Post by Ismail AbdulAzeez on May 28, 2017 15:18:16 GMT 1
THE SWARM
A few bees from the swarm cluster called the scout bees, fly out to look for a new home. If they have discovered and approved of your hive, the position of the hive is communicated to the bees of the swarm cluster by means of the bee dance. If there are no other attractive homes, the swarm will fly to your hive.
BAIT HIVES
A beekeeper can put small boxes or hives around the area in order to collect swarms. Such hives are called bait hives. The inside of bait is smeared with honey, wax, propolis and herbs like balm or lemon grass to attract swarms.
Once a bait hive has attracted a swarm, then the swarm can be transferred into another hive. The workers begin to build new combs or repair and clean any existing combs.
If it is a swarm with a laying queen, the first eggs will be laid within a few days. If the swarm has a virgin queen, she will first have to make the mating flights.
The Development of The Bee
The eggs hatch after three days.
The Larvae Stage
The larvae stage last for about 5days. During this period, the nurse bees provide the larvae in the open cells regularly with small quantities of food.
Sealed or Capped Brood
After this, the bees close the brood cell with a porous wax capping. This is called sealed or capped brood. The larvae inside spin a cocoon, expels its excreta and then becomes a pre-pupa and pupa. The capped phase of the worker brood lasts about 12days.
Then the bee, which has developed from the pupa, eats away the wax capping and appears on the comb. The newly emerged light-grey bees are easy to recognize.
The drones take the longest to develop. The open brood stage lasts about 7days and the capped brood stage about 15days.
The young queens, however, are ready to emerge within 7days. It is important for the beekeeper to know that after a hive has lost its queen, he can expect the birth of a young queen about 12-13 days.
The Development of A Colony
If the queen is in good condition and the forage conditions, are favorable (presence of many flowering plants and good weather) the brood nest especially of a large colony expands rapidly.
The queen usually begins to lay eggs on the comb and continues egg laying on the combs left and right of this comb.
As soon as the capped brood in the centre emerges the cells are cleaned by the youngest bees and the queen again lays eggs in these cells. The combs bordering on the left and the right of the brood nest are sometimes filled mainly with pollen. This pollen is eaten by the young bees.
The cells that become empty are either again filled with pollen or the queen lays eggs in them. Honey is stored in the cells around the pollen ring especially above the brood and pollen cells and in increasing quantities in the combs to the left and right of the central comb of the brood nest.
Swarming
Before a colony has reached its maximum size, it can in the presence of the old queen, raise new queens and the colony can split itself into groups with one queen each. The propagation of a bee colony is therefore called social reproduction.
Such a separate group of bees with one (or more) queen(s) is called a swarm. The event of a swarm leaving the colony is called swarming. This is the normal way for bee's colonies to increase in number and disperse in the area. It is not known exactly which factors trigger the preparation for swarming. An important cause might be too little space in the brood nest, thus limiting the number of eggs a queen can lay.
Preparation for swarming starts with the building of "swarm cups". These are short bowl-shaped cells, which have their openings facing downwards. These swarm cups are usually found at the bottom. edge, but also at the front and back edges of the combs.
The queen lays eggs in a number of these swarm cups. After the eggs hatch the nurse bees deposit food in these cups and from this moment on the cups are elongated to become swarm cells. Much more brood food is deposited in queen cell than in a worker cell, and the composition of the food is different (royal jelly). The reason for this fertilized egg produces a queen and not a worker is apparently the result of the amount and composition of the food offered to the larvae.
From the moment the queen has laid eggs in the first swarm cup, the workers offer less food to the queen. The behavior of the workers towards the queen alters radically as soon as the first swarm cells have been capped.
The old queen is forced to leave the hive and a part of colony leaves with her. At this moment, the colony is swarming and thousands of bees will circle in the air.
A swarm usually looks for a resting place in the close environment of the hive. If the scout bees find a suitable nesting site, the swarm moves to this place, if not, the swarm leave to another area. About one week after the departure of the first swarm (with the old queen) the first young queens emerge.
A few bees from the swarm cluster called the scout bees, fly out to look for a new home. If they have discovered and approved of your hive, the position of the hive is communicated to the bees of the swarm cluster by means of the bee dance. If there are no other attractive homes, the swarm will fly to your hive.
BAIT HIVES
A beekeeper can put small boxes or hives around the area in order to collect swarms. Such hives are called bait hives. The inside of bait is smeared with honey, wax, propolis and herbs like balm or lemon grass to attract swarms.
Once a bait hive has attracted a swarm, then the swarm can be transferred into another hive. The workers begin to build new combs or repair and clean any existing combs.
If it is a swarm with a laying queen, the first eggs will be laid within a few days. If the swarm has a virgin queen, she will first have to make the mating flights.
The Development of The Bee
The eggs hatch after three days.
The Larvae Stage
The larvae stage last for about 5days. During this period, the nurse bees provide the larvae in the open cells regularly with small quantities of food.
Sealed or Capped Brood
After this, the bees close the brood cell with a porous wax capping. This is called sealed or capped brood. The larvae inside spin a cocoon, expels its excreta and then becomes a pre-pupa and pupa. The capped phase of the worker brood lasts about 12days.
Then the bee, which has developed from the pupa, eats away the wax capping and appears on the comb. The newly emerged light-grey bees are easy to recognize.
The drones take the longest to develop. The open brood stage lasts about 7days and the capped brood stage about 15days.
The young queens, however, are ready to emerge within 7days. It is important for the beekeeper to know that after a hive has lost its queen, he can expect the birth of a young queen about 12-13 days.
The Development of A Colony
If the queen is in good condition and the forage conditions, are favorable (presence of many flowering plants and good weather) the brood nest especially of a large colony expands rapidly.
The queen usually begins to lay eggs on the comb and continues egg laying on the combs left and right of this comb.
As soon as the capped brood in the centre emerges the cells are cleaned by the youngest bees and the queen again lays eggs in these cells. The combs bordering on the left and the right of the brood nest are sometimes filled mainly with pollen. This pollen is eaten by the young bees.
The cells that become empty are either again filled with pollen or the queen lays eggs in them. Honey is stored in the cells around the pollen ring especially above the brood and pollen cells and in increasing quantities in the combs to the left and right of the central comb of the brood nest.
Swarming
Before a colony has reached its maximum size, it can in the presence of the old queen, raise new queens and the colony can split itself into groups with one queen each. The propagation of a bee colony is therefore called social reproduction.
Such a separate group of bees with one (or more) queen(s) is called a swarm. The event of a swarm leaving the colony is called swarming. This is the normal way for bee's colonies to increase in number and disperse in the area. It is not known exactly which factors trigger the preparation for swarming. An important cause might be too little space in the brood nest, thus limiting the number of eggs a queen can lay.
Preparation for swarming starts with the building of "swarm cups". These are short bowl-shaped cells, which have their openings facing downwards. These swarm cups are usually found at the bottom. edge, but also at the front and back edges of the combs.
The queen lays eggs in a number of these swarm cups. After the eggs hatch the nurse bees deposit food in these cups and from this moment on the cups are elongated to become swarm cells. Much more brood food is deposited in queen cell than in a worker cell, and the composition of the food is different (royal jelly). The reason for this fertilized egg produces a queen and not a worker is apparently the result of the amount and composition of the food offered to the larvae.
From the moment the queen has laid eggs in the first swarm cup, the workers offer less food to the queen. The behavior of the workers towards the queen alters radically as soon as the first swarm cells have been capped.
The old queen is forced to leave the hive and a part of colony leaves with her. At this moment, the colony is swarming and thousands of bees will circle in the air.
A swarm usually looks for a resting place in the close environment of the hive. If the scout bees find a suitable nesting site, the swarm moves to this place, if not, the swarm leave to another area. About one week after the departure of the first swarm (with the old queen) the first young queens emerge.
