Content
Enemies of bees can cause enormous damage to beekeeping if the necessary measures are not taken to create protection for the bee colony. Pests that eat bees and their waste products can be among insects, mammals, and birds. To effectively combat them, every beekeeper needs to know the main representatives and how to deal with them correctly.
Who can threaten the bees?
The appearance of a threat to the bee colony causes anxiety in the bees, due to which they increase their food consumption and reduce the delivery of bribes. All pests of bees that harm them were conditionally divided into 2 groups according to their lifestyle in relation to the bee colony:
- parasites of bees that live permanently or seasonally in hives (various moths, mites, beetles, mice) feed on wax, beebread, honey, wooden parts of the house, insect corpses;
- predators that live separately from bees, but hunt for them or honey - insectivorous birds, reptiles, mammals, carnivorous insects.
The amount of damage can vary: from disruption of the usual rhythm of life to the extinction of an entire bee family or the bees leaving the hive.In any case, this negatively affects the results of all beekeeping and must be stopped in a timely manner. For each pest, its own methods of control have been developed and tested.
Insect class pests
The enemies of bees from the insect class are the most numerous and their impact on the bee family and its life is also varied. Some insects destroy the hive, others feed on honey, and still others feed on the bees themselves.
Parasites (brawl lice)
The Brawl louse is a wingless insect measuring about 0.5-1.5 mm. It settles on the body of adult bees, queens and drones, infecting them with a disease called braulosis. She feeds on her owner's honey burps. Braulosis manifests itself in the fact that the uterus becomes worried about lice and sharply reduces egg production.
If the disease is severe, the hive is quarantined to prevent further spread. Treatment is carried out with the drug "Phenothiazine", camphor, naphthalene or smoking with tobacco smoke. The course consists of several sessions. It is necessary to cure sick families before honey planting.
Ants
Forest dwellers such as ants also love to eat honey, so they are considered sweet tooths and pests. Among them there is a variety - red ants, which aggressively attack the bees themselves. Ants attack mainly weak bee colonies, eating their reserves, eggs, and larvae.
A group of ants can carry away up to 1 kg of honey per day.
How to get rid of ants in a hive with bees
If ants attack the hive, there is nothing left to do but temporarily relocate the bees to another place. You cannot fight ants in a hive with bees without harming the bees.After removing the bees, the house is cleaned of pests and put in proper shape for further use: unnecessary cracks are eliminated, the legs of the houses are lubricated with mineral oil.
How to deal with ants in an apiary
Before installing an apiary, the area is examined for the presence of anthills and the hives are located away from ant dwellings. At least at a distance of 150-200 m. The fight against ants in the apiary involves placing the legs of the hives in a container with water or kerosene. And also in laying out leaves of garlic, tomato and mint to repel uninvited pests.
Anthills should not be destroyed if they are located at a great distance from the apiary. Ants bring benefits by working as orderlies in case of infectious diseases of bees, eating sick insects and their corpses.
If the anthill is close to the apiary, and the ants in the hive are harming the bees, then the anthill is cut off and poured with boiling water with a decoction of poisonous herbs or with kerosene.
Butterfly "Death's Head"
A large nocturnal butterfly with a wingspan of up to 12 cm from the Hawkmoth family is considered a pest because it feeds on honey, entering hives through cracks. The Death's Head butterfly (Acherontia Atropos) is called because of the pattern on its back that resembles a skull and crossbones. It reaches a length of 5-6 cm. In one night raid, an insect can eat from 5 to 10 g of honey.
Butterfly caterpillars eat nightshade leaves, on which they live until adulthood. The main methods of combating the “Dead Head” are:
- catching individuals;
- destruction of caterpillars;
- installing gratings on the entrances through which butterflies cannot pass.
Hornets, wasps
The worst pests of bees are considered to be wasps and hornets, which are true wasps.These insects not only eat the honey reserves in the hives, but also kill the bees. As a rule, attacks are carried out on weak families in the second half of the working summer. If danger exists in the form of wasps or hornets, then the bees may stop paying a bribe and start protecting the hive. Then the honey collection will be noticeably reduced.
Hornets attack bees not only in hives, but also outside, waiting for them while collecting nectar on a flower. The foraging bee is killed, the contents of its crop are sucked out, and the paralyzed corpse is fed to its brood. The beekeeper must detect uninvited guests in time, catch and destroy individuals of hornets and wasps, as well as the nests they have made. For prevention, females are caught in the spring.
The most famous wasp pest of bees is the phylanthus, or bee wolf. This is a solitary and very strong ground wasp. As a larva, it feeds on paralyzed bees brought by the female philanthus, and as an adult, it feeds on flower nectar or the contents of the crop of a foraging bee. The wasp lives for 24-30 days and kills about a hundred bees during its life. The main method of controlling wasps is the complete destruction of phylants and their nests around the apiary.
Other insect pests
There are other insects that are pests of bees. You also need to know about them so that if they are detected, you can protect your apiary. Here is a short description of the most common insect enemies:
- ham skin beetles settle in the hive and live all summer, laying larvae and eating beebread, frames, insulating material and brood;
- earwigs live in insulation, feeding on corpses and beebread, which destroys honeycombs; they are also carriers of infectious diseases;
- spiders hunt for bees, weaving a web not far from the house or in the hive itself or on a flower; they can destroy up to 7 individuals per day;
- Various beetles (about 20 species), whose relatives are the pretend thief, feed on insulation, beebread, honeycombs, and wooden parts of the hive.
Carpet beetles survive with sulfur dioxide, having previously evicted the bees. The earwigs are removed along with the insulation. Spiders are destroyed along with cobwebs and cocoons. It should be remembered that spiders are not terrible pests. In addition to harm, they also bring benefits, killing wasps and hornets.
Animals
Some representatives of the animal world are also enemies of bees, because they destroy hives, eat honey and entire families. Therefore, the beekeeper must be able to prevent danger and protect the houses from the penetration of ill-wishers.
Rodents
Different types of rodents live everywhere and eat different foods. They are potential pests for apiaries. Mice and shrews enter hives in the fall and can live there all winter, using beebread, honey, and larvae as food. There are field mice, house mice, forest mice, and all of them cause damage to the bee family by settling in its house. Bees cannot tolerate the smell of mice and will not live in a hive in which a mouse has lived.
To protect against mice, so that they do not gnaw the honeycombs or destroy the house from the inside, they set traps and place poisoned bait in the room where the hives overwinter.
Jerzy
Harmless hedgehogs are also pests in the apiary. They enter the hives at night, when everyone is resting after a hard day of work and cannot provide a worthy confrontation to the predator.Hedgehogs prefer to eat healthy bees and dead bees. Hedgehogs cannot be killed; they are not considered major pests of the national economy. The only method of combating hedgehogs may be to install houses at a height of more than 35 cm above the ground and create good ventilation in the hive so that the bees do not go to the flying grounds, where the hunter-hedgehog will be waiting for them.
Reptiles
The harm from frogs caused by eating bees is insignificant compared to the benefits they bring by hunting various insects. Therefore they are not considered pests. And no special measures have been invented to combat frogs. You just need to install the apiary away from water in a well-lit area and on high stands.
But lizards and toads feel great in the apiary, deftly hunting beekeeping workers who are heavy with their burdens, and are considered pests. A lizard can catch 15-20 insects per day, and a toad even more. The beekeeper should not kill these animals. By going around the apiary, he can catch the lizard and take it away from the hives. She won't be able to find her way back.
Birds
Most birds, by destroying various insects, thereby bring benefits. But among them there are those who actively hunt for bees. And they are considered pests.
These birds include:
- bee-eater, which prefers wasps, bumblebees, and bees as food;
- The gray shrike is a very voracious bee hunter.
The methods of controlling pest birds are the same - scaring away through an amplifier with recorded bird calls, changing the location of the apiary.
Preventive measures
An experienced beekeeper knows that keeping bees healthy and in good condition is the key to successful beekeeping.Therefore, he always monitors the behavior of his charges in order to take timely measures when dangerous pests are detected. Regular preventive measures help maintain successful beekeeping:
- keeping only strong bee colonies;
- sufficient provision of bees with food and warmth;
- periodic cleaning, drying, ventilation and repair of hives;
- drying insulation in the sun;
- lubricating the legs of the houses in grease or kerosene;
- installing an apiary away from water and anthills;
- periodic disinsection of insulating material;
- treating hives with sulfur dioxide;
- installation of special barriers or nets on the tapholes to prevent the penetration of pests;
- mowing grass under houses.
Conclusion
The damage that bee enemies can cause to beekeeping can be irreparable and result in the death of bee colonies. To prevent this from happening, you need to know all potential pests and take the necessary measures in time. Then the apiary will bring the beekeeper not only benefits, but also pleasure from the work done.
