Recently, it was found that many of my friends who are also beekeepers are plagued by the theft of bees. Stealing bees is actually field workers who enter the nests of other bee colonies to carry honey storage. The most fundamental reason for the occurrence of bees is the lack of external powder honey sources, at the end of the honey flow, or the sudden suspension of honey flow, or the excessive density of the bee colony caused by insufficient honey sources, as well as insufficient honey storage in the hive of the bee colony, the bee colony has a strong desire to collect, and the outside world has no honey to collect, and the theft of bees is more likely to occur. The scope of theft by the bandit group occurs mostly in the bee farm.
If the beehives are too close to each other, and the swarms of adjacent bee farms are very different, it may also cause bee theft between the bee farms. Subjectively, bee theft is generally caused by poor management. For example, the exposure of honey, wax, sugar, spleen around the bee farm, the beehive is dilapidated, the box is improperly opened, and the feeding of the bee colony is unreasonable.
If bee theft occurs in the bee farm, the first victims are weak groups, kingless groups, cross-tailed groups and sick groups with poor defense capabilities. The impact of bee theft on the normal breeding and management of the bee colony is very large, so it is necessary to recognize the harm of stealing bees, take effective measures to prevent bee theft, and avoid and control bee theft. The following author introduces all the knowledge related to bee thieves to all bee friends.
First, the harm caused by stealing bees to the bee colony
Once the bee theft occurs in the bee farm, the honey storage of the light victim group is stolen, and the heavy ones cause a large number of casualties among the worker bees and the queen is rounded up. The honey storage of the stolen group is stolen, the lack of honey storage in the group will occur, and the phenomenon of "plucking seeds" will occur, and the spawning power of the queen bee will also decrease, affecting the reproduction of the bee colony. If it is not found in time, it is easy to cause the bee to flee the colony and the whole group of bees to starve to death. After the occurrence of bee theft, if it is not stopped in time, it will make the bee theft more and more serious, and develop to the whole field of mutual theft, which can eventually destroy the entire bee colony and cause irreparable heavy losses to beekeeping production. Therefore, the prevention of bee theft is an extremely important measure in the management of bee colonies.
Second, how to identify the bee
The distinctive features of the pirate bees are that the body is shiny and black, the flight is rapid and the wings are sharp, and the pirate group shows up earlier than the general bee group and finishes work later. The swarms of bees attacked by stolen bees are often chaotic around the hive, and some panicked bees wander around the nest gate or hive, waiting for the opportunity to enter the nest from the nest door or the follower box. At the same time, some of the bees drilled out of the nest appear to have a swollen abdomen, and when they take off, they first sag rapidly before flying into the air. On the ground around the hive, there are worker bees fighting in groups, and there are many dead bees with their bellies hooked.
The method of tracking the pirate group: sprinkle some sweet potato flour or talcum powder near the nest door of the stolen group, and then inspect the dynamics of each group, if the bees with white powder on their bodies are found flying into a certain nest, it can be concluded that the bee colony is a pirate group.
Third, the key to anti-theft bees focuses on prevention
For bee theft, the emphasis is on prevention. As long as the measures are effective, bee theft can be avoided. In order to reduce or not the occurrence of bee theft, the key is to choose a place with abundant honey sources to raise bees and insist on raising strong groups all year round. In addition, when the external honey source is about to run out, it is necessary to grasp the merger of weak groups and kingless groups, and pump the spleen and tighten the spleen, leave enough feed, shrink the nest door, and fill the gap in the hive.
During the honey break period, it is not possible to open the box to check the bees during the day, nor to feed the bee colony or use aromatic drugs to control bee mites. Honey, beeswax and nest spleen should not be placed outdoors, but should be stored at any time. The same site is not suitable for both Chinese and Western bee species, and must be moved to another site.
Fourth, how to stop the occurrence of bee theft?
After the occurrence of bee theft, it should be dealt with in a timely manner, and the specific anti-theft method adopted should be determined according to the degree of bee theft. Once a small number of pirated bees appear, the nest door of the stolen group should be immediately reduced, and the bee defense device should be placed at the nest door to cause a zigzag nest door entrance, or coated with some repellents such as carbolic acid and kerosene.
When these methods are ineffective, the queen bee who is a pirate should be temporarily removed to cause uneasiness and eliminate theft. Or on the nest door of the stolen group, install a bee remover upside down, so that the thief bee can only go out, and then move the thief group to a place 2 to 3 kilometers away in the evening, so that the thief bee who sneaks into the stolen group cannot return to the pirate group. At the same time, on the original site of the stolen swarm, a beehive is placed, and a handful of wormwood or pieces of rag soaked with carbolic acid are placed in the box, which produces a reflex of avoidance of the bees to prevent the rest of the bees from flying again. Another way to deal with it is to move the pirate group away, put an empty beehive at the original site, empty the spleen box inside, collect the bees that fly back, and due to the change of the hive environment, the theft of the pirate group disappears. At this time, the empty box can be withdrawn and the pirate group can be moved back. If bee theft is rampant and the colony is already mostly affected, the site should be relocated immediately.
Summary: The top priority of anti-theft bees is prevention, so the management of the bee farm during the honey shortage period must leave enough honey for the bee colony, the nest door should also be adjusted in a timely manner, the beehive should be tight, the beehive should be less open, and the honey spleen should not be exposed. Especially when feeding the bees in the evening, it is necessary not to drip honey outside the box. It is hoped that the above content can help the majority of beekeepers solve the problem of bee theft in the bee farm, so as to avoid unnecessary economic losses.
Article source: Dr. Bee APP