Everyone
has long known that in order to prevent swarming of a colony of bees, it is
necessary to expand their nest, giving them more space and extra work. If this
event is carried out on time, then the swarming state of the family may fade
away.
But
what is even more interesting is that such a solution of the swarming problem
can drastically reduce the rate of development of Varroa mites in the bee
colony. What is the reason for this ... In the course of our scientific work
and acoustic monitoring of bee colonies using our Apivox Smart Monitor device,
we came to understanding, of the changes, that occur in the bee nest in
pre-swarming period ...
The
fact is that at the beginning of the process of preparing for the swarming, the
task of the family and the queen is to build up the maximum possible strength
of the family before the swarm leaves. Then, dividing in two, the family will
remain large enough to survive and collect honey for the wintering. To do this,
the queen begins to fill all the cells in the hive suitable for this with brood
... But the nest is not the whole hive, and the bees do the following !! They
start powerful heating of the ENTIRE hive ! The whole hive turns into a nest!
The earliest queen cells appear on the periphery of the nest - on the second
frames after the extreme honey frames ... It was at this moment when a specific
acoustic signal appears in the hive, which we use as a sign of an impending
swarming, which Woods considered to be a signal of young bees, and prof. Eskov
mistakenly considered to be a signal of passive bees .... A signal, that accompanies heating of the hive and a
signal that accompanies heating and aeration of open brood. These signals
becomes so powerful, that they dominates in the hive even in the daytime,
suppressing the signals associated with the work of bees on honey harvest!
This
event in the life of a family of bees becomes the "golden" time for
Varroa mites and the cause of the subsequent troubles of bees ... down to their
death .... Now the mites can actively reproduce in a huge amount of brood, and
not only in brood of worker bees, which used to be warm enough even earlier, and also to reproduce actively in drone
brood... This at least doubles their breeding potential, which ultimately leads
to exponential growth of the mite's population in April-June.
Such
a leap in the growth of the mite's population occurs primarily in the
families, which are initially ready for
swarming - that is, in the families with
old queens. It is possible, that this was the reason for the confidence of many
beekeepers that bee families with young queens are better able to cope with the
mites. But it is normal thing, in the families with young queens, bees are less
prone to swarming, which means, that they are less prone to heating the entire
hive and to the massive construction of drone cells, which become a
"bomb" placed under the colony during swarming time.
Based
on this, the maintenance of the families with young queens is one of the
important elements of fight against Varroa mites without the use of poisonous
chemicals. Here, the most important thing is not even the age of the queen, but
the moment of the beginning of pre-swarming state of the bees... even if the
queen will not lay eggs in new queen cells, the behavior of the bees themselves
- preparing a place for unlimited oviposition, building of drone cells and
powerful heating of the entire hive,
lead to fatal consequences.
In
addition, multiple growth of the mite's population occurs with the
participation of drone brood.. So, installation of building frames and removal
of sealed drone brood, is also a good method for reduction of Varroa mite's
population without any use of poisonous chemicals.
And
finally, the most important thing for saving bees is expanding the nest with
new honeycombs or body-boxes ... What is the reason for the effect of this
method on the bees, preparing for swarming, or on their new and big nest. If
the bees are unable to eliminate the consequences of our actions and maintain
the heat balance, necessary for normal swarming, then, apparently, they
postpone swarming indefinitely! And they stop trying to heat the enlarged hive.
In this case, the family returns to the normal life cycle, not associated with swarming ...
For
Varroa mites, this means not only the inability to fully utilize the drone
brood, but also the inability to use more brood of worker bees ... The mite's population growth will no longer
be exponential and the bees will have more chances of survival, and the
beekeeper will get marketable honey.
As
a result, it become clear, that beekeepers must apply all possible methods,
leading to the fact, that swarming mood
of the bees will not develop further, or will be completely suppressed ...
These are: a young queen, installation
of building frames, removal of drone brood,
and especially - expansion of the nest! Significant expansion of the
nest or installation of additional housing and transfer of part of the brood
into it during the pre-swarming time, will not only stop swarming process, but will also deprive the
bees of the opportunity to heat the entire hive and to create an "incubator"
for Varroa mites in a well-heated drone
brood.
Based
on this, we can say, that early diagnosis of swarming state of the family is
becoming a very important point for a beekeeper who want to get environmentally
friendly honey.
Using
Apivox Smart Monitor app, you can
predict the start of the swarming process at least 2 weeks before the
swarm will leave the hive, or even earlier. You will have a lot of time to
understand what to do, and to take measures. This will not only avoid losing
the swarm and honey, but also dramatically reduce Varroa mites population in
the bee colonies. In this case, the possibilities given by Apivox Smart Monitor
app to the beekeeper, become simply unique, incomparable help for him!
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