CATDOLL : CATDOLL:How to keep wasps?

Hornets are also called wasps. Breeding wasps has high economic benefits and broad development prospects. The life cycle of a wasp includes four stages: eggs, larvae, pupae and adults. There are three generations in a year. The first generation of adults emerges in mid-June, the second generation generally occurs in mid-June to early July, and the third generation emerges in mid-July to early to mid-August. They mate in late October and begin to hibernate. Drones mostly appear in the third generation, die after mating, and have a short lifespan. Overwintering drones are gregarious and often huddle together to hibernate and resist the cold. In spring, female bees forage and build nests alone, usually on trees or in tree holes. Adults prey on Lepidoptera larvae and feed on fruit juice and tender leaves.

Feeding equipment

(1) Beehive. Made of wood or iron mesh, with a volume of about 0.03 to 0.04 cubic meters, so that there is ample room for movement.

(2) Bee shed. The size depends on the number of beehives to be harvested. A large glass greenhouse, a large factory building or a special bee shed can be used. The bee shed uses iron and wood as the support and iron window screen as the fence. The area is generally about 100 square meters and 2 meters high. Corn, soybeans, cotton and other crops that are easy for insects to survive are planted in the shed. A screen door is left on one side of the shed. Small plates containing honey water, fruits, melon peels and other feeds should be hung in the shed so that the bees can eat and move freely after being put in.

(3) Beehive. Made of wood, with a side length of 15 to 20 cm, the top and bottom are made of thin wooden boards. There are hooks on the lid, screens are hung around, and a trap door is left on one side.

Feed fruits, such as ripe apples and peaches; vegetables with high water content; molasses; melon rinds, etc.

Feeding and management

The key issues in raising hornets are: protecting the female wasps safely through the winter, and guiding them to build nests early and more in the spring.

(1) Collection. At the end of September and the beginning of October each year, wasps begin to leave their old nests and migrate to suitable places to hibernate in groups. This is the most suitable time to collect swarms. Use insect nets to collect swarms at their hibernating sites at night and raise them in beehives. Put 300 to 500 swarms in each beehive, shade them with black cloth, and place them in a dry, ventilated, and undisturbed room to reduce their activity and encourage them to hibernate early. To avoid being difficult to find after the swarms leave their nests, you can also collect them from their original nests in mid-September and place them in cages or boxes. Take advantage of the upward habit of the swarms and place ripe apples, peaches, and vegetables with high moisture content at the bottom of the cage. When the temperature is high at noon, expose them to the sun for 3 to 4 hours to make them active and feed, delaying their dormancy. This not only replenishes their nutrition but also allows them to hibernate safely. Wasps are semi-hibernating insects. When the temperature drops to 5℃, they start to huddle together. The lower the temperature, the tighter the huddle. When the temperature is slightly higher, the huddle becomes looser. When the temperature is higher than 7℃, they begin to disperse. The survival rate after wintering is mainly related to the quality of huddle. Therefore, during the wintering period, it is necessary to check frequently. The cage should be checked for huddle status once every 10 to 15 days. If the huddle is found to be dispersed, the temperature should be lowered in time and the shade coat should be thickened.

(2) Feeding and management. In early March of the second year, when the temperature rises to above 10℃, the overwintering bees begin to disperse and move around on the cage walls. At this time, they should be fed with apples, molasses, and sugar-mixed buns for artificial feeding. They should be fed until mid-April. After the bees in the cages have been flapping their wings and moving around for a while, they can be released from the cages and allowed to return to nature to build nests. Artificial nesting is to build a beehive under natural conditions. When the temperature in spring is constant at 13℃, the overwintering wasps begin to disperse and move around. They can be moved into the greenhouse at night. The cage door or box lid can be gently opened, and the wasps will fly in the greenhouse the next day. When the temperature is constant at above 17℃, the bees begin to enter the nesting and egg-laying stage. They should be observed at any time. If bees are seen flying and stopping on the roof and the surrounding gauze, the beehive cages should be hung in various places in the greenhouse in time, and the cages should be opened halfway and tied tightly. In the beehive, only the artificially set beehive cages are suitable nesting places that are shaded, rainproof, and windproof. The bees will naturally fly into the cages.

After a short period of adaptation, the bee can use its feet and mouthparts to clean the nest base on the top of the cage. At this time, molasses should be added to the feed tray to help the bees build a solid nest handle. Then build the first nest chamber. The nest chamber is made by the wasps putting rotten wood and paper and other paste-like fiber materials chewed by their mouthparts into the cage, sticking them to the nest handle, and then slightly repairing them. Therefore, rotten wood should be placed in the beehive, and some waste paper strips should be hung on the gauze net of the shed wall for the bees to use. After the first nest chamber is built, the queen bee will lay a bee egg with a short handle on the side wall near the bottom of the nest chamber. Before the bee eggs hatch, the queen bee will quickly connect the circular nest chambers on the side of the first nest chamber under the nest handle, laying eggs while building, until the eggs hatch one by one. The queen bee continues to lay eggs, and at the same time takes on the task of foraging and raising young bees. The nest body continues to expand, and the number of young bees increases accordingly. At this time, special attention should be paid to the supply of feed. After 5 months of feeding and management, the diameter of the honeycomb in the beehive can reach more than 10CM, with more than 100 adult bees. As the weather gets colder, the female bees stop laying eggs. When the pupae in the female bees are about to emerge, it is advisable to close the cage door to prevent the adult bees from leaving the nest. Retrieve the beehive and turn it upside down at night when the bee colony is quiet. When the bee colony crawls upwards and leaves the hive, remove the honeycomb, take out the remaining pupae that have not yet emerged, and hang them in a ventilated, dry, rat-free, and insect-free place to dry for medicinal use. When the bee colony is vigorous, bee venom can also be extracted, which has higher medicinal value.

Pest control technology

There are many kinds of natural enemies that harm wasps, including insects, spiders, birds, mice, etc., as well as diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms. The most serious harm to beehives is the yellow-tailed brood borer of the family Lepidoptera. Its adults lay eggs on the hive at night, and the larvae hatch 4 to 5 days later. The larvae move through the cells in the hive and bite the wasp larvae, causing the hive to disintegrate. The brood borer likes to move at night, while the wasps are active during the day and lie on the nest at night without moving, allowing the brood borer to lay its eggs on the hive without doing anything. Once the brood borer invades the hive, a large number of wasps can die. To prevent wasps from nest borers, first, let wasps build nests farther from the ground, because in nature, wasps whose nests are close to the ground are generally seriously harmed by wasps, while those farther from the ground are less harmed; second, wasps in artificial breeding boxes should close the hive doors every night within 2 to 3 days of wasps laying eggs, so as to prevent wasps from laying eggs in the hives. Larvae are prone to foul rot in hot and rainy seasons, and will soon become ill and die after infection. Beehives can be evacuated, and antibiotics can be sprayed on the hives with a sprayer for prevention. In addition, animals that harm wasps include crows, magpies, ants, spiders, geckos, etc. During the winter, mice will also bite wasps that hibernate in groups, so these need to be strengthened.

Hehe, where are you from? What is a prodigal son? Sweat``:-)

Okay, let me answer your question.

Those who want to collect hornets' nests and venom for medicinal purposes, or to obtain hornet pupae and adults for food, need to collect hornets at the end of September, help them build new nests, protect them safely over the winter, and let them reproduce in the second year. This requires a long period of raising them.

If you want to raise beehives for viewing purposes, you don't need to raise them for too long. You only need to prepare a beehive with wooden bars as the frame and iron mesh covered on all sides (it must have an openable door). At the end of September, when the hornets begin to leave the old nest, collect 10 to 20 hornets and put them in the cage. It is enough to watch them for 20 to 25 days. There is no need to protect them over the winter.

During this short breeding period, place some ripe apples and peaches (cut into small pieces) at the bottom of the cage every other day. When the temperature drops to 10 degrees in early October, place the cage in the sun for 1 to 2 hours to increase the temperature. Cover the cage with a thicker cloth or blanket at night, so that you can enjoy it until the end of October or even early November.