Apiculture is beekeeping for collecting honey, beeswax, and propolis. Honey bees are highly social insects in the order Hymenoptera. A bee colony contains three castes - the queen bee, worker bees, and drone bees. Worker bees perform different tasks as they age, including cleaning, guarding, and foraging. Beekeeping using movable frame hives was developed based on the optimal bee space between frames. Honey is extracted using a honey extractor after removing frames from the hive.
3. Introduction:
Apiculture (Bee keeping) is the maintenance of honey
bee colonies, by humans in order to collect products like
honey, beeswax, propolis etc.
A location where bee colonies are kept is called an
apiary or "bee yard.
Honey bees are highly organized social insects and their
systematic position is as follows
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Systematic Position of Honey bee
i. Jointed appendages.
Phylum Arthropoda
ii. 3 pairs of legs.
Class Insecta
iii. Membranous wings.
Order Hymenoptera
iv. Genus
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History:
Apiculture is thought to have been practiced as early as
13,000 BC.
The medicinal importance of honey is mentioned in
QUARAN in SURAH NAHL in chapter 16 verse no 68 and
69.
Use of honey has also been mentioned in religious
scriptures like Vedas, Puranas, Ramayana and
Mahabharata. Tomb of Pabasa(Dynasty 26th)Egypt
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Species of Honey bees:
1. Apis dorsata (The rock- bee)
This is the largest honeybee.
Builds single large open comb on high
branches of trees and rocks.
Produces large quantity of honey, but this
bee is difficult to domesticate.
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2. Apis cerana indica (The Indian
bee)
Medium sized.
Hive consists of several parallel
combs in cavities of tree trunks,
earthen pots, etc.
This bee is not so ferocious and can
be domesticated
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3. Apis florea (The little bee)
Small sized.
Builds single small combs in bushes, hedges, etc.
Honey yield is poor.
4. Apis mellifera (The European bee)
Somewhat look likes the Indian bee (Apis indica).
This has been introduced in many parts of the
world including India.
It is easily domesticated
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The Bee colony
A honey bee colony has three castes Queen,
worker and drone.
(i) Queen Bee
Queen bee is the only fertile female in colony
She is largest in size.
No wax glands.
Live for about 3 - 4 years.
May lay eggs at the rate of 1500-2000 per day
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(II)Worker Bee:
Have well-developed sting and Hind legs have pollen
basket for collecting pollen.
They perform different duties depending upon their age
which are as follows:
Day 1-14: Activity inside the hive such as cleaning the hive,
feeding the larvae, etc.
Day 14-20 :Guard the entrance of the hive
Day 21- 35: Foraging, i.e. collecting the nectar and pollen
from the surrounding.
Y
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Drones
Drones are the male member of
colony.
Drones can live up to about 60 days.
Sting and wax gland absent.
Develops from unfertilized egg.
The sole duty of drone is to fertilized
the virgin queen.
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Modern method of apiculture
The modern Bee hives were designed
based onBee Space theory by
L.L.Langstroth in 1851.
Bee space is the optimum distance to be
left in between two adjacent comb surfaces
in a bee hive which is essential for normal
movement and functioning of bees.
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Parts of typical movable hive
: 1. Stand: To support bottom board.
2. Bottom board: It forms proper base for the
hive having an entrance for bees.
3. Brood chamber: Chamber used for rearing of
brood. Frames are placed in this chamber on
which bees raise combs.
4. Queen excluder: Perforated zinc sheets
assembled in such a way that workers can pass
through them but a
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5. Super: It is provided with many frames
containing comb foundation to provide
additional space for expansion of hive.
6. Inner cover: A board which acts as a
partition between brood/super chamber
and the roof.
7. Top cover: A type of lid acting as roof
placed over inner cover. Typical movable
hive(Langstroth type)
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Swarming
Swarming is the process by which a new honey bee colony
is formed when the queen bee leaves the colony with a large
group of worker bees.
Bee language/Foraging Worker bees cooperate to find food
and use a pattern of dancing (known as bee dance or
waggle dance) to communicate information regarding
resources with each other. In bee dance the middle course
of the dance communicates to other bees the angle from
the hive with reference to the Sun.
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Bee Pasturage
The plant that yield nectar and pollen are collectively termed
bee pasturage.
The fruit trees, ornamental plants and forest trees comprise
important bee pasturage.
Nectar is the sweet secretion of the flower and is the raw
material for honey.
Pollen provides the raw material necessary for food of the
brood.
Extraction of honey Successful honey extraction requires the
following instruments: Fig. 04 Smoker Fig. 05 Honey Extractor