On October 9 this year, a huge hive appeared in Liupanshui, Guizhou, and each layer of hive was distributed in a disc-shaped manner, with more than a dozen layers stacked on top of each other. Due to its sheer size and weight, an excavator was used to move the entire honeycomb. In terms of size alone, this hive is indeed extremely rare.
This giant hive has caused a hot discussion on the Internet, and even rushed to the hot search, many netizens have said that they have seen such a large hive for the first time, and some people have left a message saying that this is "the castle of the horse bee"! Just as the so-called "layman looks at the liveliness, the insider looks at the doorway", people who have raised horse bees are clear: this hive is not simple, the economic value is extremely high, and it can be called a "golden nest"!
The scientific name of the horse wasp is the wasp, alias wasp, grass bee, because some wasps have hives about the size of a human head, so they are also called "human head bees".
The hive is the core of the wasp's activity, and its shape is related to the species of bee, generally disc-shaped or spherical. Hive picking is a high-risk activity, but there are still people who are in danger of getting rich. For example, from August to October this year, there were a number of giant horse honeycombs in Yibin, Sichuan, and local villagers repeatedly knocked down wild hives in the deep mountains and old forests, one of which had a diameter of 2.4 meters and a net weight of 196 kilograms.
Why do villagers risk picking beehives? The economic value behind this is the key reason.
The hive itself is a precious Chinese medicinal herb. The raw material of the hive is the epidermis of the plant, which is built after repeated chewing and mixing saliva by the wasp, and has high medicinal value. In rural areas, collecting horse honeycombs and selling them centrally is a common small business.
Bee pupae have high edible value. The pupae are immature larvae of the wasp, fat and white, thick flesh and high nutritional value. Bee pupae are considered a specialty in many regions, and the most traditional method is fried. A bucket of bee pupae can be sold for about 200 yuan, which is quite popular in the night market street and is a rare authentic snack.
Queen bees and male bees are also very useful. Queen bees have the highest economic value and can be used as breeding bees to breed bee colonies. The price of the queen bee is related to the variety, such as a gourd queen bee can sell for 15 yuan, and the golden tiger head queen bee is 50 to 130 yuan. As for ordinary male bees, they can be bottled and sold in rice wine, folklore: old bee wine can treat rheumatic diseases, the price is as high as 100 yuan / kg.
Wasps bubble wine appeared on the street
In short, wild hives are valuable, and almost all nests are treasures. However, the number of wild hives is very small, and the nests are hidden, not easy to detect, and difficult to meet market demand. In recent years, some villagers have begun to shift from picking wild hives to artificial breeding, and the yield has become more stable, and considerable industries have been formed in areas rich in original resources such as the southwest mountainous areas.
Whether it's beekeeping or picking wild hives, the amount of benefit depends largely on the size and size of the hives. So, how exactly is the hive formed?
The production of a hive also begins with the queen bee. The queen bee, also known as the mother bee and the queen bee, is a female bee with mature reproductive organs. From March to April of each year, the overwintering queens are revived, but the nutritional conditions at this time are poor, and it takes a period of time to collect food to supplement nutrition, and then the nest will begin.
Interestingly, the queen bee after wintering does not need to mate with the male bee to lay eggs directly. This is because the queen bee and the male bee have mated many times a few years ago, and the sperm of the male bee has been stored in the seminal vesicles, and the sperm can be retained for several years. Even more amazing is that the queen bee lays eggs with both fertilized and unfertilized eggs. Among them, the fertilized egg develops into a worker bee or queen bee (female bee), and the unfertilized egg develops into a male bee.
The difference in appearance between female and male bees is mainly as follows: males have one more abdominal segment and antennae than females, and the antennae are often curved into hooks. There is also a simpler way to judge whether there is a sting needle: only the female bee has a sting needle in the abdomen, which can be retracted and can expel venom, so the wasps that sting people are all female bees.
Different species of queen bees have different nesting times, but the process is the same: when nesting, the abdomen is directly extended into the nest chamber, and the eggs are laid on the base side wall of the nest chamber. Eggs hatch into larvae that need to be cared for by worker bees, and individuals are obese and can fill the entire nest chamber.
Some people may ask, some hives can be as large as 2 to 3 meters in diameter, so how is the nest formed?
This giant nest is mainly a "masterpiece" of worker bees. In the southern region, the queen bee can breed 4 to 6 generations a year, and most of the new bees in the previous generations are worker bees, specializing in the expansion of the nest, feeding, defending the enemy, protecting the nest and other internal and external activities, and the queen bee is specifically responsible for spawning. The worker bee has a fierce temperament, developed sting needles, a large amount of detoxification, and a strong aggression, and is the main force of the bee colony.
Due to the gratifying economic benefits, more and more villagers have begun to devote themselves to the cultivation of wasps, and the use of queen bees to cultivate primary bee colonies has gradually become a popular project.
In Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places, the mainstream way of raising wasps is to transfer the hive to the wild for natural stocking after the female has built a nest. The advantage of this approach is that it is less costly, saves time and effort, and farmers only need to remember the location and pick it when the hive is at its largest scale.
It is understood that the price of a primary bee colony is as high as 1300 to 1800 yuan, and experienced farmers can cultivate tens of thousands of gourd bee queens every year, plus old bees, bee pupae, hives, the industrial value behind it is difficult to estimate.
However, it should be noted that wasps are carnivorous bee species after all, and they are highly toxic, and the hidden dangers behind them should not be underestimated.
First of all, wasps are the natural enemies of bees, and blind stocking is not rational. Every year from July to September is the shortage of honey sources, when wasps will eat a large number of bees to feed the larvae, and even eat a colony of bees in severe cases. After the invasion of wasps, the bees scattered and fled due to fright, and there are often casualties near the hive, most of which are headless, broken-footed or winged bees, which have brought serious losses to bee farmers.
Second, wasps can also pose a potential threat to rural residents. In the wild stocking of wasps, its safety is not as good as the network greenhouse breeding, wasps can move freely, aggressive, may cause accidental injury to people and animals.
Vespa nests placed in the wild have strict requirements for location, must be placed in sparsely populated areas, and warning signs must be set up. However, at present, the quality of wasp breeding practitioners is different, some farmers do not have a high sense of safety, and the nesting operation is not standardized, and once there is a mistake, it may lead to a catastrophe.
On October 9, 2014, a mother and daughter in Bazhong City, Sichuan Province, went to the field to dig sweet potatoes and accidentally alarmed a swarm of wasps on a nearby pine tree, and the hive was bigger than a bucket! Under the siege of the wasps, the mother and daughter were unfortunately killed, and even the villagers who rushed to the rescue were seriously stung by the wasps and lay in the hospital.
Even more poignant is the tragedy caused by man-made disasters. In September 2020, several people from other provinces found a horse honeycomb in a village in Huangshi, Hubei Province, and stabbed it down on the spot. Surprisingly, these swarms did not dissipate immediately, but wandered back and forth around, which also laid the groundwork for the subsequent tragedy.
The next day, a 3-year-old child in the village was playing in front of his house when he was suddenly besieged by a group of wasps, and the screams of the village alarmed his grandmother, who was working in the fields. Grandma used her body to protect her grandson, and as a result, she was also seriously stung. Eventually, the two grandchildren died of their injuries.
Horse bee sting (picture and text unrelated)
In short, vespa farming should be careful, especially in the wild. Only by being careful and cautious and improving the professionalism and safety awareness of practitioners can we minimize risks and effectively protect the personal safety of residents.
What do you think about horse honeycomb picking and wild stocking? Feel free to leave a message in the comments section.