, in contrast to the old nurse. If the young bees do not have enough work, they begin to swarm. Therefore, the cessation of the construction of honeycombs and honey collection is marked, and the process of laying the buds of 8-10 mother breeding sites for new bees and the special feeding of the larvae in them begins.
To get a bee from a larva, it needs to be fed royal jelly.
They can contribute to swarming:
- a large increase in the number of young bees;
- worsening living conditions;
- an old uterus with a reduced number of pheramons and low reproductive capacity.
A swarm flies out of the hive 7-9 days after eggs have been laid in the mother cells. In rainy and cold weather, swarming may be delayed.
A swarm can leave 50% of the family, with 2/3 occupied by young bees.
In preparation for the departure, the bees stock up with honey, stuffing it in the belly, and then wait for the signal of the new uterus and fly away. Tree branches and bushes near their native hive can become a refuge for them. They sit like this from several hours to 2-3 days, until the "scouts" find a new place of residence.
The beekeeper can either catch a swarm and place it in a free hive, or identify a bee and kill it. Then the swarm will return to the old hive.
After the first swarm, a second, third and others will appear, while there are enough larvae in the hive to form a new swarm. In each subsequent swarm there will be less and less bees.
The end of the swarming is the destruction by insects of the old bee: they strangle her, clinging to their bodies, she overheats and dies.
For more information about the reproduction of bees by natural swarming, see the following video presented by practicing beekeepers:
Artificial reproduction
The natural swarming process is difficult to control, and since it brings a lot of anxiety associated with the productivity of the swarming family and the capture of the “escaped” swarm, the large apiaries are switching to artificial breeding methods.
Artificial methods are based on the natural reproduction of bees by swarming.
Layers and cores
Before the formation of layering, the uterus is preliminarily removed and prepared, and the conditions for keeping the future hive are created:
- nuclei for mating are being prepared - small hives in which bee colonies with a reserve uterus will be located;
- the nest is insulated;
- Provides the right amount of power.
Layers with a sterile uterus are created:
- a productive family is selected, 10 streets and 9 brood frames;
- in the family, 2-4 frames with bees that sit on them are selected and transferred to a new hive;
- bees are placed in the same hive, shaking them out of 2 frames, and the food supply is transferred (just a few frames are enough);
- the infertile uterus is launched into the established family or a mature mother is placed.
Layers are a selection of bees that are subsequently able to breed in artificially created conditions. They can be formed by taking a little bee out of several hives. Donor families are not weakened in this way.
Worker bees from a new family can fly back to their mother’s nest.
Division
For reproduction through separation of families, you need:
- take one family in 12 small streets and about 8 brood frames;
- install a new, but similar in color and shape, house immediately next to the mother;
- transfer 50% of all bees to the hive, as well as fodder and brood frames with a new bee;
- several frames with a wax are set in the new and in the “donor” hive;
- Arriving, the working bees are evenly distributed in 2 hives.
Uterine plaque
Another way to artificially reproduce bees is “plaque on the uterus”.
Held during:
- From May 15 to June 10 - when surplus reserve bees accumulate that cause swarming. This must be monitored in order to be in time before the formation of a new swarm. Then the bee will receive unlimited space for planting, and the bees will be loaded with work and “change their mind” to swarm.
- On the eve of the main honey collection or at the time of the honey collection, if the family is in a pre-break condition and has already stopped working. The beekeeper needs to speed up the process by placing part of the family in a new hive.
There is a noticeable difference with the natural way, since the beekeeper cannot control the presence of the same number of young bees that would fly out with the queen in the usual way.
The sequence of stages "raid":
- it is necessary to prepare hives, streets and lids;
- in the old hive a nest of a new family will be formed on the 5-6th framework;
- it should have 6-10 kg of honey, cells for sowing, 2-3 frames with wax;
- from the main family they take a working uterus, transfer it with a brood frame to a new nest;
- the hive of the former family is removed to the side by 1-1.5 m;
- a new hive is set in place of the old;
- after most of the working bees leave the mother hive, they give him a mature mother, separating it with a diaphragm and removing its fistulous ones;
“Plaque” is produced during the active summer of bees in the first part of the day.
- returning, the bees are independently distributed between 2 hives.
If the beekeeper plans to accelerate reproduction, the main family is divided not into 2, but into several parts. Young bees with brood are divided into equal parts, supplying all layers of 8 kg of honey and mature queen cells. That will give an opportunity until the fall to get from each family 3-4 new full-fledged bee colonies.
At the heart of any of the above methods is the natural activity of bees. For each area, its own best option is selected taking into account the timing of flowering of honey plants, local flora and swarm time, in order to effectively use natural and artificial breeding methods.