House for bumblebees from a flower pot. House for bumblebees. Lifestyle of bumblebee communities

Due to the deteriorating environment, especially near cities, in garden plots
We (with tears in our eyes) see our beloved plants die.

There is a way out of this - get garden bumblebees. A garden bumblebee (unlike a bee) pollinates all plants, since its proboscis is much longer than a bee's.

The garden bumblebee secretes special enzymes that destroy pathogenic plant bacteria.

Where there are many bumblebees, wasps do not settle.

Bumblebee honey has excellent healing properties, after eating just a few capsules of bumblebee honey, you will immediately feel a surge of strength, you will have fatigue and a drowsy attitude to life - you just want to fly.

Garden bumblebees do not attack humans, and bumblebee drones have no sting at all!

Interestingly, absolutely all bumblebees belong to the so-called polytrophs. They absolutely do not care what to pollinate.
These insects bring invaluable benefits to any summer cottage, contributing to the active growth of the crop on it.

Each new season, female bumblebees begin to re-build their own home in order to create a new family in it again.
Moreover, their minks can be both underground and aboveground.

Unlike simple bees, bumblebees feel great in cold weather and during precipitation. They are able to collect valuable nectar even during rain, while honey bees sit in hives, waiting for good weather.

The bumblebee has excellent eyesight and feels comfortable during the hours of darkness.
That is why, once in a greenhouse or flying into your house, he will not knock his head on the glass, but will try to find a way out himself.
In addition, these insects work up to five times faster than ordinary honey bees and produce honey that is unique in taste and benefits.
But the taste of bumblebee honey remains a mystery to most people.

Another undoubted advantage of bumblebees is their unique color. They look very beautiful and serve as a real decoration of the fauna of our country.
To date, fifteen species of bumblebees are listed in the Red Book. Most of it got into it over the past few years.

TYPES OF Bumblebees.

Top row - earthen, stone, horse,
second row - underground, garden, urban,
third row - field, steppe, moss.

SHMELYOVNIKI
(houses for bumblebees)
You can make a house for bumblebees yourself from improvised materials.

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In the spring, install a house and the bumblebees will delight you with their work in your garden.
giving you delicious and healing honey!!!

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Unlike bees, bumblebees do not require care - they do not sting and will delight you and your neighbors with their presence!

For the winter, bumblebees fly away from the bumblebee, but in the spring they will definitely return if the bumblebee is made correctly and they are comfortable there.

Bumblebee honey is not a business, it is food for the soul!!!

Forced settlement of the shmelevnik.

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Catch a bumblebee queen in the evening.
A fertilized uterus is easy to recognize by two stripes!

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Insert the test tube into the bumblebee entrance and cover with foil. Remove the vial early in the morning and check the bumblebee for colonization two days later. There should be obvious changes in the nest, if there are no changes, repeat the settlement.

Another forced settlement can be done like this:
In the evening, catch the bumblebee queen (it should not have pollen on its hind legs), carefully wrap it in a piece of napkin and put it in the nest of the bumblebee house.

Bumblebee queens can be forcibly populated until June 15!!!

If the bumblebees have not settled, do not despair. At the beginning of July, in the evening, come to the edge of the field, preferably near a river or lake, look carefully and listen to nature.
You will definitely find a nest of bumblebees!!!

Dig it up, put it in a bag, wait until the working bumblebees fly into it. Then put in the bumblebee house.
In the morning, open the notch and admire the industrious life of bumblebees!!!

HOUSE FOR Bumblebees.

Bumblebees differ from honey bees in that their colonies exist for only one season.
In early spring, female bumblebees come out of the turf where they hibernated and slowly fly above the ground, looking for a place to nest, preference is given to warmed rodent burrows.

The lid of the house is removable. Inside the walls and bottom of the house, they cover with loose cotton wool, tow, hay from an old bird or mouse nest.
The location of the house-hive for bumblebees will be prompted by female bumblebees looking for a place to nest in April-May-June.
It can be any cozy, not damp corner of the garden. Having arranged a small nest, the female carries the pollen of spring honey plants there, builds a wax "pot" at the entrance and fills it with honey. Having laid eggs, the female warms them with her warmth. Working bumblebees emerge from the larvae.

By the end of summer, young females hatch, they scatter and mate.
Pay attention to late honey plants in autumn - you can see male bumblebees on them. They can be taken with bare hands - the males do not have a sting, and the perfumery smell that attracts females is well felt.

It is necessary to protect the hive from ants that can enter the house. In winter or early spring, clean and disinfect the bumblebee hive house, lay in new soft litter.

A profusely blooming garden in the spring can disappoint with a small amount of a crop of medium taste at the end of the season. This happens due to insufficient pollination of plant flowers, because most fruit trees are self-fertile.

Pollination is especially poor in cold and damp spring, when the heat-loving, many thousands of bee families do not fly out of the hives.

Bumblebees are one of the most cold-resistant insects, due to the ability to warm up their body and the presence of thick hairs on it that protect the insect from bad weather.

Bumblebee breeding

A useful pollinator can fly out to collect pollen at a temperature of + 2C °, in the rain, and also, thanks to good eyesight, in the dark.

The work ethic of bees is widely known, but the bumblebee pollinates 5 times as many flowers a day and works 18 hours a day throughout the summer.

Useful pollinators are bred for both agribusiness and private farms, including for pollinating greenhouse plants. Bumblebees do not require much care and are less aggressive than bees.

Important! As a result of pollination of plants by bumblebees, a good harvest is guaranteed.

How to breed bumblebees

In order for a bumblebee family to appear on the site, you need to attract a bumblebee queen, at a time when she is in search of a nest.

They look for a uterine insect in early spring, you can recognize it by the absence of pollen on its hind legs and circling close to the ground. The presence of pollen indicates that the female has already created a nest and will not do it again. The successor of the family can be caught by covering it with a box, and also bought along with a ready-made house for bumblebees.

Growing useful pollinators is possible under production conditions, just like breeding bumblebees on the site yourself does not cause any particular difficulties.

The bumblebee queen is placed in a hive and closed in it for a day. The female chooses the place of the future nest very carefully, so she may not like the proposed house, and after opening the entrance she will not return. This should be taken into account in order to understand how to breed a bumblebee in a garden plot. A successful settlement is considered to be a pair of hives out of ten.

Interesting. The breeding of bumblebees is also favorable because wasps do not settle in their habitat.

Bumblebees live in families of 100-200, the number depends on the size of the nest, breeding occurs throughout the summer season.

You can find out if the female has settled in the proposed housing a few weeks after its placement, until this time it can not be found, because the insect will equip the nest and breed the first offspring.

Bumblebees settled in the hive first pollinate nearby plants, having collected all the nectar from them, gradually increasing the radius of departure.

During the summer season, you can see dead bumblebees near the hive, this is a biological feature of insects, so females are being renewed.

Hive for bumblebees

Why bumblebees are not bred like bees

The behavior of bumblebees is unpredictable, they can leave the nest, it is not possible to control the process. Fear of bites from closely spaced striped insect habitats may also be the reason why no one breeds bumblebees.

Also, the difference between the bumblebee family and the bee family and the reason why bumblebees are not bred like bees is that this type of beneficial insect lives for one summer season. In autumn, all bumblebees die, and only a few females remain to winter, which were born at the end of the season and were fertilized. In the next season, it is these young females that will reproduce the new swarm.

In autumn, the successors of the bumblebee family burrow into the turf and hibernate in it until the next spring. In early spring, when moisture from melted snow appears on the female, she wakes up, begins to look for a new place for a nest and create a family.

Interesting information! But bumblebees are calmer than bees, sting only in case of danger and fly out of the hive not in a swarm, but one at a time.

How to breed bumblebees for honey

Bumblebee farming is mainly used for crop pollination and not for breeding bumblebees for honey, the possible collection of insect honey is only an addition. Due to the short lifespan of a bumblebee family, it does not need to keep a large amount of stock. Insects use nectar to feed their larvae, from which bumblebees emerge.

Bumblebees do not build honeycombs in the nest, like bees, but create small wax cups that are located at the bottom of the nest, offspring are grown in them. Insects add processed nectar to cups. Its quantity is negligible for human collection, so breeding a bumblebee family for honey is not considered profitable.

Interesting. Bumblebee honey has a much higher content of proteins, minerals and vitamins, which is why it is considered a natural energy source.

Bumblebee honey has a more liquid consistency, similar to syrup, it is less sweet and fragrant than the usual bee honey. Because bumblebees are picky about pollinating plants, honey contains a combination of different flowers.

Even after eating a small amount of honey, there is a surge of strength. Such honey is difficult to preserve - due to the high water content, it quickly deteriorates.

Note! Bumblebees are also difficult to breed for honey because the bumblebee queen may not return to her original location next season.

How to make a bumblebee house

To build a house for bumblebees with your own hands, drawings may not be required. The hive is a box, 15-20 cm in size on all sides.

Do-it-yourself beehive

You can make a box from wooden boards, the bottom and lid - from plywood. The inner walls are not planed so that it is convenient for insects to crawl along them.

The lid must be removable and fit over the box. In the middle of one of the walls, two holes are drilled, 2 cm in diameter, into which bumblebees will fly. A flight board or tube is nailed to the hole.

Interesting. A black letok will attract a female who, in search of a nest, explores all the dark spots.

Moss, tow or fluffy cellulose wadding is placed inside the box, which will serve as a covering material. The hives are placed on pegs, which must be coated with grease so that ants do not get inside. The hive is set with an entrance on the south side, closer to the fruit bushes. To prevent the hive from overheating, you can cover it with a sheet of foam plastic on top, but it is better to install it in the shade, because the female bumblebee does not like high temperatures in the nest.

bumblebee bombidarium

Bumblebees in natural conditions love to settle in abandoned rodent burrows. Therefore, along with above-ground nests, they also install underground nests, which are called bombidaria. To install a bombidarium for bumblebees underground, you need to dig a hole the size of the box.

bumblebee bombidarium

Departure from the underground nest is carried out through a long flight tube, simulating an underground passage. The tube can be built from rails or you can take a plastic one of small diameter, about 1 m long. The tube is tightly attached to the notch and all joints are covered with clay so that ants do not climb into the nest. The box is wrapped in plastic wrap.

A groove is dug to accommodate the tube. After installing the bumblebee house with a flight tube in the dug holes, the structure is covered with a small layer of earth and covered with turf.

Important! In the spring, the bumblebee queen will return only to a bumblebee that is comfortable for her.

Bumblebees are impeccable pollinators, thanks to their elongated proboscis, they are able to collect nectar from parts of the plant inaccessible to bees. The favorable effect of insects on the garden and greenhouse plants speaks only in favor of bumblebee breeding.

Each summer resident can attract bumblebees to his site.
On my garden plot no problems with pollination, and all because I took care of the dwelling for bumblebees in advance. Repeat my experience bumblebee house- this is not difficult.
Build a wooden box with sides of 15 cm and a wall thickness of at least 2 cm (preferably hardwood, aged in a dry place for at least a year).

Drill a hole in the side wall for the manhole - it will be an ordinary steel pipe with a diameter of half an inch and a length of 1 m. The manhole will protect the nests from ants, by the way, there should not be anthills near the nest of bumblebees.

Bumblebees are attracted to murine halls. Therefore, fill the hive by two-thirds with dry bedding from mouse nests (any one will do: cotton wool, tow, straw on which the mice lived). Choose a place for the hive. Where there are no bumblebees on flowering plants, where females do not circle above the ground in search of a future nest, it makes no sense to lay a hive. But if several large bumblebees fly on the site in good weather, examining the surface of the soil, then the place is chosen correctly. Bumblebees love peace, so it is better to place the nest away from the road, working equipment.

Dig the box into the ground along with a horizontal hole. Cover the lid of the hive with turf. The pipe should exit with a tap hole into the hole located next to the nest. In the future, make sure that it is not filled with rainwater.
Bumblebee females leave their wintering grounds in April-May. In the spring in central Russia, the first bumblebees can be seen on maple, flowering hazel, on willow catkins. In meadows, edges, slopes of ravines, young females actively examine the soil surface, looking for a place for a nest. It is better to have the hives installed by this time.

In a new apartment, the female lays about ten oblong eggs, she will sew a honey pot 1.5-2 cm high from wax. A few days later, larvae hatch, which the female feeds through the hole in the cell with pollen and nectar. After pupation and the release of the first batch of worker bumblebees, the founding female becomes a queen. She only lays eggs. From now on, all work in the nest will be performed by other family members, such are the laws of the caste. Some of the workers take care of the brood, while the majority store food.

Each bumblebee family collects pollen and nectar, flying along its route, covering a vast territory.
The age of workers is not long. Those who have lived for two months are very old, but the number of families increases every week. In the middle of summer, there are several dozen bumblebees in the nest. In its second half, after the flight of young queens and drones, fertilized females look for secluded corners for wintering, leave their home forever. By autumn, the nests are sadly empty.

If on a clear day bumblebees fly and buzz over your garden, then there is no doubt about a good harvest. There is no need to be afraid of them. They are more peaceful insects than honey bees.

Based on the materials of the magazine "Private farm", 2000.
I. Ivanov, plant protection agronomist

Not only bees, but also bumblebees can collect nectar and get honey, it is with them that they feed their offspring, however, bumblebees do not make honey reserves for the winter. After all, bumblebees live only one summer, only one uterus can overwinter. In the spring, she wakes up and looks around for a suitable nest. It can be arranged anywhere: in an old woodpecker or squirrel hollow, in a mouse or hedgehog hole. The main thing is that the “room” must be closed so that a certain temperature is maintained inside.

Studies have shown that bumblebees play a huge role in the pollination of various plants during the advancement of agriculture to the north. The fact is that bumblebees are one of the most cold-resistant insects, well adapted to life in the harsh conditions of the north, where other pollinators either cannot live or fly for a short time. Bumblebees reach north to Greenland, Novaya Zemlya, Chukotka and Alaska. Such an unusual cold resistance of these insects is associated with the peculiarities of thermoregulation of their body. It is generally accepted that insects are cold-blooded animals. whose body temperature does not differ from the ambient temperature. But when they began to measure the body temperature of various insects on Elbrus and in the Khibiny, it turned out that the body temperature of bumblebees is on average 40 ° C and can exceed the ambient temperature by 20 - 30 °. This heating is caused by the work of the pectoral muscles. As soon as the insect stops moving, it begins to cool down. However, if it begins to “hum”, i.e., quickly contract the muscles of the chest without moving the wings, then the decrease in temperature stops or it begins to rise slowly. Due to this feature, bumblebees maintain a temperature of about 30-35 ° C in the nest. It has been noticed for a very long time that a “trumpeter” appears in bumblebee nests before dawn, which, as it was believed, raises fellow tribesmen to work with a buzz. But it turned out that he was just shivering from the cold. Indeed, in the early morning hours, the temperature at the soil surface drops sharply (the hum was just observed at 3-4 o'clock in the morning, and as you know, these are the coldest hours). The nest cools down and, in order to warm it, the bumblebees have to work hard with their pectoral muscles. On hot days, you can see a bumblebee at the entrance to the nest, which flutters its wings. He is ventilating the nest. In addition to a constant state of vibration (tension and relaxation of muscles), hairs covering its head, neck and abdomen help the bumblebee to maintain body temperature. The ability to maintain a high body temperature allowed bumblebees to penetrate far into the North. But she does not allow them to live in the tropics. About 300 species of bumblebees live in Northern Eurasia, North America and in the mountains. And only two species are found in the tropical regions of Brazil.

Bumblebees are great pollinators. Thanks to their long proboscis, they can extract nectar even from flowers with narrow corollas, thereby collecting pollen from plants inaccessible to other insects. When Europeans moved to South Australia and New Zealand, whose climate resembles that of Europe, they began to try to grow red clover for livestock. He gave rich mowing, bloomed beautifully, but there were no seeds. It turned out that neither in Australia nor in New Zealand there are bumblebees that pollinate this plant in Europe and North America. When two species of bumblebees were brought here from Europe and they acclimatized, the clover began to produce rich crops of seeds. Now bumblebees are rightfully considered the best pollinators of this valuable fodder plant. For this purpose, they are artificially bred and settled on shamrocks. Great success in the artificial breeding of bumblebees was achieved in Russia thanks to the work of the amateur entomologist G. S. Voveikov. Tests of the "bumblebees" he created on the experimental plot showed that the yield of red clover seeds increased by 71% compared to the control. Bumblebees collect not only nectar, but also pollen from plants. Bumblebees carry this delicacy to the nest with special devices that are located on their hind legs. This is a paired apparatus, consisting of "brushes" and "baskets". But pollen gets not only into special recesses on the paws. Sometimes dust particles linger on the abdomen, and then transferred to another flower. Bumblebees can collect pollen and nectar from plants very, very quickly. Biologists have calculated that only one field bumblebee visits 2634 flowers during a flight lasting 100 minutes.

Bumblebees work flawlessly in any weather, and due to additional pollination, the yield, for example, of tomatoes, increases by a third. Bumblebees fly from dawn to evening. The most intense - before lunch. They don't care about light rain. Caring for offspring is above all. On bad days, one flight is enough for the female to provide food for the brood and heat it for an hour. But in May, when it rains heavily for 3-4 days, the brood may die. Not from the cold, but from lack of food.

Garden bumblebees do not fly to the surrounding fields and correctly take bribes from garden plants. If bumblebees choose your greenhouse as an apiary, then even in the heat there will not be a single empty flower on the tomato bushes. Also in cucumber rows. Already at dawn, bumblebees will collect nectar and pollen, pollinating flowers before the onset of 32 - 36-degree heat, when pollination is already useless. Bumblebees, unlike bees, are better oriented in the greenhouse and do not hit the film and glass.

In recent years, there have been fewer bumblebees in summer cottages.. Perhaps one of the reasons is that in April-May, in search of nesting, they penetrate through the cracks inside the buildings, from which they cannot find their way back, and die at closed windows in 2-3 days, without having the necessary reserves in the body after wintering. food. And so it turns out that light, but full of holes in summer cottages, turn into traps for these noble insects.

Another reason for the death of bumblebees is the improper use of pesticides. It is impossible to spray insecticides on flowering plants, as well as during the day, especially during hot hours, without isolating flowering crops with a film. It is better to carry out processing late in the evening.

Despite their relatively large size, bumblebees are very peaceful and do not sting very much.. Therefore, their pupae, cocoons and larvae often become a tasty meal for foxes, badgers, voles and other rodents. Bumblebees have another terrible enemy. If we compare it with the bumblebee itself, it turns out that the offender is several times smaller, but he takes it not by force, but by quantity. It can be found in any forest, in any clearing. This is an ant. Ants are not averse to tasting bumblebee honey, as well as eating fattened larvae. Therefore, so that the ants do not accidentally stumble upon the nest, bumblebees remove all the blades of grass and twigs around the nest.

Come visit us.

Each summer resident can attract bumblebees to his site. It is enough to insulate a part of the wall of the utility room from the inside, approximately with an area of ​​1 x 1-1.5 m, with straw, moss, dry leaves, close everything with roofing material, hardboard. Drill from the outside two holes with a diameter of 1-2.5 cm for a notch, build a canopy over it, nailing a plank.

Sometimes a piece of asbestos-cement pipe, closed on both sides, with a hole as a notch, can serve as a house for bumblebees; flower pot and even a birdhouse. Inside, the nest is half filled with soft tow or cotton wool. The entrance hole in the bumblebee's nest is covered from the rain with a piece of wooden plank laid on the stones along the edges. Also lay a stone or brick on top so that neither the wind nor animals can move the plank.

A flower pot hive is the simplest nesting site for bumblebees and do not despair if bumblebees do not populate it. Even the scientist-entomologist V. Grebennikov, who was professionally engaged in breeding bumblebees, they inhabited no more than half of artificial nests, which is considered very successful. You will need patience. If the house was not inhabited by the end of July, put it in a barn for storage until the next season. The bumblebee hive house should be left in the garden from April to the end of July every year until a bumblebee family appears in it.

For purposeful artificial breeding of bumblebees, there is a variant of a plastic two-room nesting hive house from the Oxford Bee Company (Oxford bee company).

Comment: to keep warm, you can put more cotton in there.

The location of the house-hive for bumblebees will be prompted by female bumblebees looking for a place to nest in April-May-June. It can be any cozy, not damp corner of the garden. Bumblebees are not aggressive and get used to the close proximity of a person. The only thing that needs to be protected from ants, which can enter the house not through the tunnel, but through the cracks in the walls.

Put bumblebee houses out in your garden every year and hope for the best.

Tame local bumblebees for pollination of vegetable crops instead of buying imported ones. When buying imported bumblebees, you must remember that you are buying bumblebees of different genotype, which is not very good for the local bumblebee population. With imported bumblebees, diseases and pests of bumblebees that were not previously in the area are imported. In addition, creating your own bumble bee apiary, you save a lot of money.

It is not difficult to tame bumblebees. When bumblebees are looking for nesting sites, this is the easiest thing to do. When choosing a place for a hive, pay attention to whether bumblebees fly there. If females do not circle above the ground in search of a future nest, it makes no sense to lay a house. In nature, bumblebee queens usually look for ready-made mouse holes, depressions between stones and plants, in heaps of compost, as well as hollow trees, among rolls of old newspapers or clothes. Having spotted a place, build a wooden box with sides of 15 cm and a wall thickness of at least 2 cm (preferably hardwood, aged in a dry place for at least a year). Drill a hole for the manhole in the side wall. It will be an ordinary steel pipe with a diameter of 1.3 - 1.5 cm and a length of at least 1 m.

Paint the outer end of the tube, exposed to the notch, as well as its inner channel to a depth of 4 - 5 cm, black: a dark hole attracts bumblebees better. A long hole is made to more fully simulate a rodent hole. Yes, and from the main enemies, ants, it will be a reliable protection: they do not penetrate further than 0.5 m. Ants are not averse to tasting bumblebee honey, as well as eating fattened larvae. Therefore, so that they do not accidentally stumble upon a nest, bumblebees clean up all the blades of grass and twigs around.

To prevent rainwater from entering the hive through the tube, during installation it is slightly tilted with the entrance end down or slightly bent with the “hump up” (see Figure No. 1).

Bumblebees are attracted to the mouse smell. Therefore, fill the hive by two-thirds with dry bedding from mouse nests (any one will do: tow, straw on which rodents lived). You can use gray cotton wool from old blankets and sweatshirts.

Dig the box into the ground along with a horizontal hole. Cover the lid of the hive with turf. The pipe should exit with a tap hole into the hole located next to the nest. And make sure it doesn't fill up with rainwater.

A piece of asbestos-cement pipe, closed on both sides, with a hole as a notch, a flower pot (see Figure No. 2) and even a birdhouse can also serve as a house for bumblebees.

If the bumblebees do not inhabit the house before the end of July, put it in a barn until the next season.

The bumblebee pollinates flowers in a mode close to natural conditions, and therefore gives the best results. Features of shades of color, cones of stamens, as well as specific volatile substances-attractants that are released by pollen, tell him about the readiness of the flower for pollination. This allows the insect to choose the optimal time to visit the flower.

Biologists have calculated that in 100 minutes of flight a bumblebee visits 2,634 flowers.

The best plants for bees and bumblebees: heather, daffodil, primrose, crocus, white and red clover, oregano, snapdragon, lupine, vetch, St. , phacelia, buckwheat, sunflower, dill, onion, borage (borage), goat willow, currant, blueberry, raspberry, shadberry, carrot seeds, parsley, celery and many other umbrella and Compositae plants.

If bumblebees choose your greenhouse as an apiary, then even in the heat there will not be a single empty flower on tomatoes or borage. At dawn, insects will begin to collect nectar and pollen, pollinating flowers before the onset of 32 - 36-degree heat, when pollination is no longer useful. Bumblebees, unlike bees, are better oriented in the greenhouse and do not hit the film and glass.