If you decide to start breeding bees, then evencan not imagine how interesting it is. Initially, many people think: "I will manage one or two families, I will collect honey for myself." And then they get into the taste, and they do not want to do anything else, like buzzing houses. In order for your apiary to grow and be timely replenished with new hives, you can write bees from special farms. Then a new swarm will come to you in a box and will only have to transplant it into the house. However, there is another way. You can catch a stray swarm of bees for free. Today we will talk about the techniques of catching, as well as the difficulties associated with this.
Если вы стоите только в начале пчеловодческого ways and acquiring a flying family for the time being only in plans, then you can try to get a wild bee swarm. Despite the fact that this process is quite laborious, it is also extremely interesting. True, it requires a certain time. However, the result will surpass all expectations. Wild insects are distinguished by excellent working capacity and winter hardiness, as well as resistance to various diseases. Therefore, their offspring, who fled in the form of a swarm in search of their own homes, is of enormous value.
The swarm time begins in May and ends inAugust. Accordingly, at this time, you can actively place traps near flowering meadows, preferably where there are many melliferous. In this case, the efficiency can be very different. In a single season, catch a dozen swarms, and after another you will not be able to get one.
Of course, it depends on the number of traps.The more of them, the sooner you will be able to find the most promising places and acquire new families. Do not forget to inspect them every day, and ideally you can look in the morning and evening. If the trap was chosen by hornets, then it is necessary to remove it and expel uninvited guests with the help of a smoke. In delight they will not, so protect your face and hands with a net.
And have patience, because to catch a straybee swarm is not always easy. Sometimes insects get into the house prepared by you, but somehow decide to move on and start actively to fly apart. If you are at this point were close, then use the old technique: spray on the bees with water. They will decide that it's raining, which is prudent to wait out in cover.
However, an experienced beekeeper, who on the siteno longer one hive, should know well how to track and catch a bee swarm. The fact is that each of his family will grow and a day will come when, under the new queen, a part of the bees will leave the close hive to form a new colony. In order not to miss these insects, there must be traps on the apiary that will attract their attention. Then you calmly transplant a new swarm into your own house.
Finally, the third option, for which the beekeeper needsthis information. The bee swarm can escape from the careless beekeeper, who lives relatively close to you. Having on the site one or more traps, you get the opportunity to catch this family and increase your population.
Catching bee swarms is a fascinating andcognitive process, but don't be too disappointed if the first attempts fail. There are three main points that we will examine in sequence. The first concerns the remoteness of the traps from the apiary. It would be logical to assume that they need to be placed on their plot, so that the young family simply moved into a separate housing. But practice suggests that such a decision would be wrong.
A natural instinct tells insects thatto choose a place to live is far from the native apiary, in order to avoid overpopulation and lack of food. Therefore, the hunting of swarms is carried out outside of its site. As a rule, insects choose the same places, which the bee-keeper knows with experience. But the newcomer will find it difficult to determine exactly where they will go.
So how to catch a bee swarm with your bare handsit turns out, you need to build a suitable house for him. Most importantly, the insects themselves should consider it quite appropriate for placement. It is easy to make a trap, it does not require large financial and temporary investments. Let's talk about what exactly is a bee swarm trap:
Catching bee swarms with traps is alwayslottery. Therefore, it would be better if you prepare them a few pieces. When creating a design, think in advance about the size of the young family. As a rule, about half of the bee colony is separated. If the room is too small, then instead of instilling, they will fly further.
Placing frames inside the trap isa necessity, as a young family should have the opportunity to arrange and collect honey. Many beekeepers believe that one frame can be placed in a trap, but experienced beekeepers recommend using at least 5-8 frames. In this case, the bees are more likely to love the house offered to them. However, the design will be quite compact and light. Frames are best to take the old, to them young insects are grafted much better.
Letok is another important point at whichneed to pay attention. Since catching a bee swarm into a hive is rarely obtained in person, you will have to rely on the fact that they will like it and they will linger in it until you arrive. It is very important that the bees find it safe. The length of the entrance should be 6-7 cm, and the height of 1 cm. This will not allow uninvited guests to get inside. The arrival board is necessarily supplied with a projection of 3 cm.
Appearance is another thing thatcan not be overlooked. You have two tasks in front of you: to make the structure completely unattractive for a casual passer-by and remarkable for insects. To this end, the trap body is sheathed with tree bark and branches from above. The more natural it will look, the more willing it will consider as a shelter a young family. It is desirable to cover the walls with beeswax. It is necessary to disguise its participation in its creation, as well as a bait. Based on these same considerations, you can not use paint, varnish and other odorous substances.
To keep the young family trapped insideshould be dry. No matter what the weather is outside, if water penetrates through the cracks in the roof, then it is likely that the insects will decide to escape. Therefore, the roof must be overlapped, and it is covered on top with any waterproof material. This is a matter of survival, so the suitability of housing will be assessed very strictly. You should not assume that a temporary box can be with cracks as thick as a finger. The fact that they have another housewarming, the bees do not yet know.
Constructions for catching a young family are usually located within a radius of 3 km from the apiary:
Everything that we described above:comfortable house, not leaking roof, the presence of frames - this is all right, but not always, such methods work. If time after time your trap remains empty, then you can try special preparations that are based on natural bee instincts. We will tell you only about the most popular ones, since there are quite a lot of them on the market:
So, you are back at the location of the trap andsee bees hovering over her. What to do now? We need to wait for the evening, close the entrance and move the trap home. Now you have to transplant them into a permanent hive. To do this, it is better to choose warm, windless weather and take along an assistant with a smoke that will scare the insects so that they do not bite.
Аккуратно снимите верхнюю часть ловушки.Usually, the bees very quickly manage to rebuild wax tongues. Inspect them carefully. The main thing is that the queen bee does not remain on them. Now you need to look at the frame. If there is a uterus on one of them, then this frame should be placed in the hive. If it is not, and sowing is insignificant, then shake off the bees and set the frame aside.
What to do if the inspection frame is notgave the result? In other words, you still could not find the uterus. In this case, shake all insects from the trap directly into the hive and close the lid. It will be unnecessary to add that everything there should already be ready for a new family. Now it remains only to wait until the insects settle in and start storing honey. Congratulations, you now have a new bee family.
