Api Culture - Honey Bee

Apiculture

Honey bee as a social insect

Honey bee is a social insect. The nest of the honey bee is known as bee-hive. A hive in summer consists of 32 to 50 thousand individuals, depending on the locality. The members of honey bees are of three castes namely the queen bee, the worker bee, and the drone bee. All three types depend on each other for their existence. There is normally one queen, 10,000 to 30,000 workers and a few hundred drones in a colony.  The' 'highly evolved; social organization of bees had been established before the existence of the human race. Bees teach us the lesson of work. and work. A highly organized system of division of labor was found in a colony of bees. The Colony is highly polymorphic, comprising three varieties or castes of honeybees are as follows.

Castes of honey bee

1.           Queen

2.           Workers

3.           Drones.

            In a normal; colony there is only one queen (functional female). 25,000 – workers female) and 360- 500 drones.  The queen after nuptial flight (mating) female lays  both fertilized and unfertilized eggs, From unfertilized eggs male bees are developed which are termed as drones, .

          whereas from the fertilized eggs; worker bees (sterile female's) are produced. The workers when feed on royal jelly, develop in queen.                          

The Queen: 

The queen is the only perfectly developed fertile female.: She is the mother, of the colony and provided with well-developed ovaries. Only one queen is present in each colony and feeds on royal jelly. Egg laying is the sole function of the queen throughout her active life span and lay 1300 eggs in a day which is almost twice the weight of her body. The queen is 1'5 to 2 cm in length and easily distinguished by her long tapering head, legs, and wings.

She is unable to produce wax or honey or pollen, nector. She mates with the drone in the air (nuptial flight) only-.once in-her life but in a single chance of fertilization, drone releases 2-crore sperms which are enough for the fertilization of the eggs at the time of laying by the female throughout her life span. In the whole life span of 2 to 5 years. a queen lays about 15,00,000 eggs.   

Queen provides the cohesive force, which keeps the thousands of worker members of the colony together as a social unit. She does this by satisfying their demands for queen substance i.e. a substance secreted by the queen. This substance is most important in the maintenance of a colony and its social organization. It has been found that a scent of fatty acid 9-oxodecenoic acid produced by queen's mandibular glands attracts drones and workers.

When the quean loses its egg-laying  capacity, another worker of the same colony starts feeding on queen's diet i.e. royal jelly young and grubs develops in to new queen and is provided facilities of real queen. When the colony is crowded with adult bees, the queen leaves with a set of workers to establish new colonies and to promote propagation. This natural phenomenon is called swarming.  When 2 Or 3 queens are developed in a colony, only one take the position of the real queen and the others come out with some workers to establish new colonies.   Queen bees also have stings and use them in battles with each other for dominance of the colony.

The Drone: 

Drones are the male bees produced from unfertilized eggs. Their 

production in the hive synchronizes with the production of the new (virgin) queens. At the age of 14-18 days, the drones perform mating flight chasing the virgin queen in the air. Drones can live up to about 60 days, although they are stung and killed after the mating.

The Workers:

These are imperfectly developed females from the  fertilized eggs laid by the queen and live in a chamber called  "worker cell". The workers take 21 days in the development from egg to adult and the total life the span of a worker is about 6  weeks. The workers are unable to reproduce but possess all the maternal instincts. They are responsible for all the work necessary for the maintenance and welfare of the colony. The division of labor among the workers is on a physiological basis.

The indoor and outdoor duties of the colony are performed by the workers only due to having special structural modifications for  particular work as :

(1) Long proboscis for sucking the nectar.

(2) Strong wings for fanning.

(3) Pollen basket for the collection of pollen.

(4) Powerful sting to defend the colony against enemies.

(5) Wax glands for wax secretion.

Each worker bee performs different types of work in her life she attends to indoor duties 

 

Honey comb

The comb of the bees are formed mainly by the secretion from the wax glands present in the abdomen of the worker bees. A comb is a vertical sheet of wax, with a double layer of hexagonal cells. The wax is masticated and mixed with the secretions of the cephalic glands to convert into a plastic resinous substance. The resinous a chemical substance present in the wax is called propolis which is derived from pollen grains.

The cells of the comb are of various types. ‘storage cells’ contains honey and pollen. They are built in the margin and at the top of the comb. The brood cells contain the young stages of the honeybees and they are built in the center and the lower part of the comb. Young ones of honey bees are collectively called a brood. Brood chamber is divided into three types they are,

Worker-chamber: to rear the worker larvae developing into workers         

Drone chamber: to rear the drone larvae developing into drones. 

Queen -chamber: to rear the queen larva developing into a queen.

There is no special chamber for adults except the queen. They move on the surface of the comb. Modern bee-hive structure

LIFE HISTORY OF THE HONEY BEE (Life cycle)

Nuptial flight or marriage flightNuptial flight: After swarming, the new virgin queen is followed by the drones in clear, sunny days is called a nuptial flight. One of the drones starts copulating with the queen in the sky and fertilizes the queen and dies during the course of copulation. The queen receives sperms and store them in spermatheca and reaches to, the hive. This whole phenomenon is known as nuptial flight or marriage flight. The virgin queen copulates only once with the drone at the beginning of her reproductive life.

The first swarm is led by the old queen but the second swarm is led by the 7 days.  Old virgin queen which followed by the drones. The drones leave the hive in large numbers on warm sunny days.  The function of drones is to fertilize the queens. Fertilization takes place only in clear air. The male is always killed in the act of fertilization since he can eject the sperm by great pressure in her abdomen with the help of muscles and fluid pressure of blood. The queen receives spermatophores and stores in the spermatheca. Along with queen, died drone fall on the ground and the queen reaches the hive. This phenomenon of copulation is known as nuptial flight or marriage flight.

After fertilization the queen generally lays one egg in one brood cell. The eggs are pinkish colored, elongated, cylindrical and generally attached at the bottom of the cell at the junction of any two walls. The eggs hatch in 3 days into white, legless grubs or larvae from the fertilized-as well as unfertilized eggs. The larvae are provided with appropriate food and are inspected for their demands, by nurse bees. Fertilized eggs are laid in worker or queen cells while unfertilized eggs are laid in drone cells.

Grub (Larva) : The larvae are minute, white, apodous (legless).  They grow and moult several times. Workers maintain a constant  temperature of 35⁰C in the colony by either crowding or fanning. All the larvae are fed with protein and vit-B rich royal jelly secreted by pharyngeal glands of worker bees for the first 3-days. After 4 days worker and drone bees larvae are fed on a mixture of honey and pollen and bee bread '. The grubs destined to produce queens receive the royal jelly throughout their life in abundant quantity. The queen and the drone are larger in size.

 Pupa: After 5-days of feeding the cell is sealed and the grubs undergo pupation. It spins a thin silken cocoon and pupates completely;  The worker,  drone and queen pupae can be distinguished by examining the distance between eyes. In the case of drone, eye meets over the head and in the worker.

Supersedure :

When the egg-laying capacity of the old queen is lost or is suddenly dies, a new young and vigorous queen takes the position of the old queen is called supersedure.

 Absconding :

The migration of the complete colony from one place to another place due to some unfavorable conditions of life, such as destruction of the comb by termites or ax-moths and scarcity of nectar-producing flowers around the hive. This phenomenon is quite different from swarming.       

                             

COMMUNICATION IN BEES (Language of the honey bee)

    Honey bees have a unique and one of the best understood animal languages with which they inform each other the distance and the direction of the source of food. This system of communication (language) was identified and discovered by Australian zoologist Karl-von-Frisch at the University of Munich, Germany.

He found that the Forager bee on return to the nest makes two kinds of dances on the vertical surface of the comb.

     (i) Round dance

    (ii) Tail-wagging dance

Round dance:

when source of food is closer to honey hive bees perform round dance The round dance is used to direct a short distance i.e. less than 50 meters. In the round dance, the bees run in circles, first in one and then in opposite direction (clock and anticlockwise). In fact, she traces out the figure of eight with its two loops more or less closely superimposed upon one another. The performer bee do this dance -for half a minute or more  on same part of comb and latter repeats, it on the another part of the comb   to demonstrate other group of bees.-Some of the workers in the hive

                                                        Fig. Round Dance

Tail-wagging dance: (Waggle dance)

If the source of food discovered by a forager is more than about 50 meters away it performs a different dance on its return. In which the bee runs along  semicircles, alternately left and right, ending each turn with a straight run back to her starting point. During the Straight run, the bee shakes (wags) its abdomen from side to side so called Tail wagging dance. Won Frisch found that wags per unit time was related to the distance  the food was located, more the wags-indicate that the food source was nearer.

For example:- Apis  indica perform. 10.5 shakes (wags) in 15 seconds, indicated a distance of 60 feet and 4.4 wags showed 1000 feet. These figures vary with different bees species.

The tail-wagging dance also indicates the direction of the food supply. The signal depends upon the bees use of the sun as a compass and of polarized light, if the sun is obscured. If the wagging dance run is carried out in vertically upwards on the comb the feed place lies in the same direction as the sun, while if it is carried out downwards the feeding place is situated away and opposite direction from the sun.

Bee Keeping

“Cultivation of bees on a commercial basis  for the production of honey is called apiculture or beekeeping”.

Honey bees are social and polymorphic colonial insects which  provide honey, a high energy food supplement and wax which has almost variety of uses. The beekeeping has been in practice for a very long time in India. Knowledge of biology, behavior , diseases of bees and management practices are essential for beekeeping. Beekeeping is one of the more universal agricultural endeavors’. Bees work a dual agricultural role by both producing honey and aiding in the pollination of flowering crops. Their cosmopolitan distribution, multipurpose nature and relative simplicity in managment combine to make bees a natural agricultural supplement for many types of farm system in developing countries.

Advantages of beekeeping

The advantages of beekeeping are:

 (1) Beekeeping requires relatively low technology requirements

(2) Beekeeping basics are easy to operate

(3) Low initial costs for set up of the unit

 (4) Everybody can participate (men, women, elderly and youth)

(5) Beekeeping provides self-employment and self-esteem

(6) Great opportunity for quick return on investment

(7) Minimal land and space  requirements

(8) Eco-friendly and Environmentally acceptable farming practice

(9) Promotion of greater viable food crop yield through bee pollination.

(10) most bee products have a long self life and are a valuable food source

.Methods of Bee Keeping In India 

1. Indigenous methods:

a. Immovable structures:

It is practiced in villages from time immemorial. Small structures are made in secluded and pro­tected places. During construction of dwell­ing houses, small permanent chambers are made in the outer wall of the house for bees to build combs. Sometimes mud chambers are con­structed.

On the outer-side of the chamber a horizontal slit is made for the entry of bees, while on the inside wall a large open­ing is left for removal of comb.

b. Movable structures:

Bee chambers are made up of hollow bags, empty wooden boxes, earthen pots, etc. which can be moved from place to place, and put in a suitable location for the bees. These methods are not much satisfac­tory, as the comb is lost in the process of extraction of honey. The quality of honey is inferior due to presence of dust, tissues of damaged bee larvae, pollen grains, etc., in it.

2. Modern methods:

Beehive:

In modern apiary, Longs troth’s frame hive is most suitable and used commercially for production of honey.

1. It is a two-tier structure. The chambers can be removed from or added to, as re­quired.

2. The hive is made up of wooden box.

a. It has a basal plate or bottom board on which is placed a wooden box called brood chamber.

b. A small opening at the bottom of brood chamber permits passage for bees.

c. Inside the brood chamber several frames hang vertically from the top. These frames can be removed independently. For this arrangement, a modern hive is also called movable frame hive.

d. The distance between the two frames, the bee space is narrow and serves as a passage for the workers but small for build­ing a comb.

e. Above the brood chamber is placed another similar chamber, but of lesser height.

f. It is meant for storage of honey only and known as honey chamber. The queen is never allowed to enter the chamber. In some cases two honey chambers are used.

3. Above the honey chamber an inner covering is placed over which lies the roof.

Tools for Bees Keeping:

1. Comb foundation:

A small piece of comb is necessary to tie with one of the frames from where the bees will start comb-building.

2. Bee gloves:

Leather gloves are used to prevent bees from stinging during handling of the comb and bees.

3. Bee veil:

A bee veil is required to cover neck, face and head of the keeper during handling. Usually it is made of linen.

4. Smoker:

A smoker must be used while capturing bees in a hive. Smoke from paper, wood and coconut cover makes the bees inactive. There is fire box in a smoker in which smoke-producing materials and fire are put. A bellow system is fitted to blow the smoke.

5. Hive tool:

It is a long, narrow and flat piece of steel with a slightly bent head to scrap away dirty materials deposited by bees or some other factors.

6. Honey extractor:

It is used for extraction of honey from the frames without damaging the comb. It consists of a metal drum with several pock­ets around a rotating wheel. The frames are hanged from the pockets and the pockets are made to rotate round a central axis.

The centrifugal force created by rotation sepa­rates honey from the comb which is col­lected in the drum. The honey is taken out from the drum through a hole at the bottom.- The combs and frames are again placed in the hive.

Typical Location of Apiary:

A locality for apiary must have different varieties of pollen and nector-producing plants in sufficient number within a distance of 1.5 to 2.5 km. area. Neem, Rita, Tamarind, Cheery, Apple, and Citrus, Lily, Lotus, various wild plants and crops are good sources for both nectar and honey.

Types of Honey Bee

Honey bee belongs to the class Insecta, order; Hymenoptera and family; Aphidae. There are five well recognised types of bees found in the world.

1. Apis dorsata (Rock bee)

2.Apis florea (little bee)

3.Apis indica (Indian bee)

4.Apis mellifica (European bee)

5.Apis adamsoni (Africa)

Out of these five types, Apis dorsata, Apis florea and Apis indica are common in India.

Apis dorsata :

It is a large Indian variety with an average size of about 20mm. It is commonly called rock bee. It builds large comb (0.90 x 15metres) on tree branches, under caves, or under roofs of high buildings. A. dorsata undertakes migration during summer and winter. During winter they are abundantly found in plains and in summer the colonies migrate to high mountains to avoid extreme heat or in search of flowering plants. This species is a good honey gatherer. A sizable portion of honey produced in India comes from A.dorsata species. Maximum 50 to 80kg honey per colony can be obtained.

Apis florae:

It is commonly called little bee. It is a miniature form of the rock bee. It lives in plains and it rarely occurs above 1000 feet of sea level. It builds small comb on the branches of trees, or in bushes, or under the walls of the buildings. The yield of honey from this species is very little.

Apis indica:

It is popularly known as the Indian bee. It occurs commonly on the plains and forest of India. It builds several parallel combs in protected places like hollow of trees, caves, in rocks and in other such cavities. Their average output of honey is between 3kg to 5kg per colony per year. They are the best of the Indian variety to be hived in artificial c

Modern hives  (Bee-keeping)

Scientific method of beekeeping has been developed after the extensive studies of bee behavior, their way of functioning and their mode of reproduction. The modern beehive is a movable-frame hive. It is a wooden framed box made of single or double walls. The single-walled wooden frame box is used in a warm place and the double walled wooden frame box is used in a cool climate. A modern hive consists of a bottom board, brood chamber, supper chamber, inner cover, and top cover. They are placed one above the other and fixed on a stand.  The modern beehive is made up of a series of square or oblong boxes without tops or bottoms, set one above the other. This hive has the floor at the bottom, and a crown board at the top, and a roof overall. Inside these boxes, wooden frames are vertically hung parallel to each other. The wooden frames are filled with sheets of wax foundation on which the combs are built by the bees. The only entrance to the hive is below the large bottom box (brood chamber). The queen is usually confined to the brood chamber. The boxes termed “supers” are used for the storage of honey. The queen is prevented from going to the “supers” by the “queen excluder” that allows only the workers to move. The top cover can be lifted to inspect the state of the colony of honey formation. The wooden hive is colored yellow or white on the outside for keeping the chambers cool and to aid easy recognition by the bees.

In India, apart from the modern hive, another three types of beehive namely Langstroth , Newton and Jeolikote are in practice.

Accessory hive equipment's:

Besides the above primary equipment, other accessory equipment used in beekeeping and their utility are as follows.

1. Queen Excluder   -it is utilized to prevent the entry of the queen bee from the brood chamber into the super chamber.

2. Comb foundation  - it is a sheet of bee wax and on both sides of which exact shape of different cells of the comb is made in advance. 

3. Bee gloves  - it is used by beekeepers for protecting their hands while inspecting the hives. 

4. Bee veil  - it is a device made of fine nettings to protect the bee-keeper from the bee sting. 

5. Smoker  - it is used to scare the bees during hive maintenance and honey collection by releasing smoke. 

6. Hive Tool  - it is a flat, narrow and long piece of iron that helps in scraping excess propolis or wax from hive parts. 

7. Uncapping knife  - it is a long knife which helps in removing the cap from the combs as a first step in honey extraction. 

8. Bee brush  - it is a large brush often employed to brush off bees from honeycombs particularly at the time of extraction. 

9. Queen introducing cage  - it is a pipe made of wire nets used for keeping the queen for about 24 hours for acquaintance with the hive and worker bees. 

10. Feeder  - it is a basin with sugar syrup covered by grass to feed the bees during the drought season. The grass prevents the bees from sinking into the syrup. 

11. Honey Extractor  - it is a stainless steel device that spins the combs rapidly to extract honey. 

12. Hive Entrance Guard -it is a device similar to queen excluder in front of the hive entrance which prevents the escape of queen during the warming season.

 Chemical composition of honey

The honey is composed of water, sugar, mineral like calcium, iron, phosphate, manganese and vitamins. Honey also contains acids, amino acids, enzymes, pigments and aroma substances.  Honey is a food material for the bees and their larvae. Large quantities of honey are stored in the hive to meet the demands of scarcity. Chemically, honey is a viscous water solution of sugar. Its approximate composition in percentage is as follows:

Water                   -       13-20

Fructose              -        40-50

Glucose               -        2-3

Minerals Traces

Vitamins (minute quantities) (B1, B2, C)

Composition of honey and its different flavors depend on the kinds of flowers from which the nectar is collected. Nectar is sucked from flowers and mixed with saliva. It is swallowed into a special region of the gut called honey stomach. Nectar is a disaccharide (sucrose) it is hydrolyzed by the salivary amylase to produce monosaccharides (fructose and glucose).

Inside the hive the workers regurgitate the processed nectar. The honey thus produced is still very dilute. After placing this honey onto the storage cells of the hive the bees “fan” with their wings to evaporate the excess water and bring the honey to its required concentration.

Products from a beehive

Some of the hive products are used for Apitherapy. The Apitherapy is the use of products from the bee to promote health and healing.

Honey :     Honey has been treasured as one of nature’s most perfect food. Other than honey, the products such as bee wax, bee venom, propolis, royal jelly, and pollen are obtained as beehive products. It is a sweet, viscous edible food obtained by honey bees. The color, flavor, and odor of honey usually depend on flowers from which nectar is gathered. It is an energy-rich nourishing food.

a.  Uses of Honey

Some uses of honey are as follows

1.   As food : Honey is a nutritious food, rich in energy and vitamins.

2.   As medicines: It is used as a carrier in ayurvedic and unani medicines. It acts as a laxative and prevents cold, cough and fever. Honey is an antiseptic and contains formic acid as the preservative.  

3.   Honey is a good laxative and a blood purifier. It prevents cough and cold and also relieves sore throat. Honey is a remedy for tongue ulcers and intestinal ulcers.

4.   It is used in religious ceremonies.

5.   Honey is made into alcoholic drinks by fermentation. These drinks are popularly known as mead or honey wines. Large amounts are used in skin and beauty lotions.

6.   Another important use is in scientific research for making bacterial cultures.

7.   It is also utilized for making poison baits for certain insect pests.

b.   Beeswax

Beeswax is secreted by the wax glands located on the underside of the last four abdominal segments (4th to 7th) of the worker bee. This wax is used in constructing bee combs in which the colony of the bees develops.

Uses of beeswax

Wax derived from beehive are utilized as follows:

a.   Bee wax is used in the candle industry and bee industry for preparing comb foundation sheets.   (the modern candles are made of paraffin wax, a petroleum product).

b.   Pharmaceutical and perfume industries are also major users of wax preparation of varnishes and paints.

c.   Water proofing and waxing of threads.

d.   Formation of comb foundation (wax foundation in apiaries).

e.   Wax is an important constituent of cosmetics like cold creams, lipsticks, and rouges because it adheres better to skin.

f.     It is also used in ointments, capsules, pill coatings and deodorants.

g.   Wax is used for preparing shoe polish, furniture, etc. because it acts as waterproofing.

h.    Its minor use is made in adhesive, chewing gums ink etc.

c.   Royal jelly (Bee milk)

Royal jelly is secreted by glands of nurse bees of the age of 6-12 days. It is a very nutritious food and is fed to the young larvae and adult queen. Royal jelly is milky white in color. It is composed of protein, lipids, carbohydrates, water and ash. Royal jelly is a nutrious food for human beings as it increases vigor and vitality.

d.  Pollen:

The worker bees (field bees) collect pollen, which is the basic form of renewing species of plants as well as feeding the hive larva as well. The nurse bees of the hive will refine the pollen into beebread or royal jelly for feeding to larva and young bees. Pollen is also used for human consumption since it’s packed with 25 protein and 18 amino acids.

e.  Bee Venom

Sting of the worker bee is attached to a poison sac where venom is stored. It is composed of many substances such as histamine, apamine, acithinase, hydrocholoric acid, formic acid, orthophosphoric acid, sulphur, calcium, copper and magnesium sulphate.

1. Apitherapy: Bees can be made to sting the patient who has skin disease and the venom collected can be used as medicines for subcutaneous infections.

2. An ointment made by mixing apitoxin, vaseline and salicylic acid can be used to make the skin soft and increases penetration.

3. Bee venom is useful for curing many diseases and disorders especially Rheumatism.

4.It has a stimulating effect on heart muscles. It decreases cholesterol levels and also lowers blood pressure.

5.It is used in the treatment of neurosis, arteriosis and arthritis.

Diseases of bees and their enemies

Honey bees are affected by large number of viral, fungal, bacterial and protozoan organisms, ecto-endoparasitic mites, insects and non-insect enemies.

Viral diseases

Sac brood : It is caused by a virus and found in 30% of this colony. This prevents larvae from pupating.

Kashmir bee viruses: This disease will affect in all stages of development Infected bees die in the affected colony.

Fungal diseases

Chalk brood : Caused by a fungus. Strands of fungus invade the larval tissue and the larvae dies. The dead larvae become chalky white in colour.

Bacterial diseases

American foul brood (AFB): Caused by spore forming bacterium. This bacterium penetrates the gut wall and body tissue of the larvae. Infected larvae change colour from a healthy pearly white to dark brown and die after they are capped.

Protozoan diseases

Nosema : Caused by the spore forming protozoa. It impairs the digestion and cause dysentery.

Acarine disease

Isle of wight - an acarine disease caused by a small parasitic mite due to the blocking of the trachea of the bee. Infestation of this mite causes chronic bee paralysis.

Enemies

There are a large number of animals who act as enemies to the bee. Some of the enemies are wax moth, wax beetle, toads, snails, ants, dragon flies, praying mantis, termites etc.

Present situations  of apiculture industry in India

The number of bee colonies in India at present is about 5.75 lakhs irrespective of our goal of establishing 15 crores bee colonies. In Maharashtra, regular bee farms have been established at several places. Among the honey producing States, Tamil Nadu stands first followed by Kerala and Karnataka respectively. Bee research centers have been established at several places in India. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research is engaged in research and developmental efforts in various disciplines of agriculture including api-culture.