Garbage diagnosis
Gemülldiagnose or Gemülluntersuchung referred to in the apiary evaluating the Gemülls in a beehive .
Throughout the year, the movements and other activities of the honeybees in the beehive detach many materials from the honeycombs and fall through. This is called collectively "garbage". With a so-called varroa diaper , the beekeeper can catch them, record them and then interpret them. This is a flat drawer that you bring in through a designated opening on the back of the beehive at the bottom and then leave it in it for a day or more.
The litter diagnosis is very helpful in combating the varroa mite , as the beekeeper can estimate how much his colonies are infected by the natural fall of dead mites and can then fight the pest in good time if necessary. Depending on the calendar month, the same count shows different levels of infestation.
In addition, the beekeeper generally uses the litter diagnosis in winter to assess how his colonies are doing. He can read from the garbage how many honeycomb alleys are occupied by the bees and how numerous there are. If there are lost eggs in the garbage after several warmer winter days, he can see from this that the people are still correct , that is, they still have a fertile queen , and that she is now laying eggs again. Based on the number of detached cell lids from feed and brood combs in the garbage, one can draw conclusions about the current feed demand and the progress in the rearing of young bees. Finding woodlice - or worse, mouse droppings - shows whether there are only tolerable roommates in the beehive, or those who should definitely be driven away.
literature
- Gerhard Liebig, Simply beekeeping , Aichtal, 2nd edition 2010
- Pia Aumeier, Revealing Sediment , in: Bienenpflege, January 2011
Web links
- Bee and garbage samples at bee-info.de