The dual-uterine content of bees makes beekeeping more rational. This method has certain advantages, but it can not do without disadvantages. The technology and the nuances of the process largely depend on what type of hive to use.
Beehive lounger for two bee colonies
General characteristics of the concept
Dual-uterine maintenance means the special organization of bee colonies. Usually there is only one uterus in them, but in this case two brood nests have mutual access through lattice-dividers. They came up with such a method at the end of the XIX century.
To combine brood nests with different uterus, extensions or cases are used. As a result, something is formed like one large bee family. Such content can be carried out using various technologies.
Advantages and disadvantages
The dual-uterine bee keeping has several undeniable advantages:
- Bees survive wintering better. They winter in large numbers, so vital energy is saved.
- Due to energy savings during wintering with two-uterine content, feed consumption is also reduced. For the beekeeper, this means reduced costs.
- Increased bee family strength. During wintering, with two-uterine heat content, there is more heat, therefore insects are healthy and strong by spring.
- An increase in brood, which means an opportunity to expand the apiary.
- Effective honey collection. This factor is provided by the health and endurance of individuals. Productivity can be increased by 1.5-2 times.
The advantages of dual-uterine bee keeping are very important, but this method has certain disadvantages:
- The design of the hive is complicated, you need to increase the number of frames. The volume of honey and other insect waste products is increasing. This means a significant increase in the weight of the hive, which complicates certain manipulations with it - the beekeeper alone can no longer cope.
- With a double-womb content of the hive, an increase in the density of insects increases, due to which ventilation suffers. Bees perceive its deterioration negatively, therefore they can respond by swarming. If you do not identify it in time and take appropriate measures, then part of the bee family will be lost.
- The increased number of frames makes it difficult to inspect the hive, so the number of works on it increases. At the same time, examinations should be carried out more often because of the risk of swarming. How to stop the swarming, is described here.
- A significant drawback of the dual-uterine bees is the probability of hostility of families. To obtain the advantages of this method, normal interaction of all bees with both uterus is necessary, otherwise the meaning of the union is lost, therefore separation of families is required.
For more information, you can read an article about the role of bees in the hive.
General recommendations for arranging a hive
When arranging a hive for dual-uterine maintenance, regardless of the method chosen, it is important to adhere to the following recommendations:
- For wintering, use the outer sections, remove the summer section in advance.
- Top dressing in early spring to build strength after wintering. Use pollen for this.
- Accustomizing the use of the lower summer.
- Two months before the main bribe, a new uterus is planted and the board replaced with a dividing grid.
- Change in localization every 1.5 weeks.
- At early medical gathering installation of a store extension is required.
- Installation of the middle section after the development of the hive by insects. Mandatory presence of a mesh partition. In the future, it will need to be replaced with a grill.
- Gradual transfer of the finished brood from the extreme section to the middle. After completing it, you should proceed to family unification. It is effective to use mint drops for a frame that replaces the mesh partition.
- To expand the family, it is effective to use frame movement, use a building frame as an indication.
- At the first sign of swarming, take measures - organize a separate 8-frame building and a lay-out method.
- If swarming is excluded during honey collection, select sealed honey and control free cells for nectar.
- After the main bribe stops, the activity of the bees in the hive increases, so there is a risk of their aggressiveness to the uterus. In this case, you need to close the middle letok and open the last.
Dual-uterine maintenance is stopped after the main honey collection. Instead, two standard bee colonies are organized. The practice of leaving a two-hive hive for wintering is also practiced.
Technologies for organizing two-uterine bee keeping
Two-uterine bees can be organized in various types of hives. The features of the organization of the process depend on this.
Hive sunbed
In this case, a beehive with 16-20 frames and a dividing wall are usually used. Each bee colony has its own branch. The uterus and brood are placed in it. This type of hive is suitable for wintering and spring development of insects.
In the summer, a hull with a dividing grid and a common store are installed on the sunbed. As a result, productivity increases significantly.
When kept in a hive-lounger, they take one originally full-fledged family. In one branch of the hive, a uterus and half a honeycomb with working bees are placed. The other half is placed in the second compartment. The fetal uterus is planted here first in the cap, releasing it only after the bees get used to it.
At the peak of oviposition activity, all frames can be seeded; therefore, their gradual selection is necessary. If the bees do not have enough space, then swarming can begin.
From selected frames and working bees, it is necessary to form layers. In the future, it can also be used to organize dual-uterine content.
Watch a video about two-bee keeping in beehives and sunbeds and family gathering for honey collection:
Multihull hive
The two-uterine bee keeping in multihull hives is also called the Gunda or Farrara method. In this case, spring layering is formed over the main family.
Multihull hives are commonly used to build family strength for honey collection. The formation of the withdrawal of uterus should begin in the first decade of May, then by the second half of the family will already occupy 2-3 buildings.
To organize the layering in the upper case, it is necessary to place the infertile uterus with the mother liquor there. Oviposition begins at the end of the month. Thanks to the two uterus, family building will be intense.
At the beginning of clover bloom, when there will be 6-8 frames in the layering, it is necessary to put a metal mesh-separator - it will stand no more than two days. Then they begin to fill the layering with wax - the body should be filled in its entirety. After it, it is necessary to turn it over and install another housing with a dividing grid. The old uterus is then removed to form an additional layer.
The attractiveness of dual-uterine keeping in multi-hives is the low risk of swarming and a large number of working bees due to breeding in the upper buildings. The number of pickers is increasing, therefore, productivity during a bribe will be higher.
Watch the video on the dual-uterine content of bees in a multi-hive hive:
By Ozerov
According to this method, the first two cases are nested and are divided in half. Summer summers are closed, and nests and store cases are separated by gratings. Bees fly through the summers of store buildings, using their stocks to supply brood with honey and perga.
It is recommended to organize summerings symmetrically, retreating from the bottom and top by 30 mm. This speeds up the habit of insects to summers after installing new buildings.
Ozerov's method involves creating a spacious nest for a strong family. The technology is as follows:
- When the spring cleansing raid ends, close the streets (use slats-bookmarks) and put warming. If you need to use a stimulating or therapeutic top dressing, you need to remove a few slats and put the feeders (4 cm deep). Place an empty extension on the lower case, put in good insulation.
- For expansion it is necessary to take out in the center three rails in each section of the lower case. Cover the compartments with grilles, dividers, install a common housing. It should have 8 frames with sushi to drizzle with syrup. Use diaphragms on both sides to limit land.
- After 1.5 weeks, remove the upper case on a stand behind the hive. Remove the separator grilles, remove the bookmark grilles. Cover the sections with gratings, add a common casing, in which there should be wax and dry land.
- After another 1.5 weeks after the full development of the upper case, remove it on a stand behind the hive, remove the dividers and put half of the second case. Put 4 frames of sushi and the same amount of wax. Put the separator grilles, cover them with canvas and install the roof. To shake the bees from the third building behind the hive on plywood, setting one of its edges on the arrival board of the lower building. Pump out the frames, and put the case on the halves of the second case, closing them with dividers. Close the streets of the third building with slats.
- Halves of the second building will be mastered in about 3 weeks. It is necessary to remove the third case, and arrange the halves of the second case. A queen with a young brood of them must be transferred to the lower case and covered with lattice-dividers. Then, after pumping out, install the third case with dividers, and on top of the section of the second case, all brood frames should be in it. Open the lateral letochki of the second building. After a week, replace the separator grilles with mesh partitions. Destroy the mother bodies of the second body and replace the fetal uterus.
- Combine bribe sections. Remove the extension and put it on the back, remove the sections of the second case and place them on the sides. Remove the third case and put it back. Remove the dividers from the lower case, install the sections of the second case, and on top of the extension without dividers. Bees to transfer smoke to the second building from the extension, and put it on the cover. On the second case, put the dividers, then the transition case and the extension for honey. Shake the bees out of the third building.
- Take off the honey bodies when the main bribe ends.
- Before hibernating, move brood, honey and bee bread from the remaining hulls to the lower hull. Shake the bees one by one, add food as necessary.
To maintain two queens according to Ozerov, it is necessary to build a beehive patented by him:
Beehive according to Ozerov for two-bee keeping of bees (in Fig. 1 shows a general view of the hive, in Fig. 2 is a side view): 1 - removable bottom (Fig. 3); 2 - ventilation tick-mounted stand (Fig. 4); 3 - lower case (Fig. 5, a General view and Fig. 12, a section along the partition line); 4 - the second building (Fig. 6, in a section); 5 - the third building (Fig. 7); 6 - detachable extension (Fig. 9, in a section); 7 - integral extension (Fig. 8); 8 - roof; 9 - bars; 10 - an arrival board; 11 - perforated partition; 12 - upper summers; 13 - lower letochki; 14 - external vertical separator; 15 - non-bending staples; 16 - wire traction; 17 - hook; 18 - handles for carrying the hive; 19 - “skirt” of planks; 20 - summers. FIG. 10 - rail-bookmark. 11 - restrictive rail. 13 - the outer ledge at the lower case.
According to Sviridov
This method was developed in the Dnipropetrovsk region (Ukraine). Use hives-loungers with a dividing grid for communication of insects.
Only a strong family is suitable for the Sviridov method. The process is carried out according to the standard algorithm for sunbeds. Adherence to technology provides 16 brood frames.
Dadan Blatt Beehive
Such hives are considered universal and are well suited for dual-uterine maintenance. Organize it according to the method of Starobogatov, who used 16 frames of Dadan-Blatt.
With this method, the connection in the winter is carried out in the fall until wintering. This allows you to leave a strong uterus for the swarm. In the future, the scheme changed - the family is generalized only for the time of a bribe from mid-May to mid-July. The rest of the time, including wintering, families should be separated by a diaphragm. In such conditions, they become almost independent.
The whole process is carried out according to the following algorithm:
- To the main bribe, remove a weak and non-viable uterus and 2 brood frames.
- Remove the partition, put 3 frames with a wax.
- At the time of the bribe, add half-frames - 1-2 extensions.
- Place the removed uterus and brood in a normal hive - there should be 4 compartments where the uterus will be hatched.
- At the end of the honey collection from the mother liquor, select the strongest individuals and plant them in a two-uterine hive.
- In mid-August, insulate the hives, organize feeding with syrup. This stage is final.
Due to the two-uterine content of bees, wintering is better tolerated, so the strength of the family will be great. This increases productivity with the main bribe, which is the main goal of beekeeping. Dual uterine content can be organized in various ways. In each case, there is a certain technology and its own nuances.