Man-made beehives, which become a safe haven and, more importantly, a “home” for bees, constitute one of the most important topics in beekeeping due to these significant qualities. So, would you like to learn how bees are placed in these hives?
A hive is the living space of bees, in other words, their home. Before being placed in hives by humans, bees used natural cavities and hollows in trees and rocks as their homes. Later, people began to use their own manufactured hives to control bees for honey production. Today, there are large enterprises manufacturing hives in almost every province of our country. In addition, modern hives are also produced in carpentry workshops. This is how beehive production takes place.
1. WHY IS A BEEHIVE NECESSARY?
The honey bee, "apis mellifera," can live in a dark environment rather than in the open air. While bees used to find these dark environments in tree and rock cavities and hollows many years ago, today they are much safer in structures we call beehives. Moreover, thanks to modern hives used today, bee families can be managed and controlled more easily.
2. WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF BEEHIVES?
Hives are grouped into three categories: simple, transitional, and modern. Examples of simple hives include skep and log hives, transitional hives include regional hives of various shapes and sizes, and modern hives include Langstroth and Dadant hives. While various applications required for technical beekeeping cannot be performed in simple and transitional hives, all known beekeeping applications and hive transfers can be easily performed in modern hives. The production quantities of honey and other bee products can also be increased this way. Although the type of hive is not very important for amateur beekeeping, it is essential to use modern hives for professional beekeeping. One of these, the Langstroth hive type, is the most commonly used hive type in the world and in Turkey.
3. HOW IS A BEEHIVE MOVED FROM ITS PLACE?
Worker bees collecting nectar and pollen prefer sources closest to the hive. The closer the nectar and pollen sources are to the hive, the more offspring and honey are produced. If there are no food sources in the vicinity of the apiary, foraging worker bees can fly up to 5-6 kilometers to search for food sources.
Therefore, foraging worker bees know and recognize their territory within a 5-6 kilometer radius from their hives. For this reason, if a hive is to be moved from its current location to another, the distance between the old and new locations must be at least 7 kilometers. Otherwise, foraging worker bees return to their old locations and may die. For this reason, hive transfers are carried out particularly in the evening and at night, when bees are not flying and all bees are in the hive. Indeed, moving a beehive is among the most careful operations to protect the colony.
4. HOW ARE BEES PLACED IN A HIVE?
Bee buying and selling usually take place in spring based on the number of frames with bees. If bees are purchased with the hive, no special procedure is required. If only bees are purchased, the bees are transferred with their frames to the new hive. However, if a swarm on a tree branch is to be placed in a hive, if possible, the swarm is placed directly into the hive; if not possible, the swarm is first transferred to a swarm box and then to the hive. In this way, the hive can be placed in the desired location.
Bees live on honeycombs mounted on frames within the hive. However, there is an order established by the bees themselves in the placement of the frames. For example, the deepest and outermost frames usually consist of honey-filled combs. The central combs form the brood production area. The cells in the brood production area also contain pollen and honey stores for feeding the brood. It is extremely important not to disturb this order created by the colony to preserve the lives and productivity of the bees.
It's good that bees exist, may they always exist!
Dr. Ali İhsan Öztürk
Balparmak Beekeeping Academy Training Specialist
