A Pi Culture
A Pi Culture
Beekeeping is an art and skill maintaining the bees in modern movable frame hives
for hobby or fascination, production of hive products (honey, bee wax etc.) and for
pollination services OR the practice of rearing bee is called beekeeping or Apiculture.
Apiculture is synonym of the beekeeping and is derived from Latin word ‘Apiscultura’. Apis
means ‘bee’ and cultura means ‘cultivation through education’. The place where the hives are
maintained is called an Apiary. Beekeeping is a high profit enterprise it can be taken up both
as subsidiary industry and as well as whole time profession.
It is not clear when man started beekeeping, but there are archaeological evidences
that about 4,000 years ago, the Egyptians kept bees in clay pots and used not only for honey,
but also for propolis and wax. In fact, the honeybee was the symbol of Lower Egypt. Still
many rock and cave paintings are available across the world depicting the honey bee in
different shapes. In ancient Greece and Rome, apiculture was a common practice. The
philosopher Aristotle in his book "Historia Animalum" talked about honeybees' floral fidelity,
division of labour within the colony and winter feeding. He also described some brood
disease. Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, depicts the nutritional and pharmaceutical value
of honey. Greek athletes used honey as an energy boost. Commercial beekeeping started
during the second half of the 19th century. In 1851, Rev. L. L. Langstroth discovered the
concept of 'bee space' (3/8 inch space is kept by the bees between two adjacent combs as their
passage for free movement all around the combs). Bee space or passage way is the space
required between any two frames for the bees to move about conveniently between two
combs. Based on this concept, modern age 'Langstroth bee hive' with movable parallel
frames/combs was developed by L. L. Langstroth is known as Father of Modern Beekeeping.
Bees and honey were known to human being in India since time immemorial as their
references are mentioned in epics, on murals, sculptures, etc. Vaishali Stupas in Muzaffarpur
(Bihar) were built in commemoration of offering of honey to Lord Buddha by king of
monkeys and his people whenever Lord Buddha visited the place. Several references of bees
have been made in the oldest scripture of India, the Rig Veda. The earliest method of keeping
bees was to use hollowed out tree trucks, empty pots or any other suitable receptacles
smeared with wax and sweet scented leaves of Cinnamomum iners on the inner surface; these
receptacles were kept in jungles to entice (invite) the bees during swarming seasons. When
the bees had settled there, these receptacles were carried to and kept in desired places. This
type of hive is called pot hive and it was in practice in Mysore, Coorg, Malabar, Godavari,
Kasmir, etc
SUCCESSFUL INTRODUCTION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF Apis mellifera
IN INDIA
Kingdom : Animalia
Phylum : Arthropoda
Class : Insecta
Order : Hymenoptera
Family : Apidae
Subfamily : Apinae
Tribe : Apini Latreille, 1802
Genus : Apis Linnaeus, 1758
There are five important species of honey bees as follows. Scientific name Common
name
(1) Apis dorsata : The rock bee
(2) Apis cerana indica : The Indian hive bee
(3) Apis florea : The little bee
(4) Apis mellifera : The European or Italian bee
(5) Trigona iridipennis (T. laeviceps): Dammer bee, stingless bee
(5) Dammer bee or stingless bee, Trigona irridipennis Dal. (T. laeviceps)
1. This is the smallest species and differs from other bees in its appearance and
habitats.
2. They do not have sting i.e., stinglessm and its honey is used in Ayurvedic medicine.
3. They built their comb in hollow walls or tree trunks.
4. They construct their comb with a dark material called “Cerumen” which is a
mixture of earth and wax or resin collected from plants as they do not secrete wax to
build combs.
5. It is very poor honey gatherers and yields only 60-180 ml/colony/year.
CASTES OF HONEY BEE
Every honey bee colony comprises of a single queen, a few hundred drones and
several thousand worker castes of honey bees. Queen is a fertile, functional female, worker is
a sterile female and the drone is a male insect.
Duties of a queen
1. The only individual which lays eggs in a colony (Mother of all bees).
2. Lays upto 2000/day in Apis mellifera.
3. Five to Ten days after emergence, she mates with drones in one or more nuptial
flights.
4. When her spermatheea is filled with sperms, she will start laying eggs and will not
mate any more.
5. She lives for 3 years.
6. The secretion from mandibular gland of the queen is called queen’s substance.
7. The queen substance if present in sufficient quantity performs following functions.
a) Prevent swarming and absconding of colonies.
b) Prevent development of ovary in workers.
c) Colony cohesion is maintained. 8. The queen can lay either fertilized or sterile eggs
depending on the requirement.
Duties of a drone
1. Their important duty is to fertilize the queen.
2. They also help in maintenance of hive temperature.
3. They cannot collect nectar / pollen and they do not possess a sting.
Duties of a worker
1. Their adult life span of around 6 weeks can be divided into
a) First three weeks- house hold duty.
b) Rest of the life- out door duty.
House hold duty includes
a. Build comb with wax secretion from wax glands.
b. Feed the young larvae with royal jelly secreted from hypopharyngeal gland.
c. Feed older larvae with bee-bread (pollen+ honey)
d. Feeding and attending queen.
e. Feeding drones.
f. Cleaning, ventilating and cooling the hive.
g. Guarding the hive.
h. Evaporating nectar and storing honey.
Outdoor duties includes
a. Collecting nectar, pollen, propolis and water.
b. Ripening honey in honey stomach.
Bee keeping appliances
i) Bottom board or Floor board: It forms the floor of the hive made up of a single piece of
wood or two pieces of wood joined together. Wooden beading are fixed on to the lateral sides
and back side. There is a removable entrance rod in the front side with two entrance slits to
alter the size of the hive entrance based on needs. The board is extended by 10 cm in front of
the hive body which provides a landing platform for bees. Size of alighting board is 40X28
cm (BIS hive).
ii) Brood Chamber: It is four sided rectangular wooden box of cross section without a top
and bottom. It is kept on the floorboard. A rabbet is cut in the front and back walls of the
brood chamber. The brood frames rest on the rabbet walls. Size of brood frame is 29X29X17
cm. There will be 8 frames. Length and height of frame is 20.5X14.0 cm (BIS hive).
iii) Super Chamber: It is kept over the brood chamber and its construction is similar to that
of brood chamber. Super frame are hung inside. The length and width of this chamber is
similar to that of brood chamber. The height of the chamber is 9.5 cm. The inner height of the
frame is 6.0 cm (BIS hive).
iv) Hive Cover: It insulates the interior of the hive. In Newton’s hive it has sloping planks on
either side. On the inner ceiling plank there is a square ventilation hole fitted with wire gauze.
Two holes present in the front and rear also help in air circulation. In Langstroth hive and BIS
hive, the hive cover consists of a crown board or inner cover and an outer cover. The inner
cover is provided with a central ventilation hole covered with wire gauze. The outer cover is
covered over with a metallic sheet to make it impervious to rain water.
v) Frames: The frames are so constructed that a series of them may be placed in a vertical
position in the brood chamber or the super chamber so as to leave space in between them for
bees to move. Each frame consists of a top bar, two side bars and a bottom bar nailed
together. Both the ends of the top bar protrude so that the frame can rest on the rabbet. The
depth of the super frame is less than that of the brood frame in Newton’s hive and ISI hive.
But in Langstroth hive it is same as that of brood frame. A groove present underneath the top
bar is useful to fix the comb foundation sheet.
Other accessories
1. Comb Foundation Sheet: It is a thin sheet of bee wax embossed with a pattern of
hexagons of size equal to the base of natural brood cells on both sides. The size of the
hexagon varies with bee species. The sheet is fixed to the frames on fine wires threaded
through holes in the side bars and stretched tight.
2. Embedder: It is a small tool with a spur or round wheel on the top. It is used to fix the
comb foundation sheet on the wires of the frame. Electric wire also used for this purpose
which is useful to reinforce the comb and give extra strength to the comb.
3. Synthetic Combs: It is made up of high density polythene (Plastic). It can be used in both
super and brood chamber. Since the comb is fully molded, bee only put wax caps on the cells.
4. Dummy Division Board/ Movable Wall: it is a wooden board slightly larger than the
brood frame. It is placed inside the brood chamber. It prevents the bees from going beyond it.
It can be used as a movable wall there by limiting the volume of brood chamber which will
help the bees to maintain the hive temperature and to protect them from enemies.
5. Queen Excluder: It is made up of perforated zinc sheet. The slots are large enough to
allow the workers to pass through but too narrow for the queen. It is useful to confine the
queen to brood chamber. But it allows the workers to have access to super.
6. Drone Trap: It is a rectangular box with one side open. The other side is fitted with queen
excluder sheet. At the bottom of the box there is a space for movement of worker bees. There
are two hollow cones at the bottom wall of the box. Drones entering through the cones into
the box get trapped.
7. Queen Gate: It is a piece of the queen excluder sheet. It is fitted on the slot of entrance
gate.
8. Queen Cage: It is a cage made up of wire gauze. It is useful for queen introduction.
9. Swarm Trap: It is a rectangular box used to trap and carry the swarm. It is fixed near the
hive entrance with one or two combs inside during the swarming periods. This box traps and
retains the queen only. But the swarm coming out from the hive re-enter the hive and settles
on the comb, since the queen is trapped.
10. Division Board/ Sugar Feeder: It can be hung along with the frames. A wooden strip or
cut bits of leaves kept inside serve as float which prevents the drowning of bees in the sugar
syrup.
11. Bee Brush: A soft camel hair brush is used to brush the bees off the honey comb before it
is taken for extraction.
12. Honey Extractor: It consists of a cylindrical drum. A rack is fixed inside the drum to
hold the super frames. The rack is rotated by a set of gear wheels. The decapped honey
frames are kept in the slots of the rack. The rack is rotated by operating by operating the
handle. Honey flow out from the combs by centrifugal force.
SEASONAL MANAGEMENT
➢ Pollen and nectar available only during certain period Honey flow season (surplus food
source) x Dearth period (Scarcity of food)
➢ Extremes in climate like summer, winter and monsoon - Need specific management
tactics Honey flow season management (Coincides with spring)
➢ Provide more space for honey storage by giving CFS or built combs
➢ Confine queen to brood chamber using queen excluder
➢ Prevent swarming
➢ As explained
➢ Prior to honey flow
➢ Provide sugar syrup and build sufficient population
➢ Divide strong colonies into 2-3 new colonies
➢ if colony multiplication need
➢ Queen rearing technique may be followed to produce new queens for new colonies
Summer management
Winter management
Bee pasteurage:
If >50% of honey is collected from a single source, it’s called Pure honey.
If <50%, it’s called Mixed honey.
Weight – 1.36kg/litre
Specific gravity – 1.35 -1.44g/cc
Contains antioxidant called Pinocembrin, enhances keeping quality.
More the dextrose – More granulation of honey.
Fermentation of honey is prevented by Heating at 64°c for 30mins.
Honey of Soapnut tree is the costliest honey.(Milk flavor).
Bee consume 7-8kg of honey to produce 1kg of wax.(7:1)
Nector contains 20-40% sucrose, whereas honey contains <2% sucrose.
Percentage of sugar in honey is 78%.
Vitamin-E is absent in honey.
Honey of A.florea has more dextrins having medicinal value.
Pests of honeybee:
Insect pests:
1.Greater wax moth: Galleria melonella, F:Galleridae
Caterpillars feeds on the comb, dislodged particles & silken cocoon.
2.Lesser wax moth:Achroia grisella, A. innotatalankella. F:Pyralidae
Baldbrood symptoms- remove caps of brood cells & expose the broods.
3.Wasp:Vespa cincta, vespidae
Sits @ the hive entrance & catch the bees.
4.Bee hunter wasps:
Palerusorientalis & Philanthusramakrishnae (In hilly areas)
5.Waxbeetle: Platyboilumalveorum, F:Tenebrionidae.
6.African small hive beetle: Aethinatumida
7.Sphingid moth:
Honey robber, drinks honey during night.
8.Leafcutter bee: Megachileanthracina
Mites:
1.Endotracheal mite: Acarapsis woodi
Endoparasites on adults.
Enter through prothoracic spiracles.
Cause Acarine disease/ Isle of wight / K-winged condition.
2.Brood mite:Tropilaepsclareae
Ectoparisites on Italian bee.
3.Varroa mite: Varroa destructor, V. jacobsoni
It’s a brood mite.
Mites can be controlled by dusting sulphur or chorobenzilate.
Diseases of Honeybee
Bacterial diseases:
Fishy odour.
Sour odour.
Viral diseases:
Fungal diseases:
Protozoan diseases:
Institutes: