Artificial queen rearing and exchanging method for traditional breeding of apis cerana

Abstract

The invention discloses an artificial queen rearing and exchanging method for traditional feeding of apis cerana, which comprises the following steps: step 1, selecting a bee colony which has a colony potential of more than 9000 worker bees, has a flat honeycomb lower edge and has a certain swarming emotion, and breeding the bee colony; 2, a new queen cell is cultivated, an S-shaped lower honeycomb with the width of 5 cm is cut off from the middle of the queen breeding honeycomb to the lower edge, part of small larvae or eggs are exposed, and the inner service bees in the colony are heightened to form the queen cell; 3, new queen cells are selected, 3-5 high-quality queen cells are reserved 4-5 days after the second step, and other queen cells are removed; 4, trapping the original queen bees, collecting the bees in the nest box by adopting a bee collecting cage after the step 2 is carried out for 6 days, driving the bees in the bee collecting cage into the nest box, trapping the queen bees through a queen bee isolating sheet at a nest entrance, and trapping the queen bees into a queen bee trapping cage. 5, high-quality queen cells are ensured, one queen cell with the diameter larger than 9.5 mm and the length about 4 cm on the queen breeding honeycomb is reserved, and other redundant queen cells are removed; and 6, confirming that the cultivated queen bee exits from the queen cell, and if the top of the queen cell is bitten open and the opening part is circular, indicating that the new queen bee is successfully cultivated. 7, queen exchange succeeds, the queen exchange succeeds after the new queen in the step 6 successfully goes out of the house and is copulated, and at the moment, the original queen is taken out for additional treatment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a method for raising and replacing queens for Chinese bees, and in particular to a method for artificially raising and replacing queens for Chinese bees using a traditional breeding method. Background Art

[0002] Chinese honey bee ( Apis cerana cerana Chinese honey bees (Apis cerana) are native bee species in my country with an evolutionary history of 7 million years and a domestication history of over 3,000 years. Over the years, they have established a special "mutual adaptation" with some plants. Some plants that are scattered and bloom at low temperatures must rely on Chinese honey bees for pollination. Apis mellifera Before its introduction, Chinese honey bees were the only bee species in my country that could be artificially reared and used to produce bee products. For thousands of years, Chinese honey bees were reared using traditional methods. Honeycombs could not be removed at will, honey could only be harvested by destroying the combs, and queens could only be replaced naturally or when mothers and daughters replaced each other. After the introduction of Western honey bees in 1920, they were reared in movable frames, allowing managers to inspect, build combs, separate and harvest honey, and manually rear and replace queens as needed. This offered advantages such as no damage to the combs, ease of management, and high efficiency. Chinese honey bees also began to follow Western honey bee rearing methods and adopt movable frame hives. However, Chinese honey bees differ significantly from Western honey bees in their biological learning habits, particularly their preference for quiet, small colonies, and tendency to form clusters. Excessive human interference, frequent opening of hives for inspection, inappropriate addition of combs, and extended honeycomb paths all violated the Chinese honey bee's natural habit of living in a dark, quiet environment. Beekeepers misinterpreted the practice of artificially guiding and regulating colonies to allow for self-development as excessive management, akin to forcing growth, with negative consequences. Many beekeepers returned to traditional breeding.

[0003] From a production perspective, live-frame beekeeping in Western honeybees facilitates honey production and queen rearing and replacement, while traditional beekeeping methods for Chinese honeybees are more conducive to colony development. However, traditional beekeeping methods in Chinese honeybees involve the self-elimination of existing queens, making it difficult to replace existing queens. This results in small colonies, low production, and increased susceptibility to disease. Even more damaging is that, except for mother-daughter replacement, after the queen cell is formed, the old queen will naturally swarm with most of the young and mature worker bees. Failure to harvest the queen cell results in not only the loss of worker bees but also the loss of the honey carried away by the swarmed workers. Furthermore, Chinese honeybee keepers, many in their sixties and seventies, often employ extensive management practices, resulting in high clusters and inconvenience in harvesting the swarmed bees. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of this, the present invention proposes a method for artificially raising and replacing queens in traditional breeding of Chinese honeybees.

[0005] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is provided as follows: a method for artificially raising and replacing queens in traditional breeding of Chinese honeybees, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: Step 1. Select the bee colony When the outside temperature is 18-35℃ and the bee source plants are in bloom and secreting nectar, select a Chinese honey bee colony with more than 9,000 worker bees, drones and capped honeycombs to cultivate new queen cells; Step 2: Cultivate a new queen cell Select one or two honeycombs with flat lower edges in the middle position of the Chinese bee colony in step 1 as queen rearing honeycombs, turn the beehive of the queen rearing honeycomb upside down along the direction of the honeycomb, blow away the bees on the queen rearing honeycomb to let them leak out of the lower edge of the honeycomb, cut off a 5 cm wide S-shaped honeycomb from the middle to the lower edge of the queen rearing honeycomb, and then turn the beehive of the queen rearing honeycomb upside down again along the direction of the honeycomb and put it back to its original position; the edge of the remaining cut-off part of the queen rearing honeycomb forms a queen cell cultivation area, and the small larvae or eggs in the queen cell cultivation area are raised by the house bees in the colony to form queen cells; Step 3: Choose a new queen cell 4-5 days after step 2, check the queen cells newly raised and modified by worker bees in the queen cell cultivation area of the queen rearing comb, retain 3-5 high-quality queen cells with a diameter greater than 9.5 mm and a length of about 4 cm, and remove the rest; at this time, if there are any uncapped queen cells, no length requirement is imposed; Step 4: Imprison the original queen bee Six days after step 2, use a collecting bee cage to collect the bees in the hive box, and then install a queen excluder at the hive entrance of the hive box; then let the bees in the collecting bee cage fly or crawl back to the hive box from the hive entrance through the queen excluder, and when the original queen bee tries to enter the hive, catch it and put it into a queen cage, and then put the queen cage into the bottom of the hive box away from the hive entrance, and remove the queen excluder; Step 5: Ensure high-quality queen cells 9 days after step 2, retain one high-quality queen cell with a diameter greater than 9.5 mm and a length of about 4 cm on the queen rearing honeycomb, and remove other redundant queen cells; 11-13 days after step 2, check whether the top of the retained queen cell is bitten open. If the top of the queen cell is bitten open and the opening is round, it indicates that the new queen is successfully bred; if the bitten part of the queen cell is not a regular circle, or is bitten open in the middle or bottom of the queen cell, or the queen cell is not bitten after 15 days, it means that the queen is dead, and the queen cell should be broken off, the original queen imprisoned in step 4 should be released, and the original queen should be laid eggs for more than 10 days before repeating steps 1-5; Step 6: Change the King After step 5, when the new queen bee successfully leaves the cell and mates, it means that the queen bee has been replaced successfully. At this time, the original queen bee should be removed and handled separately.

[0006] Among them, in step 2, by cutting off the S-shaped honeycomb on the queen rearing honeycomb, the length of the queen cell cultivation area can be increased, and the chance of exposing larvae can be increased. Larvae of different ages will also be exposed. At that time, high-quality queen cells formed by larvae of younger age can be selected. 5cm is a newer honeycomb of the bee colony, in which there are many small larvae formed by eggs laid in the early stage. The width or narrowness of the cut can be adjusted according to the egg and larvae situation on the honeycomb. As long as a certain number of small larvae or eggs are leaked from the lower edge of the remaining honeycomb after cutting. Placing the original queen at the bottom of the box away from the nest entrance in step 4 is to reduce the queen pheromone in the bee colony, so that the worker bees are more likely to accept the queen cells cultivated in step 3.

[0007] Preferably, in step 1, a bee colony with at least 4 middle honeycombs with flat bottom edges is selected for cultivation.

[0008] Furthermore, in step 4, between 5 and 7 pm, the hive is turned upside down along the direction of the honeycomb, a collecting cage is placed on the bottom of the hive, smoke or repellent is used to drive the bees into the collecting cage, and after all the bees have entered the collecting cage, the hive is turned over again and a queen excluder is installed at the hive door to separate the queen.

[0009] Furthermore, in step 4, the bee collecting cage is turned over and placed at the hive door of the hive box, and the bee collecting cage is tapped lightly to allow the worker bees to enter the hive box from the hive door through the queen excluder. The queen bee is separated by the queen excluder, and it is very easy to separate the queen bee at this time.

[0010] Due to the adoption of the above technical solution, the present invention has the following advantages: The present invention provides a method for rearing Chinese bees that actively cultivates new queen cells and simultaneously realizes queen breeding and queen replacement. The method of the present invention solves the problem of exchanging new original queens that is difficult to achieve in the traditional rearing process of Chinese bees. Beekeepers can independently cultivate new queens and realize the replacement of old and new queens.

[0011] The artificial queen rearing and queen replacement method of the present invention avoids the natural swarming phenomenon of the Chinese honeybee, ensures the colony strength of the Chinese honeybee and also avoids the honey being taken away due to swarming.

[0012] The artificial queen breeding and queen replacement method of the present invention avoids the phenomenon of long-term aging of queen bees in the process of queen replacement by mother and daughter, and ensures higher egg-laying capacity and queen substance of the bee colony.

[0013] The artificial queen breeding and queen replacement method of the present invention keeps the original queen bee in the beehive all the time during the queen replacement process, thus avoiding the situation where worker bees fly away and eliminating the need for beekeepers to capture them, thereby facilitating extensive management by older beekeepers.

[0014] The king-changing success rate of the present invention exceeds 87%. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1This is a side view of the honeycomb in Example 1; Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the S-shaped slit cut into the honeycomb in Example 1; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the top of the queen cell in Example 1 being bitten open and the opening being circular; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of Example 1 in which the middle part of the queen cell is bitten open and the opening is non-circular. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] The embodiments of the present application are described in detail below. Examples of the embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals throughout represent the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are intended only to explain the present application and are not to be construed as limiting the present application. On the contrary, the embodiments of the present application include all variations, modifications, and equivalents that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

[0017] Example 1: Figure 1-4 As shown, a traditional method for artificial queen breeding and queen replacement in beekeeping of Chinese honeybees comprises the following steps: Step 1. Select the bee colony When the outside temperature is 18-35℃ and the nectar and pollen source plants are in bloom and secreting nectar, select a Chinese honeybee colony with more than 9,000 worker bees, drones, a large number of capped honeycombs, and swarming fever to cultivate new queen cells, and ensure that there are at least 4-5 honeycombs with "flat" bottom edges in the middle of the colony.

[0018] like Figure 1 As shown in the figure, the lower edge of the honeycomb in the Chinese honeybee colony is "flat" and "pointed". The lower edge of the honeycomb is "flat" indicating that swarming fever has occurred. In this embodiment, a Chinese honeybee colony with a "flat" honeycomb (ensuring the occurrence of swarming fever) is selected for cultivation.

[0019] Step 2: Cultivate a new queen cell Select one or two honeycombs with flat lower edges in the middle position of the Chinese bee colony described in step 1 as queen rearing honeycombs, turn the beehive of the queen rearing honeycomb up and down along the direction of the honeycomb, blow away the bees on the queen rearing honeycomb with your mouth or smoke them to let them leak out of the lower edge of the honeycomb, cut off a 5 cm wide S-shaped honeycomb from the middle to the lower edge of the queen rearing honeycomb, and then turn the beehive of the queen rearing honeycomb up and down again along the direction of the honeycomb and put it back to its original place; the edge of the remaining cut-off part of the queen rearing honeycomb forms a queen cell cultivation area, and generally after 1-2 days, the small larvae or eggs in the queen cell cultivation area are raised by the house bees in the colony to form queen cells; in, Figure 2 A schematic diagram of an S-shaped honeycomb with 5 cm width cut off.

[0020] Step 3: Choose a new queen cell 4-5 days after step 2, check the queen cell cultivation area of the queen rearing nest spleen and observe the queen cells newly raised and modified by worker bees above the queen cell cultivation area. Keep 3-5 high-quality queen cells with a diameter greater than 9.5 mm and a length of about 4 cm, and remove the other queen cells. At this time, if there are any uncapped queen cells, the length is not required. Among them, remove the queen cells that are capped early, are small, and contain larger larvae.

[0021] Step 4: Imprison the original queen bee After 6 days of step 2, select between 5 and 7 in the evening and use a bee cage to collect the bees in the hive. The bee cage in this embodiment is a prior art and a common device used in existing traditional bee breeding. When using the bee cage to collect bees, first turn the hive box up and down along the direction of the honeycomb, and then cover the bottom of the hive with the bee cage. The bottom of the traditional bee hive is usually without a bottom plate. The bees are driven into the bee cage by fumigating or using a repellent at the nest door of the hive box, avoiding vibrating or knocking the hive box to drive the bees away, and wait until the bee colony is completely collected in the bee cage.

[0022] Then the hive box is flipped back to normal state so that the hive box bottom is placed on the ground, and then a queen excluder is installed at the nest door of the described Chinese honeybee hive box. The described queen excluder is prior art, and the queen excluder in the present embodiment is a plastic sheet with a grid, the gap of the grid is greater than the worker bee chest height of Chinese honeybee but less than the chest height of queen bee, the queen excluder is installed at the nest door of the Chinese honeybee hive box by modes such as snap-in, bonding, then the collecting beehive cage having collected bee colony is horizontally placed, allowing its outlet to aim at the nest door of the Chinese honeybee hive, gently tapping the collecting beehive cage, allowing worker bees to climb out of the collecting beehive cage and climb into the beehive through the queen excluder, when the former queen bee follows the worker bees attempting to enter the Chinese honeybee hive, she will be intercepted by the queen excluder, now immediately seize the former queen bee and take it into the queen cage. The queen cage in the present embodiment is also prior art, is a cage with a grid, and the queen bee can be packed into and avoid it from getting out.

[0023] After worker bees all crawl into the Chinese honeycomb box from the beehive cage, remove the queen excluder, then put the queen cage with the original queen bee into the Chinese honeycomb bottom and away from the position of the nest door. In the present embodiment, the queen cage is selected to be placed in the direction of the diagonal line with the nest door.

[0024] Step 5: Ensure high-quality queen cells 9 days after step 2, retain one high-quality queen cell with a diameter greater than 9.5 mm and a length of about 4 cm on the queen rearing honeycomb, and remove other redundant queen cells; 11-13 days after step 2, check whether the top of the retained queen cell is bitten open. If the top of the queen cell is bitten open and the opening part is round, it indicates that the new queen is successfully bred. Figure 3The picture shows that the top of the queen cell has been bitten open and the opening is round, indicating that the new queen bee has been successfully bred.

[0025] If the part of the queen cell that is bitten open is not a regular circle, or is bitten open in the middle or bottom of the queen cell, or the queen cell is not bitten open 15 days after step 2, it means that the queen cell is dead. The queen cell should be broken off, and the original queen bee imprisoned in step 4 should be released. Wait for the original queen bee to lay eggs for more than 10 days before repeating steps 1-5. Figure 4 It is shown that the middle part (not the top) of the queen cell has been bitten open, and the shape of the opening is not circular, which means that the queen cell is dead and should be broken off.

[0026] Step 6: King change successful After the new queen bee successfully leaves the hive and mates in step 5, the queen replacement is successful. At this time, the original queen bee is removed and handled separately. Specifically, there are two ways to dispose of the original queen bee: one is to introduce it to another bee colony, and the other is to kill it.

[0027] This embodiment provides a method for raising Chinese bees that actively cultivates new queen cells and simultaneously achieves queen rearing and queen replacement. This solves the problem of exchanging new original queens that is difficult to achieve in traditional Chinese bee rearing. Beekeepers can independently cultivate new queens and achieve the exchange of old and new queens. It also avoids the natural swarming phenomenon that occurs during the natural swarming of Chinese bees or the replacement of queens by mother and daughter, ensures the strength of the Chinese bee colony, and also avoids the loss of honey due to swarming. During the queen replacement process, the original queen is always in the beehive, avoiding the situation where worker bees fly away, and there is no need for beekeepers to collect and capture them, which can facilitate extensive management by older beekeepers.

[0028] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and are not limiting. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that various changes can be made in form and detail without departing from the scope defined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for artificially raising and replacing queens in traditional honey bee breeding, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: Step 1. Select the bee colony When the outside temperature is 18-35℃ and the nectar and pollen source plants are in bloom and secreting nectar, select a Chinese honey bee colony with more than 9,000 worker bees, drones and capped honeycombs to cultivate new queen cells; Step 2: Cultivate a new queen cell Select one or two honeycombs with flat lower edges in the middle position of the Chinese bee colony described in step 1 as queen rearing honeycombs, turn the beehive of the queen rearing honeycomb up and down along the direction of the honeycomb, blow away the bees on the queen rearing honeycomb to let them leak out of the lower edge of the honeycomb, cut off a 5 cm wide S-shaped honeycomb from the middle to the lower edge of the queen rearing honeycomb, and then turn the beehive of the queen rearing honeycomb up and down again along the direction of the honeycomb and put it back to its original place; the edge of the remaining cut-off part of the queen rearing honeycomb forms a queen cell cultivation area, and the small larvae or eggs in the queen cell cultivation area are raised by the house bees in the colony to form queen cells; Step 3: Choose a new queen cell 4-5 days after step 2, check the queen cells newly raised and modified by worker bees in the queen cell cultivation area of the queen rearing comb, retain 3-5 high-quality queen cells with a diameter greater than 9.5 mm and a length of 4 cm, and remove the rest; if there are any uncovered queen cells at this time, no length requirement is imposed; Step 4: Imprison the original queen bee Six days after step 2, use a bee collecting cage to collect the bees in the hive box, and then install a queen excluder at the hive entrance of the hive box; let the bees in the bee collecting cage fly or crawl back to the hive box from the hive entrance through the queen excluder, and when the original queen bee tries to enter the hive box, catch it and put it into a queen cage, put the queen cage into the bottom of the hive box away from the hive entrance, and remove the queen excluder at the hive entrance; Step 5: Ensure high-quality queen cells 9 days after step 2, retain one high-quality queen cell with a diameter greater than 9.5 mm and a length of 4 cm on the queen rearing honeycomb, and remove other redundant queen cells; 11-13 days after step 2, check whether the top of the retained queen cell is bitten open. If the top of the queen cell is bitten open and the opening is round, it indicates that the new queen is successfully bred; if the bitten part of the queen cell is not a regular circle, or is bitten open in the middle or bottom of the queen cell, or the queen cell is not bitten 15 days after step 2, it means that the queen is dead. Break off the queen cell, release the original queen imprisoned in step 4, and wait for the original queen to lay eggs for more than 10 days before repeating steps 1-5; Step 6: Change the King After step 5, when the new queen bee successfully leaves the cell and mates, it means that the queen bee has been replaced successfully. At this time, the original queen bee should be removed and handled separately.

2. The method for artificial queen rearing and queen replacement in traditional breeding of nectarine honeybees according to claim 1, wherein: In the step 1, a bee colony with at least 4 middle honeycombs with flat bottom edges is selected for cultivation.

3. The method for artificial queen rearing and queen replacement in traditional breeding of nectarine honeybees according to claim 1, wherein: In step 4, between 5 and 7 pm, the hive is turned upside down along the direction of the honeycomb, a collecting cage is placed on the bottom of the hive, smoke or repellent is used to drive the bees into the collecting cage, and after all the bees have entered the collecting cage, the hive is turned over again and a queen excluder is installed at the hive door.

4. The method for artificial queen rearing and queen replacement in traditional honey bee breeding as claimed in claim 1, wherein: In step 4, the bee collecting cage is turned over and placed at the nest door of the hive box, and the bee collecting cage is gently tapped to allow the worker bees to enter the hive box through the nest door.

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