The basis for beekeeping is the creation of a nucleus. You will learn about what it is, why it is needed, and how to make it yourself from the article.
What is a nucleus?
Translated from Latin, the nucleus denotes the core. This term is also called a mini hive for bees and infertile and fetal queens. It has 1 or 2 frames with brood and the same number of frames with food. It is necessary to save the uterus and its brood, which may not survive in the winter.
Important! To properly care for bees, paint the frames of each nucleus in different colors. This will help you separate the bees from each other.
Design features
To better understand what a nucleus is and what its purpose is, you need to understand the features of the design itself. One or two uterus and 500-1000 working bees are placed in the hive. It may have the framework of Dadan or Ruth. To place 6 such frames, they need to be placed along, and 12 - across. When placing several frames, the hive can be divided in half, and contain two families of bees. The walls of the nucleus are made from two surfaces, the roof and the bottom can be made from one surface.
Bee Family Formation
In beekeeping, the creation of bee colonies plays an important role. Family formation begins with the selection of individuals. Strong, healthy bees are selected that can create a viable nucleus. Families are selected in the pre-war or swarm period of time. The first half of the day is suitable for such a procedure. On this part of the day, all healthy individuals fly to bribes, so it will be easier to select suitable families. Evidence is completed with necessary contents considering climatic location.
For the nucleus in the southern stripes, it is enough to make 1 frame with brood and 2 frames with honey and perga. In such evidence, up to 300 bees gather. In the evidence from the northern zones put 2 frames with bee families and 2 frames with food. In total, a bee swarm can be up to 600 individuals. At the same time, the amount of feed should be at least 2 kg. The brood for the nucleus is selected mature and unopened.
Did you know? Known that people in the stone age learned to get honey. This theory is confirmed by drawings in the caves of Cuevas de la Aranha, in which a man climbs a tree to a bee hive to collect sweet honey.
Remember that when carrying the frame with the bees, you need to make sure that you have not transferred the uterus. Instead of frames with selected bees, frames with wax are placed. When the selection of bees is over, you need to insulate the structure, and create a notch of such a size that only one bee can pass. Thus, only young individuals will remain in the frame.
A mature mother is also put in evidence. Over the next five days, the insects need to put clean water. During this period, the entire brood will be hatched, after which the frame is removed, and the one in which young individuals are placed in its place. After another five days, they again put the frame with the bee larvae, and hold it until the uterus lays eggs.
How to make a nucleus with your own hands?
The nucleus can be done independently, it is not difficult enough. First you need to prepare a drawing, collect all the necessary tools and accessories for the evidence, and fasten all parts of the structure together. Also, the finished nucleus can be purchased at beekeeping stores.
Important! When creating partitions in the nucleus, watch for their size, it should be the same. This will help keep insects from moving to the other side.
Tools, drawings and materials
The construction of the nucleus requires, like any other construction preparation, the creation of a drawing and sketch of evidence. In this drawing, the exact dimensions of the product, the marked places for the frames, as well as the notes for the installation of the notch and the feeder are determined. For its manufacture, foam of high quality is most often used, since it is easy to install. Polystyrene beehive will be no less effective.
It retains heat well and is little susceptible to environmental influences, therefore it is durable. However, due to insufficient strength, it is difficult to clear propolis in such evidence, which makes it difficult to use the product. The material is harvested in leaves, the thickness of which can vary from 20 mm to 30 mm. Next, they select all the working tools.
To build evidence you will need:
- stationery knife;
- glue;
- screwdrivers;
- self-tapping screws;
- sheets of selected material for the base.
Manufacturing instruction
In order to independently make a nucleus for bees, it is important to check the drawings during work and carefully perform step-by-step actions.
Did you know? Among famous people, beekeeping was carried away by L. N. Tolstoy, C. Darwin, T. Edison, Aristotle, G. Mendel and many others.
Step-by-step instruction:
- Take the foam sheets and mark them out.
- Cut the material with a clerical knife according to the drawing.
- To form the frame, glue the cut parts. The dimensions of the main part: 57 × 45 × 45 cm.
- Make partitions from plywood. Their number depends on how many bee families you get.
- Using a self-tapping screw, fasten the partitions.
- Make tapes for working individuals. The diameter of one tap hole should be about 15 mm. For each bee family, a separate letka is created.
- Fasten the legs on each side of the nucleus frame for structural stability.
Video: how to make a nucleus with your own hands
How to prepare a nucleus for winter?
In order for insects to survive the cold, stay strong and healthy, it is important to prepare the nucleus in advance for winter. First of all, the food is prepared. For this, honey of good quality is selected, since when using honey with an admixture of paddy, the bees will hurt. The upper and lower parts of the hive are separated by plywood or thin boards, thus warming the house for bees.
Since the bees are able to survive the cold, warming with each other's warmth, it is important not to leave gaps between the planks. At the same time, the frames are shifted to each other so that the insects are warmer. You can also additionally insulate the bottom of the hive. To do this, use a box made by the size of the hive. Moss, dry leaves, sawdust are laid out in this box, and the beehive is placed on such a stand.
These materials will help keep you warm in the winter. To insulate the top and sides of the hive, burlap is often used. They create a pillow from it, stuffing it with a light and safe material, and cover all the edges of the hive walls with such pillows.
Beekeeping is a fairly popular hobby. To contain the hive, it is important to build it correctly and create healthy bee families, which will subsequently collect tasty, healthy and environmentally friendly honey to your table.
