home Calculation

We transplant the bees after wintering. How to properly populate a hive. Therapeutic treatment of bees in spring

Why is relocation necessary?

A bee's entry into a hive can occur for various reasons. This is not very difficult to do, but it is necessary to follow all the recommendations correctly in order not to harm the insect and make the change of environment as comfortable as possible.

In ancient times, no one paid much attention to the weather, transplant times, or seasons. The swarm was removed from the tree and forcibly moved to a new house (sapetka), all the entrances were closed and the insects settled in.

After a day passed, when the insects calmed down, the entrances opened, and when they accepted a new home, the existence of the bee colony began in a new place. Nowadays, if you catch a swarm, it is not recommended to immediately move it to the house.

For example, if you caught a family this afternoon, then you need to try to place it in the hive in the evening of the next day, all this time they need to be left alone in a closed box. This is done so that the insects calm down and accept the change of environment more calmly.

Before transplanting bees into a hive, you need to know some factors. It is imperative to disinfect the future home, dry it well, it is unacceptable to have the inside wet, with signs of foulbrood formation.

Immediately you need to put in it prepared sushi of light and brown color, a frame with new wax, and always one with a certain amount of honey, in case the weather worsens and the bee is unable to obtain food on its own.

The approximate number of frames is as follows: for 1 kg of live weight of a bee, about four format frames are installed; for multi-tiered Langstroth-Ruth hives, about six are needed. When transplanting a swarm during the preparation period, if possible must be supported enough low temperature- approximately 5-10 degrees.

It is important to correctly determine the number and weight of bees; it is unacceptable to place a large number of new, unharnessed products in a hive where a family with a small number of bees is moving.

For a standard swarm, which can usually be caught (1-2 kg), 1 frame is enough; in rare exceptions, you can catch a large swarm formed from the flying layer weighing four to five kilograms, then it is possible to install two foundations at once.

Remember!The beekeeper’s task in the first year of settling a new bee colony is not to give away honey, but to strengthen and build up the bees for a successful winter period.

How do beekeepers usually plant a captured swarm? A box or magazine is placed on top and the bees are forcibly thrown out of the box onto the top slats, thus ensuring safe relocation. It often happens that insects gather in a group again and strive to leave the home at the first opportunity.

A more gentle method of transplantation occurs using the so-called “gangways”. What is this device? This is a sheet of plywood cut so that on one side it is slightly larger than the narrow side of the box in which your swarm fits, and on the other it is about 20 centimeters.

Small slats are glued or nailed along the edges. One side is placed under the box, and the other is directed to the entrance, and the bees move self-propelled into the hive through the correct entrance hole (entry). This way you cause minimal harm during transplantation.

If everything went smoothly for you, then perhaps the very next morning they will begin honey collection, as expected. Another way to keep them is to place a frame with young brood in the house.

In this case, practically the swarm will never leave the nest, however, you need to take such a frame from a neighboring hive quite carefully.

So, when landing a swarm you need to know:

The transplant is carried out in the late afternoon, when the main work is already completed;
It is better to do it the next day, allowing the nest to calm down;
When transplanting, pay attention to the number of queens;
Leave one queen, placing the rest in a cage;
Disinfect the hive;
Prepare drying material and wax;
If necessary, place a frame with brood;
Place one frame with food;
The most comfortable way to move the bees into the house.

How to transplant a bee correctly

In addition to transplanting the swarm, during the period of the beekeeper's activity, it becomes necessary to separate the colony and transplant them to another hive. An experienced beekeeper will probably know in what cases this is done, but for your reference, we will give a few examples and try to correctly describe the actions that need to be performed.

Why do you need to transplant bees:

When replanting the breeding queen with brood;
Transplanting prepared cuttings to increase the apiary;
Layering for growth with a non-fertile queen;
Changing the hive design;
For disinfection and housekeeping work.

At some point in his activity, almost every beekeeper wants to try a new breed of bees in his apiary. To do this, you need to order a queen of the required breed from the nursery and try to place it correctly in the family. The best option is to replant it with young brood.

To do this, frames with brood are taken from neighboring dwellings, the bees are carefully shaken off them, they are installed in a hive that has been prepared and warmed up in the sun, and frames with food, nectar and beebread are also placed. Then the uterus is moved there in a special cage, which opens after preparation.

Entrance doors and access to the hive are closed to prevent outside bees from getting there. After 3-4 days, after the brood comes out, it is necessary to open the entrance to a minimum passage. During this period, it is very important that there is constantly hot weather, since it is quite difficult to ensure the heating of the hive due to the small number of bees.

If everything goes well, then the queen and the bees begin to live as a new bee colony and after a short amount of time you will receive the bee for which you started this whole procedure.

To expand the apiary, beekeepers use the breeding of layering from already formed strong families. This happens during the swarming period, when the bees begin to actively pull away the queen cells.

It is during this period that it is necessary to leave the queen cell in the family in which you intend to make layering. Large beehives with 24 or more units are ideal for this purpose.

In this case, a dense partition is installed, behind which a frame with the queen, several frames with insects and food are placed for the first time.

Due to the fact that the design of such hives has entrances in both parts, you can make such a layer without extra effort and with minimal losses for the bee.

After the new queen has been born and the process of settling in begins, it is necessary to move such frames into a new house, which must be properly prepared before transplantation.

Attention!For any transplant, the house must be disinfected, completely dried and warmed up in the sun.

When changing the design, it is necessary to give the animals some time to properly reform the nest. After all, in different designs it is located, slightly different from each other. During this period, it is necessary to close the entrances and keep the bees in this state for at least a day, after which the nest will be reformed. The entrances are opened gradually, so that the insects remember the new place and fly around the territory.

Well, once every 3-5 years it is necessary to carry out paintwork and various housekeeping work on the hive. This, of course, is not necessary, but it must be done to increase the life of the hive. Transplantation is carried out according to the principle of changing the structure, however, it is worth noting that it is best to transplant into houses of equal value, so you will minimally affect the life of the family.

What you need to know about this procedure

It is worth knowing that unless absolutely necessary, you should not replant bee colonies even from equivalent structures. It is not recommended to do this in early spring and late autumn. After all, in the spring the family is very weak and cannot withstand separation or such a shock as moving to another house, and in late autumn after the nest has formed, you risk losing the family during the winter.

The most comfortable period is hottest summer days, when the hives are warmed up and there will be the least shock when moving.

Each beekeeper should have special boxes prepared. Some are for setting up transfer frames, others are for catching swarms. They are slightly different from each other. You can find their design on special websites in articles dedicated to this particular problem, or by visiting an apiary and personally studying their structure.

All of them must have:

Good ventilation;
Spacious volume;
Quick access;
Convenient to carry and transport.

There is no need to make them large for a 2 kg swarm. For transfer, so that it is not difficult to do this, a box with 4-6 frames is enough, depending on the needs of the beekeeper.

With the onset of spring, the beekeeper has little time to perform a number of important works, the essence of which boils down to eliminating the negative consequences of the past wintering of bees, as well as creating optimal conditions for the further development of the bee colony. This article will present spring work with bees in the correct sequence.

The main emphasis is placed precisely on the 1st month after the insects are exposed, when the bees that have survived the winter are replaced. In general, for beekeepers, spring comes much earlier than for ordinary people and falls in the month of March, and in some regions of Russia in the last days of February. As soon as the sun begins to warm up, the bees gradually get rid of winter torpor and quite quickly begin to actively work to restore order in the hive.

Experienced beekeepers know that depending on how well the first inspection of bees in the spring is carried out, their entire future productivity depends.

Everyone who is involved in raising and breeding bees knows that bees spend the entire winter period in hibernation, or rather, in dormancy. In this state, the insect consumes food and expends energy. To keep warm, the family gathers in a ball, spending the whole winter in this way. What do they do after waking up?

With the onset of the first spring warmth, insects emerge from their dormant state and begin to wander off in different directions to go about their business. An air temperature of about 10-14 degrees Celsius with a plus sign acts as a wake-up signal. The period of awakening occurs in the last ten days of February and the first ten days of March, and in the coldest regions of Russia it extends into April.

Many novice beekeepers wonder when to expose bees in the spring if wintering was carried out in a winter hut? Sometimes in such cases the bees, directly through the fault of the beekeeper himself, begin to become active much earlier. As a result, insects awaken even in the middle of winter, which is naturally not the norm. In such a situation, every effort must be made to ensure that the bees return to hibernation.

Exposing bees from the winter hut

A beekeeper should exhibit bees only if the insects are fully prepared for flight. Preparatory work consists of completely clearing the area of snow, and filling the remaining area with ash so that there are no visual traces of ice. If there is no ash, you can use, for example, roofing felt.

After this, the stability of the stands for the houses is checked, and if necessary, they are adjusted. It should be remembered that the stands should be positioned with a slight slope. By the way, experienced beekeepers carry out the determination by external signs even in spring. The slope is needed to make it easier for insects to remove debris and dead bodies, as well as to allow water to flow out.

It is necessary to prepare shields in advance, which can be boards and slate, and are installed in front of the houses. In addition, you can fill this place with sawdust or straw. Since the bees are weakened after a long winter, they need a resting surface where they can sit. If you forget about this, insects will begin to land on cold and damp ground, which will lead to their death, as they will simply freeze.

It should be remembered that the purchase of bees should be made in accordance with the climatic conditions of a given region, since different species require different temperature conditions and length of daylight hours.

The process of removing the bees must be completed before 11 o'clock in the afternoon, then the first flight will occur at the warmest time of the day.

Transplanting bees

There are situations when, after wintering, individual hives were damaged by the actions of mice or simply became leaky. In such cases, bees need to be replanted after wintering, the correct implementation of which will determine the future fate of the entire family. The main rules for properly transplanting insects are explained below.

The first thing to do is close the entrance to the old hive and move it slightly to the side. A new house is installed in the vacant space, as similar as possible to the old one. It is recommended to paint the walls exactly the same color as the old one. The entrance to the new house opens and the lid is removed. One by one, all the frames are transferred inside the new home. By the way, based on this article, a presentation on the topic of bees can be successfully prepared for review.

The next step will be to install the old house just opposite the clean one and open the entrance. All insects remaining in the old hive will fly to the new one. We should not forget about young bees that cannot yet fly. A board is installed for them, along which the insects will move to a new home. There is also no need to panic if there are bees around your new home for some time. These are individuals that have arrived from a honey harvest and are exploring new housing.

You should also remember about the larvae. If this is printed brood of bees, then they need to be transferred by moving the frames. Insect larvae are transplanted in a similar manner. Considerable time should be devoted to relocating the queen, since she should be the first to be transferred to the new house. Otherwise, the bees will become restless, flying around the house without inhabiting it.

Preparing for the first flight

A novice beekeeper who is starting to do spring work for the first time should not rush to interfere with the vital activity of insects. After a long winter, bees are quite vulnerable and have a negative attitude towards temperature changes, outside interference, and daylight.
Usually, for beginners in winter, bees seem to be very vulnerable creatures, which is in fact the case.

In the rooms where the houses are located, you need to use a red light, and work inside the hives should be carried out intensively, and most importantly, as painlessly as possible for the insects. The first thing the bees do is clean the cells for future oviposition. In the process of significant processing of honey and bee bread, the bees’ body produces an additional volume of waste products.

During this process, any active intervention, as well as improperly applied feeding, is dangerous for insects. The next step may be to transplant the bees to other hives.

First spring flight

Many novice beekeepers are interested in the answer to the question: where does a bee fly in the spring after a long winter?

With the onset of warmth, the first thing a bee does is a spring flight, which is also called a cleansing flight.

This is due to the fact that these insects are characterized by a physiology that prevents them from defecating in the winter. However, throughout this entire period, in order to maintain the required temperature, as well as perform other work, the bees feed heavily.

For this reason, with the onset of spring, they need to fly out and empty themselves, since their abdomens are simply overfilled with feces. At what temperature do bees fly around for the first time in the spring? With the onset of the first warming, insects are already beginning to strive to fly out of the house to perform such a vital procedure. It is recommended that the beekeeper be present to take appropriate notes in the log.

The optimal weather conditions for this procedure are a warm spring day, when there is no wind at all and the air temperature is 10-12 degrees Celsius. Therefore, with the onset of the first nights with temperatures with a plus sign, and daytime temperatures of at least +7 degrees, an exhibition of bees from omshanik in the spring can be carried out to make the first flight.

It is the first flight that will show the beekeeper which bee colonies overwintered well and which did not. After the bees have emptied, the colony will continue to develop intensively. Thus, the main factor that encourages insects to fly around is air temperature. For this reason, when wintering in omshanik, it is necessary to carefully monitor it, since if it increases significantly, the bees will begin to become active in the depths of winter.

Therapeutic treatment of bees in spring

Spring is no less important for the proper further development and formation of a family. This is due to the fact that after a long winter the insects are very weakened. It is mandatory to carry out treatment against a disease such as varroatosis in the spring.

For these purposes, you can fumigate bee houses with tobacco, wormwood, chamomile or thyme. A mesh subframe with a tray is installed in the hive, where the mites will fall. The most effective treatment is thyme, which is first crushed, then placed in cheesecloth, rolled in plastic and hung on top of the nest. In addition, flour from pine or spruce needles is an effective remedy against ticks.

It is applied in the spring immediately after the insects make their first flight. True, information about bees and their breed must first be studied. Then the flour is poured into gauze, after which the bees are sprinkled with it. For one family you will need about 50 grams.

An equally effective remedy is essential oil from fir or pine, which is first applied to a polyethylene film. In this way, the hive is processed 3 times every 10 days. Dill oil in syrup also helps a lot.

Removing bees from the house

Despite the beneficial properties of bees, sometimes they cause a considerable amount of trouble if they appear in a household. Home owners who are faced with such a problem often have a question: how to effectively get rid of bees in the house?

Everyone knows that they are very painful. For this reason, first of all, you should take measures for your own safety. These insects cannot tolerate strong odors, so a person should not smell perfume, tobacco or alcohol. Clothing should be made of light and dense material, and the head should be covered with a protective net. Hands are protected with gloves.

So how to get rid of bees yourself? If the insect nest is located in an open space, it should be fumigated with smoke, for which you can use a smoker with newspapers, herbs or wood chips smoldering in it. Bees are distinguished by a reflex that tells them that if there is smoke, it means there is a fire and the honey needs to be saved. In such a situation, the abdomen is pressed against the insect, as a result of which it does not sting.

It is best to carry out the destruction of insects in the evening, when the bees fly from the fields. This will eliminate the entire colony. Then the nest is taken out and packed in thick burlap. After this, the bag is filled with boiling water, drowned in water or burned. If there is no nest in the house, but insects still appear, then you need to determine where wild bees live in order to further eliminate them.

Basically, tree hollows act as homes for wild bees; accordingly, all trees around the house should be inspected for the presence of such. But to kill bees under floors, window sills or in walls, toxic substances should be used.

The result of the consideration of this article was the clarification of information such as: when to start spring work with insects, when to expose bees, what medical measures to take to protect them. After all, the productivity of the entire season depends directly on the timeliness and correctness of these works.

Any beekeeper knows that if you just make a mistake with both the time and the sequence of spring work, then at least you can forget about a successful season. But in the worst case scenario, the entire bee colony can be destroyed.

Hi all!

Transplanting bees into fresh, clean, disinfected and repaired hives is an important step in the beekeeper’s spring work cycle. In one of the notes I already briefly mentioned replanting and compared a hive for bees and clothes for a person, that a person cannot stay in the same clothes for a long time, and neither can bees.

In our case, the transplantation of bees coincided with the revision of bee colonies.

Today's post will consist of a series of videos showing how we moved bees this spring.

Friends, I would like to note that it is advisable to transplant bees when the air temperature is not lower than 18 degrees, on a sunny, windless day, and this operation should be carried out quickly, without delay. It is better that the time spent on the transfer does not exceed 5 minutes.

At the same time, it is advisable to provide the bees with a new home as early as possible. This should not be taken literally and as soon as the sun comes out a little, run and dismantle the nests. No. It’s just advisable to do this on the first day of suitable weather. After all, the sooner the bees stop being distracted by extraneous work and focus only on increasing their colony, the more likely it is that we will have strong colonies by the honey harvest period.

We come to the apiary once a week - on weekends (the only exception is the period of hatching and feeding), so we have to choose between two evils. We replanted on March 22-23. I did not transplant these three families quickly, as I was working for the camera. As soon as the sun comes out - forward to the hives, as soon as it hides - and we close the hives. The specifics of spring weather, nothing can be done. Despite the sunny weather, it was windy, but the wind was warm, east, southeast.

To be honest, when I saw the video, I was horrified - it felt like the hurricane would blow away both me and the hives))) In fact, everything was much calmer, it’s just that the microphone on the camera turned out to be somehow sensitive. We’ll have to come up with something for the future so that the wind doesn’t blow into the microphone like that. Can you recommend anything?

So, the main points to consider when transplanting bees:

suitable weather (we won’t repeat it);
it is necessary to prepare in advance clean hives, canvases or film (who uses what in the spring), insulating pillows, empty ramonos, diaphragms, a chisel, a smoker;
Before transplanting, we put the hive with bees back, and in its place we put an empty one into which we will transplant. This is done so that those bees that are now in the “fields” return immediately to the new hive, since territorially the bees are tied down to the centimeter to the location of the entrance in space. The location of the entrances in the hive that stood before and in the new one should also be approximately the same.

I described the main goals of the spring inspection of bees and the reduction of nests here. In short, the main thing is to determine the strength of the family, the presence of a queen in the family, the availability and quantity of food, the reduction and insulation of nests, and inspection for visible signs of disease.

In some cases, the beekeeper needs to transplant the bees to another hive to repair or clean the old home. Family transplantation is also carried out in case of illness, for disinfection. This article will help you prepare and correctly transplant bees into a new hive.

It is recommended to relocate the bees at the same time as the queen. The new bee house is placed in the same place where the old one stood. A warm day is chosen for this task. It is also advisable to heat the new hive in a warm place, so as not to populate bees into a chilly hive in a cold place.

Reasons for relocation are also low migration rates and low amounts of honey from bees. They are transferred to a drift, where there is a lot of honey and beebread that remains after the queenless swarm. After such a resettlement, improvement in the family is observed. Usually the hives are changed in the morning so that when the bees begin intensive work, they do not get confused when they return to a different hive. Such work is carried out in late spring or early autumn. Sometimes, if necessary, bees are transplanted in the summer.

It is advisable to choose a hive that is extremely similar in color and size to the old one. If this is not possible, it’s okay - the bees will find their family after a while.

The smoker is lit to pacify the bees and the migration begins. All the entrances to the old hive are closed, and it is moved to a stand that was previously placed near the bee house. Next, the new hive is installed on the stand where the old one was. It is clear that at first this stand is placed so that the hives are standing next to each other. Then all the frames are carefully transferred from the old hive in the same order. This needs to be done quickly, but make sure that nothing happens to the queen and other bees. There will probably be casualties, but they need to be reduced. As the hive fills with frames, it is advisable to cover them with spare canvas, preventing the bees from cooling the nest.

After moving all the frames and the queen, the new hive is closed. In order for all the bees that cannot fly to move to their new hive, you need to place the old one on the flight board of the new hive. Then the bees will have the opportunity to move to their new premises. The rest will explore their new hive and fly into it. Over time, they get used to their new home.

This is how bees are transplanted into a hive of the same type. Relocating bee families to hives of a different type is a longer and more labor-intensive process. To reduce the duration, only the combs with brood are transferred. They prepare the required amount of frames in advance; if necessary, they are laid on them, and the bees are transplanted into a new hive. Similar to the method described above with hives of the same type - a new hive is placed in place of the old one. The new home should already have honeycomb, drying material and, in some cases, foundation. A hundred frame with brood is taken, the bees are swept away from it over the new hive, and rushed to the workshop. In the workshop, the frame is adjusted to the required dimensions and dimensions, and secured with wire or twine. We must not forget that the hive should not be left open after sweeping.

With a smaller format of the new frame, the honeycombs are trimmed to fill it tightly. First of all, the honeycombs with brood are cut out. Sometimes the honeycombs are laid sideways. The first combs are placed in the new brood hive, and you can start adjusting the rest for their further installation in a new home.

When all the work is done, the new home is insulated. The old hive is quickly removed when all the other bees have been cleared out of it.

The most favorable time for bee colonies to migrate is early spring. Then there is still little honey and little brood in the hives. When transplanting bees in the summer, it becomes more difficult to correctly fit the honeycombs into the frames. In the spring, other families can easily cause theft, so the relocation work is done as quickly as possible.

Bees are beneficial insects, but very small. Caring for them requires care, precision and a lot of patience. But, it is true, the efforts invested in their development are fully repaid by the honey that the bees bring and other, no less necessary, fruits of their life.

Wintering requires honey insects to expend a lot of vitality and body resources. After its completion, it is necessary to provide all families in the apiary with the opportunity to quickly increase their numbers. Often there is a need to transplant bees into a clean hive in the spring in order to wash their previous home of dirt, treat it for infections, and repair it.

It is recommended that bee colonies be transferred to new hives every 2 years in the spring to prevent the spread of harmful microorganisms. The need for an unscheduled procedure is determined by examining the insects after the first flight. The main reasons for transplanting bees to a new hive:

severe contamination of the walls and bottom with feces;
symptoms of infectious swarm diseases;
accumulation of moisture, saturation of wood with it;
breakdowns, the appearance of large holes in the walls.

Prepared hives should be stored in a warm, dry room until spring. Both new houses and clean, strong ones from previously used houses are suitable for replanting.

For reference!

Bees adapt more easily to a new hive if it does not differ in design and color from the previous one and is located in the same place. Therefore, families are usually moved into the same type of housing in the spring.

One of the main skills when caring for bees every year is how to replant them without major losses. The procedure should be carried out carefully, but quickly, then the swarm will not scatter throughout the apiary. The best period for carrying it out is early spring, when bees are less active and more often sit in the hives.

Disease Control

If symptoms of an infection are detected that have spread among bees that have weakened during wintering, transferring them to a disinfected hive in the spring becomes one of the effective treatment measures. Care should be taken to prevent healthy families from coming into contact with an infected one, and to prevent pathogens from being transferred on clothes and hands to other insects.

Types of transplantation for infections

Sick bees are sometimes moved in the spring without the nest or with part of it, installing empty waxed frames. Infected items, after insects have been removed from them, are placed in a box for further disinfection.

Beekeepers use 2 methods of relocating families in early and late spring:

With fasting.
Double.

The first type requires quarantine in a cool room. The swarm is placed on a smooth surface. The bees are carefully shaken off the frames. When they move inside the swarm, the container is closed. She is quarantined for 2 days, after which the family is moved into a clean hive.

A double transplant takes longer and is often combined with replacement of the old uterus. The house of infected bees is replaced with a treated hive, inside of which there are waxed frames (with food and empty ones for brood hatched in the spring).

In front of the entrance, a board covered with paper or cloth is placed on which the bees are placed. If you smoke insects from behind, they will quickly crawl into the entrance. Then the hole must be covered with a net so that no one leaves the house. After 6-8 days the procedure is repeated. The entrances are kept closed again for about a week.

Therapeutic feeding

Sick insects transplanted into clean hives need to be given sugar syrup mixed with medicine until they recover. The finished product is poured into feeders approximately once a week.

For reference!

Fertilizing in the spring is also carried out to prevent diseases in all families living in the apiary. For healthy bees, 2 procedures are enough.

To make a medicinal preparation, first stir sugar in heated water (ratio 2:1), waiting for it to boil. The resulting syrup is cooled to 33-35°C. Antibiotics, for example, tetracyclines, are mixed into it. Warm medicine can be given to insects.

Processing and disinfection

The hive, freed from the bee family, is sent for cleaning and elimination of harmful microorganisms. You need to sweep away waste from the bottom, scrape off wax and propolis from all surfaces using a chisel. This garbage is burned. The bottom, walls and lid of the house, empty frames are wiped with a soda solution and washed with hot soapy water.

For reference!

Treatment of the hive from pathogenic microorganisms is carried out with hydrogen peroxide and preparations containing chlorine. Beekeepers use different methods of temperature treatment: gas burner, blowtorch.

After disinfection, the equipment should be kept in a heated room under film for 10 days. It remains open for the next 2 weeks to allow the smell to dissipate. You can take hives with closed entrances outside if the weather is warm, dry - they will be ready for the next residents faster.

Control of rodents and dampness

If condensation accumulates inside bee houses or traces of mice appear in the spring, you need to relocate the insects before they get sick. The entire nest is placed in the new hive if it is not covered with mold. The beekeeper inspects the honeycombs and sweeps away debris from them.

If necessary, replace damaged frames with waxed ones or treat them with a medicinal product. The bees are carefully shaken off the old honeycombs into a clean house.

After flying around the entrances of the new home, the families are reduced. No re-transplantation is required. The released structure is disinfected.

Relocating bees correctly

The beekeeper should replace the hive quickly, so as not to destroy the insects and their brood, hatched in the spring, and to prevent the swarm from leaving the new home. The beekeeper will need a smoker, a carrying case and tools.

The bee colony's home is moved, having first closed the entrance. An empty, clean case is placed on the stand. Good frames from the old hive, lined with bees, are transferred into it one by one, and food is added if necessary.

For reference!

The main thing is to move the uterus without damage. Healthy insects will follow her on their own. To do this, they are fumigated and carefully knocked on the walls of the open hive.

Crawling individuals will need to install a board or a sheet of plywood between the entrances. The bees that have fallen off the frames need to be collected on a shovel and shaken off inside the new home.

The entire procedure should not take more than 15 minutes, otherwise the family will become hypothermic.

About air temperature

It is important to choose the right day to transplant bees. It can be carried out in early spring at an air temperature of at least +14-15°C in the morning, if the weather is sunny and windless. The cold is dangerous for the brood.

When transplanting bees at the end of spring, it is easier to ensure that insects from other houses do not fly to the removed frames. They are usually already busy with the work of extracting bribes and do not seek to steal honey.

Moving to a different type of hive

The process becomes more complicated if the new bee house differs from the old one in smaller size and shape. The transfer of the family is carried out no earlier than the end of spring. From the frames on which the insects placed the brood in the spring, adult bees are shaken off into a new house. The structures are cut to the required size and also placed in the finished clean hive.

If necessary, transfer honeycombs with honey and beebread, reducing them. Any excess is fed to insects. Treating them with sugar syrup will allow them to quickly get used to their new housing and strengthen the nest by the end of spring.

After transplantation, bees need a comfortable temperature to adapt and reproduce, especially since their nest usually shrinks until the end of spring. The new hive is insulated on the sides and top (above the canvas covering the frames) with fabric pillows with filling, and covered with film. Straw and moss can be poured inside mats and pillows.

Providing heating

During the cold early spring, bees can be helped by installing electric heaters to increase the temperature of the nest. Choose a convenient place for them on the sides of the hive or under the frames. The reproduction process at optimal temperatures goes much faster if there is a sufficient supply of food.

Maintaining warmth is especially important for families weakened by illness. They often close the lower entrance in the first months of spring to reduce the outflow of heated air.

Portable transplant box

Experienced beekeepers make a special box that can be placed in the hive and keep the swarm inside for some time. There is an opening in the front of the drawer, which can be covered with a lattice frame if necessary.

This design is convenient to use for moving bees to a new hive in the spring if the frames from the old one have already been removed. The easiest way to collect a family is by attaching a cage with a queen inside the box. The remaining bees are swept to the bottom of the vacated hive, and a box with an open hole pointing down is placed above them. The entrances are closed. In a few hours, the insects will surround the queen, and the grate can be lowered to the exit of the box.

Transplanting bee colonies, carried out in early spring, is a necessary and responsible undertaking. It requires the beekeeper to act attentively, quickly and carefully. In a new place, the bees will be more likely to heal and will be able to increase their numbers in good living conditions.