Flock (birds)

The swarming is the natural tendency of the honey bees to increase their States by division. This impulse is triggered by the Stronger Will of colonies in early summer (May- June).

The Swarm ( Vorschwarm )

In early summer, a bee colony has the largest stock of individuals during the year. Consequently many nurse bees are present, want to maintain the brood but no longer find sufficient brood. This is the case for example with a too tight expectant dwelling. The bees then begin to build up to about a dozen special cells called queen cells. In the following days, these cells are also studded ( the queen lays an egg in each case ). The developing larvae are fed exclusively with a special, produced by the nurse bees feed juice, the royal jelly, grow rapidly approaching to the 16th day after oviposition to hatch as the new queens. In the meantime, the queen has stopped laying eggs ( for normal brood ) and is thus again become slim and airworthy.

On the ninth day after oviposition, or in bad weather at a subsequent, leave suddenly, usually in the morning 11 to 12 clock thousands of bees ( 10,000 and more) with their queen in a giant cloud of the hive. They gather later near the parent colony at one point as a swarm, such as tree branches. There they insert a respite to orient further. Next, a few hundred scouts, scout bees are also called, sent. This search in the wider area for a suitable new nesting site, if possible a tree hollow. If the search does not succeed, and the whole swarm can rise closed and fly. The swarm gathers again at a second intermediate station. The exploration of a suitable nest site then begins anew. In these explorations always return track bees to swarm back and run on the surface of the swarm on the waggle dance to attract more scouts to the newly discovered places.

This first, resulting in a division consent hive swarm - with the old queen - is called Vorschwarm.

Selection of the new nest site

The information, the scout bees regarding the direction and distance corresponds to the dance in the transmission of a food source. The more confident they are, however, of the location of the new nest site, the more durable they perform this dance. To them, for example, a large, protected place situated about 100 dances worth only a mediocre contrast, an average of only twelve. In experiments by biologists from Cornell University in the U.S. state of New York, it was found that allocation willing that waiting bee colony on the move to the new nest site began to actively prepare as soon as about fifteen of the scouts had clear support for a place. With such a decision process are according to scientists the bees neither a consensus yet on a compromise interested, but in a best and fastest possible decision.

Swarms

In the remaining parent colony more swarms as from the date on which slips a first new queen to emerge. With each such swarm ( swarm ) then flies from a young queen. These swarms initially accumulate in the vicinity of the old dwelling. When departure from Nachschwärmen it may, when several queens hatch at the same time, going so turbulent that where collected swarm even two or more young queens are present. Frequently, however, it is not for the Nachschwärmen because the first-born young queen it goes immediately to kill their rivals, not yet hatched. The beekeeper talks about it then, that he has found ausgebissene cells in the bee colony. In addition, a bee colony also shares not arbitrarily long because eventually no sufficient ground bees longer exists.

Swarms are always significantly smaller than the Vorschwarm and can fly much further with the young queen.

Problem for beekeepers

The swarming caused today, mostly based on early flow beekeepers problems since the time swarm falls into the main flow. Swarming nations provide significantly less honey. The swarming can be dampened by growth on swarm inertia and by suitable beekeeping measures ( operation ) and the Abschwärmen even prevented. Thus, it is common practice today, bee colonies before reaching the critical colony size (which the swarming instinct triggers ) to fleece, that is, to remove a certain amount of bees with brood. From this material ( bees and honeycomb ) then called offshoots are formed, which are mostly situated outside the current flight radius and provided with a slip- ripe queen cell or an already hatched young queen.

On the other hand, a captured bee swarm from a new people dar. If the beekeeper noticed the onset of swarming time, he hangs in front of the entrance hole called a swarm bag and begins to swarm on it. When the Queen is in the bag, the rest of the swarm of bees partly outside, as seen on the image gathers.

Bees law

Under German law the beekeeper bees retains ownership of the swarm, as long as he followed him. He is allowed to enter foreign land. Find the swarm a new, empty floor, the owner of swarming queen may open this to capture his bees. Taking the swarm into an already occupied floor, so he belongs to the owner of the people that lived there previously. The owner of the feeding swarm loses its rights.

History

In the previous beekeeping ( apiculture as a Gentile ), the colonies were propagated about swarming. Here you wanted as early as possible in as many swarms to have many bees to introduce the late Heath costume from August. The processed peoples were then killed to harvest honey with sulfur fumes. In the present-day magazine operation, the multiplication is done through targeted other measures such as cupping, queen rearing and making replicas. Early swarms is disturbing.