WO2008087398A1

WO2008087398A1 - Apparatus for a hive

Info

Publication number: WO2008087398A1
Application number: PCT/GB2008/000133
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sean Moyle; George Rogerson
Original assignee: Sean Moyle; George Rogerson
Priority date: 2007-01-16
Filing date: 2008-01-16
Publication date: 2008-07-24
Also published as: GB0721472D0; GB0700783D0

Abstract

A trap(1) for attachment to a hive entrance comprises a first screen(10) and a second screen (5). The first and second screens each permit the passage of worker bees with the first screen including means to permit the passage of queen and drone bees, and the second screen preventing the passage of queen and drone bees.

Description

Apparatus for a Hive

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to apparatus for a beehive, and in particular apparatus which is useful in the prevention of swarming, the control of varroa mite and in generally improving the productivity of the colony housed in the beehive.

Background of the Invention

Bees have been kept for the production of honey for centuries. Today's beekeeper would typically keep bees in a hive, which consists of a brood box, which houses the queen bee and where eggs are laid which grow into adult bees, and on top of the brood box one or more "supers", from which the queen bee is excluded and in which honey is laid down by the bees in the hive, and subsequently removed by the beekeeper.

A natural phenomenon associated with bees is their tendency to swarm, that is a colony which has a queen bee will produce one or more queen cells. The old queen will only leave the hive when at least one queen cell has been capped, which happens seven days after the new queen egg has been laid. When the old queen leaves she takes a larger proportion of the worker bees with her to establish a new colony. Most beekeepers aim to prevent swarming of their hives as once a hive has swarmed its production capacity is severely diminished. This is done throughout the swarming season which in the North of England would begin in May and last until the end of July. Numerous techniques of preventing swarming have been developed. The most commonly used technique is what is known as the, "seven day inspection method". In this technique, once every seven days, the bee keeper opens the hive and removes each frame from the brood box to inspect for queen cells. If he finds queen cells he either kills them, or kills the existing queen and all bar one of the queen cells. In this way no queen cell should go unnoticed for more than six days and therefore no capped queen cell should result without the beekeeper finding it. There are a number of draw backs to the "seven day inspection method". The most significant drawback is that it is generally considered inappropriate to enter a hive of bees in bad weather. When rain is falling the bees return to the hive, and it is exceedingly difficult to inspect the frames when this is so. Hence, it is rarely possible to conduct inspections every seven days throughout the swarming season. This is particularly so for any one who cannot attend his hives between the hours of ten o'clock in the morning and two o'clock in the afternoon, i.e. the working man. The result is that swarming inevitably occurs.

A further problem associated with the "seven day inspection" technique is that the bees are disturbed by the inspection, something which bees do not like. It is generally understood that two days of honey production are lost while the colony repairs the damage done to the hive during the inspection, i.e. the bees must reconstruct cross-bracing between frames and seal the hive with propolis.

It would therefore be desirable to provide a device which would prevent the loss of bees during swarming.

A further problem which has come to pose difficulties to bee keepers is the varroa mite which infects colonies and often results in the death of the whole colony. Varroa mite is a worldwide problem, the mites themselves being spread by drones. Drones are a type of bee which can enter any colony without being challenged. Their function is merely to mate with the queen to produce fertile eggs. Varroa mite is controlled by agency of chemicals.

It would therefore be desirable to provide a means of reducing the number of drones entering and leaving the hive.

Summary of the Invention

According to the invention there is provided a swarm trap as specified in Claim 1. Additional features of the invention are set out in the claims dependent on Claim 1, the drawings and the description.

Brief Description of the Drawings

In the drawings, which illustrate preferred embodiments of a swarm trap according to the invention, and are by way of example only:

Figure 1 is schematic representation of a first embodiment of the invention viewed from direction X;

Figure 2 is a schematic representation of the embodiment illustrated in Figure 1 viewed from direction Y;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional elevation of the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 in plan view;

Figure 4 is a schematic representation of a second embodiment of the invention viewed from direction X;

Figure 5 is a schematic representation of the second embodiment of the invention viewed from direction Y;

Figure 6 is a schematic representation of a third embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Referring now to Figures 1 to 3 there is shown a trap 1 comprising a top 2 a base 3 and sides 4 which together form a box open on two opposing sides. A grid like screen 5 is pivotally attached to the front of the box being attached to the front edge 3a of the base 3. In the present example the pivoting between the screen 5 and the base 3 is provided by the lowest cross-rail of the screen being attached to the base 3 by staples 6. A catch 7 is attached to the top 2 by means of a pin 8. The catch 7 is attached to the top 2 such that it may be rotated to either side of its attachment point. With the screen 5 in the closed position the catch is moved such that it engages with and holds in place the screen 5. By moving the catch 7 to one side or the other, the screen 5 may drop down thereby opening the trap.

The trap 1 includes a further screen 10 located towards the rear of the box structure 1. As can be seen from Figure 3, the screen 10 is composed of three parts 10a, 10b and 10c. The part 10b is located centrally in the box structure 1, and parts 10a and 10c extend inwardly from the side walls 4. In the embodiment illustrated the parts 10a to 10c are in fact formed from a single piece of screen material which is pressed into shape. In the lower part of the central part 1 Ob of the screen 10 includes an opening 1Od which is of sufficient size to permit passage of queen and drone bees. A funnel 11 is located between the screen 10 and the screen 5, the entrance 12 of the funnel 11 being aligned with the opening 1Od in the screen 10. The funnel exit 13 is of sufficient dimension to allow passage of queen or drone bees one by one.

The trap may be attached to a hive by means of brackets 15, which are located on the sides 2 of the trap 1. Each bracket includes a hook 16 which attaches to a nail (or similar) fixed to the hive.

Referring now to Figures 4 and 5, there is shown an alternative embodiment of the invention in which like parts are represented by like numerals (i.e. part 2' in the embodiment illustrated in Figures 4 and 5 corresponds to part 2 in the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1 to 3).

The trap V comprises a top T a base 3' and sides 4' which together form a box open on two opposing sides. Extending from the sides 4' are elements 4a in which channels 4b are cut. The channels 4b have a blind base and are adapted to receive a screen 5'. The beekeeper slides the screen 5' into or out of the channels 4b to remove or attach the screen 5'. The screen 5' permits the passage of worker bees only. Located -within the trap 1' is another screen 10' which allows passage of worker bees and also queen and drone bees through openings 20 and 22. The openings 20 and 22 are provided with two different escapes. The opening 20 includes two bee escapes which comprise springs 24 which bees may pass through one way (into the trap 1) but not the other (into the hive). The opening 22 is provided with a plurality of top hinged flaps 23. The opening 22 is arranged such that the flaps 23 may open into the trap 1 but not into the hive.

Referring now to Figure 6, an alternative embodiment of the trap 1" is shown (where parts shown in Figure 6 correspond to parts shown in drawings of other embodiments the same reference numeral is used with the symbol " " ". The trap 1" of Figure 6 is similar to that illustrated in Figure 1, the difference being that instead of the screen 5" being located on the end of the trap, meaning that worker bees must fly through two screens, the funnel 11" opens up into a space below the base 3". Hence, the passage for the queen and drone bees from the hive is separated from the passage for the worker bees into and out of the hive. This means that instead of requiring daily supervision of the bees this may reduced to visiting the hives only every five to seven days. During this period some drones may well die. The queen will remain in the trapped in the space enclosed by the underside of the base 3", the screen 5" and the back wall 31. The screen 5" is attached to the bottom edge of the back wall 31 by means of a hinge, for example the lowest cross-rail of the screen 5" may be attached to the wall 31 by staples. A catch 29 is attached to a strip 28 which is itself attached to the underside of the base 3". The funnel 11" covers an opening 25 which consists of one or more holes through the base 3". In the embodiment shown in Figure 6 the queen and drone bees pass through the opening 25 in the base 3" into a chamber which is covered by a screen 27 of the same material as the screen 5". The screen 27 permits passage of worker bees but prevents passage of drones or queen bees. Openings 32 in the side walls 26 of the chamber allow drones and queen bees leave the chamber where they are then trapped. The trap 1" is used in the same manner as the traps shown in the previous Figures with the advantage that the passageway does not become obliterated by drone bees. The funnel 11" may be replaced by one or more bee escapes 32, which are advantageously conical in shape. Further, in this embodiment the funnel 11" or bee escapes need not form part of the first screen. They may be located in the base 3" of the trap ahead of the screen 10". Manufacture of such a trap may be simpler than a trap in which the funnel 11" forms part of the screen 10". Whilst both the bee escapes 32 and the funnel 11" are shown in Figure 6, typically only one means of escape is provided.

Use of the hive will now be described with reference to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 3. The embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figures 4 and 5 is used in a similar manner.

The trap 1 is fitted to the hive during the swarming season. The queen will tend to leave the hive with a swarm between the hours of 10.00 am and 2.00 pm. Therefore the beekeeper must ensure that the screen 10 is closed between those hours. With the screen 10 closed worker bees may pass from the hive entrance through the screen 10 whether through the openings in the screen material or through the funnel 11. The worker bees may also pass freely through the screen 5. The queen bee and drone bees may pass through the funnel 11 , but are then captured in the space between the screen 10 and the screen 5. In the case where the queen has not left the hive and no swarm has formed, at the end of the day the bee keeper will find the trap 1 occupied by drones. His action at this point is to open the screen 5 and allow the drones to escape. The bee keeper repeats this process each day during the swarming season.

If the queen leaves the hive with a swarm the bee keeper will return to his hive to find a swarm of bees hanging from the trap 1. The procedure for the bee keeper at this point is to place a new hive more than three feet away from the hive which has swarmed, remove the trap 1 from the hive which has swarmed and shake the trap over the new open hive in the usual way a swarm is introduced into a new hive. The bee keeper then opens the screen 5 to allow the entrapped queen bee to escape, such that she escapes into the brood box of the new hive. The bee keeper would then examine the hive which had swarmed for queen cells and remove all bar one. Depending on the strength of the colony in the hive which had swarmed the bee keeper may be able to maintain this colony in its own right or unite the colony with another at a later time during the honey season.

The trap of the present invention represents a major step forward for bee keepers for the following reasons:

The uncertainty of poor weather conditions does not affect the bee keeper's ability to control swarming.

There is no interference with the colony's natural instinct. When the colony decides to produce a new queen and swarm it is allowed to do so, and there is certainty of catching the swarm and so production is not lost.

The time taken to look after the bees is significantly reduced as the bee keeper does not need to go through hives as with the seven day inspection method.

Drones are prevented from entering the hive and thereby the threat of infection of the hive with varroa mite is significantly reduced. Further, because the drones of the hive cannot return to the hive once they have escaped the production of the hive may be increased as fewer drones will be present in the hive eating honey made by the worker bees.

The bee keeper is therefore not required to enter the hives on a regular basis. As the bees in the hives are not disturbed, honey production will be greater on hives where the trap of the invention is used for swarm control than where the seven day inspection method is used.

Claims

1. A trap for attachment to a hive entrance, comprising a first screen and a second screen, wherein the first and second screens each permit the passage of worker bees, and wherein the first screen is associated with means to permit the passage of queen and drone bees, and wherein the second screen prevents the passage of the passage of queen and drone bees.

2. A trap according to Claim 1 , wherein the means to permit passage of queen and drone bees comprises an opening through which the queen and drone bees may pass from the hive into the trap, and wherein the said opening is adapted to prevent the queen and drone bees from passing from the trap into the hive.

3. A trap according to Claim 2, wherein the said opening is configured as a funnel, the entrance to the funnel being substantially wider than the exit therefrom.

4. A trap according to any preceding claim, wherein the funnel exit is just large enough to permit the passage of queen/drone bees.

5. A trap according to any of Claims 2 to 4, wherein the funnel is a conically shaped element.

6. A trap according to Claim 2, wherein the opening includes flaps which a bee may from one side and not from the other.

7. A trap according to Claim 2, wherein the opening includes a bee escape which permits passage of bees in one direction and prevents passage in the other.

8. A trap according to any preceding claim, wherein the second screen is mounted on the trap such that the trap may be opened to allow escape of queen and drone bees captured therein.

9. A trap according to Claim 2 or any claim dependent thereon, wherein the first screen is shaped so as to funnel bees to the said opening.

10. A trap according to any preceding claim, wherein the second screen forms an openable wall of a chamber located to one side of the first screen.

11. A trap substantially as shown in, and as described with reference to, the drawings.