Content:
Beekeeping is not easy, it requires carefulness and patience. Particularly difficult is the question of how to combine two bee colonies into one.
Unification of bee families
Why and how to combine bee colonies? Beekeepers pursue different goals, deciding to combine 2 families of bees into one large one.
Objectives:
- adjusting and helping weaker associations;
- the creation of honey families or the unification of offshoots to mother communes.
Bees
This process is complex and time consuming. Its complexity lies in the fact that bees react very sharply and aggressively to individuals from other families, they determine the belonging of other insects by smell.
An important and decisive factor when joining two families is the season.
To combine two houses, you just need to move the insect frames into one hive. After such a move, the inhabitants of the hive will decide for themselves who will become the queen in the new family. Even if there were already selected queen bees in two different houses, there is a possibility that one of them could get nasty.
In this case, when transferring the frame, it is desirable to simply remove this individual from the total mass of all insects. In a situation where both queens are capable, the choice is left to the bees themselves, they will be able to distribute responsibilities on their own.
Connecting bee families in the summer
During the summer period, beekeepers unite bee colonies in order to obtain honey families. Every experienced beekeeper knows how to unite bee colonies as carefully and without stress for the bees. At this time, the integration is carried out using paper partitions.
A loose piece of paper is placed on the frame of one of the family, in which holes are made to allow sufficient air to flow. A housing is placed on top of the resulting structure, into which the bees are moved. After a while, the bees will gnaw the cellulose partition and move to a new hive.
If the unification is carried out in a non-withdrawal period (the bees are quite aggressive at this time), then you can resort to a trick - spray the combs of both bee colonies with water with a mixture of pleasant aromas.
Combining bee families in summer
Connecting hives in August
In the summer, bee families already have their own smells, in addition, each entrance has a guard. Therefore, it is advisable to carry out work on combining in August at night or late in the evening. Preparatory activities are carried out 2-3 hours before the start of the association. The queen bee in the family, which needs to be strengthened, is separated by covering with a cap. To give 2 families a similar smell, you can put a couple of sprigs of mint or lemon balm in the hives. First of all, both frames are opened, the cage with the uterus is taken out, all the frames are moved to a common hive. An empty hive is taken out of the beekeeping farm.
If the hives were located close to each other before the merger, then the new commune should be placed in the middle. If the hives were in different places, then hay is placed on the landing board, and branches are laid out to the front partition. This is done so that after the morning flights, the individuals recognize the new habitation by branches. After 2-3 days, the uterus is released from under the cap.
Pooling hives in the fall season
Autumn mergers are carried out after revisions of all bee hives. Associations take place in early autumn. A single scent is created for two combined families. This is done by spraying frames or placing mint in the nests. Families-tinderboxes before such a process of unification must be cured and corrected.
In autumn, two bee colonies are gathered into a single clan so that in the most severe and coldest winter period a new large hive is strong and strong. Also, in addition to creating new families, in this way you can also fix weaker communes by connecting them to the uterus.
Adjacent hives are easier to match. Every evening, the family that needs to be moved is gradually moved to the host family by 50 cm. At the very minimum distance from each other, the frames are sprayed with mint broth, then a direct resettlement is made.
When this procedure is performed in late autumn, the scheme remains practically the same. Cameras with families are delimited by a diaphragm. The next day, this partition is removed, and the final stage of merging takes place in the autumn.
Merging bee families before honey harvest
They unite bee colonies before the main bribe with one goal - to create honey families. There is a certain scheme of how to connect the bee colonies before honey collection. The start of the merge is around June 24th. The procedure is carried out in a vertical structure, which includes a large family and planted in the spring - new, but already strengthened. All frames of the printed brood rise from the lower structure to the upper part with the young queen. Light dryness or foundation is placed in the formed void. A partition must be placed between the upper and lower parts.
Spraying with fragrant mixtures
Combining two bee families into one
The association should be carried out in the evening, as the activity of bees decreases towards night. The weather should be warm and calm. The most important thing is that a weak one is planted to a strong nest, but not vice versa. Both families should be well-fed, this also lowers their level of aggression. We must not forget about covering the uterus with a cap during the transfer of families. It is forbidden to combine insects from different subspecies, as well as sick bees with healthy individuals.
The process of forming new large hives requires care and accuracy. All materials are prepared in advance. The date of the beginning of the connection of the two communes is also chosen taking into account the weather conditions. Special attention is paid to the preparation of the flavored mixture.
