Beekeepers call the queen of bees the queen. She lays eggs, which ensures the reproduction of the family. The calendar, which is used as a guide for breeding queens, takes into account the features of processes that follow one after another. It will be useful for both beginners and experienced beekeepers to predict the course of events. The queen bee lives for 8 years, but owners prefer to replace her every 2 years to ensure a high level of reproduction.
What is it for?
The calendar takes into account the peculiarities of the processes occurring inside the hive.
Essentially, this is a guide to action that a beekeeper will need in many cases:
- to replace the old queen in time;
- for targeted breeding work;
- to prevent swarming;
- to detect drones;
- to control cell seeding.
Stages of development
The period when the old queen is already weakening and lays eggs poorly requires decisive action. In order to support the bee family and not disrupt their normal life, the owner will have to replace the queen. This can be done artificially or wait until natural replacement occurs.
Stages of obtaining a new uterus:
- Seeding This period involves the hatching of the larva from the fertilized egg, which the bees feed with royal jelly.
- Sealing. The bees fill the queen cell with food and seal it.
- The larva grows inside the queen cell and then turns into a pupa.
- The pupa gives rise to a young queen, which independently gnaws its way out of the queen cell.
The process takes 10-15 days. To confirm her status, the queen makes a flight, then mates with the drones, and begins laying eggs. Fruit sowing will be delayed after 3 days. At this stage, a mistake may occur - the queen bee will seed with drones - then a quick replacement will be required, otherwise the colony will die.
Hatching calendar
It takes about 20 days from the egg to the laying of the queen herself. During this time, the beekeeper will have to understand what future awaits the bee colony.Frequent queen changes result in loss of reproductive quality, so drastic steps must be taken to find a suitable quality queen.
The queen bee hatching schedule by day looks like this:
| On the 7th day after the appearance of the larva | Sealing the queen cell |
| Day 16 | The exit of the barren uterus from the queen cell |
| In 3 days | Start of the flyby |
| In 4-5 days | Mating games |
| After 14 days | Determining the quality of the queen through clutch analysis |
There are special printed options that can be customized for specific dates by month. One of the most common store calendars is a circle with an arrow. The beekeeper can select the month and day and then track the dates.
How to distinguish a queen bee from worker bees?
One of the problems of a novice beekeeper is distinguishing the queen bee from the worker bees. For example, an individual gnawed at the queen cell and went inside the hive. She will have a nuptial flight followed by laying. But in order to track its movements, you need to make a special note. To do this you need to catch and mark it.
Externally, the queen differs from worker bees:
- the body is elongated up to 2 centimeters, and working insects grow up to 1.5-1.7 centimeters;
- the abdomen looks beyond the edges of the wings;
- different behavior inside the hive.
By breaking the integrity of the queen cell, it becomes clear that the larva has matured, become a pupa, and then turned into a young individual. Now the beekeeper has to mark the queen and wait for the first clutch. If the sowing is complete and worker bees come out of it, then the head of the colony will be of good quality, which means that no action needs to be taken. If the first sowing turns out to be drone, an urgent replacement of the queen will be required.
How to determine the age of the uterus?
To determine the age of a bee, a special international system has been adopted. It helps you avoid getting confused in calculations. In addition, when purchasing a package of bees or selecting an individual from another hive, the beekeeper will have no doubt about the age if the notes are made correctly in accordance with the standards:
- blue (these are years according to the counting system every 5 years - 2015, 2020);
- white (display by year – 2016, 2021, 2026);
- yellow (2017, 2022, 2027);
- red (2018, 2023, 2028);
- green (2019, 2024, 2029).
This labeling is followed by beekeepers around the world.
