Secrets of breeding bumblebees. Attracting bumblebees to artificial nesting sites Make a house for bumblebees

Bumblebees are very useful insects. But unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer of them. Bumblebees must be protected and created for them the necessary conditions so that in your garden with the most early spring These workers flew - excellent plant pollinators. Nature rewarded these bright, beautiful insects They have a longer proboscis than bees, so they are able to pollinate plants that honey bees cannot pollinate, such as red clover.

In red clover, the nectar is located in the flowers at a depth that the shorter proboscis of the Central Russian bee cannot reach, so bees practically do not pollinate red clover, and the only pollinator is the bumblebee. Two species of bumblebees were even specially brought to Australia and New Zealand for pollination of fields sown with clover. After all, clover did not produce seeds without pollination.

Bumblebees, collecting nectar and pollen, simultaneously pollinate plants, just like bees. They collect pollen, just like bees, moving it with brushes on their legs. specific place and filling special baskets of leg hairs. Only individuals that collect pollen have such an apparatus; males do not have it.

bumblebee nest

In the spring, on your site, you can see how an overwintered female is looking for a suitable place for a nest, examining various burrows in the ground and holes in human buildings. A bumblebee's nest is a regular ball of twigs, moss, grass and other similar materials that serve to insulate the nest. It is done in shelters - in wide cracks, birdhouses, abandoned rodent burrows; it can be in any place that seems suitable to the female for making a nest.

The young female makes several cells in the nest and lays 5-6 eggs at the bottom of one. Bumblebees feed all the larvae together in one cell, putting reserves of honey and bee bread in other cells so that there is food in bad weather. The cells are built with an irregular spherical shape, building material is wax mixed with pollen.

Bumblebees, like bees, have wax glands on their abdomen that secrete wax, from which they build cells for breeding offspring and storing honey and bee bread. As the larvae grow, the walls of the cell move apart; the female, and then the workers, repair it all the time. When the time comes, the larvae spin cocoons and pupate. After some time, the female gnaws through the cocoons and small adult bumblebees emerge from them.

Small worker bumblebees appear 20-30 days after laying eggs. The female continues to lay eggs, and the workers take care of obtaining food and repairing the cell for the young. The nest grows quickly, food supplies are replenished, old cells are used for food storage after the larvae hatch. For each clutch of eggs laid by the female, new cells are built directly on the old ones, that is, the cell for hatching young is not used twice. With each new brood, worker bumblebees become larger, almost comparable in size to the female. It is interesting that females can change in a nest; an old female can be replaced by a young one.

In large bumblebee nests there are most often 100-200 individuals, sometimes up to 500, the number depends on weather and food conditions. At the end of the season, the female lays eggs, from which males and females develop. They leave the nest in the fall and mate. After this, the males soon die, and the females look for shelter in which to overwinter in order to give birth to a new generation in the spring. Working individuals also die closer to winter; only fertilized females overwinter.

Bumblebees pollinators

Bumblebees are excellent pollinators. Their special value lies in the fact that they are one of the most cold-resistant insects, adapted to life in harsh northern conditions. Other pollinators either cannot live in cold conditions or live a short time. Bumblebees reach north to Novaya Zemlya, Greenland, Alaska and Chukotka; they can live high in the mountains and pollinate plants near the border of eternal snow.

Where does this cold resistance come from? It turns out that the body temperature of bumblebees can exceed the temperature environment by 20-30 degrees, averaging 40 degrees, although insects are cold-blooded animals. This is achieved thanks to the work of the pectoral muscles, during which a characteristic buzzing sound is heard. If the humming stops, the insect's body temperature begins to drop, but as soon as the bumblebee, sitting in the nest, begins to quickly contract the chest muscles without moving the wings, its body temperature rises.

If the entire mass of individuals in the nest hums, the temperature in it rises to 30-35 degrees. In the cold hours of the morning, a humming sound is always heard from the bumblebee nest; previously they even thought that it was the trumpeter bumblebee lifting the nest to work, but he was simply warming up before the flight and warming up the nest. In hot weather, these beneficial insects, like bees, ventilate their home by fluttering their wings before entering.

Do not offend bumblebees, because they do not sting for nothing, but only in defense. If on your garden plot or next to a private house there are nests of these beautiful, beneficial insects, pollination of fruit and berry crops is ensured even in cold weather when bees and other insects do not fly.

This spring, female bumblebees have already flown into my house twice, I carefully caught them with a jar and released them - let these beauties build nests and pollinate plants in my garden. While I was carrying them to the window, the bumblebees buzzed resentfully in the jar, but then they calmly crawled out and flew away with a thick hum.
Author Olga Bogach

Bumblebee farming is a responsible business that consists of many stages from choosing a location to the economic component. Breeding bumblebees is not yet very widespread, which means there will be little competition in the business.

How to make a house

Choosing a location for the hive

The number of individuals in the farm depends on the choice of location. When building the first bumblebee, you can trust your intuition and choose places where people have settled for a relatively long time and have not made significant changes to their appearance. They should be pleasant and cozy in appearance for us. This is important, since such places are mainly attractive to female bumblebees.

To make sure you choose the right place to build a hive, observe your surroundings and see if there are any female bumblebees flying around in search of shelter. If within an hour and in good weather you meet a group of 3 to 5 females, then this area becomes a potential nesting site.

Bumblebees are interested in areas with a unique microrelief and microclimate. Potential nesting sites may include: small ditches, slopes overgrown with grass, piles of old garbage, small hills in clearings.

Making a bait hive

Bumblebee is a house for bumblebees, which consists of the following elements:

four boards nailed together, 2.3–3 cm thick;
an inlet opening creating an internal volume of 1.5–3 dm cube (about 12–14 cm);
tubes with a length of 90 to 100 cm and an internal opening of 15–20 mm.

A drawing of a bumblebee is shown in the figure:

Making a hive yourself is quite easy. To do this, perform the following steps:

Take several sheets of dried wood. Any species is suitable, except for those trees that have strong resin secretions.
Using a marker and a construction ruler, draw out five 15x15 cm squares and nail them to each other.
Take an aluminum pipe with two holes at each end.
We drill a hole in the front wall and check the tightness of the hole by inserting it inside.
We take old dried moss and fill the resulting frame 2/3 full, as well as some material from a field or wood mouse hole. You can also lay a whole nest, then the chance of bumblebees populating will increase to 100%.
We make a lid for the bumblebee. We cut out another square, which is 2–2.5 cm larger than the width of the box.
We take four wooden slats and fix them on the inside of the lid so that it does not fit too tightly onto the frame, that is, there should be a gap of about 2-3 mm.
Using black paint and a brush, paint the outer end of the tube and the outer channel along the entire length.

If you don’t have pipes at hand, you can use wooden slats measuring 15x15 or 20x20 mm, as well as plastic hoses designed for watering the garden. However, the plastic is soft and in order for it to withstand the load of the soil, it is placed in a body made from scraps of plywood.

Installation of bumblebee

It's not as difficult as it seems. To install it, perform the following steps:

We cut a piece of turf in the selected area with a diameter of 50 cm and set it aside, maintaining its integrity.
In the center of the resulting round funnel, using a small shovel, dig a cube-shaped hole so that the bumblebee can fit into it. The size should match the size of your fist.
We take a tarpaulin and put the excavated soil there.
From the pit we lay a groove with a V-shaped cross-section to install the taphole tube. There must be a correspondence between the length of the tube and the groove; dig a second hole.
Place the oblong-shaped cut turf aside, grass side down.
Cutting it off top part sod with a knife.
We take plastic film and wrap the bumblebee together with the base of the tube, lower it into the hole so that it can be unfolded or the lid can be freely removed. We plug the end of the tube with a cotton swab.
We use plasticine and cover the slot holes inside the bumblebee and between the hive and the tube.
We take the previously laid turf and place it in the hole and in the groove. We compact it thoroughly so that there are no cracks or gaps left. This will help protect the entrance from blocking access for bumblebees by soil that has crumbled or been washed away by rain.
We clear the surroundings of the bumblebee from fallen leaves and other debris.
Remove the cotton swab from the tube.

The installation diagram for underground bait hives is shown in the figure:

The bait for bumblebees is made on the basis individual characteristics and preferences, that is, the perception of color and favorite places to create a home. Dark colors Bumblebees are more attracted. Narrow tunnels remind them of rodent burrows, so for imitation they use a hole up to 1 m in length.

Forced occupancy at home

If no one has moved into the shmelevik at your dacha, don’t worry: you can do it yourself. There are two ways to force bumblebees to populate:

By catching the fertilized bumblebee uterus in a test tube and inserting it into the house tray, wrapping it in foil. If the outcome is good, changes should appear in the nest in two days. Two stripes on a bumblebee's body mean that the insect is fertilized.
Digging up a bumblebee nest in a field located next to a river or lake in the evening at the beginning of summer and putting it in a bag. The location of the nest can be determined by the buzzing of insects.

Garden bumblebees

They have a soft and non-conflict character, so they rarely attack people. Bumblebee drones do not have a stinger.

In the process of collecting pollen, bumblebees secrete special enzymes with antibacterial properties that destroy infected plant cells. Because of this property they are used for honey. Bumblebee honey has excellent healing properties. After eating just a few capsules of bumblebee honey, you will immediately feel a surge of strength, your fatigue and drowsy attitude towards life will go away - you will simply want to fly.

Bumblebees differ from bees in the following ways:

proboscis length. Because of this, bumblebees can pollinate almost any plant;
high level of acclimatization. They adapt well to different climatic conditions and are ready to collect nectar even in the rain;
good vision and spatial orientation, which allow you to fly at night;
high performance. The rate of pollen collection is 5 times faster than that of bees.

Bumblebees of this type are territorial insects, which means that if they have shown interest in your greenhouse, then even hot weather tomato bushes will be without barren flowers. The same is true in the cucumber beds. Insects will begin collecting nectar and pollen at dawn, pollinating until temperatures rise to 36°C.

Because of good vision and orientation bumblebees will not hit the glass in the greenhouse

IN Lately The number of bumblebees seen in the garden area has decreased. This is due to the fact that during the period from April to May they consider residential and non-residential buildings as potential places for creating nests, which become a kind of traps.

Color	Depends on storage time and may be: transparent; amber; dark golden
Taste qualities	delicate with slight hints of bitterness
Aroma	thin and pleasant
Crystallization period	no crystallization
Consistency	liquid
The nutritional value	38 kcal per teaspoon; 110 kcal per tablespoon; 316 kcal per 100 g of product; 632 kcal per glass; 790 kcal per cup
Geography of collection	meets in the following territories: in southeastern Europe; in Italy and Greece; in Russia and Ukraine.
Collection period	from May to August

Lifestyle of bumblebee communities

Bumblebee families are communities with a less clear division of responsibilities than other hymenoptera. They consist of three groups:

uterus;
workers;
males.

The responsibilities of worker bumblebees and male breeders are not very different, except that the latter are responsible for replenishing the family.

Communication between individuals is carried out through the nest and the uterus. As a rule, the calling of other family members comes from the pair of the queen and the main male, who sits on the nest and makes a certain set of sounds.

During the summer, the queen lays eggs and monitors them.

Feeding and reproduction of bumblebees

Members of bumblebee communities eat food throughout the day and can collect nectar from any plant, including collecting sap from trees. The favorite delicacy of bumblebees is clover.

During the breeding process they lay eggs. This is done by several females called queens. They never pollinate, but only improve the nest after the workers build the honeycomb. After this, the females lay eggs and subsequently watch the hatching of the larvae. A month after the birth of their offspring, the females die and are replaced by new ones.

Bumblebee farming as a business

On this moment Bumblebee farming as a business is very relevant, since not many farmers know about its existence. Bumblebees are quite common, and many people do not think that they can build a business and make money.

Use of bumblebees in agriculture

In agriculture, bumblebees are mainly used as pollinators for a variety of crops. Bumblebees are especially relevant when vegetables or plants are grown in greenhouses. However, bumblebees are used not only for pollination, as they contribute to:

increased productivity of fruits and vegetables;
improving the shelf life of products, as well as appearance goods;
the emergence of additional income through the sale of honey.

Where to get bumblebees

In addition to the natural capture of bumblebees for breeding, they can be purchased from private breeders or on specialized farms. But how much does a bumblebee cost? The cost of one bumblebee is 5 euros.

The family size is 150 heads, which brings in about $95 from their sale. Industrial production honey can be considered a side income source, but it requires a large number of bumblebees.

Breeding bumblebees at home is a profitable but difficult business. To avoid any problems, we suggest you watch a number of thematic videos.

Pollination of greenhouse crops by bumblebees, as an element of the technology for obtaining high yields of greenhouse vegetables, was first introduced into the practice of greenhouse vegetable growing in Denmark, Holland and Belgium in the second half of the 1980s, and then quickly spread to other countries. Since the mid-1990s, bumblebee pollination began to gain popularity in our country. A domestic technology for year-round controlled breeding of bumblebees was developed and patented.

Among the first hives that were imported into our country at the end of the last century were hives of various designs, using various materials(plywood, cardboard, plastic).

One of the first hives purchased by ASHO named after. Telman, Tosnensky district Leningrad region, for pollination of greenhouse crops, from the Belgian company Biobest, had three tapholes (two upper and one lower) and a very complex design with big amount elements made of plastic and foam. Overall dimensions of the hive: 21 cm x 29 cm, height 20 cm.

Hives from Holland (BBB company), in the shape of a cardboard hexagonal box, were distinguished by the presence of free space around the nesting chamber. The plywood hive from Belgium (BIP) used a convex plastic lid that moved along the grooves along the hive, and a plastic feeder gave the bumblebees free access to the syrup. Inside the feeder, bumblebees moved along two crossed ladders. Advertising for the manufacturer was placed on the walls of all bumblebee shelters.

Now the Russian market is supplied with hives from Israel, Belgium, as well as domestically produced hives. Biobest (Belgium) supplies several types of hives: standard hive (for use in protected soil), medium hive (used for plants with short period flowering), minihive (used in areas of 300 m² or less, in particular in breeding and seed production), multihive (3 medium hives combined in one waterproof package), which is used in orchards, berry plantations, and vegetable growing open ground, seed production of forage grasses.
Hives made in Israel and Belgium, which are now used in Russian greenhouses, are similar in overall dimensions, but they have significant differences.

The hive of the BBB company from Holland is made of cardboard, and all its main elements are also made of cardboard. Plastic is used only for making liners in the corners of the nesting chamber (protects the most from being chewed by bumblebees vulnerabilities hive), making a wick feeder and an entrance liner.

The beehive of the Yad Mordechai Apiary from Israel consists of a cardboard box in which is placed plastic bag with carbohydrate food and a wick, on top of the package there is a foam insert, on the insert there is a nesting chamber molded from light plastic. The bottom of the nesting chamber has a mesh elevation that protects the wick from being chewed by bumblebees and being built up by a rapidly growing nest. Nearby there is an oblong compartment, which apparently serves to place a supply of protein food before the bumblebee colony is sent to the greenhouse. The bottom is not monolithic (as, for example, in hives from Holland, Belgium or domestically produced hives), it consists of two parts. The platform (size: 18 cm x 19.5 cm) has a wick compartment similar to the previously described, but smaller, which is not structurally connected to anything, and a cone-shaped recess in the center (size 6.5 cm x 5.5 cm, depth 3 cm), which contains a plastic cone-shaped insert with a number. The method of fastening the platform and the presence of a wick compartment allows us to conclude that this platform was originally the bottom of a smaller nesting chamber used in a biological laboratory. Before the bumblebees are sent to the greenhouses, the bottom of this smaller chamber is probably connected to the bottom of the nesting chamber of the hive and the walls are disconnected. This simplifies the job of transferring bumblebees from a smaller hive to a larger hive. The Belgian-made hive also has a platform (size 16 cm x 16 cm) with four rectangular holes (10 mm x 4 mm), which differs from the rest of the bottom in that it does not have ventilation holes, which are found throughout the rest of the bottom area and in several places on the walls of the plastic nesting chamber. It can be assumed that a bottom with a nest of a bumblebee family from a smaller hive is placed on this platform, and the protrusions of this bottom are installed in the holes for fixation. Existing types“trays” designed to accommodate the first lump of pollen on which the queen bumblebee establishes a nest, within this study have not been studied, but it is obvious that this part of the hive is buried in the bottom only in Israeli hives. The lid of the nesting chamber differs in the way it is opened: in Belgian-made hives it moves in plastic grooves along the nest, in Israeli-made hives it is fixed in plastic ledges, and in a Dutch hive it is tilted to the side or removed. Domestic modifications, in their main characteristics, repeat the hives of one of the three described designs. Characteristic feature plastic nesting chambers is that they have a special U-shaped side on the upper edge of the wall, bent inward along the entire perimeter of the chamber, which prevents bumblebees from leaving the hive when the lid is opened. The entrance is designed in such a way that the operator can at his own discretion regulate the flight in and out of bumblebees. The taphole pair consists of two holes with a diameter of 15 mm - 20 mm and a valve that opens the tapholes in a certain combination or closes them completely. A special design of the Bee-Lock entrance or a cone-shaped insert in the entrance hole (intended only for the entry of bumblebees), deepened into the hive at different distances (depending on the design), prevents the free exit of insects.

A comparative analysis of bumblebee colonies of various designs from leading countries exporting bumblebee families and domestically produced bumblebee colonies allows us to conclude that modern bumblebee farming tends to simplify the bumblebee home, lighten the entire structure as a whole, and compatibility of elements of nesting chambers different stages bumblebee family development, actively uses latest materials. The bumblebee nest is located at the bottom of the nesting chamber and expands as the colony grows horizontally and vertically (in layers), usually reaching the walls and roof. This circumstance was used in the serial production of bumblebee hives: along with the traditionally removable roof, the bumblebee hive has a detachable bottom. The main element of nesting chambers for bumblebees is the bottom, on which the nest is placed and the entire life of the bumblebee family takes place. The detachable bottom allows you to easily move the bumblebee nest to larger hives. Depending on the size of the grown colony and its purpose, the use of a detachable bottom will allow the bumblebee colony to be transplanted into a hive of the required design and size at the required technological stage.

The development of bumblebee farming (amateur and industrial) will require the creation of special terminology to designate the structural elements of bumblebee hives. Using the terms used by domestic researchers for the first “box” hives, one could call the entire hive assembly assembly “bumblebee”, and the internal nesting chamber (in the figure: “ Plastic container") - "bumblebee". Detachable bottom - a forgotten beekeeping term “tlo”, which meant the flat bottom of the bees’ home. “Tub”, so called by domestic bumblebee breeders external resemblance, more accurately called a “starter” (this term has long been used in beekeeping). By analogy with a bee apiary, which in the old days was called a “bee house,” the location of several bumblebee hives in a limited area can be called a “bumblebee site.” This terminology may be especially useful to amateur entomologists when working with bumblebee families.

Literature
1. Ashcheulov, V.I. Bumblebees are pollinators of agricultural plants in greenhouses / Ashcheulov V.I. – Ivanovo, 2001. – 233 p.
2. Grebennikov, V.S. Underground bait hives for bumblebees / Grebennikov V.S. // Beekeeping. – 1972. – No. 7. – P. 40-41.
3. Bodnarchuk, L.I. Regulation of food collection in bumblebees / Bodnarchuk L.I., Olifir V.N., Shalimov I.I. // Beekeeping. – 1977. – No. 5. – P. 24-25
4. Karpov, A.N. Beekeeping Dictionary / Karpov A.N. – M.: Russian language, 1997. – 384 p.
5. “Method of breeding bumblebees.” Patent No. 2099940. 1997

Not only bees, but also bumblebees can collect nectar and receive honey; this is what they feed their offspring with, however, bumblebees do not store honey for the winter. After all, bumblebees live only one summer; only one queen can survive the winter. In the spring, she wakes up and examines the surroundings in search of a suitable nest. It can be located 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.

Research has shown that bumblebees play a huge role in pollination. various plants when promoting Agriculture on North. The fact is that bumblebees are one of the most cold-resistant insects, well adapted to life in harsh conditions the north, where other pollinators either cannot live or fly for a short time. Bumblebees reach as far north as Greenland, Novaya Zemlya, Chukotka and Alaska. Such 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 Mountains, 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,” that is, quickly contract the chest muscles without moving the wings, then the decrease in temperature stops or it begins to slowly rise. Thanks to this feature, bumblebees maintain a temperature in the nest of about 30-35°C. It has long been noticed that a “trumpeter” appears in bumblebee nests before dawn, which was believed to rouse his fellow tribesmen to work. But it turned out that he was simply shaking from the cold. Indeed, in the pre-dawn hours the temperature at the soil surface drops significantly (the humming was 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, bumblebees have to work hard pectoral muscles. On hot days you can see a bumblebee at the entrance to the nest, fluttering its wings. He is ventilating the nest. In addition to the constant state of vibration (muscle tension and relaxation), the hairs covering its head, neck and abdomen help the bumblebee maintain its body temperature. The ability to maintain a high body temperature allowed bumblebees to penetrate far to the North. But she doesn’t allow them to live in the tropics. About 300 species of bumblebees live in Northern Eurasia, in North America and in the mountains. And only two species are found in tropical regions of Brazil.

Bumblebees are excellent pollinators. Thanks to his 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, which have a climate similar to that of Europe, they began trying to grow red clover for livestock. It produced rich crops and bloomed beautifully, but there were no seeds. It turned out that neither Australia nor New Zealand has bumblebees, which pollinate this plant in Europe and North America. When two species of bumblebees were brought here from Europe and they acclimatized, clover began to produce rich harvests of seeds. Now bumblebees are rightfully considered the best pollinators of this valuable food plant. For this purpose, they are artificially bred and settled on clover trees. Great success in artificial breeding of bumblebees were achieved in Russia thanks to the work of amateur entomologist G. S. Voveikov. Tests of the “bumblebee growers” he created on an 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 are helped to bring this delicacy to the nest by special devices located on their hind legs. This is a paired apparatus consisting of “brushes” and “baskets”. But pollen ends up not only in special recesses on the paws. Sometimes dust particles linger on the abdomen and are then transferred to another flower. Bumblebees can collect pollen and nectar from plants very, very quickly. Biologists have calculated that just one field bumblebee visits 2,634 flowers during a flight lasting 100 minutes.

Bumblebees work flawlessly in any weather, and thanks to additional pollination, the yield of, for example, tomatoes increases by a third. Bumblebees fly from dawn to dusk. The most intense is before lunch. They don't care about light rain. Caring for the offspring is above all else. On bad days, the female only needs one flight to provide the brood with food and keep it warm for an hour. But in May, when there are heavy, prolonged rains 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 rightly take bribes from garden plants . If bumblebees choose your greenhouse as an apiary, then even in the heat there will not be a single barren flower on the tomato bushes. Also in the cucumber rows. Already at dawn, bumblebees will collect nectar and pollen, pollinating flowers until the onset of 32 - 36-degree heat, when pollination is no longer useful. Bumblebees, unlike bees, navigate better in the greenhouse and do not hit the film and glass.

Behind last years bumblebees on summer cottages became less. Perhaps one of the reasons is that in April-May, in search of nesting sites, they penetrate through cracks inside buildings, from which they cannot find their way back, and die near closed windows after 2-3 days, not having the necessary reserves in their bodies after wintering food. So it turns out that bright, but leaky country houses turn into traps for these noble insects.

Another reason for the death of bumblebees is the improper use of pesticides. Do not spray insecticides on flowering plants, as well as during the day, especially during hot hours, without isolating flowering crops with film. It is better to carry out processing late in the evening.

Despite its relatively big sizes, bumblebees are very peaceful and do not sting very much. Therefore, their pupae, cocoons and larvae often become a tasty dish for foxes, badgers, voles and other rodents. Bumblebees have another terrible enemy. If you 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 snacking on fattened larvae. Therefore, to prevent the ants from accidentally stumbling upon the nest, bumblebees remove all blades of grass and twigs around the nest.

Come and visit us.

Every summer resident can attract bumblebees to his plot. It is enough to insulate from the inside a part of the wall of the utility room, approximately 1 x 1-1.5 m in area, with straw, moss, dry leaves, and cover everything with roofing felt, hardboard. Drill two holes with a diameter of 1-2.5 cm from the outside for the tap hole, build a canopy over it, nailing a plank.

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

A hive house made from a flower pot is the simplest nesting site for bumblebees and you should not despair if bumblebees do not populate it. Even the entomologist V. Grebennikov, who was professionally involved in bumblebee breeding, had them populate no more than half of the artificial nests, which is considered very successful. You will need patience. If the house has not been occupied until the end of July, put it in the shed for storage until the next season. The hive house for bumblebees should be left in the garden from April to the end of July every year until a bumblebee colony appears in it.

For targeted artificial breeding bumblebees, there is an option for a plastic two-room nesting hive from the Oxford Bee Company.

Comment: To preserve heat, you can put more cotton wool there.

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

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

Bumblebees are a genus of Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera) in the bee family. Only about 300 species of them are known in the world.

Species of the genus Bombus, of which there are more than 80, are distributed in almost all parts of the world except Australia.

Where do bumblebees live and how do they create families? The answers to these questions will be given in the article.

Habitats

Where do bumblebees live? It's easier to say where they don't live. Ability to support high temperature her body allowed these insects to live far to the north. Bumblebees penetrate to Greenland, Chukotka, Novaya Zemlya and Alaska. What is the reason for the cold resistance of these insects? Their body has the ability to thermoregulate.

And at the same time, this feature does not allow them to get along in the tropics. Bumblebees live in Eurasia and in mountainous areas. Only two species of bumblebee are found in the tropics of Brazil.

Brief characteristics of insects

Bumblebees belong to the Apidae family, just like common honey bees.

In its lifestyle and body structure, this large insect is close to bees. True, the lifestyle and nests are different.

Males, unlike females, have long antennae, they are also larger than working bumblebees and have copulation mites.

Their body is large, reaching a length of 3.5 cm, quite densely covered with hairs. The color combines black, red, white and yellow stripes.

The lower, white one ends with a small, invisible in the normal state, sting. The hind tibiae have spurs.

The bumblebee's eyes are located almost on the same line.

Both the queen and workers have a collecting apparatus. It consists of a brush and a basket.

The queens are larger in size than the males and have a sting, just like the workers (females are underdeveloped).

Bumblebees are friendlier insects; they sting very rarely, compared to bees. ABOUT chemical composition Little is known about bumblebee venom. It has not been studied enough.

Lifestyle, behavior

I wonder where bumblebees live? Bumblebees, like other insects, are almost always active summer time, however, this period is different for all species. This depends on their habitat (high or low latitudes).

A characteristic feature of bumblebees that distinguishes them from other pollinators (wasps and bees) is that they are able to work in the cold (collect nectar), at temperatures down to 0°C. In this regard, they go farther than other pollinators to the north.

Those species that live far in the north, with a short one-month summer, do not have time to create a family and live as solitary insects.

In the territories temperate climate the created family lives for one summer. IN tropical zones some species organize perennial families.

Where do bumblebees live in winter? During this period they live in underground shelters.

Fertilized queens spend the winter mostly in holes they have dug in the ground, and in the spring they build nests.

How and where do bumblebees nest and live? These insects have an amazing rare feature. Unlike other similar insects, all bumblebee larvae develop and are reared in one common chamber. In the free cells, the female creates reserves of honey and bee bread (honey dough) for periods of bad weather.

Features of social life

Like bees, bumblebees are social insects. They organize huge families numbering up to 200 individuals.

In such communities where bumblebees live, there is a surprisingly clear distribution of responsibilities for absolutely each of its members.

IN natural conditions the female, as a rule, lays 200-400 eggs to hatch workers, then she begins to lay eggs, from which females and males develop.

Many species have so-called small queens (this is the average between queens and workers). The latter, together with workers and small queens, build nests, collect honey and pollen (food) and lay unfertilized eggs, from which only males develop. And from the very last eggs laid by the queen, new queens hatch, which, in turn, are fertilized by males.

Only old queens remain for the winter, since the old ones die, males, workers and small queens also die. The entire community disperses.

What is a bumblebee nest like? Where do bumblebees live?

Fertilized queens, as mentioned above, mostly spend the winter in dug holes in the ground and only in the spring, during a thaw, do they begin to build their nests. This dwelling consists of irregular oval cells formed from rough reddish or brown wax. The nest is placed between stones, in the ground under moss, etc.

Bumblebees often use mole or mouse holes.

Usually only the very first cells of the nest consist of wax, and then the empty cocoons of the pupae serve as the next cells. All cells are also filled with coarse honey and flower dust.

Usually in bumblebee nests there are up to 200 individuals, less often - up to 500. However, people in artificial nests with heating managed to get families with the number of individuals up to 1000.

Reproduction process, nutrition

The queens lay their fertilized eggs almost throughout the summer. Subsequently, workers emerge from them, and then small queens. Typically, several eggs are laid in each cell where bumblebees live. Some larvae hatching from eggs die due to lack of food.

Full development of the larvae occurs within about 12 days. Then they spin their own cocoons, where they turn into pupae. This period lasts about 2 weeks.

As the larvae grow, they gradually enlarge and expand the cell. And the female and working individuals constantly tidy up, repair and improve the home. After 30 days, workers hatch in the nest.

From the moment the first workers emerge, the number of inhabitants of the nest increases rapidly. And food supplies grow; abandoned empty cells are used to store them. And this is one of the features of the life of bumblebees. They never reuse a cell twice for hatching purposes. Therefore, old nests always have a rather sloppy appearance. On such dilapidated cells, insects build new ones, without observing any order.