Many beekeepers practice transporting their apiaries in order to increase the volume of honey or obtain certain types of honey. Thanks to mobile beekeeping, it is possible to double the collection of nectar. We will learn how to transport the hives to the place of honey collection, and how to equip an apiary in a new place.
Why take out bees?
Mobile beekeeping is a complex and costly business that only experienced beekeepers undertake. Transporting hives takes time, money and effort. One hive without honey weighs 18-20 kg.
Despite the difficulties, many beekeepers practice the transportation of apiaries. Reasons for mobile beekeeping:
- the possibility of installing beehives in an ecologically clean area in order to obtain high quality honey;
- placing an apiary near certain plants in order to collect a specific type of honey - buckwheat, alfalfa, etc.;
- search for places not occupied by competitors, and a better food base for bees.
There are species of bees that are unable to fly long distances for honey. Typically, the flying radius is 2-5 km. Thanks to the delivery of apiaries to the fields and plantings with flowering melliferous plants, honey is at the "walking distance" of the bees.
Some beekeepers initially create mobile apiaries, counting on fast honey collection in fields, meadows and plantings. Others begin to remove hives forcibly - with a lack of food supply.
Pros and cons of transporting an apiary
Transportation of beehives is not an easy task, given their weight and the risks to bees during transportation. But nomadic apiaries have many advantages.
Pros:
- thanks to transportation, it is possible to get a certain amount of honey much faster than in a stationary apiary;
- honey collection starts earlier than the standard dates and continues throughout the season - from early spring to late autumn;
- the ability to control the schedule and volumes of honey collection.
Minuses:
- transportation difficulties and costs associated with it;
- beekeepers have to live in the field, using a minimum of amenities;
- the need to constantly look after the apiary;
- obtaining a special permit for the transportation of hives;
- the risk of death of bees due to unfavorable conditions - an increase in temperature and humidity in the hive.
Mobile apiaries require serious physical efforts from the beekeeper, giving up comfort and good health.
When to transport bees?
For transportation of bees, the time is selected when there is a possibility of flying around nearby territories - meadows, fields and forests. Transportation is carried out during the period of activity of the swarm.
It is recommended to transport hives in early spring and fall. Most often, beekeepers take out the hives in early spring, when the period of the first flights begins.
Benefits of spring transportation:
- there are few bees and brood in the hives;
- no heavy frames with honey;
- there are no new honeycombs built by bees.
In winter, it is not recommended to transport bees, except if absolutely necessary. The most dangerous period for transportation is the end of winter, when a critical volume of feces accumulates in the hives.
Transportation Features:
- carts or trailers are used for moving;
- maximum transportation time - 48 hours;
- it is forbidden to transport bees in extreme heat - they experience discomfort and may die;
- in summer, hives are transported in cloudy or rainy weather, in extreme cases - at night.
Preparing for the transportation of beehives
Transporting an apiary is a demanding task that requires special preparation. First, they choose a place, then they prepare transport, hives and equipment. If you do not properly prepare for transportation, there is a risk of losing bees and breaking their houses.
Features of the new place
The main aspect when choosing a place for an apiary is the type and number of melliferous plants in the vicinity of the bees. The more flowering grasses, trees, agricultural crops in the area, the greater the amount of collected honey.
Requirements for the apiary site:
- The presence of a large and level area on which a specific number of hives can be freely accommodated.
- Lack of drafts, rain, wind and direct sunlight.
- Pond with clear water nearby.
- High melliferous potential. The more honey plants, the less often you have to transport the apiary. It is desirable that some honey plants replace others.
- The optimal terrain is hilly. Plains and plateaus are less suitable.
- No quarantine restrictions.
- Distance from roads, businesses, residential areas, and other apiaries.
- The minimum distance to the old place is 3-4 km. Otherwise, the bees are able to return to familiar places.
Transport requirements
The choice of transport for the transportation of the apiary depends on the number of hives, the frequency of transportation, the presence of a driver's license (category) and other factors.
Transport requirements:
- For the cost-effectiveness of a mobile apiary, heavy-duty vehicles are needed. To transport hives with a total weight of more than 0.75 tons, the driver will need an E-category license.
- If the beekeeper has C-category rights, but wants to transport the hives on his own, he must re-equip the vehicle properly.
- You can transport the apiary on a tractor with a trailer, but in this case you will need to obtain a special certificate. Categories B and C will not help, since only the trailer itself weighs more than 0.3 tons.
- If the beekeeper does not have a vehicle or a license to drive it, the problem is solved by hiring a carrier.
As a transport for the transportation of apiaries, they often use decommissioned equipment, for example, an old bus or another type of transport that allows placing a dozen hives at a time.
Inventory
To work and transport mobile apiaries, a variety of equipment is required. For transportation:
- nomadic net - it is necessary to ventilate the hives and prevent the bees from being sealed;
- bars - to connect the hives;
- clamps - to anchor bee houses;
- lanyard mesh - to provide external fastening (it can also be used to build a canopy for the beekeeper's booth).
Beekeepers live on the road in special structures - nomadic booths.
To install and maintain an apiary, you will need equipment and accessories:
- main and spare smoker;
- spray;
- carpentry tools;
- empty hives;
- swarms;
- scales in a casing;
- lamp.
How to prepare the hives for transportation?
If transportation is carried out in spring, while there is no heat, special conditions are not required. It is enough to strengthen the frames in the hives to prevent them from shifting during transportation.
If the hives are transported in the summer, some of the frames may be filled with honey. To prevent them from falling on the brood while moving, they are taken out and installed around the perimeter of the trailer. Special dividers ensure stability.
If the honey collection is completed, the bees are transported along with honey contained in the combs.
How bee houses are prepared for long-distance transportation:
- If there is a long journey - more than one night - cover the hives with an awning that will protect them from sunlight and overheating.
- Improve ventilation of the nests to prevent overheating inside the hives. It is recommended to increase the volume of the hive or change the “ceilings” from the boards to lattice frames.
- To prevent injury and death of insects, make sure that there are no objects in the hive that could fall on the bees. Check the quality of the fixing of honeycombs, closures and other components of the bee house - each element must be securely fixed.
- Remove all parts of the hive that may fall off due to vibration (honeycomb, frames). Secure all non-removable elements. Nothing should pop out of the grooves, slide or come into contact with other surfaces.
- Before loading the hives, drive the bees into them. If they resist, use a smoker. After being treated with smoke, the bees become irritated and worried, they have to ventilate their homes, and this is not encouraged before transportation. You can use water instead of smoke.
- If large hives are transported in the spring, they add wax to the bee nests. And when the temperature rises, they release the space at the top - about 10 cubic meters. dm.
Loading rules
The hives must not only be prepared for transportation, but also loaded correctly. During loading, there are risks for both the hives and the people who load them.
Features of loading and recommendations for its implementation:
- It is recommended to load the hives with the car engine turned on. This allows the bees to get used to hum and vibrations before moving.
- The hives are placed as compactly as possible. For example, in a truck designed for 1.5 tons, it is possible to put 12 hives on one floor. The installation of the second tier allows you to double their number - it is placed on solid boards.
- To prevent strong shaking while driving on uneven roads, the body of a car or trailer is lined with a layer of straw, and the hives are tied with ropes. If the road is long, from time to time check how firmly the nodes are fixed.
- If you have to ride on a good asphalt road or a flat dirt road, the hives are placed with the back or front walls along the route of transport. When the car accelerates or decelerates, the inertial force exerts pressure not on the comb plane, but along it. This prevents them from breaking.
- If the car will drive on a country or forest road, where the speed of movement is extremely slow, the hives are placed in the car or trailer so that the honeycomb plane is across the course.
This arrangement makes them more stable during the action of forces that appear during sudden vibrations in the transverse direction - when hitting pits and bumps.
How to transport hives?
When transporting apiaries, beekeepers try to provide bees with maximum comfort. Particular attention is paid to maintaining the temperature and humidity in the hives.
Air access
During transport, it is important to provide a favorable atmosphere inside the hives. The task of beekeepers is to prevent air heating and waterlogging.
How to ensure air exchange:
- To make the air flows more actively into the hives, frames are attached to their cuffs.
- For better air flow, small holes are made in the lid, tightened with a mesh.
- Leave small gaps through which insects will not squeeze. In this case, there is a danger that the bees clinging to the gaps will block the flow of air into the hives.
If the bee houses are transported in the summer heat, they are placed so that there are 15 cm gaps between adjacent rows. This improves the movement of air masses. To ensure this distance between the hives, spacers are placed from beams of a suitable width.
Safety of people during transportation
So that the transported hives and people involved in loading and transportation do not suffer during transportation, a number of special measures are taken:
- All bee houses are closed so that insects cannot fly out. The bees, annoyed by the loading and the roar of the engine, flying out, will definitely attack people.
An especially dangerous situation is when insects enter the driver's cab. Due to a bite, the driver can lose control of the car and the road for a split second. Then there is a risk of a traffic accident. - To prevent the attack of the bees, beekeepers take with them smoke, which they keep at the ready. People participating in the transport wear protective clothing and masks to prevent insect bites.
- The car kit is replenished with an antihistamine (antiallergic) drug. Bee stings can cause a strong allergic reaction, and the above drugs can prevent it.
Travel speed
The driver carrying the bees chooses the speed based on the quality of the road surface and the characteristics of the cargo being transported. If the track has good coverage, the car will move at the same speed as when transporting regular goods.
When driving on roads with problematic surfaces, as well as on forest and country roads, the speed must be reduced in order to prevent the movement of valuable cargo.
Despite the measures taken (fixation), strong shaking can lead to loosening of structures, falling off of individual elements, as a result of which the death of bees often occurs.
Recommended driving mode:
- optimal speed on the road with good asphalt surface - 50-70 km / h;
- speed on roads with or without problematic pavement - 15-30 km / h.
In places where travel is difficult, the speed is reduced to 5-10 km / h. It is not recommended to stop while transporting hives with bees. If you still have to take a break, then in the most quiet and shaded place.
Other conditions for mobile beekeeping
Being engaged in nomadic beekeeping, you have to follow certain rules and take into account a huge number of nuances:
- in order to simplify the loading and unloading of hives, it is recommended to make them from light materials;
- the hives should have flat and even roofs - so that they can be installed in several tiers;
- for the successful transport of bee colonies, it is important to comply with all sanitary standards applicable to these insects.
Typical mistakes of beekeepers
Transporting bees, as well as placing an apiary in a new location, is a risky and costly undertaking. Beginners often make mistakes that lead to losses.
Erroneous actions:
- Placement of hives on the coast of the reservoir. It is especially dangerous when honey plants are located on the opposite bank. Bees flying over the water surface can fall into the water and drown if the wind blows.
- Installation of an apiary in the lowlands. Here the climate is unfavorable for bees - it is often foggy and cold.
- Location near other people's hives. There is a risk that the bees will fly to the next apiary.
- Placement of an apiary near agricultural fields. If hives are taken to farmland, interact with farmers in order to receive timely warning about the use of pesticides. Thousands of bee colonies die every year due to poisoning.
How to install hives in a new location?
Upon arrival at the place of the new apiary, unloading and arranging houses on the ground, the hives do not open immediately. First, they wait for the honey plants excited by the transportation to calm down, and only then they open the entrances. Adaptation to a new location takes about 12 hours.
Features of installing hives in a new place:
- Arriving at the melliferous area and unloading the hives, they begin to arrange them. Bee houses are set up so that direct sunlight does not fall on them.
- A good place for hives is in the shade of trees and bushes. Usually, beekeepers set up their hives in plantings that separate fields with alfalfa, sunflowers, and other melliferous plants.
- If there is no suitable vegetation nearby to create shade, bee houses are covered with branches and shelters are erected.
- After the bees adapt to the new place and calm down a little, the beekeepers begin to gradually open the entrances at intervals of several hours. Usually, 50% of the hives are opened at the same time - after one. They do not open everything at once, since insects must first orient themselves on the ground.
- The gradual opening of the huts allows the bees to get used to the terrain. They make a preliminary flight around it and gradually calm down, settle down. This approach also avoids mixing families.
- When the bees adapt and are no longer nervous, the beekeepers move on to setting frames.
- If the hives are brought to a new place at night, the entrances in all hives are opened simultaneously.
- If the bees are irritated after transportation and do not calm down, wait a little while unpacking the hives and installing the frames - this event is held the day after arrival.
- In the first 3-5 days of stay in a new place, bees show unprecedented aggressiveness. While flying around the territory, they continue to be aggressive. During this period, insects are able to pounce on anyone they meet. They attack people and bees from other apiaries.
- To pacify insects, the entrances are opened with a smoker at the ready. Thanks to the smoke, it is possible to pacify the aggression of bees. As a rule, 3-4 smoke jets are enough to calm down. After such treatment, the bees become calmer and less actively attack passers-by.
- The transfer of the hives from the traveling position to the usual one is carried out as soon as possible. The best option is the evening of the day of arrival. Sometimes dry shops are immediately installed. Further, the beekeepers carry out all the necessary measures provided for in the care of bees.
- Arrival boards and drinkers are installed on the day of arrival. If you delay in providing water, insects themselves go in search of it. They will find water, but it may be of poor quality.
Once the bees find a drinking source outside the apiary, it will be difficult to get them to drink. - When installing hives in a new place, be sure to take into account the presence of other apiaries. It is forbidden to place bee houses so that they are on the flight path of neighboring bees.
With good honey harvest - more than 2 kg per day - bees almost do not use drinking bowls, since they have enough water contained in nectar to prepare larval feed.
Bees' reaction to moving
It is easy to make bees angry by any interference in their lives. The noise of the engine and the movement of houses from their homes are extremely disturbing to honey insects. When the car starts moving, additional irritation in bees is caused by vibrations and being in a confined space.
In nervous bees, metabolic processes are accelerated, their body's needs for oxygen increase many times over. It is because of this that insects strive so stubbornly to fly out. They are looking for the smallest crevices to squeeze through.
Due to the agitated state of insects, the temperature inside the hive rises, honey is consumed more than usual, the humidity rises rapidly. Combs in such conditions can, breaking off, crush not only ordinary bees, but also the queen.
What if the hive is damaged in transit?
Despite all the safety precautions taken, hives are often damaged after transport. If the rules for loading or driving are violated, breakdowns cannot be avoided. The beekeeper accompanying the hives must have materials, tools and devices with him that will allow him to quickly fix the breakdown.
To repair faults, they usually use tow and clay. Take your pre-prepared clay solution with you. It will come in handy if insects begin to squeeze through the cracks - you fill them with tow, and then cover them with a clay mixture.
If during transportation it is noticed that honey flows out of the hive, and insects fly out, then the bee house is seriously damaged. What to do if honey flows from the hive:
- Open the top tapes and lift the cover. Let the bees fly out.
- When the insects have subsided, disassemble the hives and remove the damaged combs.
- Remove dead bees.
- Clean the honey drips and renovate the bee house.
- Replace damaged honeycombs with new ones.
- Provide food for the bees, equip their nests and put a lid on the hive. Do not close the holes.
When carrying out repairs, keep the smoker lit at all times. Wear protective clothing.
How to make a cart for transporting hives?
If the beekeeper has not yet acquired a trailer or platform for transporting hives, he can build a small vehicle with his own hands - a cart for transporting bees over short distances. It only holds one hive.
To make a trolley, a metal frame and large diameter wheels are needed - on small wheels, transportation will be difficult and will require significant efforts.
How to make a cart for a small summer cottage apiary:
- Attach two handles to the frame.
- At the bottom of the frame, near the wheels, weld two metal pipes and a fork.
Before transportation, the cart is brought to the hive so that the fork goes under its bottom. After that, the bee house is erected on the structure - no need to lift and carry heavy hives. To transport several hives at a time, by strengthening the axle, increase the area for the installation of the load.
In order not to suffer losses during the transportation of the apiary, strictly follow the rules of transportation and your own safety. When exporting bees to honey plants, it is important to take into account all the nuances of delivery and the characteristics of a new place. Then the risks associated with the operation of the mobile apiary will be minimized.
Author of the publication
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Russia. City Novosibirsk
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