USING APIVOX SMART MONITOR APP TO MONITOR BEES IN WINTER

The Apivox Smart Monitor is a universal assistant of the beekeeper, which allows him to receive information about the state of bee colonies without having to visually inspect them throughout the year. For the device, the season of the year is indifferent. For any season and occasion, the device has the appropriate modes that will help the beekeeper to understand in what condition his bees are and what needs to be done with them.

We and the device perceive autumn and winter as a "winter" season. The most important characteristic of this season is the absence of honey collection, even the weakest one. As a rule, at this time, the bees no longer fly out of the hive, even when the sun warms up. Individual bees can fly around, but nothing more. When the calendar winter comes with its cold weather, this season does not raise questions.

In winter season, the main mode that the beekeeper uses - is the General State Control mode. In this mode, the device will tell you if the bee colony is overwintering normally, or if there is excitement, indicating that it is disturbed from the outside, or it runs out of food. If so, then the beekeeper can take action. As a rule, at this time there are mainly two types of work in the colony - active heating of bees' cluster and extraction and redistribution of honey among the bees of the colony. Thus, if everything is in good order in the family of bees, then during the diagnostics we will see the highest bars on the diagram corresponding to these particular works. Sometimes there is also slight ventilation.

It is best to carry out the control both in summer and in winter from the top of the frames covered with canvas. This type of control gives the best result, since the cluster of bees in winter is located closer to the top of the frames than to the entrance. Audibility through the canvas is good, and the smartphone can simply be placed under a warming pillow. We make a pillow with a rigid frame and for ease of control we make an incision in its upper cover. This allows to install the smartphone with the microphone down without even touching the pillow.

In winter, a weakening of the colony may occur due to the death of some of the bees. The bees' cluster becomes small and the usual active heating is not enough for it for a normal existence. In this case, the bees start an emergency heating of cluster. If the beekeeper sees such diagnostics of the device, then he must understand that changes have occurred in the family that can lead to her death. We observed such signals in colonies heavily affected by Varroa mites, where, due to the large death of young bees at the end of summer, bees mostly of older ages left for the winter, which are not able to survive the winter. Thus, the emergency heating signal in this case should be taken as a “distress signal” for the family. The same signal and the corresponding diagnostics of the device can be observed if for some reason you opened the hive in winter. For example, if you put food on the frames during a severe frost. This is not fatal for the bees, but they usually use emergency heating to quickly restore the temperature balance in their cluster.

The second mode, which is used both at the beginning of the winter season and at its end - that is, in early spring, is the Brood Control mode. This mode allows you to check the presence of open brood in the family of bees, which is quite important to know at the end of queen egg-laying in autumn, and at the beginning of egg-laying in spring. In the fall, such knowledge will allow to understand, that the family is ready for additional treatment from Varroa mites, and to understand that the family has switched to an economical winter regime of its existence. The beginning of brood rearing in winter - in February, March, is a rather bad sign. This allows Varroa mites to breed in secret and build up strength in anticipation of spring. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that it will be possible to remove the brood in winter, but it is necessary to keep this circumstance in mind when carrying out anti-varroa treatment in the spring. Families that start early brood rearing will have a much higher percentage of mites by April than the rest.

Thus, the use of the Apivox Smart Monitor in winter is not less important than in summer. The diagnostics provided by the device allows a much better understanding of the state of wintering bees without opening the hive and without disturbing their peace.

Moreover, as always, the information obtained with the help of the device cannot be obtained by the beekeeper in any other way.

You can always buy the Apivox Smart Monitor app on our website - apivox-smart-monitor.weebly.com

Why the APIVOX SUNNY HIVE is a great choice for any beekeeper.

 

In the title, we boldly claim that our hive is the best choice for the beekeeper. It would seem that we belittle the importance of such inventors of beehives as Prokopovich, Dadan, Ruth and other inventors of national versions of collapsible beehives, of which there are dozens in Europe in different countries ... But, the fact is that collapsible beehives were invented so long ago that everyone forgot about it. It already seems to everyone that the hive is something unshakable in its correctness and completeness. The new century brought a new material - PPU, but not new ideas to the environment of ordinary beekeepers. Unfortunately, their knowledge remained at the level of Prokopovich! That is, at the level of a competent collective farm livestock specialist, who is well versed in the practical issues of keeping bees and obtaining marketable honey, but is completely devoid of the latest scientific knowledge. This is what leads to a lot of completely crazy questions and comments from beekeepers reading materials about our new hive. We'll have to talk about the scientific basis of our method of beekeeping and our SUNNY hive to convince people that our hive is worth its EXCELLENT rating and, most importantly, worthy of investing in its acquisition!

Let's start with the fact that pseudo-scientists who constantly tell us about NATURAL beekeeping in hollows of the trees tell us absolute, deliberate nonsense! There is nothing natural in the fact that bees, like many other living creatures, were able to adapt to life in the conditions in which they turned out to be ... It is possible that еру cause of this  was a primitive beekeeper or they followed after the flowering plants, spreading across the Earth .. We do not know this and probably will never know. BUT, scientists entomologists unequivocally state that the birthplace of bees is somewhere in SOUTHEAST ASIA!

 

That is, an area with tropical and equatorial climate, where the bees can live not only in hollows, which usually do not exist in those forests, but simply on branches of the trees, which can now be seen in the photo of beekeepers from the countries of this region. And it is the climate of Southeast Asia that allows bees to live without any problems in conditions that for European and American beekeepers seems to be not only seditious, but fundamentally unacceptable!

 

 

At one time, we managed to observe the life of a small family of bees, which made a nest in one of the pillars of the Roman aqueduct built in the first century AD. But, we will not, on the basis of this, say that aqueducts are a natural habitat for Spanish bees!

So, having defeated this crazy theory about the "natural" life of bees, we can begin to study modern scientific data AND FEATURES of our SUNNY hive.

In our description of the hive, we say that its main features are:

Significantly more powerful start of brood rearing in colonies living in a new hive in spring, due to the design of the hive, which makes it possible to improve conditions in the nest for brood rearing. Especially when cold wintering conditions are met and the first early sealed brood is removed or destroyed. Early receipt, with a possible lead of 2-3 weeks, of reproductive drones in spring, due to the design features of the hive, which allows improving conditions in the nest for brood rearing. For professional breeders, this means the possibility of earlier obtaining of fetal queens, and this is a significant competitive advantage. Obtaining early May honey due to an earlier increase in the strength of colonies, which is directly related to the early and more efficient rearing of brood in early spring by bees in a new hive. Early honey from spring honey plants is a particularly valuable product for any beekeeper! A possible increase in the overall honey productivity of colonies due to the liberation of some bees from in-hive works the task of which is to create comfortable conditions for brood rearing  throughout the spring-summer season.

And we confirm it once again! And here is the reason for such confidence ...

As everyone knows from the works of scientists, the bees maintain temperature in the nest in the range of + 33-36C. In the rest of the hive, the temperature is not specifically maintained or regulated. But the experiments carried out with the brood of bees showed that these temperatures are not optimal for the brood, but temperatures of + 37-38C. At such temperatures, the bees in the brood mature 1 day faster. Adult bees tolerate these temperatures perfectly and can generally work normally up to temperatures of +43-46C, and some species up to +50C. But this is the limit. With a further increase in temperature, the bees begin to die.

Thus, the temperatures that are created in our SUNNY hive - + 35-38C, are not only acceptable for bees, but also create additional comfort for them and free them from unnecessary work on heating the nest. And the nest is known to be heated by older bees. They are the ideal "generators" of heat. This is clearly seen in the diagram from the work of Austrian scientists - Honeybee Colony Thermoregulation - Regulatory Mechanisms and Contribution of Individuals in Dependence on Age, Location and Thermal Stress Anton Stabentheiner *, Helmut Kovac *, Robert Brodschneider Institut fu¨ r Zoologie, Karl-Franzens-Universitat Graz, Graz, Austria.

 

This leads to the effect that we report in the description of the hive - bees in early spring can more easily provide themselves with food due to the rise in daytime temperatures in the hive outside the cluster zone, bees begin active spring brood rearing earlier due to additional heat in the daytime, bees collect more honey due to the liberation of flying bees from the work on heating the nest.

Now let's talk about the second parameter of the microclimate in our hive, which accounts for the maximum attention of our haters - the increased humidity in the hive...

And here again to our aid comes science, condemning illiterate "practitioners" and "naturals". The work of Keith M. Doull, a researcher from the University of Adelaide in the USA, unequivocally confirms the direct dependence of the state of bee colony on the humidity in the hive. All experiments have shown that the OPTIMUM HUMIDITY FOR BEES is 90-95%. It is this humidity that allows the family to develop at an accelerated pace. It is this humidity that corresponds to the highest oviposition of the queens and to the survival of eggs. At the same time, the percentage of healthy larvae hatching from eggs is also maximal. ( Keith M. Doull. THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT HUMIDITIES ON THE HATCHING OF THE EGGS OF HONEYBEES. Apidologie, Springer Verlag, 1976, 7 (1), pp.61-66. ffhal-00890393f )

By the way, the researchers, just as we are, raise the question here about the reason, why bees deliver water to the hive in our conditions of a fairly dry climate! And they are also conclude, that this is required so, that the delicate skin of the larvae does not dry... We are also believe, that the classical theory of cooling of the nest by hanging droplets of water on honeycombs is completely untenable! Insects are cold-blooded beings, and they become more active at higher temperatures, and therefore "love" hot weather. The fact, that the bees ventilate the hive, can only mean, that in the conditions of heat, and corresponding lower concentration of oxygen in the air, the bees simply need more efficient ventilation! What about water droplets? Evaporating water increases the humidity, which is so necessary for the tender skin of open brood - eggs and larvae. High humidity makes it possible for open brood not to turn into "dried fruit" at a high temperatures...  That's what for the water in the hive is needed!  That's why the bees begin to bring water into the hive in early spring, as soon as the brood appears ...  to moisten the dry air of the nest, and not in order to cool it! It seems, that this is also the reason, why the bees place freshly brought nectar around the brood, and only after evaporation of a certain amount of water,  they transfer it to honey stores! Moisture evaporating from nectar, create the necessary humidity near the brood! Thus, it can be assumed, that in spring, bees carry water not only, in order to moisten sugar or to soak crystallized honey, but in order to create conditions for brood cultivation in the absence of a flow of nectar. Water, drying out, could humidify the air in the nest! This is why, when we see the bees near a puddle, or on a drinker, we can say for sure, that an intensified spring brood rearing has begun! In summer, bees carrying water in a hive in hot weather, become an indicator of the absence of significant honey collection in nature. The secretion of nectar is weak, and its influx into the hive cannot ensure the natural maintenance of humidity in the nest. And in such time, it is required additional air humidification , which the bees make using the water, brought into the hive.

Another group of scientists confirms our conclusion with the results of their research. These are Doull, Michael B. Ellis, Kraus and Velthuis. They state - Humidity is also an important microclimatic variable for bees (Apis mellifera L.) as their eggs require a relative humidity (RH) above 55% for successful hatching, with their highest survival being between 90 - 95% RH. They write that high humidity will also indirectly promote brood development... (Kraus and Velthuis, 1997).

Thus, scientists confirm that the increase in temperature and humidity that our new hive creates will definitely have a positive effect on the development and condition of the bees and their brood. We have also observed this for 3 years in our experimental apiary.

 

Some of our ill-wishers claim that in our hive there will be problems with removing moisture from honey or it will turn sour or something else will definitely happen ... We claim that for three seasons we received excellent quality honey in the SUNNY hive without any problems. The only difference is that it was easier to extract it, since the temperature in our hive stores is somewhat higher than in ordinary hives.

 

 

 

Let us now consider another effect of the hive - a decrease in the number of infectious diseases... No matter how strange such a statement may look, we can responsibly declare that during THREE YEARS of our research we have never observed any fungal and infectious diseases in bee colonies living in our hives. We have never seen combs stained with diarrhea, either in summer or spring or winter.

 

Bees hibernate in SUNNY hives perfectly due to the fact that there is a large volume in the bottom, where moist air from the breath of bees can fall, and where all the frost remains. This allows to maintain a nest in winter with minimal humidity, which, combined with low temperatures, causes intestinal diseases in bees.

 

During the whole spring-summer season, the brood and bees were always healthy and active. It seems that the reason for this phenomenon is that humidity causes intestinal diseases and fungal infections only at sufficiently low temperatures! It is these conditions that are the natural environment for their distribution - coolness and damp. In our hive, in fact, daily sterilization of the internal volume occurs due to sunlight and hot air. And moisture only contributes to the heat transfer.

 

 

As you probably noticed yourself, the tree in the steam room of the bath does not suffer from fungus, despite the high humidity, but in a cool shower it is quite possible. This once again confirms and explains the reasons why our SUNNY hive, and the bees living in it, have an increased resistance to fungal, intestinal and other infectious diseases.

They may also have increased resistance to varroatosis! But how and why we will tell in the next issue.

And now we can only say one thing... Don't be afraid to try something new and don't be afraid to buy our new SOLAR hives! They will definitely not harm your bees. At the same time, when used correctly, they can bring you significant benefits!

The results of alcohol wash during the control of infestation of bee colonies by Varroa mites and the corresponding survival or death of bee colonies.

In all scientific papers and official recommendations of the beekeeping communities in the USA, Britain, Spain and other countries there are tables with recommendations at what quantity of Varroa mites on a sticky board, and at what percentage of colony infestation by Varroa mites, certain measures must be taken in order to combat mites that infect this family of bees. Sometimes it is just a continuation of monitoring the colony, sometimes it is suggested to carry out treatment after an interval of 2-4 weeks, sometimes treatment is required urgently ... It all depends, of course, on how severely the colony of bees is affected by Varroa mites.

But, unfortunately, these tables do not quite correctly describe the situation that takes place in a colony of bees affected by Varroa mites. We have learned this from our sad experience, working with control families in our experimental apiary.

The mistake here is that these tables show the values ​​of infestation, as it were, in development - spring, summer, autumn. And it seems that if in the spring the percentage of colony infestation on the basis of an alcohol wash is set at 1-2%%, then it seems to the beekeeper, and sometimes such a table directly says, that there is no need to do anything in the next 3 months. This is completely wrong and this is a big mistake. If we take a family that will not be subjected to any chemical treatments, then we can say with confidence that the growth of Varroa mite population is 2 times a month. This is scientific evidence and we have also seen this in our experimental families. The experiment involved 7 families, and the results fell into this graph with high accuracy.

 

The theoretical graph starts with the percentage of colony infestation equal to 1%, the real schedules of families have their own, sometimes unknown values ​​of the percentage of infestation at the initial stage. However, they all repeat the trend of the monthly doubling of Varroa mites population with high accuracy !!! Family number 7 at the end of October is still alive, but its size is not very large. It occupies approximately 5-6 streets in the Dadant system hive. This family differs in that at the beginning of summer there was  formed one offshoot from it, consisting from 3 frames of brood, after that, when changed the queen, she did not lay eggs for about 1-2 weeks, then 2-3 frames of new brood were selected  one by one to increase offshoot. These operations led to the removal of part of the Varroa mites from the colony and to decrease of its general infestation. By the way, the offshoot died in september... Nevertheless, despite the deviation from the theoretical schedule, the trend of recent months still corresponds to a doubling of the tick population.

Thus, infestation of bee family by Varroa mites equial to 1-3%% , which seems insignificant, is not insignificant at all! If you will make an alcohol wash in April, and you will see such a degree of infestation, then according to the forecast, you will get an infestation of 8-24%% in July, which is already very difficult for a bee colony, and in September - 32-96%%, and this already lethal for any family of bees!

If you found infestation in the amount of 1-3%% in September, after the end of egg laying by the queen, then you can be sure that the family will overwinter well and actively begin spring development. But it will begin its development along with the population of Varroa mites, although they will decrease by 15-20% during the winter!

Thus, it can be argued that the best time for any treatment is April-May, the time of the greatest increase in the bee colony and the most active growth of the mites population. At this time, it is good to apply a complete removal of earliest sealed brood and treatment of adult bees with appropriate preparations which the beekeeper prefer most of all. It is especially important to do this in advance because at the end of May-June and before the first ten days of July in the middle lane, the free fall of mites on a sticky board almost completely stops, which, as a rule, causes a certain euphoria among beekeepers. They believe that the mites are gone and the family of bees is healthy. But it's not so! It's just till this time the mites that have overwintered in the family of bees are almost completely dying out, and the young mites of this season, born in March, April and May, are young and healthy and will not die off soon.

Thus, we consider absolutely fair (taking into account the acceptability for the beekeeper of the very fact of chemical treatment of bees from Varroa mites) the recommendation of American scientists to start processing bees from the moment, when percentage of infestation reaches 2-3%%. And do it immediately upon reaching values ​​of 3.5-5%%, because this is a critical value, with an increase of which the bee colony is already doomed to death. As we have already said, this is especially true for spring and early summer, when Varroa mites have several months ahead of them to intensively increase their population.

Emergency heating - the last opportunity to heat the nest.

It is well known to everyone that bees maintain the temperature with particular precision in the nest where the development of eggs and larvae takes place. The correct and stable temperature is very important in the transformation of larva into pupa, and pupa into bee. The conditions in which bees have to live in middle latitudes are not very comfortable for them. That is why, almost throughout the year, the bees have to heat their nest, and sometimes the entire hive. But this heating, which occurs under normal conditions of life of bee colony, usually consists of heating due to the release of metabolic heat by the bodies of bees and from heating due to the release of heat during the vibration of the thorax muscles of the bee. It's like a freezing man's shiver. A little muscle work contributes to the release of additional heat.

This type of heating is used by the bees in winter inside winter cluster, in the spring when heating brood, before swarming when heating the entire hive in order to provide the queen with a maximum suitable area for laying eggs, in summer when rearing brood and in autumn when heating the last brood and the bee cluster itself.

fig.1

But, there are situations in the life of bees when such heat is not enough. This is possible with a sharp cooling of the nest in spring or of a cluster of bees in winter, or  in summer, with a shortage of bees in offshoot to heat the queen cells. Then the bees use emergency heating.

Under acoustic control, this is the lowest frequency signal in the hive, presumably generated by bees vibrating not only with the muscles of thorax, but also with partially opened wings. This, it seems to us, is already not just alike shivering, when we are cold, but like clapping our hands and jumping or other more energy-intensive physical exercises that we do when we are very cold. Such movements allow bees to generate maximum heat without creating air movement in the nest. At the same time, energy losses require its replenishment, and therefore emergency heating signals (n1 fig. 1), as a rule, are accompanied by signals for in-hive works and works with honey (n2 fig. 1). What can be assumed if you see such a signal on the diagram of Apivox Smart Monitor ...

1. In summer and spring, there are too few bees in offshoot for calm heating of brood and queen cells. Especially queen cells.

2. You opened the hive in winter at low negative temperatures for about 5-10 minutes. The bees began to actively warm cluster in order  to restore an acceptable temperature in the crust of cluster.

3. If in winter and autumn, when the family of bees should be in winter cluster, you received such a diagnosis without opening the hive, then most likely there are very few bees left in the colony and the colony will soon die. As a rule, this happens when the family is severely affected by Varroa mites.

 

This is exactly what is shown in Figure 1. Having received such a diagnosis during acoustic control of the family from the upper part of the frames covered with textile, we saw two main signals - emergency heating and work with honey. Our assumption was that there are too few bees in the colony and they continuously eat honey and try to warm themselves. Visual control showed that  in the colony remained about 30-40 alive bees, which sat in a small lump on just one frame with honey, actively consumed it and tried to warm themselves. The colony died from being attacked by Varroa mites, showing an almost classic version of the Collapse of Bee Colonies - the hive is full of honey, and there are no bees or a few dozen left.

In any case, it can be said that appearance of such a signal is a sign of some kind of problem that requires the beekeeper to personally control the state of the family and, possibly, immediately help her.

 

APIMONDIA 2022 !!!!

Comparative control of three families in one of which the queen is in an isolator on 2 frames.

 In the evening, it was  carried out control procedure in E3, E4, E5 hives in order to find out the difference in brood care between E3, in which the queen is in the isolator, and the other two hives. It was already dark outside at that time, and the temperature was about + 14-15C.

It can be seen that brood care signal in E3, although red, is closest to the zero line. Which corresponds to the fact that it has the least brood. And in E4 there is much more brood than it the other hives, which is noticeable even on the graph in General State Control mode.

Early removal of brood and its influence on the state of Varroa mites population in bee colonies.

In our works, we have repeatedly said that one of the best zootechnical methods for combating Varroa mites without the use of chemicals is the method of removal of sealed brood of worker bees. This method, applied at the right time, allows you to remove from the colony up to 85% of mites and suppress the development of Varroa mites population at the most important moments. Two years of experiments confirmed this fact.

During beekeeping season, there are two critical moments when removing of mite-infested worker brood can significantly improve the health of the colony and slow down the growth rate of the Varroa mites population:

1. The first and main moment is early spring. The efficiency of brood removal at this time has been tested by us for two seasons and is fully confirmed. By removing of 1-2 full frames of sealed brood in April-early May (for rather northern countries), we sharply reduce the possibilities of the Varroa mites population for a sharp increase in future. But two clarifications need to be made here.

• First - it is necessary to remove exactly the complete frame of sealed brood. Our attempts to remove or destroy the earliest sealed brood in the form of small spots on the frames in mid-late April did not give any effect. Apparently too few mites enter this brood to reproduce, and most of the mites were still on bees on other frames away from this small brood spots.

• Second - brood destruction is a poor alternative to brood removal. We have tested this experimentally twice. Having destroyed the cells of the combs with brood, we observed how the mites, which were under the covers of sealed cells, after their destruction, began to spread in all directions in order to climb the bees again later. And although this method will surely kill the second generation of mites in the combs, but the first will be preserved almost completely. We received the second confirmation when in the colony in which in April we destroyed all the early brood that was present on the frames in the form of small spots, by July we got a mites infestation, not much less than in colonies in which no manipulations with brood were made. Thus, it can be argued that removal of brood at the moment it reaches the size of 1-2 frames and is completely sealed, gives the best result for the fight against Varroa mites.

2. The second moment is the summer time after or in the second half of the main honey flow. At this time, the population of mites already had time to increase quite strongly and approximately 85% of it is in the sealed brood of worker bees and drones. At this point, sealed brood removal can cause a significant impact on the mites population. At this time, the number of brood in the colony partially decreases on its own due to the filling of part of the nest with nectar, but, nevertheless, its number is still quite large. When we checked the brood infestation using the method of alcohol wash, we often saw that the infestation of brood was much higher than that of the worker bees. We believe that this concentration of mites is not only due to their number as such, but also due to the reduction of the place suitable for their reproduction. If there is a lot of brood and it is impossible to completely remove it, then it is possible to limit the queen in an isolator with Hannemann bars on 1-2 frames and keep it there until all the brood will come out of the other frames and there will be no other brood in the hive except the brood in isolator. And then, this sealed brood, containing all the mites that were ready for reproduction by age, can be removed. After that, the queen can be released from the isolator to continue laying eggs and prepare the family for wintering. This will clean up the colony before rearing of young generation of bees, which will overwinter and become the basis of the colony in spring. Their infestation will be much less, and wintering will pass without complications.

It should be noted that during the whole summer season it is desirable to have a building frame for the drone brood. Regular removal of drone brood can significantly reduce the number of mites without compromising the working capacity of bee colony. But, this is a classic recipe.

Further, as we wrote earlier, it is important to switch to cold wintering, stopping the late brood rearing. This will not give the mites opportunity to breed an additional young generation which will overwinter on bees, which will endure winter better than old individuals, and which will give much more young mites in spring. Cold wintering will not allow the bees to start brood rearing at the end of winter, which will further increase the interval for mites during which they cannot reproduce, but only die off. If it is possible to keep the bees from brood rearing till the flowering of the first pollen-giving plants, then the bees will start brood rearing in concert and in big quantities. This will allow beekeeper to move on to the phase of first spring removal of sealed brood in the next beekeeping season with much less mites population.

Another factor that is important when applying this method is the egg-laying qualities of the queen. This parameter depends on many conditions, both pedigree and climatic, as well as on the nutrition of the queen and the possibilities of the colony to heat the brood. It should be borne in mind that when applying this method, the best breed is Karnika, whose colonies are characterized by explosive growth in spring, and the queens are able to lay up to 1900 - 2000 eggs per day, that is, almost two full frames. Caucasian queens have the worst egg production, their average productivity is 1600-1700 eggs per day, although this is not unambiguous and depends on various conditions. Egg-laying of queens is maximum with good nutrition and the presence of fresh pollen and nectar, which is consistent with the fact that cold wintering should last until the first pollen-bearing plants bloom. Families of bees in such conditions make up the loss of brood in just a couple of days. Family size also has an effect. It is large families that are able to heat the brood and feed the queen, allowing them to dramatically increase the output of brood and compensate the loss of first sealed brood.

Thus, we are confident, and experiments confirm this, that the timely removal of sealed brood, especially in early spring, can significantly reduce the number of mites and interrupt the chain of their reproduction. That will allow, with the use of our new hive, to reduce the reproductive activity of Varroa mites and stabilize their population at a low level. This will allow, if not completely abandon the chemical treatments of bees, then significantly increase the interval of their life even without minimal chemical treatments, and it is possible that the duration of such intervals can be up to several years.

Quick control of 3 beehives using Apivox Smart Monitor eng

 

An example of monitoring the state of bees during the beginning of the main honey flow

 An example of monitoring the state of bees during the beginning of the main honey flow. The device determines whether the bees use brought honey for their needs or whether it is marketable honey, which they put in honey stores. The control was carried out from the top of the frames. All three families are different in strength and quantity of brood. The result of personal inspection showed that the most honey quantity is in E3 family, in second place was the E4 family. There was no store on the E5 family, which is an offshoot from E3 family.  Inspection showed that the bees fill with honey all free from brood place in the nest.  In addition, the E5 family showed a high degree of mobilization, which confirms its readiness to improve the production of honey.According to the results of control, honey super was installed on the hive of the E5 family.

THE STATE OF QUEENLESSNESS AND SOME FEATURES OF ITS DIAGNOSIS USING ACOUSTIC CONTROL.

As a rule, all beekeepers are interested in diagnosing a condition in which there is no queen in the family. We call this state - the queenlessness of the family. But in fact, not everything is so simple. The fact is that in reality, under normal conditions of life, a family of bees remains without a queen for no more than half an hour or an hour. And only in the case when the queen dies during the period of the absence of brood, usually after wintering, it is possible that in the family can appear worker bees, laying unfertilized eggs.

At first, we will consider the first option as the most characteristic and as the most difficult to diagnose using acoustic control ...

For some reasons, it seems to everyone that when we do not see a queen crawling over the honeycombs and laying eggs, then the bee colony should be excited and the work process in bee colony should be completely destroyed. But really it is not so. Bees are in this state only for about the first half hour or hour after the loss of the queen. They run around the hive and the landing board trying to find her, after which powerful ventilation begins with Nasonov gland open. This is the bees setting up a pheromone "beacon" that should help the queen to find her hive if she is lost when returning from a nuptial flight. If this does not help, then the bees move on to the next stage - the restoration of the queen. We can observe and use this stage when dividing a family or replacing a queen using our Apivox Smart Monitor. On the graph in the mode Readiness to Accept New Queen, we can see how the open brood care signals appear. These are the bees preparing open brood for laying queen cells. They try to prepare all available brood for this. That is why the signal is so strong. Apparently, at this moment they do not yet know which larvae will be selected in order to become new queens. After a while, after about an hour and a half, sometimes after two hours, the signal subsides. The bees chose the larvae and laid the queen cells. The queenless state of the family is over. There are future queens in the family.

Further, as time passes, the signals associated with caring for open brood subside in the bee colony, as the quantity of open brood  becomes less and less. The bees gradually seal the brood. The heating signal usually remains approximately the same, because the total number of brood does not change.

But there is one small feature that can be noticed, especially at a time when the main honey harvest has not yet begun. A stable ventilation signal appears in the family, which can usually be observed during the honey collection. It looks quite characteristic - in the form of a ladder rising from left to right. That is, the peak of the signal is in the range of the most active ventilation. At the same time, exists not very strong heating of the nest, and there is practically no care for open brood. Approximately such a picture is kept until the queen cells are sealed. After that, ventilation abruptly disappears, and the picture becomes the most common without any characteristic signs of the absence of the queen. Let's try to explain it.

We assume that this picture has two components - firstly, the future queens apparently need more air due to the powerful processes that take place during its formation and the growth of the larvae, and secondly, the open brood that needs to be fed almost completely disappears in the colony , and all brought nectar turns into honey. This is what causes the appearance of ventilation very similar to ventilation during honey collection. But when the first factor disappears, that is, after sealing the queen cells, ventilation becomes less intense and stable.

The second variant - the presence in the family of worker bees that lay unfertilized eggs, looks something like this ... 

At first, there is no open and sealed brood in the colony, so there are practically no signals of heating and caring for open brood. The air supply to the nest area, which is not present, also disappears. When some worker bees begin to lay unfertilized eggs throughout the hive, while others begin to care for and feed them, a signal of open brood  care appears. The amoumt of such brood is small compared to the usual state of a normal family, but in the absence of other intensive works, the signal manifests itself in the diagram. This signal is characterized by the fact that, with its low strength, it is very stable and is visible day and night until the family eventually dies.

Thus, we can say that no specific or special signals associated with the absence of a mature queen in the family were observed. This situation can only be indirectly determined by the change in the general background of works in the bee colony.

 

LATE EVENING VENTILATION OF THE NEST BY THE BEES. What is the essence of this phenomenon.

 We all had the opportunity on summer evenings, especially with a good honey flow, to observe how a mass of bees begin to ventilate the hive. A powerful rumble fills the entire apiary and does not subside until the morning. We have always believed that this is the bees remove moisture from the nectar. Not a bad idea... But why don't they do it during the day, at the hottest time of the day, when water from nectar evaporates better? At that time we don't see strong ventilation! It would seem to be a paradox, but no. Everything is logical if we turn to the statement that bees are able to maintain optimal humidity in the hive for hatching brood. We do not know what "sensors" bees have, but we can assume that they sense humidity in conjunction with temperature, that is, they respond to effective temperature, which is the derivative of absolute temperature and humidity.

So, what is actually happening in our belief in the hive and why powerful ventilation begins only in the evening?

During the day, the bees perform their usual work of bringing nectar, which they lay out first of all near open brood. And not because it needs to be fed with fresh nectar, but because water evaporating from it, raises humidity of air around the tender young brood - eggs and young larvae. After all, it is known from the works of scientists that the best survival of eggs and young larvae is observed at a relative humidity of about 90%. At the same time, we assume that the honey collection takes place during the warmest, if not the hottest time of the summer season.

So, what is the reason for this powerful evening ventilation ... And here's what! During the day, at the hottest time, water evaporating from nectar raises the absolute humidity in the hive, but the bees do not notice this yet, since the phenomenon is that they apparently feel not absolute, but relative humidity, and the higher the temperature, the less it gets! The same amount of water vapor dissolved in the same volume of air will show different relative humidity at different temperatures! At high temperatures, it will be much lower than at low! If you cool any room containing water vapor in the atmosphere, then sooner or later dew will occur! The temperature at which this can occur at certain humidity is called the "dew point". That's what bees are afraid of!

In the evening, as the temperature drops to the cold of the night, the bees feel how the relative humidity rises, which can cause vapors to condense into dew. It is this increase in relative humidity that causes the bees to intensively remove getting colder and colder moist air from the hive. That is why there is no need to ventilate the hive during the daytime - after all, at high daytime temperatures, the relative humidity of the air in the hive is not high at all, no matter how much fresh nectar is brought by the bees!

So, it can be argued that the powerful ventilation of the hive in the evening is directly related to both the supply of significant volumes of nectar and a significant decrease in temperature in the evening and at night.

ERRONEOUS CONCEPTION ABOUT COOLING THE NEST BY THE BEES DUE TO HANGING WATER DROPS ON HONEYCOMBS IN THE NEST.

Based on our scientific researches and materials of the works of famous scientists, we believe that the classical theory of cooling the nest by the bees by hanging water droplets on honeycombs is completely untenable!

Insects, being cold-blooded, become active at higher temperatures and therefore "like" hot weather. The fact that the bees ventilate the hive during the day can only mean that in conditions of heat and the corresponding reduced concentration of oxygen in the air, the bees simply need more efficient ventilation! What about water droplets?

It is known that for high-quality hatching of queens in an incubator, a temperature of 35 degrees Celsius is maintained at a relative humidity of 70%. Everyone knows this... But why should one think that some other conditions are needed for the brood of worker bees?

And what does the parameter "humidity" mean? Absolute humidity is the amount of moisture contained in one cubic meter of air. Absolute humidity is used when it is necessary to compare the amount of water in the air at different temperatures or over a wide range of temperatures. Usually measured in g/m³. But due to the fact that at a certain air temperature it can contain only a certain amount of moisture as much as possible (with an increase in temperature, this maximum possible amount of moisture increases, with a decrease in air temperature, the maximum possible amount of moisture decreases), the concept of relative humidity was introduced. Relative humidity is the ratio of the mass fraction of water vapor in the air to the maximum possible at a given temperature.

For us, this means that as the temperature in the bee nest rises, the relative humidity of the air in the nest drops !!!! Thus, when the temperature rises, it becomes necessary, no, not to cool the nest ... The bees need heat, but to humidify the airin the nest!

Water, evaporating, only increases the humidity, which is necessary so that the open brood, with its delicate skin, does not dry out and turn into "dried fruits". That's what the water in the hive is for! That's why the bees begin to carry it in early spring ( when relative humidity can be only 20%) as soon as the first mass brood appears, and not to cool the nest when it's already cold enough in spring!

It seems that this is also the reason why the bees accumulate freshly brought nectar around the brood in summer, and only after a certain amount of water has evaporated, they transfer it to honey supers! Moisture from nectar evaporating creates the necessary humidity around the brood during hot and dry summer days!

Thus, it can be assumed that in springtime, bees carry water not only, and not so much, in order to moisten sugar or soak crystallized honey, but in order to create conditions for growing brood in the absence of a nectar flow, which, drying up, could humidify the air in the nest! Therefore, when we see bees near a puddle, or on a drinking bowl, we can say for sure that an enhanced spring brood hatching has begun!

In summer, bees carrying water into the hive in hot weather become an indicator of the absence of a significant honey flow in nature. The secretion of nectar is weak and its influx into the hive cannot provide natural moisture maintenance in the nest. Additional humidification of the air is required due to the water brought into the hive.

This is what the phenomenon of hanging water droplets on honeycombs by the bees looks like in reality!

 

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WINTER FALL OF VARROA MITES, AND SURVIVAL OF BEE FAMILIES IN THE NEXT SEASON.

As you know, almost all beekeeping societies in Europe and the USA receive recommendations from specialists in the fight against Varroa mites about the quantities of Varroa mites, falling down on sticky board in bee colonies, which can be acceptable in spring time and in summer.

Figures vary from country to country, but in general, free fall of Varroa mites in spring and summer up to 5-10 pieces per day is considered to be acceptable. A mites drop of 25-30 pieces per day is considered to be critical. In our opinion, these figures are too optimistic. In addition, summer is not the most critical part of the season. Beekeeper has the opportunity to reduce the number of mites in one way or another by treating the bees with acaricidal preparations.

Winter season is a completely different matter ... The beekeeper does not have the opportunity to influence the condition of the bees and mites because of rather low temperatures, especially in regions with cold winters. At the same time, mites begin their breeding season in winter in the first, not yet mass, bee brood, which can appear as early as February-March in cold regions. At this time, the beekeeper can neither open the hive, nor carry out the treatment of bees against the mites. But, despite this, all the same, the beekeeper would like to know in what condition his bees are and what he should prepare for with the advent of spring.

In this, he can also be helped by counting of the mites falling on sticky board.

Our studies of free fall of mites in different seasons of the year and fixing what happens to bee colonies after that, showed the following patterns:

Families in which free fall of Varroa mites in winter did not exceed 0.5 mites per day did not experience serious problems until autumn. They gave honey, but approached autumn already with a large number of mites and were rather weak.

Families in which free fall of Varroa mites in winter was in the range of 0.3-0.6 and in any case did not exceed 1.0  mites per day, also experienced the summer season normally, although by autumn they came more weakened and with a big number of mites. Some of them died in winter.

Families in which free fall of Varroa mites in winter was in the range of 1-3 mites per day experienced serious problems already during the main honey flow and often died in July-August after the completion of the main honey flow due to the lack of an influx of young bees, which  died from viral diseases transferred by Varroa mites.

Families in which free fall of Varroa mites in winter exceeded 2.5-3.0 mites per day received serious problems already in April-May, that is, already at the beginning of the summer season, and often died or abandoned brood and scattered in several swarms.

Thus, we can say that control of the mites, falling on sticky board in winter and early spring, can help the beekeeper in assessing the condition of bees and the prospects for their development in future. This can also help to predict how a particular family will use the early and main honey flows. Moreover, such control does not disturb the bees, and can be carried out at any outdoor temperature and weather.

The number of falling mites must be counted for a certain time interval, which can be quite indicative - 14-21 days. Then you need to get the average number of crumbling mites per day. With this averaging, the results will be quite reliable.