EP3136849A1

EP3136849A1 - Device and fence for controlling the queen bee's egg-laying process

Info

Publication number: EP3136849A1
Application number: EP15785339.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Péter FENDRIK; Ámin FENDRIK
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2014-04-30
Filing date: 2015-04-29
Publication date: 2017-03-08
Also published as: WO2015166292A1; HU230891B1; HUP1400222A2; EP3136849A4

Abstract

The device for controlling the queen bees' egg-laying process (7) will detect the queen bee previously marked by light reactive pigments by a sensor (1) corresponding to the marking method and connected to a control unit, which, upon detection, will operate moving gates (3) connected to the device (7) by starting an engine. The device (7) with its side walls can directly be fitted to the comb (17) and the detection zone (2) of the sensor (1) will fall within the seam (16) flanked by the walls. The marked queen bee will get to the device (7) unchecked and when detected, the moving gates (3) will close and prevent the queen bee from getting out of the gates (3). Since after the gates (3) close, the space available for the queen bee is limited, the queen bee will shortly be forced to leave the device (7) in the predetermined direction of guiding (11) through the opening (8). The device also includes a (7) fence (12) and a dividing wall (10) that partly or fully include a queen excluder and keep the queen bee confined for the required period while the fence (12) and the dividing wall (10) will not prevent workers from passing through.

Description

Device and fence for controlling the queen bees' egg-laving process

The device for controlling the queen bees' egg-laying process is a beekeeping device that, even without opening the hive, allows for controlling the location and expansion of the brood within the hive to realise our respective beekeeping objectives by spatially orienting the queen bee's egg-laying process. A fence system will keep the confined queen bee at the desired location.

Scope of application

Our invention can be widely used in apiculture.

Directing the breeder queen to the right hive section and spatially limiting the breeder queen's activities to the desired extent will make it possible to optimise the location and expansion of the brood within the hive to fit our current beekeeping objectives.

The application of the device makes honey production techniques easy to perform without opening the hive.

The device furthermore allows for significantly limiting the queen bee's egg-laying process in a simple way and even swarming can consequently be triggered by it.

This invention is equally useful in rearing queen bees; it can help produce larvae of the required quality and age easily.

By changing the location of the brood, the beekeeper can achieve a situation in which capped brood is entirely in one or another part of the hive. Varroa mite infestation can be stopped with almost one hundred per cent efficiency in the hive section with open brood only. The complete separation of the hive section containing only capped brood and its treatment after the brood emerges will drastically improve the efficiency of varroa control.

Background

Beekeeping has always been one of the most manual labour intensive agricultural fields. Although much success has been achieved so far in developing devices for honey extraction or moving hives, the beekeeping techniques to manipulate colonies are generally performed manually even today. In beekeeping, honey flow related manipulations are one of the most labour intensive operations. They include limiting the expansion of the brood before the main honey flow, and rearranging the brood within the hive.

This is currently accomplished by the beekeeper by moving the frames one by one in order to modify the location and expansion of the colony's brood within the hive one or two weeks before the main honey flow. The beekeeper will place some of the brood frames with the queen bee on them in a section of the hive specifically designed for this purpose and separated by a queen excluder. This procedure can decrease the expansion of the brood before the main honey flow, and the reduced quantity of brood requiring care will increase the number of bees collecting honey, which will indirectly increase the nectar yield. Apart from limiting the brood size, beekeepers will also change its location. Changing the location of the brood within the hive is important because the bees, in response to their biological wants and needs, will most preferably carry the nectar to areas above the brood, right next to the brood frames and near the emerging brood. Therefore, during the main honey flow, the desired location of the brood in movable frame hives is at the bottom or in horizontal hives, to the side. Beekeepers can achieve the desired arrangement by placing brood frames or queen excluders in hives.

Carrying out the above-listed activities entails a lot of effort. If the number of colonies is high, the limited interval for carrying out such activities might also pose a problem. All the more so, since hives should not be opened in adverse weather conditions. All beekeepers have their own techniques for carrying out such jobs, which techniques will match their personalities, skills and hive systems best. The simplest procedure to carry out when a movable frame system with a tall brood box is used is for the beekeeper to wait for the brood to get confined to the lower area of the hive by the collected nectar. The problem with this procedure is simply that in the majority of the cases the incoming nectar in itself is insufficient to adequately limit the brood, and therefore the desired outcome often fails to be realised.

Should the beekeeper fail to limit the expansion of the brood and optimise its location, he will be faced with a significant loss in production in the short run.

Our invention can also be used to complete further beekeeping tasks. When rearing queen bees, in order to get breeding stock of the same age required for relocating larvae, the beekeeper will enclose the breeder queen in a Jenter kit. To carry out this task, the beekeeper must find the queen bee and place it manually into the comb box. The breeder queen will shortly lay eggs in this box and the age of the resulting brood will be nearly the same. This is convenient because we will need larvae of the same age to be placed in the queen bee cells and there will be no need to sort them.

The queen bee will need to be caught in order to complete this task. It is also nearly impossible to catch a queen bee wearing gloves which can make the job with wild bees rather unpleasant. Elderly beekeepers with sight problems and diminished hand eye coordination might find this procedure difficult to carry out.

Guiding the queen bee to a given frame or frames, and comb or comb area within such frames, confining the queen bee to the given area, and choosing the size of the area is all dependent on the specific beekeeping objective. If the quick selection of the queen bee is important for the subsequent beekeeping manipulation, it is advisable to confine the queen bee to a smaller area which will help us find and catch it.

By controlling the expansion of the brood and being aware of the starting date of the queen bee's confinement, the complete separation of brood areas of different ages will become possible. The separated brood and the bees in them can then be efficiently treated when the given brood area contains no capped brood.

This treatment can be easily performed with the help of our device. Treatment for varroa mites has so far been a hard toil. Frames with capped brood used to be removed from the colonies and hatched with other colonies or in incubators, but this procedure called for significant extra work and a sizeable investment. As an alternative method, beekeepers used to make their bees swarm and performed the treatment for varroa mites free of brood. Making bees swarm in the middle or at the end of the honey flow is uneconomical and often impossible, and therefore not an option.

In order to ensure easier performance of the above-listed activities we found it necessary to develop a device by which we have created the opportunity for the effective application of miticides.

Similar solutions

Although several theoretical solutions have been described as to how to locate the queen bee by a device, their practical application hides numerous stumbling blocks and we consequently still lack a commercially available device that could be put to practical use.

Marking the queen bee in advance is a fundamental requirement for detecting queen bees by a device. Such devices detect the queen bee indirectly by detecting the marking placed dorsally on its thorax. Queen bees can be marked in many ways.

Currently queen bees are marked by different fast drying paints or small plastic disks. The marking also reveals the queen bee's age since the marking colour changes each year upon agreement. Queen bees marked with paint are easier to spot.

Microchips are widely used in industry and animal husbandry alike to assign individual markings to animals. These are basically passive RFID tags that can be read at a given distance by a reader.

Placing a microchip tag on queen bees is rather complicated but the main disadvantage still lies in the serious restraints on the tag's dimensions since a miniature RFID tag can only be read within a very small distance.

The patent descriptions published so far have only described methods for marking and detecting queen bees.

Patent description GB 578919 describes the way queen bees are marked with radioactive materials. This invention is intended to detect and capture the marked queen bee about to swarm by a device placed outside the hive. As part of the procedure described in the invention, the queen bee previously marked with a radiation source and detected when it is about to leave the hive by a Geiger-Muller counter can be captured. The method and aim of capturing the queen bee is fundamentally different from that of our procedure. Even though the device described in the above-mentioned patent description operates gates too, these gates are not suitable to capture the queen bee within the hive due to their location, shape and dimension. The gates in the device described in the above-referenced patent description are not placed on the comb, but within the tunnel formed in combination of the hive entrance and are therefore not suitable for capturing the breeder queen and controlling brood expansion. A further major difference between the above-described patent and our invention is that they are based on fundamentally and essentially separate concepts. While the above patent detects the swarming queen bee about to leave the hive voluntarily, prompted by its instinct to swarm out to retain the swarm, our invention guides the breeder queen away from the brood and keeps it in the new brood while preventing its return to the original brood.

The breeder queen would not leave the brood even for a short while voluntarily, and therefore the system of gates described in the above-referenced patent description fails to help achieve our objectives.

If the above-described procedure were followed, we should wait for the queen bee to voluntarily leave the brood we wish to relocate to another part of the hive. It is, however, highly possible that this will never happen since the queen bee expands the brood only gradually. Therefore the two procedures are fundamentally different from each other and one cannot be deducted from the other, so in our opinion, our procedure cannot be deducted from the above-referenced patent description.

A further difference is that the device and its structure specified in the above-referenced patent description cannot fit into the seam. Not for the absence of technical solutions available at the time the above-mentioned invention was worked out, but because that invention was intended for an inherently different purpose, and for this reason called for a different technical solution. In the course of the procedure described in the above-referenced patent it is not the comb or comb area that is fenced off from the other parts of the hive. And furthermore, in our invention, where an optical sensor is used, the source is not placed on the queen bee but inside the device. Queen bees marked with radioactive substances give rise to further radiation and ethical problems.

Patent description no. US 20070207701 Al also describes two methods for detecting previously marked queen bees within the hive. It intends to detect queen bees previously marked with an RFID tag by an RFID sensor, those previously marked with a bit of metal by a metal detector within the hive, by an infrared camera from outside the hive, and by an infrared hand wand when opening the hive and inspecting each frame. The patent description offers methods to mark queen bees in the above-described manner and to detect these markings for the beekeeper to see whether the marked queen bee is in the hive or not. When a hive is opened up, this method is intended to make it somewhat easier for the beekeeper to find the queen bee. The patent description fails to offer a device by which the queen bees' egg-laying process could be controlled within the hive. The above-referenced patent description differs from our invention in several major points. That patent description does not include moving gates or fences by which it would intend to manipulate the queen bee's activities. In the manner described in the above-referenced patent description it is not possible to realise the objectives set for our invention to realise. It is not possible to confine the queen bee to a specific comb or comb area during the beekeeper's activities, and therefore that procedure is not directly suitable for carrying out beekeeping manipulations.

The methods presented in the above-referenced patent description for detecting queen bees marked in various ways contain numerous professional contradictions, which raises questions about the feasibility of the invention. The patent description intends to determine the queen bee's location in the hive by an infrared camera that will send signals to a computer. Then special computer software will process the signals received to detect the queen bee based on its morphological peculiarities. The efficiency of the method is highly questionable, however. Bees will generally cover the queen bee by swarming on the frames in several layers, and the queen bee, in the majority of the cases, will hide on the sides of the combs or behind brace combs. The situation is the same when bees in a strong colony cluster around the entrance. No solution is offered in the patent description to avert such practical problems that are not even addressed in the above-referenced patent description. When the RFID tag is used according to the patent description of the above-referenced number, the distance between the RPID sensor and the RFID tag is vital for detectability. The size of an RFID tag that can be attached to the queen bee is rather limited, and for this reason the distance between the RFID reader and the tag cannot exceed a couple of millimetres. Therefore, practically, all the frames should be checked by the RFID reader, and very closely, which would often be highly problematic. The application of the piece of metal for marking and the metal detector to detect signals is also fraught with problems. The validity of one of the major objectives set for the procedure can furthermore be professionally challenged: to determine whether the queen bee is within the hive or not. Since this question can be answered by an experienced beekeeper in a moment, even without opening the hive. For example, queenless colonies emit an easily distinguishable sound, and queenless colonies stop collecting nectar and the bees are running up and down at the entrance in confusion. The patent description fails to mention the application of a source that would amplify the signal detectable on the queen bee when optical markings are used, or the need for optical shading that would ensure detection even under daytime conditions.

From patent description DE 1020 10 006 557 Al we can learn about capturing queen bees marked with magnets or magnetisable materials. The solution does not present a procedure by which the queen bee's egg-laying process or the location of the brood could be influenced within the hive. In this procedure, the queen bee's risk of injury is very high when being captured. The description does not offer a way to inform the beekeeper about successful capture without opening the hive. It results that the hive will need to be opened several times so that the beekeeper could avoid damage to the queen bee. The frequent opening of the hive causes significant stress for the colony and the extra beekeeping work required makes the application of the procedure described in the patent futile. Restraining the queen bee in such a way is objectionable for animal protection considerations as well since it causes suffering to the queen bee.

None of the above solutions offer a way to increase production from outside the hive in a single action. Controlling the queen bee's egg-laying process is not possible in the above-described ways.

The queen bee marking and detection methods presented in the above-referenced patent descriptions fail to offer a solution to directly control the queen bee's activities or the expansion of the brood when applied individually, in combination or by sequencing their specific steps. What is more, the methods offered to detect the queen bee are defective and even questionable for professional considerations. Brief summary of the invention

With the device and the related fence system we have developed now it has become possible to automatically guide the marked queen bee within the hive. It is important to point out that our overall intention when developing our invention using sensors to detect marked queen bees was not to capture these bees or detect their position. This is actually only the starting point for the invention. Our objective is to spatially control the queen bee's egg-laying activity within the hive and, in parallel, to guide the queen bee's movement in the desired direction.

We have seen that the marked queen bee laying eggs on the comb can only be effectively guided without disturbing it. We can expect the queen bee's entry to the device provided we do not interfere with its activities. We have created the device accordingly.

We have seen that the breeder queen intends to ensure the closure of the brood in the brood box and for this reason the fence system is to be placed between the brood combs so that it would not cause major changes in the seams. The brood is actually used as bait.

We have seen that the queen bee very rarely leaves the brood voluntarily. Therefore a fence system able to guide the queen bee away from the brood comb to the broodless part of the hive was required. We have seen that the guided queen bee would want to return to the former brood and this must be prevented by a purpose-made dividing wall attached to the device. Without this dividing wall, the guiding would not be lasting and therefore it is also a major and inseparable part of the invention. We have also seen that we can only fence off the queen bee effectively if we do not wait for it to leave the brood voluntarily, since its spontaneous occurrence has only a very limited probability. For this reason both the device and the guiding gates within the device are to be placed in the brood so that they would limit the brood by the device's walls when closed, and consequently the queen bee would not escape from the device to the former brood even by biting through the comb.

We have seen that if we fence off a small percentage of the original brood by the device, the queen bee will get into it unchecked, will get confined in it, and will thereupon leave the original brood area voluntarily to continue egg-laying in another section of the hive. Since the device takes up only a small part of the original brood area, the queen bee's return to the device is not necessary to be prevented for the desired beekeeping objective to be realised.

We have seen that workers' unchecked passing through the fence system after guiding is of fundamental importance.

The starting point for the efficient operation of the device we have developed is the reliable detection of the queen bee's marking.

In order for our invention to be realised, we also largely needed to modify the markings applied so far that we had learnt about partly from earlier patent descriptions. When magnetisable markings are used, the magnet should not fix the queen bee in place thereby undermining the desired objective or even possibly injuring the queen bee. When marking queen bees with magnetisable materials, for this reason, sensors to detect the movement of the magnet or change in the magnetic field should be used in ways different from the ones presented in patent descriptions to date. It is important to precisely define the weight of the magnetisable material used to mark queen bees. Properly controlling the distance between the sensor and the marked queen bee is important to ensure detectability, and therefore the headway is to be markedly limited in the detection zone so that the bees could pass through in one layer only.

If the queen bee is marked with light reactive pigment, a light source might need to be built into the device to amplify the light reflected off the pigment marking on the queen bee, and even optical shading might be required to ensure detection. When an optical sensor is used, it must be ensured that the signal reflected off the marked queen bee would not be obscured by other bees or contamination. Therefore the detection zone of the device must be designed in a way that will allow the bees to pass through in one layer only. A replaceable and easy to clean cover will be placed on the optical sensor so that contamination could easily be removed by the beekeeper before each use if necessary.

Furthermore, when an optical sensor is used, it must be ensured that the sensor would operate when no light is emitted by the light source. Since the pigments to mark the queen bee reflect the light emitted by the light source towards the sensor for a certain amount of time, we recommend the application of periodic light sources that will take the queen bee's speed in passing through the detection zone into consideration as well as the light reflecting properties of the marking pigment. In order to ease activation and lower the energy demand, it is recommended to use pigments active in the ultraviolet range, a light emitting diode as the light source and a fitting sensor, which will match the pigment's properties. The application of ultraviolet light and a matching pigment and sensor would also be beneficial since they would not disturb the bees, would not cause extreme warming up or damage to the bees in the detection zone.

If an RFID tag is used, it is similarly important to design the detection zone of the device in a way that will allow the bees to pass through in only one layer since the miniature RFID tag can only be detected safely at a short distance.

We have seen that the detection zone should in any case be designed in a way that will only allow one layer of the bees to pass through.

We have seen that the sensor and control unit should be placed in one device, which will also include the gates operated by the control unit.

The open gates of the device will facilitate the queen bee's entry to the device. The thresholds of the gates as well as the walls of the device are sunk into the comb right down to the base of the cells so that the queen could not get through them even if the bees bite the comb to the base. Gates have thresholds to prevent passing through when closed. The thresholds of the gates are sunk into the comb; they are thin enough for the queen bee to pass through without hesitation and get into the detection zone of the device. The distance between the gates and the detection zone is large enough for the queen bee not to get injured when the gates close. The ends of the gates fence off the bees when closed and when open they are flush with the walls of the device to prevent propolis getting glued onto them. Were they stuck, they would not move unchecked.

We have seen that, in order to deliver upon our objectives, the device should be designed to allow a relatively narrow room for the queen bee so that it would want to leave it.

In this way we can eventually ensure that the queen bee will only be able to leave the device in the direction originally defined by us.

It is important for the opening to be close to the plane in which we can fence off the queen. Thereby the queen bee would not have to cover a long distance to reach the fence, which would otherwise undermine the efficiency of the method.

The fenced off queen bee can be kept in the desired hive section by a dividing wall fitting the opening, the device and the hive's respective walls precisely and reliably, which will still allow workers to pass through.

We have seen that we can also guide the queen bee horizontally through the comb when a perforating device component is used to ensure the queen bee's getting through from the comb area fenced off by the device to the other side of the comb.

We have seen that without opening the hive we can guide the queen bee in any direction by combining several devices within the hive.

It is an extremely important embodiment from a practical aspect that these devices can be placed in the hive well before their application and if due preparations are made, they can be activated and operated from outside the hive at the required moment. This is highly important in beekeeping since the expansion of the brood in the right hive section and the relocation of the queen bee are very labour intensive activities to be performed within a short time window, and this is what limits the number of colonies a beekeeper can keep.

Our invention is indirectly capable of improving the efficiency of varroa control, which bee disease causes the greatest damage in apiaries. We have seen that if we guide the queen bee away from the original brood so that the new brood could easily be separated from the original brood, we will be able to treat the two brood areas at different times for varroa mites. This treatment is the most effective when the given brood area contains no capped brood. A further advantage offered by this solution is that we know the age of the brood in the brood area exactly even without opening the hive since we know the starting date of fencing the queen bee.

We describe some outstandingly beneficial embodiments of the invention under the section of claims. We are describing the invention below with the help of figures in more detail, also offering possible applications and benefits of the device to control the queen bees' egg-laying process.

A brief description of the figures

Figure 1 is an end-view drawing depicting the device and fence suspended on the comb with the frames. In this case the desired guiding direction is horizontal and is directed towards the frames placed in the side of the hive. This is a beneficial solution in horizontal hives.

Figure 2 is a front-view drawing of the device and fence suspended on the frame. The desired guiding direction is towards the bottom frames. This solution is recommended when movable frame hives are used.

Detailed description of some possible designs

The device 7 can be placed in the hive well before activation. We must place the device 7 into the brood box and secure it to the brood frame 4 so that the device 7 would not significantly alter the width of the seams 5 near the frame 4. Thereby we can prevent the device 7 getting braced to the seam 5 between the frames 4, which is important for the device 7 to be removed easily from the hive after use.

The location of the device 7 within the hive varies according to the beekeeping objective to realise. We are describing some of the options below.

In the arrangement illustrated in Figure 1, when placing the device 7 in the hive, we will remove one of the ultimate frames 4 with brood comb 17 from the hive. Afterwards, we will place the device 7 on the removed frame 4 by sinking its walls into the comb 17 cells. Sinking it too deep is prevented by the rims on the walls of the device 7. We can position the device 7 properly with the help of the connecting element 20 reaching out of the device 7, which will secure the device 7 in place and prevent it from sinking into the comb 17. After hanging the device 7 on the upper edge of the frame 4, we will connect the device 7 to the dividing wall 10. This is realised by sinking the device 7 and the related fence 12 into the comb 17 cells. This is also when the comb 17 gets perforated by the perforating component 19. Then the frame 4 on which the device 7 is mounted can be returned to the hive by connecting the opening 8 to the dividing wall 10 section specifically designed to receive it. Then we thread the wire of the indicator 13 to signal the device's 7 operation and of the switch (18) built into the indicator's house outside and fix it. Then we close the hive.

If we place the device 7 in the hive well before use, it is advisable to place heat-insulating foil on the side of the dividing wall 10 opposite the device 7 to ensure that brood be always present on the ultimate frame 4 of the brood box on which the device 7 is mounted.

Two to three weeks before the expected activation of the device 7 we should check whether the queen bee has laid eggs on the respective frame 4. We will also remove the foil previously attached to the dividing wall 10.

Now we can activate the device 7 at any time our beekeeping objective requires with a single movement of the hand, by flicking the switch 18, without opening the hive.

After the device 7 is activated, if an optical 1 sensor is used, the light source integrated into device 7 will start to operate. Since the device 7 fences off the seam area 16 of a brood frame 4, it is highly probable that the queen bee will get into it. Getting in is easy for the queen bee, thanks to the wide moving gates 3 of the device 7 and that the threshold of the gates 3 sunk into the comb 17 cells. After the marked queen bee enters the device 7, it is going to continue its usual egg-laying process in the fenced off seam 16 section too. While doing so, its thorax and the marking on the thorax will continuously face the sensor 1. When it reaches the detection zone 2 of the sensor 1, nothing will hide the queen bee's marking since the bees are only allowed to pass through the detection zone 2 in one layer. When the queen bee's marking contains light reactive pigment, the device 7 is equipped with a light source capable of activating the marking pigment. The light source has intermittent operation so that the sensor 1 could detect the light reflected off the pigment. The efficient detection of the reflected light is further enhanced by optically shading the device 7 to a required extent. This will ensure that only little disturbing natural light would enter the detection zone 2 of the device 7. Since the probability is high that the queen bee's marking will get close enough to the sensor 1 and also for the above-mentioned reasons, the light falling on the sensor 1 will specifically make the detection of the queen bee possible. The sensor 1 will send a signal to the control unit upon detecting the queen bee, which will then close the moving gates 3 by starting an engine integrated into the device 7. The control unit will simultaneously change the signal intensity emitted by the indicator 13, which will inform the beekeeper about the start of fencing off. Since the seam area 16 limited by the device 7 is fairly narrow, the queen bee will want to escape from it. Escape towards the original brood area 14 is prevented by the fence 12 connected to the device 7 on the opposite side of the comb 17. The queen bee can only escape from the device 7 though the opening 8 formed in the fence 12 in the horizontal guiding direction 11. After leaving the device 7, the queen bee will lay eggs in the new brood area 15. Caring for the brood and feeding the queen bee in the new brood area 15 beyond the fence will be accomplished by workers passing through the dividing wall 10.

In the arrangement shown in Figure 2, the direction of guiding 11 is vertical, which is beneficial in movable frame hives. The device 7 is also suspended on a frame 4, but differently from the earlier arrangement, on one of the central frames 4 of the brood 14 before guiding. A guiding channel 9 will be attached to the opening 8 of the device 7, which will be adequately wide and short for the queen bee to pass through fast. The channel 9 will go through the dividing wall 10 and be fitted to it. The queen bee's movement towards undesired directions will be prevented by closing the gates 3 and by the fence 12 fitted to the device 7 on the opposite side of the comb 17. The brood areas 14 before and after guiding 15 are vertically arranged to each other.

Both in the arrangements illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, respectively, it is possible to get the properly marked queen bee into the Jenter kit by previously connecting it to the opening 8 of the device 7. The device 7 with the fence 12 precisely fitted to it by its connecting component 20, after the opening 8 is closed, can also be operated as a queen bee reserve. By this arrangement the queen bee can be limited to a narrower space without stress, to the comb area 16 fenced off by the device 7, and can be removed with the frame 4 from the hive without hurting it.

The device 7 can easily create a situation in which highly effective varroa mite treatment can be carried out. At the required time, even in the middle or at the end of the main honey flow and with an expanded brood, we can activate the device 7. The varroa mite treatment in the fenced off brood areas 14, 15 can be carried out alternately, when they include open brood only (it is surely so until the ninth day after guiding 15 in the new brood area) and thereby we can improve the efficiency of varroa mite treatment significantly, even with expanded brood. When the sensor 1 placed in the device 7 detects the properly marked queen bee, the moving gates 3 will close and the indicator 13 will signal the start of fencing. The beekeeper will then separate the original 14 and the new brood areas 15 on the 8* day of fencing along the dividing wall 10 so that the new brood areas 14, 15 would not be accessible to bees or mites. This procedure can be carried out in a single action in the arrangement illustrated in Figure 2 by separating the two brood drawers and placing an adequately porous wall between them. The size of the pores will stop the mites from penetrating the wall. Then an entrance is to be opened in the upper brood drawer through which the bees trapped in the original brood area 14 will fly down to the lower drawer, the brood area after guiding 15. Then the treatment for mites can be performed right away by which we can make the bees in the brood area after guiding 15 practically mite free. The reason behind this is that the brood area after guiding 15 does not yet include capped brood or brood to be immediately capped, and therefore the mites cannot hide in the brood from the chemical used for treatment. A further remarkably significant advantage is that there is no open brood to rear queen bees and therefore no swarm cells are expected to be built either in the brood area before guiding 14. After separating the drawers, the dividing wall placed between them will include adequately regular perforations of less than 1 mm in diameter, which will not allow the mites or bees to pass through but the young bees and brood stuck in the upper drawer will still not get cold since the rising warm air will get through the perforated dividing wall. It is recommended to feed the young and emerging bees in the upper drawer with pollen and sugar syrup. On the 16^th day of separating the brood drawers all the capped brood in the original brood box area 15 will hatch and we will be able to treat also this hive area effectively for varroa mites. Then the two brood areas 14, 15 can be integrated again. We can ensure almost 100 per cent protection against varroa mites during honey flow with two interventions requiring relatively little effort and two treatments carrying no material production risk.

List of reference numbers

1. sensor integrated into the device and matched to detect the queen bee's marking

2. the detection zone of the sensor integrated into the device

3. the moving gate of the device

4. frame

5. seam

6. hive wall

7. device and fence to control the queen bees' egg-laying process, the subject matter of our invention

8. opening through which the queen bee can leave the device in the desired guiding direction

9. guiding channel

10. dividing wall that can be fitted to the hive's wall and the device, and will not prevent workers from getting through

11. the guiding direction in which we are guiding the queen bee 12. the fence is a dividing wall that prevents the queen bee from getting through and can be fitted to the device on the opposite side of the comb

13. indicator to signal the detection of queen bee

14. the location of the brood before guiding

15. the location of the brood after guiding

16. the seam area fenced off by the device

17. the comb

18. the switch of the device

19. the component to perforate the comb

20. the component to connect the device to the fitting dividing wall.

Claims

1. A beekeeping device (7) suitable to control the queen bee's egg laying process and the location and expansion of the brood within the hive which can be placed in the hive with its fence (12), which device (7), with a sensor (1) configured to detect the marking material is able to detect queen bees previously marked with light activated pigments (or in any other way, by, for instance, magnetisable materials or RFID tags), wherein at least one sensor (1) built into the device (7) will communicate with a control unit and the control unit, upon the detection of the marked bee by the sensor (1 ) will operate at least one moving gate (3), furthermore this device (7) can directly be placed on the comb (17) or frame (4) and its walls are designed to fence off the comb (17) in the frame (4) and the whole or a part of the related seam area (16) partly from the other part of the hive while allowing easy access for the queen bee to the fenced off seam area (16), furthermore the detection zone (2) of at least one sensor (1) integrated into the device (7 ) will fall within the seam area (16) partly fenced off by the device (7), furthermore the sensor (1) is so close to the surface of the comb (17) partly fenced off by the device (7) that no other bee or the relative distance would disturb the detection of the marking on the queen bee passing through the detection zone (2) of the device (7), furthermore at least one moving gate (3) closes down when the marked queen bee is detected and therefore the queen bee's escape from the seam area (16) fenced off by the device (7) is prevented through at least one gate, furthermore after closing at least one moving gate (3), the space allowed for the queen bee is limited and the queen bee will only be able to leave the device (7) in the predetermined guiding direction (11), furthermore at least one fence (12) or a dividing wall (10) can be fitted to the device (7) that will partly or fully include a queen excluder and the queen bee can be fenced off by the device (7) for the desired period of time while the fence (12) and the dividing wall (10) will fail to prevent the workers from getting through.

2. The device (7) according to claim 1, wherein a control unit is placed in the device's (7) house and the size of the device (7) will allow for it to be placed in the seam (5) without having to increase the distance between the frames (4) significantly, furthermore its other sides can be sunk into the comb (17) and therefore the device (7) can be operated without dividing the brood and the queen bee's spontaneous entry to the device (7) from any direction of the brood can be expected with high probability.

3. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-2, wherein the threshold of at least one moving gate (3) built into the device (7) can be sunk into the comb (17) and therefore the queen bee will cross this gate (3) voluntarily and unchecked when entering the seam area (16) fenced off by the device (7).

4. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the open end of at least one moving gate (3) facing the inlet is designed so that it would push the bees incidentally in its way aside when closing the gate (3) so that they would not get injured or create a physical obstacle when closing.

5. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-4, wherein the sensor (1) of the device (7) upon the arrival of the marked queen bee will send a signal to the control unit which will then start the engine connected to at least one moving gate (3) and will close such moving gate (3).

6. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-5, wherein the detection zone (1) of the device is at least at a distance from the moving gate (3) that ensures that the queen bee would not get hurt while the moving gate is closing (3) even if the queen bee moves fast.

7. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-6, wherein the position of the sensor (1) to detect light signals will allow for the bees to pass through the detection zone (2) of the device (7) in one layer only.

8. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-7, wherein if a sensor (1) to detect light signals is used, the control unit of the device (7) will also operate a light source directed towards the detection zone (2) whose rays will amplify the light signals reflected off the marking pigment on the queen bee that can be detected by the sensor (1).

9. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-8, wherein if a sensor (1) to detect light signals is used, the control unit of the device (7) will operate the light source at such intervals that will ensure the efficient detection of the light signals reflected off the pigment on the queen bee even if a pigment with a short activation period is used for marking and the queen bee moves fast.

10. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-9, wherein the sensor (1) used to detect the light reflected off the marking pigment on the queen bee that is able to alter at least one property of such light emitted by the source is configured to match such light source.

11. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-10, wherein if a sensor (1) to detect light signals is used, the detection zone (2) of the device (7) will be adequately shaded optically to ensure that the natural light getting into the detection zone (2) would not materially undermine detection efficiency even in bright sunlight.

12. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-1 1, wherein an opening (8) is built into the device (7) through which the queen bee is forced to leave the device (7) in the desired direction (1 1) after at least one moving gate (3) of the device (7) is closed.

13. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-12, wherein a part of the device (7) is a perforated component (19) by which, if the device (7) is mounted, the comb (17) partly fenced off by the device (7) can be perforated thereby creating a perforation of a size that will allow the queen bee to get through the comb (17) in the desired guiding direction (11) from the seam area (16) fenced off by the device (7) to the seam (5) on the side opposite to the device (7) after at least one moving gate (3) is closed.

14. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-13, wherein the device (7) can be connected to a fence (12) that will precisely fit the device's (7) walls from the opposite side of the comb (17) fenced off by the device (7), and will prevent the queen bee's escape from the opposite side of the seam area (16) fenced off by the device (7) to the brood area before guiding (14) even if the comb (17) within the seam area (16) fenced off by the device (7) is perforated.

15. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-14, wherein the device (7) is partly connected by a component (20) to the fitting fence (12) and the corresponding elements of the device (7) and the fence (12) can be easily connected or separated with the help of this connecting component (20).

16. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-15, wherein the further walls of the dividing wall (10) that can be connected to the device (7) fit the hive's walls (6) precisely, thereby also preventing the confined queen bee from getting through.

17. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-16, wherein there are further openings (8) in the fence (12) and dividing wall (10) fitted to the device that will allow for guiding the queen bee further and to which further dividing walls (10) can be fitted.

18. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-17, wherein a guiding channel (9) can also be connected to the opening (8) that will bridge over at least one seam (5) and is adequately wide and short to allow the queen bee to pass through easily.

19. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-18, wherein the openings (8) in the device (7), the fence (12) fitted to the same and the dividing wall (10) can be closed and opened.

20. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-19, wherein the device (7) previously placed within the hive can be activated at any time by a switch (18) from outside the hive. At least one moving gate (3) can also be opened.

21. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-20, wherein several devices (7) can be connected to each other and operated simultaneously within the hive.

22. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-21, wherein the active status of the device (7) and the closing or opening of at least one moving gate (3) of the device (7) is signalled by the indicator (13) connected to the control unit and mounted outside the hive, and the switch (18) of the device (7) is integrated into the indicator's (13) house and this house is adequately protected against environmental damage.

23. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-22, wherein the device (7) contains sensors (1) able to detect both magnetic and light signals (1) and accordingly queen bees can be marked in various combinations with the corresponding sensors (1).

24. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-23, wherein a egg-laying box can be fitted to the device (7).

25. The device (7) according to any of claims 1-24, wherein the device (7) can also create a situation in which no capped brood is present.