WO2009135990A1

WO2009135990A1 - Box for bumble bees used as pollinating insects and method for using bumble bees as pollinating insects in fruit or berry plantation

Info

Publication number: WO2009135990A1
Application number: PCT/FI2009/050317
Authority: WO
Inventors: Erkki Kaarnama
Original assignee: FORESTUM Oy
Current assignee: FORESTUM Oy
Priority date: 2008-05-06
Filing date: 2009-04-23
Publication date: 2009-11-12
Anticipated expiration: 2010-11-06
Also published as: FI20085413A0; FI120379B

Abstract

This invention relates to a nest box for bumble bees used as pollinating insects, comprising a rectangular nest box and an openable roof (6), the nest box being provided with two adjacent flight openings (7a, 7b) for bumble bees at one side wall (2) and with vents (17) in the upper and lower end, respectively, of the side walls (2; 3,5). Characteristic to the invention is that the nest box and the roof (6) are made of wood, preferably of water veneer, whereby the roof is dimensioned to extend over the side walls (2,3,4,5) forming a protecting overhang (6a) above the flight openings (7a, 7b), that inside the nest box a feeding vessel (10) covering nearly the whole basal area and covered with an intermediate floor (11), preferably made of paperboard, is placed on the bottom (1) of the nest box, whereby through said intermediate floor (11) a vertical plastic tube (13) filled with a bulking fibre material is led to extend to the bottom of the feeding vessel (10), into which fibre material a sugar solution fed into the feeding vessel (10) is absorbed in order to be reachable by the bumble bee colony housing in the box, and that on the intermediate floor (11) a flat edged paper board base (4) has been installed, on which a pollen ball (15) and cocoons (16), other embryonic cocoons or an artificial comb have been placed. The invention relates also to a method for continuous breeding of pollinating bumble bees in connection with indoor or outdoor plant production.

Description

Box for bumble bees used as pollinating insects and method for using bumble bees as pollinating insects in fruit or berry plantation

This invention relates to a nest for bumble bees used as pollinating insects, the nest comprising a rectangular nest box and an openable roof, said nest box being provided at its one side wall with two adjacent flight openings for bumble bees, and vents arranged at upper and lower end, respectively, of the side walls of the nest box.

The invention relates also to a method for using bumble bees as pollinating insects in fruit or berry plantation.

Bumble bees (Bombus sp) have a great importance as pollinating insects in the horticulture. The pollinating properties of bumble bees have been utilized especially in greenhouse cultivation of tomatoes and strawberries, but pollinators are needed also in outdoor plantation of berries and fruits.

Already for the past few decades bumble bees have been produced for commercial pollination. Previously there has been no own bumble bee production in Finland but bumble bee nest colonies with their nest constructions have been imported from abroad. Such nest constructions are of a disposable type intended to be destroyed (disposed) after use, i.e. their life time is about 1 to 2 months. Such nest constructions are then to be replaced by a new nest colony together with its nest construction.

The aim of the present invention is to provide such a bumble bee nest box which can be used for several times thus enabling repeatedly colonization (introduction) of a new bumble bee colony into a box already used, after said box has been carefully cleaned. Another aim of the invention is to provide a method enabling optimal utilization of said bumble bee boxes in connection with green house or outdoor plantation.

These aims are achievable by means of a nest box according to the introduction, characterized in that the nest box and its roof are made of wood, preferably of water veneer, whereby the roof is dimensioned to extend over the side walls thus forming a protecting overhang above the flight openings, that inside the nest box a feeding vessel covering nearly the whole basal area and covered with an intermediate floor, preferably made of paperboard, is placed on the bottom of the nest box, whereby a plastic tube filled with a bulking fibre material is led though said intermediate floor to extend down to the bottom of the feeding vessel, into which fibre material a sugar solution fed into the feeding vessel is absorbed in order to be reachable to the bumble bees housing in the nest box, and on the intermediate floor, a flat edged board base has been installed, on which a pollen ball and cocoons, other embryonic cocoons or an artificial comb have been placed. Water veneer is preferred, because it is easily cleanable and withstands well both rain water and the moist air of green houses, as well as irrigation water, thus enabling to keep the nest box in good condition for many years to receive a new colony of bumble bees for repeatedly breeding. The protecting overhang (canopy) formed by the roof prevents rain water or irrigation water from entering the nest box via the flight openings. As a material for the intermediate floor and the edged base, paper board has been selected which have in practical tests proved suitable for this purpose because of the acceptance of paper board by the queen bumble bee due to the capability of this material to absorb, for instance, bumble bees' excrements keeping thus the surfaces of the nest dry. The pollen ball serves as a food source for bumble bees and their larvae as well as as a building material for new combs.

Preferably, the flight openigs have a diameter of 15 mm to allow bumble bees to pass through. One of the flight openings serves as an entry opening for bumble bees, the other one serving both as an exit and entry opening. Preferably, a flight plate has been arranged below the flight openings to enable bumble bees to settle on and take wing. According to one preferred embodiment, in the opening serving as the entry opening, a tube has been arranged as a prolongation of said opening to end in the centre of the interior of the nest box, the tube forming thus a long entry canal.

Preferably, in the front of each of the flight openings a movable shield of plastics or a metal net has been arranged against bee moths, the shield having a weight allowing bumble bees to push the shield away when passing through the flight opening, but being too heavy to be moved away by bee moths thus preventing bee moths from entering the bumble bee nest box and laying eggs therein. Preferably, the flight openings are arranged in the upper part of the front wall of the box leaving so sufficiently place for new combs in the lower part of the box.

The vents arranged in the nest box have a diameter of approximately 10 mm and are cov- ered by a sieve net. According to an embodiment, three adjacent vents are arranged in the upper edge of the front wall of the nest box, one vent being arranged in the lower edge of two opposite side walls, respectively.

An intermediate cover made of transparent plexiglass has been detachably mounted in the upper end of the box to allow monitoring the condition and the health of the bumble bee colony housing in the box without disturbing the bumble bees further.

According to a preferred embodiment, a feeding pipe has been led to the feeding vessel from outside of the nest box, for instance, via an opening arranged in the back wall of the box, by means of which feeding pipe further sugar solution is feedable to the feeding vessel, if needed. For controlling the amount of the sugar solution, a measuring glass may be installed at the outer wall of the box to detect the level of the sugar solution. The vertical tube extending through the intermediate floor to the feeding vessel is preferably filled with cotton wool, through which the sugar solution is absorbed as capillary suction in order to be reachable to the bumble bees at the top of the plastic tube. Instead of cotton wool any other absorbent material may be used.

It is also possible to provide uncleaned cotton wool or flocks into the bumble bee box as insulation to be used by bumble bees for covering the combs or cocoons.

When delivering the durable nest box to a client, i.e. to a gardener or a green house cultivator, there are generally one or more queen bumble bees and in addition to the queens about 4 freshly hatched worker bumble bees in the box. Alternatively there may be about 4 freshly hatched young worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) or several male bumble bees. On the edged base made of paper board, a pollen ball has been provided as food for the bumble bees and their larvae. Also cocoons frozen unhatched, living embryonic cocoons or an artificial comb may be put on the base. Bumble bees use pollen also as a building material for new combs. The feeding vessel of the box contains a sugar solution having a sugar content of 7/10, preferably containing an antizymotic agent, e.g. sodium benzoate. Depending on the order of a client, the amount of worker bumble bees in the box may be even 100 indiviuals. The starting phase of a new colony may also comprise male bumble bees which are generally removed from the box similarly as the initially introduced worker bumble bees and honey bees, after new cocoons have developed in the box.

As bumble bees in the durable nest box bumble bee species collected from the nature of Finland may be used. At least buff tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris), garden bumble bee {Bombus hyprorum) and stone bumble bee (Bombus lapidarius) are suitable for breeding.

Characteristic to a method for continuous breeding of pollinating bumble bees in connection with indoor cultivation, i.e. green house cultivation is that three nest boxes intended for durable use are employed simultaneously, whereby the first nest box is a starting nest comprising a queen/queens, a few freshly hatched worker bumblebees or freshly hatched young worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) and optionally a few male bumblebees, which initially introduced worker bumblebees and worker honey bees as well as male bumble bees are generally removed from the nest box, after new cocoons have been developed in the box, this nest growing within four weeks to a production nest; the second nest box houses a nest being in the production phase and comprising a queen and 60 to 200 worker bumblebees; and the third nest box is a regressive nest with a declining production and comprising a few males and queens.

From the regressive nest box a queen/queens and a few workers and/or optionally a few males are recovered to be colonized as a new starting nest into the same nest box, after the box has been cleaned carefully as well as the intermediate floor and the edged paper board base have been replaced.

Worker bumble bee production by bumble bees is poor, if the same breeding line is contin- ued too long with kindred bumblebees. Due to this, one must take care of introducing new genetic material into colonies sufficiently often. This may be carried out, for instance, so that only the queen is recovered from the declining nest, and from the second nest a few males are recovered to be colonized as a starting nest into the nest box served as the declining nest, after this has been cleaned carefully and the paper board parts have been replaced. In order to make the queen agreeable to mating, there must be light. This can be realized, for example, by leaving the roof of the durable nest box open and by illuminating the interior of the box through the plexiglass, or by keeping the queen and a male, for the time of mating, in a separate room having transparent or light penetrable walls. In order to inten- sify egg laying of the queen, the queen is dazed with carbon dioxide about 24 hours after mating, whereby the treatment with carbon dioxide lasts for about 30 minutes and is repeated after two and half an hour.

According to the invention it is thus possible in connection with indoor plant production, i.e. green house cultivation, to produce pollinating bumble bees by continuous breeding without the necessity of providing a new nest box at intervals of about one month.

A method according to the invention for using bumble bees as pollinating insects in outdoor fruit or berry plantation is characterized in that a single nest colony housing in a nest box intended for durable use is employed, into which nest box in the spring "a nest root", i.e. a queen/queens, a few workers or a few males are colonized. The nest root may be delivered in a small-dimensioned separate starting nest box, provided also with food for the nest root until it is introduced into the actual durable nest box.

In the autumn, when the nest has ceased its production, the durable nest box is cleaned carefully and stored for reuse in the following spring. The queen bumble bees born in the nest box winter in earth litters and in holes digged by them into the earth and build in the surroundings natural nests to increase the own natural strain.

In the following the invention is described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing where

fig. 1 shows a side view of an example of a bumble bee nest box according to the invention in a longitudinal section,

fig. 2 shows a front view of the bumble bee nest box of figure 1 in partial section,

fig. 3 shows a plan view of the bumble bee nest box after its roof has been removed, fig. 4 shows a side view of an example of an shield against bee moths installed in the front of a flight opening of the bumble bee nest box, and

fig. 5 shows a front view of shields against bee moths installed in the front of both flight openings.

The embodiment of a durable nest box for bumble bees according to the inventions shown in the drawing comprises a rectangular bottom 1 , a rectangular front wall 2 and back wall 4 and two side walls 3, 5 as well as a rectangular, openable roof 6, which is dimensioned to extend over the walls of the box forming a protecting overhang 6a at least above the front wall 2 of the box, said front wall being provided with two adjacent circular flight openings 7a and 7b for bumble bees. One flight opening 7a serves as an entry opening, the other flight opening 7a serving both as an exit and entry opening. Preferably, the flight openings 7a, 7b have a diameter of about 15 mm to allow bumble bees pass through. Below the flight openings 7a, 7b a flight plate 8 has been arranged on which bumble bees can settle on when coming to the bumble bee box and from where they can take wing when leaving the box.

The nest box comprises an intermediate cover 9 made of transparent plexiglass through which the condition of the bumble bee colony housing in the box can be monitored when the roof 6 has been opened. A feeding vessel 10 for a sugar solution has been provided on the bottom 1 of the box. Preferably, said feeding vessel 10 is covered by an intermediate floor 11 made of paper board. A feeding pipe 12 has been led to this feeding vessel 10 from the outside of the box, for instance via an opening 4 arranged in the back wall 4. Via this feeding pipe additional sugar solution is fed to the feeding vessel 10, if necessary. A vertical plastic tube 13 extending down to the sugar solution in the feeding vessel 10 is installed in the hole made in the intermediate floor 11. Preferably, said tube 13 is made of plastics and filled with cotton wool, the function of which is to absorb sugar solution filled into the feeding vessel enabling the bumble bees, when coming to the top of the tube, to suck said sugar solution from the cotton wool. On the intermediate floor 11, a flat edged paper board base 14 has been installed, on which a pollen ball 15 serving as a food source for the bumble bees, as well as cocoons or other embryonic cocoons 16 or an artificial comb have been arranged, into which comb the queen can lay eggs. For ventilating the durable nest box, vents 17 covered with a sieve net are provided, for instance, in the upper part of the front wall 2 and in the lower parts of the side walls 3, 5.

As a prolongation of the flight opening 7a serving as the entry opening of the box, a tube 7 extending to the centre of the durable box and forming an entry canal has been arranged. The other flight opening 7b serving both as an exit and entry opening, is not provided with such a tube. A shield 18 against bee moths 18 has optionally been installed in the front of both flight openings 7a, 7b, whereby the shield may consist of plastics or be a flap consisting of a metal net, which has been movably attached enabling the bumble bees to push the flap away when passing through the flight opening 7a, 7b, the flap being too heavy to be moved by bee moths.

Figures 4 and 5 show an example of the way of installing the bee moth shield 18. In the shown embodiment the bee moth shield 18 is in the form of a plastic flap having a thick- ness of about 1 ,5 mm and being movably attached to the front of the flight opening 7a, 7b with two screws 19, each of which having been brought through a longitudinal slot 20 made in the plastic flap to extend in the vertical direction so that the plastic flap is movable vertically by the length of the slots 20 as well as somewhat in the horizontal direction depending on the distance of the head of the screw 19 from the front wall of the bumble bee box. In order to prevent bee moths from entering the flight opening 7a, 7b of the box through the gap between the lower part of the plastic flap and the front wall, a vertical supporting wall 21 has been arranged at the front wall 2 to extend from the flight plate 8 on both sides of the plastic flap. The width of the plastic flaps is preferably dimensioned so that only one common supporting wall is required between the flight openings 7a and 7b as shown in figure 5. The upper ends of the supporting walls 21 may be connected by means of a horizontal protecting plate 23. In order that bumble bees are able to get a better grip on the plastic flap, a slot 22 of about 2 mm may be made in its upper edge. When the flap of the bee moth shield 18 has been made of a fine-meshed metal net, said slot is not necessary because in that case bumble bees can grip on the wires of the metal net when entering or exiting the flight opening 7a, 7b.

Claims

1. A nest for bumble bees used as pollinating insects, comprising a rectangular nest box and an openable roof (6), the nest box being provided with two adjacent flight openings (7a, 7b) for bumble bees at one side wall (2) and with vents (17) in the upper and lower end, respectively, of the side walls (2; 3,5), characterized in that the nest box and the roof (6) are made of wood, preferably of water veneer, whereby the roof is dimensioned to extend over the side walls (2,3,4,5) forming a protecting overhang (6a) above the flight openings (7a, 7b), that inside the nest box a feeding vessel (10) covering nearly the whole basal area and covered with an intermediate floor (11), preferably made of paperboard, is placed on the bottom (1) of the nest box, whereby through said intermediate floor (11) a vertical plastic tube (13) filled with a bulking fibre material is led to extend down to the bottom of the feeding vessel (10), into which fibre material a sugar solution fed into the feeding vessel (10) is absorbed in order to be reachable to the bumble bee colony housing in the nest box, and that on the intermediate floor (11) a flat edged paper board base (4) has been installed, on which a pollen ball (15) and cocoons (16), other embryonic cocoons or an artificial comb have been placed.

2. The nest according to claim 1, characterized in that the flight openings (7a, 7b) have a diameter of 15 mm, whereby one flight opening (7a) serves as an entry opening, while the other flight opening (7b) serving both as an exit and entry opening for bumble bees.

3. The nest according to claim 2, characterized in that below the flight openings (7a,

7b) a flight plate (8) has been arranged to enable bumble bees to settle on and to take wing.

4. The nest according to claim 3, characterized in that in the front of each flight opening (7a, 7b) a movable bee moth shield (18) made of plastics or a metal net is arranged, said shield having a weight that enables bumble bees to push it away when passing through the flight openings (7a, 7b), but being too heavy to be moved by bee moths.

5. The nest according to claim 2, characterized in that a tube (7) extending to the centre of the interior of the nest box has been arranged in the flight opening (7a) serving as the entry opening.

6. The nest according to any of the foregoing claims, characterized in that the flight openings (7a, 7b) are arranged in the upper half of the front wall (2).

7. The nest according to claim 1, characterized in that the vents (17) have a diameter of about 10 mm and are covered with a sieve net.

8. The nest according to any of the foregoing claims, characterized in that an intermediate cover (9) made of transparent glass is arranged in the upper end of the box.

9. The nest according to any of the foregoing claims, characterized in that from the outside of the box a feeding pipe (12) has been led to the feeding vessel (10) for supplying supplementary sugar solution.

10. The nest according to claim 9, characterized in that a measuring glass has been ar- ranged at the outer wall of the box for detecting the level of the sugar solution.

11. The nest according to any of the foregoing claims, characterized in that the bulking material provided in the vertical plastic tube (13) extending to the feeding vessel (10) is cotton wool.

12. A method for continuous breeding of bumble bees in connection with indoor plant production, i.e. green houses, characterized in that three nest boxes intended for durable use are employed simultaneously, the first of which boxes containing a starting nest housing a queen/queens, a few freshly hatched worker bumble bees or freshly hatched young worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) and optionally a few male bumble bees, which initially introduced worker bumble bees and worker honey bees as well as the male bumble bees are generally removed from the nest box, after new cocoons have been developed therein, this starting nest growing within about four weeks to a production nest, the second box containing a nest be- ing in the production phase housing a queen and 60 to 200 worker bumble bees, and the third box containing a regressive nest with a declining production housing several males and queens.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that from the regressive nest box the queen/queens and workers and/or optionally a few males are recovered to be introduced as a new starting nest into the same nest box after said box has been cleaned carefully and after the intermediate floor (11) as well as the edged paper board base (14) have been replaced.

14. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that only the queen is recovered from the regressive nest, a few males being recovered from the second nest box to be introduced as a new starting nest into the same nest box, after said box has been cleaned carefully and after the intermediate floor (11) as well as the edged paper board base (14) have been replaced.

15. A method for use of pollinating bumble bees in connection with fruit and berry outdoor plantation, characterized in that a single nest colony housing in a nest box intended for durable use is employed, into which durable nest box "a nest root", i.e. a queen/queens, a few workers or a few males are colonized.