Breeding of osmium bees. Osmia rufa, cornuta, hives

Community and Forum → Insects biology and faunistics → Breeding of osmium bees. Osmia rufa, cornuta, hives

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01.05.2017 22:29, ИНО

Well all. osmium season is in full swing. The balcony hives are populated with both osmias much more densely than last year. The roots of the permanent permanent chase each other and rufus, Rufus preferred to settle on the back side of the hives, squeezing into the narrow gaps between the rear sections of the reeds and the wall. I noticed that, unlike cornuts, who try to climb into any hole, even if there is someone else's nest inside along with the owner, rufs behave much more carefully and delicately: as soon as they touch the tendrils of a cut inhabited by another rufa or root reed, they immediately fly away.

Cacoxenuses are also present.

And the anthophores are just beginning to settle in the box, their females were very late this year, the males have been flying alone since March.

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10.06.2017 1:39, ИНО

The osmium season on my balcony is over. I can't answer how many nests were built in total, but I will say one thing: much more than last year. There were once two beehives. The small one is completely packed, and at both ends. the big one was not mastered, but last year there was not a single nest in it at all.

Meanwhile, the riders appeared. Here-this one drilled the earthen plugs with an egg-laying device, and so quickly that I didn't really have time to take a picture.

This one specialized in finding cracks in the walls of reeds:

I wonder how he copes in natural conditions? After all, you can't pierce a building wall like that, and there's not enough length for a bee plug.

I also saw something large dark fly into the big one in one of the reeds from the back end, not like an osmium. I waited a long time for the return flight to get a better look, but I didn't wait.

The Anthophores also stopped visiting the earth box. One hole was left open, apparently, the female died before finishing the job.

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24.10.2017 22:10, Shamil Murtazin

Today I sorted out my"harvest". Quite late, I set up two makeshift beehives made of reeds. The diameter of the reeds is too small. In the summer I looked - it was empty. And here - a couple of closed reeds!
Is it possible to somehow determine them by the type of nest?..

There are three or four different types of hive:
1. The most numerous-not a dense cork made of leaves, bags-honeycombs made of leaves.
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