Life cycle. At the end of winter - beginning of spring, even before the onset of warmth, the queen begins to lay eggs - one at the bottom of each cell. After about three days, the first eggs hatch into larvae, and the workers begin to feed the larvae. They bring them food in small doses and pass it on “by word of mouth,” which is how honey bees differ sharply from the non-stinging species described above, which seal their eggs in cells along with provisions for the entire period of development.
The honey bee's brood cell remains open. The larva of worker bees is fed for about two days with bee jelly - the secretion of special glands of worker bees (probably in their head), and then with “bee bread” - beebread - a mixture of pollen with honey or nectar. After about six days it completes its development and its cell is sealed with wax; Inside it, she spins a cocoon and pupates. At the pupal stage, the legless white larva undergoes significant changes not only in appearance, but also in its internal structure, turning into an adult bee (imago) with wings and legs, supporting muscles and a nervous system. Just before pupation, the middle and hind parts of its intestines come together for the first time, and waste products that have accumulated throughout the life of the larval stage are removed from the body. The adult worker emerges from the pupa after about 12 days. If this occurs in early spring, she begins to forage during the peak of spring flowering, and the colony is guaranteed food for the entire active season.
The worker changes its functions in a certain sequence, determined by its age and partly by the needs of the colony. First, for about two weeks, the bee acts as a brood nurse, simultaneously cleaning the hive and doing other housework. Each larva receives several hundred feedings daily; on the last day of the larval stage there are up to 2000 of them. The queen bee, which can lay a mass of eggs per day that exceeds her own, also constantly needs food and care. She is always surrounded by workers, who very often feed her, clean her and at the same time prepare cells for eggs. In the hive, the queen can be easily seen by the ring of bees with their heads facing her.
Castes. The uterus stores in a small internal reservoir (spermatheca, or seminal receptacle) a lifelong supply of sperm received during the only mating flight, the flow of which itself regulates. She lays fertilized eggs in small cells, and unfertilized eggs in larger ones. It is assumed that when the female pushes the end of the abdomen into a small cell, its walls, with their pressure, stimulate the release of sperm, and in a freer cell the spermatheca remains closed and fertilization does not occur. Drones develop from unfertilized eggs in cells; of the fertilized ones are working individuals. Queens are grown in special large queen cells, which often hang down along the bottom edge of the comb. It has been experimentally proven that from any female (fertilized) egg both a fertile queen and a sterile worker bee can develop. The fate of the female is determined by the food that the larvae are fed. In the queen cell, she receives exclusively royal jelly throughout her development, without switching to bee bread, like future workers. Thus, it is they, and not the queen, who determine the final stage of development of each egg - by varying either the size of the cells or the nutrition of the brood.
There are much more drones in a hive than queens. Males often leave their family and, unlike females, easily take root in any other colony. This may reduce the likelihood of inbreeding. Drones are needed only for fertilizing young queens, and only a small percentage of males actually participate in it. They feed on honey collected by other bees while it is in abundance, but when, with the onset of cold or dry weather, its reserves are reduced, the workers do not allow the drones to feed and are eventually driven out of the hive. The lifespan of a male does not exceed four months.
Only one queen or a very small number of them are raised at any given time. If there are several queen cells in the hive, the first fertile female to emerge seeks out and stings to death all the immature “colleagues” that she manages to find. If two young queens emerge from their pupae at the same time, they fight until one of them is killed. The survivor then leaves the hive for a mating flight. Numerous drones follow her. Before the queen returns to the hive, seven or eight of them manage to mate with her. Each such male dies because his genitals get stuck in the female’s body and are torn off. During one mating flight, the queen receives a supply of sperm sufficient to fertilize all the eggs that she will lay throughout her life. She lives for several years (usually from three to five), laying from several hundred to several thousand eggs per day; Only in late autumn and winter does reproduction temporarily stop.
Nursing of a new queen can begin when it is necessary to replace a dead or aged individual that is no longer capable of laying eggs. In this case, worker bees select any fertilized egg or very young female larva, build a queen cell around it and feed it with royal jelly. If queen replacement is not necessary, new fertile females are raised to breed families.
Bees are considered amazing creatures of nature. Their help to people is enormous. Optimally, each bee colony has one fertile queen, a certain number of drones, and worker bees. This is a single biological entity. Neither bees, nor the queen, nor the drones are able to live separately from the family for a long time.
Worker bees are certain female individuals of a bee colony. Their difference is due to the fact that they have not fully developed genitals. They develop from fertilized eggs laid by the queen in bee cells. They do not mate with drones and therefore do not lay eggs.
At different times of the year, the number of worker bees in a colony varies. The productivity of the bee colony directly depends on their quantity. In spring, the number ranges from 20 to 25 thousand individuals. In summer, the number can reach from 80 to 100 thousand individuals. Such a family is considered strong. Individuals raised in a strong family live much longer.
The main producers of all products (honey, pollen, wax, propolis) are worker bees.
Characteristics
- It has a body that differs in structure from the body of the uterus and drone. It is much shorter - about 14 mm, the length of the proboscis is about 7.2 mm (may vary depending on the breed).
- The proboscis serves to collect and process nectar. With its help, it also feeds the larvae, queens and drones, and brings water to the hive.
- There are also wax glands. They are located on the abdomen and serve to secrete wax.
- The sting helps protect itself and the nest from external enemies.
Three weeks or 21 days pass from the moment the queen lays eggs until birth. The lifespan of a worker bee is directly related to the intensity of the work performed. In summer, she lives no more than 1.5 months. In winter it is much longer – up to two hundred days. Each individual has its own job.
stages of worker bee development
This division is associated with the physiological characteristics of worker bees. Individuals up to 20 days of development are considered young. At this age, they are able to secrete large amounts of milk. After three weeks of life, wax glands begin to intensively develop on their abdomen. Then they become able to fly to the meadows and bring nectar to the nest.
- feed the larvae in time;
- build new cells;
- maintain the temperature in the hive necessary for life;
- clean and ventilate the nest;
- take nectar from flying worker bees and immediately process it into honey;
- insulate the walls of the hives using propolis.
After 15–20 days, non-flying individuals move into the flying category. Now their responsibilities include:
- collecting pollen and nectar from plants;
- guarding the hive;
- delivery of water to the nest;
- propolis delivery.
After the bee becomes old, she only provides the nest with water. An individual that has successfully survived the winter is able to raise one young one in the spring. The spring hatchlings are much larger - more than three bees.
Stages of development
The life cycle of each worker bee is short-lived, but includes several important stages in the development of the individual. These stages can be designated:
The smell spreads from the female tribesmen who are at the entrance; it is better to paint the hives in a color that is distinguished by the working honey-bearers. It can be blue, yellow or purple.
The main task of worker bees is to ensure the livelihood of the colony. The list of jobs that a hard worker performs is determined by her age. But if there are problems in the family, she also performs work that is not typical for her age.
This ability of a working insect is most valued. Their body is perfectly adapted to perform various jobs - the sense of smell is well developed, the anatomically the body has all the necessary organs (a long proboscis, a goiter, a sting, a device on legs and brushes for cleaning the body from pollen, wax abdominal glands).
Bees live according to the laws established in the family and very strictly adhere to the established hierarchy. This ensures a high level of organization.
In order to achieve excellent results when breeding bees, you need to create ideal conditions for their life. Bee larvae (or, in other words, brood) must be provided with the necessary amount of nutrition that will allow them to fully develop.
What exactly comes out of the egg is directly related to which cell of the honeycomb they were placed in. Bees and queens will develop from fertilized eggs placed in different bee cells, while drone larvae hatch from unfertilized eggs placed in drone honeycombs.
The brood of drones and worker bees, which was placed in the cells of the honeycomb, feeds on royal jelly for three days, after which the bees supply them with a honey mixture with the addition of beebread as food. Royal larvae constantly feed only on bee jelly.
It is worth knowing that the process of feeding the larvae takes too much energy from the nurse bees, since the entire brood can quickly die (in just a few minutes) if it is not fed in time. Therefore, the nurse has to produce approximately 1,300 doses of milk per day.
Throughout the life of a bee, several stages of development can be distinguished:
- egg;
- larva;
- chrysalis;
- adult.
The development of the egg in the hive is the embryonic stage, and the formation of the larva and pupa is the postembryonic phase. Transitions from one state to another are called metamorphoses.
Most of the stages of development of drones, queens and worker bees have certain characteristics, as well as their own duration of the process.
The queen glues the egg (only laid) to the bottom of any cell of the comb, placing it vertically. Gradually developing, the egg will begin to deviate to the side and on the 3rd–4th day it will lie at the bottom of the nest. The laid egg of the uterus, the length of which is approximately 1.6 mm, is whitish in color and has a rather dense shell.
The embryo of the bee larva continues its development inside the egg for 3 days, after which its shell bursts - as a result, a small and legless worm hatches, which is usually called a larva. In an optimal environment, it takes 68 to 76 hours for the internal organs of embryos to form.
Larva
Before the larvae leave the nest, the bees lay out food near it. When it reaches the egg, the shell bursts and a larva is born, which immediately begins to eat the food next to it.
Nurse bees have to constantly add new portions of food, placing them near the first portion. After some time, the larva is completely surrounded by food, which is thoroughly mixed by its circular movement in the nest.
The size of transparent young larvae, recently hatched, is about 1.6 mm. At the end of 24 hours, their length is already 2.6 mm, and the color becomes slightly matte. After three days, the larva covers the bottom of the nest with its size and gradually changes its color to a white, translucent color.
In the first 72 hours of life, the larvae receive only a large amount of milk as food from nurse bees, exceeding 4 times its weight. From the end of this period, the “embryo” receives new food, consisting of a mixture of honey and bee bread. This food constitutes her diet until the cell is closed. And it was from this moment that she experienced a noticeable increase in mass.
As the brood develops and until it is sealed in the comb, the larva molts several times. On the sixth day after the brood has emerged from the egg, the bees feed it for the last time, and then close the honeycomb cell with a special wax cap with the addition of pollen. This lid is particularly porous and does not interfere with normal air exchange inside the cell.
After the larva is in a sealed cell, the brood there is completely straightened, adapts to the conditions and begins to actively spin a cocoon. This period can be called the pre-pupal stage.
This process ends one day after the cell is closed by the uterus. And a maximum of 3–4 hours after this, the larva begins another molt, during which the old skin is folded back to the beginning of the cell, where it is mixed with feces left by the larva after spinning an individual cocoon.
Doll
This stage can safely be called the “Adult Stage” (it will occur immediately after molting). As the pupa develops daily, its skeleton becomes hard and dark in color, similar in shade to that of an adult bee. If you look through the cap located on the cell, you can see a darker matte color, which is a sign of mature brood, from which young bees will emerge a few days later. Immediately after completing the last skin change, the bee slowly but very persistently gnaws through the lid of the cell that has “walled it up” and climbs out.
After the young individual leaves the nest, its cocoon will be in the cell. Since each cell in the hive is a nest for many generations of bees, the white hue of the honeycomb gradually becomes yellow, then light brown, and then completely dark. Their walls and bottom gradually thicken, as a result of which such honeycombs look much narrower and shorter than others. In these cells, over time, rather small and weakened bees begin to develop, having small wings and a rather short proboscis.
Unlike the old bee, young individuals are endowed with a chitinous skeleton and a soft body, which is covered with a thin layer of hairs, giving it a fluffy and shaggy appearance. Gradually, the chitinous shell becomes hard, the hairs rub off against the walls of the hives, and the bee’s body becomes bald and shiny in appearance.
On average, it takes 21 days for a worker bee to develop within the walls of a hive.
Development of a queen bee from an egg
In the first days, the development of the uterus from the egg laying stage and up to the third day of the brood stage practically does not differ from the normal and healthy development of the working individual. The main difference is only in nutrition, since the uterine larvae of bees receive milk in large quantities until their cells are “walled up”.
Molting and the process of spinning a cocoon in the queen proceed identically to this process in worker bees. In this case, the weight and size of the queen larva increases greatly after the cell closes. This happens due to the fact that the nurse bee generously spills milk on the brood before sealing the cell with a lid.
This occurs approximately 24 hours before the uterus leaves the cell.
After the queen is fully mature, she quickly gnaws through the lid and gets out of the nest. The entire development of the uterus takes approximately 16 days, after which it will be able to independently get out of the cell. The beekeeper must know this in order not to destroy the queen cell, especially when artificially rearing it. 
Development of a drone from an egg
Apart from the duration of growth and the individual characteristics of the drone's reproductive system, the process of formation of its larva is practically no different from the development of any bee.
The drone brood is closed by bees using characteristic wax caps, which do not contain pollen, and the caps themselves have a rather loose base.
It takes approximately 24 days for a drone to fully develop after the egg is laid and before it leaves the nest.
Maintain humidity and optimal temperature
As early as February, the queen may begin laying eggs in the honeycomb. It is after this that all the bees in the family begin to regularly maintain the temperature in the hive, and also monitor the humidity in the place where the cells with the baby are located.
The optimal temperature for the development of laid eggs should be between 33-35 degrees. It is important to note that it mainly depends on the outside temperature. A sharp decrease, for example, to 31-32 degrees, leads to a deterioration in the development of future bees, as well as some deficiencies in the quality of the pupae - for example, poorly developed wings. Obviously, such an individual will die very quickly. If there is a sharp increase in temperature, at least to 36 degrees, then all the pupae will die.
If you decide to become a beekeeper, you need a basic understanding of the life cycle of bees and the annual cycle of a bee colony. These are two organisms - an individual bee (which cannot exist on its own for long) and a bee colony as a superorganism.
Life cycle of a bee
There are three main types of bees - queen bees, worker bees and drones. The queen bee is the bee who is responsible for reproduction, but even this she cannot do alone. At a certain period of her life, which lasts several days, she leaves the hive and mates, and then lays eggs for the rest of her life. Working bees, depending on their age, feed the brood, build combs, preserve honey, restore order in the hive, guard the entrance or collect honey, pollen, water or propolis. Drones spend their days flying to drone sites in the morning and returning home before nightfall. They live their lives in the hope of finding a queen to mate with. Let us trace the life of each type from the state of the egg to death.
Let's start with the queen, since she is the central figure in the bee community - after all, there is only one queen for each colony. Bees can raise a new queen for several reasons: queen loss (emergency), weakened queen (quiet change), and swarming.
Absence of uterus
The cells for each case of hatching a new uterus look different or, in any case, appear under different circumstances, which can be distinguished by a number of characteristics. In a queenless hive there is little open brood and no unhatched eggs. Queen cells are attached to the comb from the side or bottom and are shaped like peanut shells. If the queen is dead or dead, the bees will take a young larva, feed it a significant amount of royal jelly and build a large convex cell for it.
Quiet shift
In the case of a quiet shift, the bees try to replace the weakening queen. Typically, the queen is 2-3 years old, lays fewer fertilized eggs and produces less queen pheromone. In this case, the queen cells are usually located somewhere at a height of 2/3 of the honeycomb.
Swarming
Swarm queen cells are built in the hive to create a new swarm - thus the bee colony gives birth to a new colony. Swarmer queen cells are usually located on the lower bars of the frames located in the brood body. They are usually easy to spot if you flip the socket housing over and look at the bottom of the frames.
The larva that will make a good queen is the egg of a worker bee that hatched 3.5 days after laying the egg. On day 8 (in the case of a large cell) or day 7 (in the case of a natural size cell), the cell will be sealed. On day 16 (for a large cell) or day 15 (in the case of a normal cell), the uterus will appear. On day 22, the queen is strong enough to fly out of the hive - under favorable weather conditions. On day 25 she is ready to mate and over the next few days, weather permitting, she flies out of the hive to be fertilized. By day 28 we can see the eggs laid by the new queen. From this time on, she will lay eggs (if the weather permits and there are enough supplies) until she weakens or flies out with a new swarm to a new place, continuing to lay there. Under natural conditions, the queen lives for 2-3 years, and almost always by the end of the third year she weakens - then worker bees replace her. In case of swarming, the old queen leaves the colony with the first (primary) swarm. Unfertilized queens fly out with subsequent swarms, which are called formations. Of course, there are exceptions. Jay Smith says he had a bee named Alice who was 7 years old and an excellent egg layer. However, on average, bees replace their queen at 3 years of age.
A worker bee's egg begins life in the same way as a queen's egg. This is a normal fertilized egg. Both are fed with bee milk at the first stage, but as the worker bee grows older, it receives less and less of it. Both hatch in 3.5 days, but the worker bee develops more slowly. The period from day 3 until the egg is sealed is called "open brood". The cell does not seal until day 9 (for large cells) or day 8 (for normal size cells). The bee emerges on the 21st day (for large cells) or on the 18th - 19th day (for normal-sized cells). From the moment the bee begins to break through the wax operculum until the moment it emerges from the cell, this stage is called "brood hatching." After hatching, the bee begins life as a nurse, feeding young larvae (open brood). For the first 2 days after hatching, the bee will clean the cells and provide warmth to the nest box. For the next 3-5 days she will feed the grown larvae. For the next 6-10 days, she will be busy feeding young larvae and queens (if any). During this period (from 1 to 10 days) it is a nurse bee. From the 11th to the 18th day, the worker bee will make honey - not collect it, but accept it from the collecting bees and place it in the honeycombs. From days 19 to 21, the bee will be responsible for ventilating and guarding the hive, and will also do janitor work, cleaning the hive and taking out trash. From days 11 to 21 these are housewife bees. From day 22 until the end of its life, the bee will be a forager. Except during winter, worker bees usually live for about 6 weeks or less, working their butts off until their wings become too worn out to fly. If the queen becomes weaker, the worker bee can develop sexual organs and begin to lay eggs, usually drone eggs, and usually several eggs per cell - strictly in the brood cells of the worker bees.
Drones emerge from unfertilized eggs. For those of you who have studied genetics - they are haploid, meaning they only have one set of genes, while the worker bee and queen are diploid - meaning they have paired genes (twice as many). Drones are half as long and thicker, they have huge eyes and no sting. The drone egg hatches on day 3.5. The cell is sealed on day 10 (for large cells) or day 9 (for natural cells), and the larva hatches on day 24 (large cells) or between days 21-24 (natural). The colony raises as many drones as they have enough resources to ensure that drones are always “on hand” when needed to fertilize the queen. It's unclear if they have any other functions, but if a colony raises about 10,000 drones in a year and only 1 or 2 of them are needed for mating, it's likely they could serve other purposes. If there is a shortage of resources, excess drones are kicked out of the hive, and they die from cold and hunger. For the first few days of their lives, drones beg for food from their nurse bees. Over the next few days, they feed from open cells directly in the nest (where they usually spend most of their time). After about a week, they begin to fly and navigate the terrain. After a couple of weeks, they already regularly fly to places where drones gather in the middle of the day and remain there until the evening. Drones gather in such places, and it is there that the queens fly to mate. If the drone is “lucky” to mate, its reward will be that part of its genitals will remain on the body of the queen, and she will lose them somewhere along the way - and the drone will die from the damage. The uterus will store his sperm in special vessels and use it to fertilize the eggs. Once the reserves are exhausted, the queen does not mate again, she weakens and is replaced.
Annual cycle of a bee colony
By definition, this is a cycle, so let's start with the moment when the year truly begins - with winter.
Winter
The colony makes every effort to leave for the winter with enough reserves not only to survive the winter, but also to build enough honeycombs by spring to expand the colony. For this, the family needs a lot of honey and pollen. The bee colony appears dormant during the winter. They don't fly until the temperature settles to around 10 degrees Celsius. But in reality, bees maintain a certain level of heat in the hive all winter, and throughout the winter the colony will hatch small batches of brood to replenish the ranks of young bees. Such broods require a lot of energy, and the hive must be warm during this period. In winter, the colony takes breaks between broods, and as soon as fresh batches of pollen begin to arrive, the colony will begin to increase its numbers sharply. Usually maples and willows give the first bribe. In my area this happens in late February - early March. Of course, if the temperature is too cold to fly, the bees will not be able to collect pollen. During this period, beekeepers often place pollen cakes to prevent the weather from becoming an obstacle to reproduction.
Spring
By the onset of spring, the colony grows rapidly. By this time, they have managed to raise at least one generation of brood. As soon as the first plants bloom, this will be a signal for the bees to fly out. These are usually dandelions or early-blooming fruit trees. Here in Nebraska, these are wild plums and wild cherry trees that begin blooming around mid-April. From now until mid-May, the colony will be busy preparing for swarming. They will try to finish the construction and begin to fill the honeycombs in the nest with nectar, so that the queen has nowhere to lay her eggs. This starts a chain reaction that leads to swarming. The longer the queen goes without laying eggs, the more weight she loses - then she will be able to fly. The less brood, the less work the nurse bees have (they will come out with a new swarm). Once the number of unoccupied nurse bees reaches a critical mass, they will build swarm queen cells, the queen will lay eggs in them, and the colony will release a new swarm before the queen cells are sealed. All this assumes, of course, that the colony has abundant resources and the beekeeper does not interfere with this process. If the bees decide not to swarm, they will focus all their energy on collecting nectar. If they do decide to release a new swarm, the old queen leaves the hive with a large number of young bees to build a new home in a new place. Meanwhile, a new queen appears in the hive - a couple of weeks after swarming - and after another couple of weeks she begins to lay eggs. The remaining forager bees are gathering crops to prepare for the coming winter.
Summer
In my area, the main honey harvest takes place in the summer. This is usually followed by a summer lull. Most likely, it is due - at least in my area - to the lack of rain. Sometimes, if the rains come on time, there is no lull, but usually there is some. Here, honey harvest begins in mid-June and ends with the end of flowering of honey plants. From time to time there is a real famine, when there is no nectar at all, and the queen stops laying eggs. In my experience, my honey is harvested from flowering soybeans, alfalfa, sweet clover, and plains grasses.
Autumn
In our places there is usually a period of autumn honey harvest. Mostly bitterling, goldenrod, asters and chicory, sunflowers and Partridge peas, as well as other weeds. Some years this alone is enough to stock up. Some years the harvest is too small to last through the winter, so I feed them. Usually, somewhere in mid-October, the queen stops laying eggs, and the bees begin to settle down for the winter.
Beekeeping products
Bees produce many useful things - most of them are taken away by humans.
Bees
Many beekeepers breed bees and sell them. Packages of bees for sale from the southern states usually appear in April.
Larvae
Many people around the world eat bee larvae, but in America it is not so popular. To raise larvae (bees must produce them in order for new bees to appear), bees need nectar and pollen. Feeding with syrup, a honey-pollen mixture, or a pollen substitute will encourage the bees to produce more brood - and therefore more bees - in the spring.
Propolis
Bees produce it from tree sap, treating it with their enzymes, and sometimes they also add beeswax. Propolis serves as a universal coating for everything inside the hive. This is an antibacterial substance - it is used both for sterilizing the hive and as an auxiliary material during construction. Everything inside the hive is held together with propolis. Holes that seem too large to the bees are sealed with it. People use propolis as a dietary supplement and as a topical anti-microbial agent for cuts, minor inflammations, etc. There are special traps for collecting propolis. The simplest is a ceiling grille, which is installed at the top of the hive. After some time, it is rolled up and placed in the refrigerator, then rolled out while it is frozen and the propolis is shaken off.
Wax
When a worker bee's stomach is full of honey and there is no storage space, the glands on the bee's abdomen begin to produce wax. Most of the wax is used to build honeycombs. A certain amount falls on the floor of the hive - this wax disappears. For humans, wax is edible, although it has no nutritional value. It is used as a base for candles, furniture polish and in the production of cosmetics. Bees need it to store honey and raise brood. To obtain wax, you can pump out the honey and crumble the honeycomb, or collect shells from printed brood cells, melt and filter.
Pollen
Pollen has high nutritional value - it contains a lot of protein and amino acids. It is a popular dietary supplement and many believe it helps with allergies - especially if the pollen was collected in the same region as the person being treated. Bees need pollen to feed their young. You can buy pollen traps or make your own. The principle of a pollen trap is to force the bees to pass through a small hole (about the size of a #5 wire mesh mesh), and as they pass, the pollen will fly off the bees and settle in the container, falling through a screen whose holes are large enough for pollen, but too small for bees (for example, metal mesh #7). Some pollen traps must be placed so that bees can bypass them half the time: there must be enough pollen in the hive to feed the brood. For example, it would be normal to set a trap for one week and remove it the next. Another problem with traps is that the drones cannot get out of the hive and get back inside, and also - if there is a young queen in the hive - she cannot fly out to mate and return to the hive. If you have an allergy and are treated with pollen, take it in small doses until you develop tolerance to the allergen or until you experience an adverse reaction. If an adverse reaction does occur, take smaller doses or stop taking it altogether, depending on the intensity of the symptoms.
Pollination
The essence of the “product” of bee breeding is that they pollinate flowers. Pollination is a service that is often paid for with real money. The typical cost of a pollination service ranges from $50 to $150 (depending on the number of bees in the hive) per one and a half hive. The cost of pollination usually depends on whether hives need to be moved from place to place at certain times in order for flowers (or other plants) to be sprayed, etc. It is likely that there would be no pollination fee if bees could be left for the entire year at the pollination site without the use of pesticides. In this case it is usually a mutually beneficial relationship between the beekeeper and the farmer and there is usually no charge, although it is considered good practice for the beekeeper to give the farmer a jar of honey from time to time.
Honey
It is usually considered a beekeeping product. Honey - in any of its forms - is the staple product of the hive. Bees store honey for the winter, and we, beekeepers, take it as payment for the “rent” of the hive. Honey is made from nectar, which is mostly sucrose dissolved in water, which is converted to fructose by enzymes produced by bees and dried to make it thicker.
Honey is usually sold in pumped form (liquid honey in a jar), in honeycomb pieces (a piece of honeycomb inside a jar of liquid honey), in combs (honey is in a comb). To produce honey in combs for sale, the combs without foundation are cut into pieces or the frame is sold as a whole, or Ross Rounds systems, Hogg Half combs, and more recently Bee-O-Pac are used. Cream honey is also sold (this is honey that undergoes special processing, during which tiny crystals are formed, and the honey acquires a paste-like consistency).
Any type of honey (except, perhaps, tupelo honey) will crystallize sooner or later. One variety will crystallize in a month, and the other in a year. In this state it is edible and can be liquefied by heating to a temperature of about 100 degrees. Candied honey can be eaten as is, or crushed to form cream honey, or fed to the bees for winter supplies.
Royal jelly
This is the food that bees use to raise the queen larva. In countries with cheap labor, it can be collected and sold as a food supplement.
Michael Bush, 2006
Bees in the Tyumen region usually spend the winter where they stay for approximately six months: from November to early April. On 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 apiaries in the region can cause the death of bees, so there is a need to conduct research work to determine 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.
The 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 orientation 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 colony development will help beekeepers carry out appropriate planned work in a timely manner: prepare bees for wintering, move families out of 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
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