When it comes to bee enemies, most beekeepers may think of wasps, toads, spiders, etc., and know very little about the predator of meat flies. Meat flies are very hidden when invading bees, and it is difficult to find them if they are not carefully observed and examined, so that many beekeepers do not recognize it. The means by which meat flies harm bees are extremely cruel, and it can be said that "killing bees is invisible". What can we do as beekeepers to such a cruel bee killer? The following Xiaobian will share some measures to deal with the harm of meat flies with the majority of bee friends for reference.
First, the morphological characteristics of meat flies
The scientific name of the meat fly is the three-spotted wasp fly, also known as the bee fly; it is distributed in Asia and Europe, and in China in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Hubei and parts of northeast China. Adults are silvery grey, adults are 6 to 9 mm long, the larvae develop mainly in the worker bee, and the mature larvae can reach up to 15 mm in length, belonging to parasitic flies.
Second, how meat flies harm bees
The female fly will choose the flying bee as a parasitic target, pounce on the flying bee during the flight, and plant the larvae on the bee. The larvae will select the bee's weakest abdominal node or joint junction to drill into the body and feed on the bee's hemolymmatic lymph and muscles until the bee dies. After the bee dies, the flesh fly larvae leave the bee carcass and then pupate in the soil, which feathers after 7 to 16 days.
Third, the performance of endangered bees
Meat fly mainly parasitizes young worker bees, for bees are parasitized by meat flies is a kind of chronic death, meat fly larvae in the bee body wantonly nibble on the bee's tissue, bees suffer from painful torture manifest spasms, convulsions, fatigue, can only crawl, and finally die on their backs. Meatflies occur most severely in the summer.
4. Diagnosis
In the hive nest door directly grab a few crawling bees and tear open the chest cavity to see, if you find that there are maggot-like worms in the bee chest cavity, it means that the bees have suffered from meat fly damage and need to be dealt with in time.
Treatment method one: the use of meat flies like to stop on the beehive cover and can not distinguish the characteristics of the water surface or surface, put a white pond porcelain plate on the beehive lid, the plate is filled with water, when the meat fly falls on the water, it can be drowned. For bees that are already infected with meat flies, they should be collected and burned.
Treatment method two: the bees in the hive are shaken down at the bee door, healthy bees will quickly enter the hive, the sick bees are weak and slow to move, other bees enter the hive after the sick bees are still crawling outside, we collect the crawling bees outside and burn them.
Summary: Although the harm of meat flies is not very common in the process of beekeeping, the increase in the number of meatflies near the bee farm is also very harmful to the bee colony. Therefore, in the process of daily management, it is necessary to keep the beehive and its surroundings clean and clean, and clean up the objects that will rot in time.
Article source: Dr. Bee APP