When bees seal honey

Bees seal empty combs in case of insufficient raw materials for honey production. This phenomenon is observed with poor flowering of honey plants due to weather conditions (cold, damp summer). Less commonly, the cause is internal problems of the swarm (unfertilized queen, diseases of worker bees).

How honey is formed

In early spring, when the first honey plants bloom, the bees begin to collect nectar and bee bread to produce honey. It is the staple food of adult insects and brood. Work on the procurement of raw materials continues until late autumn. Nectar stored for the winter, insects are placed in honeycombs for maturation. Then, after a certain time, filled cells will be sealed.

The process of honey formation:

1. When flying around honey plants, the bee focuses on color and smell. Collects nectar from flowers with the help of a proboscis, pollen settles on the paws and abdomen of the insect.
2. The nectar enters the goiter of the goiter, the structure of the digestive system allows you to keep the nectar isolated from the intestines using a special partition. The insect can regulate the tone of the valve; when relaxing, part of the nectar goes to feed the individual, and it delivers the rest to the hive. This is the initial stage of honey production. During harvesting, raw materials are primarily enriched with an enzyme from the glands that break down polysaccharides into substances that are easier to digest.
3. The picker returns to the hive, passes the raw materials to the bees-receivers, flies away for the next portion.
4. The receiver removes excess liquid from the nectar, fills the cells, at a certain time begins to print them, the insect passes a drop of raw material through the goiter several times, while constantly enriching it with a secret. Then it is placed in the lower cells. Individuals continuously work their wings, creating air ventilation. Hence the characteristic noise inside the swarm.
5. After removing excess moisture, when the product becomes thicker and there is no risk of fermentation, it is placed in the upper combs and begins to be sealed for ripening.

Why do bees seal frames with honey

When the nectar has reached the desired consistency, it is sealed in cells with zabrus. Bees start printing frames from the top cells using airtight wax discs. Thus, they protect the product from excess moisture and air so that organic substances do not oxidize. Only after sealing does the raw material ripen to the required condition and can be stored for a long time.

How long does it take the bees to seal the frame with honey

The honey production process starts from the moment the nectar is collected. After the bee-gatherer delivers raw materials to the hive, processing continues with a young non-flying individual. Before it begins to seal the nectar, the product goes through several stages. Gradually, it is moved from the lower cells to the upper row, hydrolysis continues in the process. From the moment of collection to the time when the bees begin to print filled cells of honeycombs, 3 days pass.

The time for complete filling and sealing of the frame depends on the flowering of honey plants, weather conditions and swarm capabilities. In rainy weather, bees do not fly out to collect nectar. Another factor that influences the time it takes to fill the frame and then seal is how far the foraging bee has to fly. Under favorable conditions and good bribes, the bees are able to seal the frame in 10 days.

How to speed up the sealing of honey by bees

There are several ways to stimulate bees to start printing honeycombs faster:

1. In order for excess moisture to evaporate from the nectar and the bees begin to print it, they improve ventilation in the hive by slightly opening the lid on a sunny day.
2. They insulate the hive, young insects will create the necessary microclimate, intensively working with wings, which also contributes to the evaporation of moisture and the rapid sealing of the cells.
3. Provide the family with a good base for honey collection.

The temperature will rise, moisture will evaporate faster, insects will start to seal the product faster.

How long does honey ripen in a hive

With a zabrus bees seal cells with raw materials, from which excess liquid has been removed. In order for the product to be well preserved and not lose its chemical composition, it ripens in a sealed form. After closing the cells, it takes at least 2 weeks for the bee product to reach the desired state. When pumping out, choose frames that are covered with 2/3 of the cast. They will contain a finished product of good quality.

Why do bees print empty honeycombs

Often there is such a phenomenon in beekeeping when the honeycombs are sealed in places, but there is no honey in them. Cells are printed by young individuals; they have this action laid down at the genetic level. The entire life cycle of insects is aimed at preparing food for wintering and rearing brood. A strong family with a full-fledged fetal uterus prints all the combs by autumn in order to spend less energy and food on nest heating during the cold season.

List of possible causes

The cause of sealed empty combs can be a queen that has stopped laying eggs. Frames with brood bees will print at a certain time interval, regardless of the presence of children in them. Perhaps the larva died from a number of reasons, after a few days it is also sealed with a wax disc.

The main reason why the receivers print empty cells is a bad bribe. There is nothing to fill the drawn foundation, the bees begin to print empty cells, this is observed closer to autumn before the wintering of the colony. With a good honey collection, the bees will print empty combs if the swarm is equipped with a large number of frames and the colony cannot cope with the volume. If the number of empty frames does not exceed what is needed for a swarm, the weather is suitable for collecting nectar, and the combs are filled poorly and the receivers seal them without bee products, the cause may be a disease of the forager bees or a long distance to honey plants.

How to fix

To fix the problem, you need to determine the reason why the insects began to seal the empty frames:

1. If the queen stops laying eggs, the bees lay queen cells to replace them. It is impossible to leave the old uterus, the swarm may not overwinter, it should be replaced with a young one.
2. The main problem in the summer period is nosematosis, the bees infected with the mite become weaker and cannot bring the required amount of raw materials. The family needs to be healed.
3. Under adverse weather conditions or a lack of honey plants, when it is discovered that the receivers have begun to seal empty cells, the family is fed with syrup.

With an excess number of frames with honeycomb, both young and old individuals are engaged in comb removal, the productivity of collecting raw materials decreases. It is recommended to remove some of the frames with empty wax, otherwise the insects will print empty cells.

Why don’t bees print honey?

If the bees do not seal the combs filled with honey, it means that the product is of poor quality (honeydew), unsuitable for food or has crystallized. Candied bee product, insects will not print, it is completely withdrawn from the hive, honey is not suitable for winter food of bees. At high temperatures and high humidity in the hive during wintering, the crystallized nectar will melt and flow, insects will stick and may die.

List of possible causes

Honey that the receivers will not print may be unsuitable for several reasons:

1. Bad weather conditions, cold, rainy summer.
2. Wrong apiary location.
3. Not enough honey plants.

Nectar collected from cruciferous crops or grapes crystallizes. The reason may be the sediment from the honey extractor, given by the beekeeper to the bees. Such raw materials quickly harden, young individuals will not print it.

The cause of honeydew raw materials is the lack of honey plants or the close location of the forest. Bees collect sweet organic matter, a waste product of aphids and other insects, from leaves or shoots.

The factor that causes the bees to stop printing combs is the high concentration of water in the product.

How to fix

Force the cell receptionists to seal by providing the family with quality raw materials. If the apiary is stationary and there is no way to move it closer to flowering honey plants, buckwheat, sunflower, and rapeseed are sown near the beekeeping farm. Mobile apiaries are transported closer to the fields, with flowering herbs. A sufficient number of objects for honey collection will distract insects from honeydew raw materials. The resulting product will be of good quality. You can speed up the process of hydrolysis by warming the hives. To maintain a constant temperature, the bees will work their wings more actively, creating air currents of warm air.

Is it possible to download honey from unsealed combs

As a signal that the primary maturation process is over, young individuals begin to print honeycombs. As a rule, unripe bee product is not pumped out, because it is prone to fermentation. Insects will not seal immature nectar. If the frames are full, and the honey plant is in full swing, the sealed frames are removed to collect honey, and empty combs are substituted into the hive. The bee product ripens under artificially created conditions, but its quality is somewhat lower than from the honeycombs that the bees seal.

A low-quality product for food in winter is not left to the bees. It is withdrawn, insects are fed with syrup. Crystallized bee products are dangerous for the life of an individual. Honeydew is devoid of antibacterial, antibiotic elements that prevent the development of pathogenic microflora. Honeydew nectar is determined by appearance, taste and smell. It will be brown in color with a green tint, without aroma with an unpleasant aftertaste. Raw materials of this quality will never be printed by young individuals.

Conclusion

If bees seal empty combs, the cause must be found and eliminated. You can identify empty cells by the color of the zabrus, it will be lighter and slightly concave inward. In order for the swarm to overwinter, it needs a sufficient amount of food. Frames that were sealed empty should be replaced with filled ones.