Japanese honeybee artificial swarming hive (tiered box type)
The stacked-box beehive with separable components addresses the inefficiencies of natural swarming by enabling controlled hive division and expansion, enhancing honey production and parasite resistance.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- JP · JP
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- 山岡 治作
- Filing Date
- 2024-10-24
- Publication Date
- 2026-05-12
AI Technical Summary
Existing methods for increasing bee colonies through natural swarming are costly and have a low success rate, and existing hive structures are difficult to manage, leading to inefficient honey production and vulnerability to parasites.
A stacked-box type beehive with separable components, including a top board, upper box, and base frame, featuring removable slats with convex undersides, allowing easy separation and expansion of comb units, and the addition of supers to manage comb growth and prevent unnecessary swarming.
This design reduces the need for capturing natural swarms, facilitates controlled hive division, enhances honey production, and protects against parasites, resulting in cost-effective and efficient honeybee management.
Smart Images
Figure 2026076532000001_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] In natural swarming, the parent queen bee leaves several potential queen bee offspring and takes about half of the worker bees in the bee colony to travel to the mountains. Next, the first potential queen bee becomes the queen bee and takes about half of the worker bees to travel to the mountains. This continues with the second, third offspring, and so on. If it becomes impossible to continue, the remaining potential queen bees are killed by the worker bees.
[0002] The present invention provides a hive box for artificial split swarming that can divide the hive into two or more boxes by splitting the hive immediately before natural swarming. Immediately before natural swarming refers to the period when several queen cells are made at the downward tip of the comb frame and are ripe but have not yet swarmed.
[0003] Swarming is to divide the existing hive into the parent queen bee colony and the first potential queen bee colony. When the parent queen bee is old or weak, it is divided into the first potential queen bee colony and the second potential queen bee colony. The amount of the hive can also be divided in units of comb frames for each queen cell so that it is divided in half.
[0004] Next, by limiting the number of swarms, to solve this, one queen bee is left in one hive box and the rest are killed. By this, unnecessary natural swarming can be avoided and the number of bees traveling to the mountains can be reduced. After this, follow the conventional method.
Background Art
[0005] This type of hive box is a double-decker hive box, which is box-shaped and has a hive entrance and has been in practical use since ancient times. For the purpose of capturing wild swarming colonies, it is set up in the mountains as a waiting box to wait for the natural swarming colony to inhabit. The Japanese honeybee colony that inhabits it hangs from the top board and starts making a hive. As shown in FIG. 1, the orientation of the hive is left to the Japanese honeybees, and this was known among beekeepers
[0006] This double-decker hive box with Japanese honeybee colonies is moved to a beekeeping farm and breeding for honey collection is started.
Prior Art Documents
Patent Documents
[0007] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 4191367 [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]
[0008] If you want to increase the number of bee colonies, you need to secure a new colony for natural swarms using the methods described above, but this is costly.
[0009] According to patent documents, there is a method of removing the main section and placing it in a new beehive, but this method is difficult to perform and has a low success rate. [Means for solving the problem]
[0010] This is a stacked-box type beehive for Japanese honeybee beekeeping, characterized in that the top board, upper box, super box, and base frame are separable from the top and assembled vertically to form a box shape, and multiple slats are fixed at predetermined intervals to the inside of the upper part of the upper box in a removable manner.
[0011] Furthermore, it is characterized by a convex shape on the underside of the slats and a straight line along the longitudinal direction.
[0012] Furthermore, this beehive is characterized by the ability to extend the beehive vertically by inserting another super between the super and the base frame of a stacked beehive, and by stacking them in a separable manner along the length.
[0013] By doing this, the bees hang from these bars and build their combs one by one, as shown in Figure 7. This makes it easy to separate the entire comb, including the bars, into individual combs. Furthermore, if an individual comb grows too tall vertically, this can be easily addressed by inserting a super. Even after insertion, it is still easy to separate the comb, including the bars, into individual combs. [Effects of the Invention]
[0014] This eliminates the need to capture naturally swarming bee colonies, thus reducing costs.
[0015] The progress of the nest formation (growth) can be observed, and from the ripeness of the queen cells, the large frame, the comb board, and the slats can be easily divided in a set in a timely and appropriate manner.
[0016] In the present invention, unnecessary swarming is avoided compared to natural swarming, so breeding can be started with a large colony, and unnecessary natural swarming can be avoided thereafter.
[0017] To protect against natural enemies, without unnecessary processing on the hive body, a simple structure can prevent parasites and wax moths from invading and maintain a strong colony of Japanese honeybees.
[0018] The comb board grows from top to bottom. As it grows, supers are added between the super and the queen cell frame. When three years or more have passed smoothly, the honey in the uppermost section has an increased sugar content and is ripened and becomes delicious, and honey is harvested from the uppermost section.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[0019] [Figure 1] A view of a comb made in a conventional hive body cut horizontally and seen from above. [Figure 2] A view of the top board. [Figure 3] A view of slats attached to the inner upper part of the upper box of the hive body of the present invention. [Figure 4] A view of a super. [Figure 5] A view of a queen cell frame with a hive entrance formed. [Figure 6] A view of a double-decker hive body. (Figure 2 + Figure 3 + Figure 4 + Figure 5) [Figure 7] A view of a comb board made in the hive body of the present invention seen from below. [Figure 8] A view of a double-decker hive body three years after swarming, a hive body with two additional Figure 4s. A comb-falling prevention bar and a hive entrance are shown in the figure.
Modes for Carrying Out the Invention
[0020] After examining the entire nest, including the queen cell and comb, the beekeeper decides how to divide it. Following this decision, they transfer the comb and comb sets to a separate box-type hive, one set at a time. The transfer method involves removing the two wood screws holding the comb in place, transferring the comb and comb as a single unit to another box-type hive, and reattaching them in the same way, repeating this process. The method of securing the crossbars to the top box is not limited to wood screws; you can also cut grooves into the top box and fit the crossbars into them, or use metal fittings to fasten them.
[0021] The crossbar of this invention has a convex shape on its lower surface, and may also be diamond-shaped, circle-shaped, or triangle-shaped. It is sufficient that the lower surface is convex.
[0022] Using these crossbars (in this case, diamond-shaped, 20x20mm, with dimensions that fit inside), attach multiple pieces (8 pieces in this case) to the inside of the upper box of the stacked hive, with the bottom surface facing outwards, flush with the inside of the upper box, at a pitch of 32mm to 38mm (35mm in this case). Any method of fastening is acceptable, such as screwing or snapping (screwing is used in this case). By doing this, the bees hang from these bars and build the comb one by one, making it easy to separate the comb into individual combs.
[0023] The gaps between the slats are optional.
[0024] Unlike Western honey, Japanese honeybee honey requires aging for two to three years or more, resulting in a rich and delicious honey unique to Japanese honeybees.
[0025] However, as time passes, the honeycomb of the Japanese honeybees will reach the base frame. In this case, as shown in Figure 8, add the supers shown in Figure 4 according to the situation. In some cases, several layers may be required. [Industrial applicability]
[0026] This will allow us to systematically increase the number of Japanese honeybee hives within our own company.
[0027] Honey from Japanese honeybees is not sold in large quantities in supermarkets; it is mainly sold at farmers' markets and similar places.
[0028] This invention makes it possible to mass-produce and reduce the cost of honey from Japanese honeybees, allowing it to be distributed in large quantities on the market. [Explanation of Symbols]
[0029] 1-Nest 2-Top plate 3-Top box 4-bar 5-Extension Box 6-frame 7-Stacked Box Nesting Box 8-Nest board 9. Combo prevention rod 10-Sumon
Claims
1. A beehive for Japanese honeybees, characterized in that the top board, upper box, super box, and base frame are separable from the top and assembled vertically to form a box shape, and multiple slats are fixed at predetermined intervals to the inside of the upper part of the upper box in a removable manner.
2. The beehive for honeybees according to claim 1, characterized in that the lower surface of the slats is convex and the longitudinal direction is straight.
3. The beehive according to claim 1, characterized in that another super is inserted between the super and the base frame of a stacked beehive, and the beehive can be extended vertically by stacking them in the length direction, which is separable. (２)