Jothidam Adipadai

//~irr rffr ~.
-JCPifxf ~
1fPfC{ CfRfft ~ 3lTr 31/vf
.'cf; ~ -q m- w MCf3fi?! ctT 'JfTq.1J CfiT 31Ttm" '*
~ / ~ "ff~ 3RT 07'<0/)' xf· ~ urrfrr rrci
Cf1frrfr RJer Ii m& rffr ~ cp:ffl SV ~ rffr ~
~\3ifR~~('
..
"Education is a liberating force, and in our

\ . age it is also cl democratising force" cutting
'across the barriers of caste and class,
smoothing out inequalities imposed by birth
andoiher circumstances. ".
- Indira Gandhi'
J
~ OAPI-Oll
Indira Gandhi
~, National Open University
~ School of Agriculture
Introduction to
Beekeeping
Block
1
INTRODUCTION TO BEES AND
BEEKEEPING
Unit 1
An Overview of Beekeeping History 5
Unit 2
Species Diversity and Social Organization 15
Unit 3
Structure of Honey Bee 30
Unit 4
Starting of Beekeeping 40
PROGRAMME DESIGN COMMITTEE
Shri R. R. Aggarwal Prof. Neera Kapoor
S.C.F.17, Sector-S . School of Sciences, fGNOU
Bahadurgarh -124 504 (Haryana) New Delhi-I 10 068
Dr. G. S. Gatoria Dr. P.K. Chhuneja

Sr. Entomologist Entomologist, Department of Entomology
Department of Entomology PAU, Ludhiana-141 004 (Punjab)
PAU, Ludhiana-141 004 (Punjab)
Or J.K. Gupta
Or. A. K. Bhowmick Senior Scientist
Professor, Entomology Department of Entomology and Apiculture
College of Agriculture UHF, Nauni, Solan-173 230 (HP) .
JNKVV, Jabalpur-482 004 (MP)
Dr. C. R. Sathapathy
Dr. A. K. Karnataka Professor (Entomology)
Professor, Department of Entomology Department of Entomology
G.B.P.U.A. & T. ~UAT, Bhubaneswar-75I 003 (Orissa)
Pantnagar
US Nagar-263 145 (Uttrakhand) Dr. M. H. Kodandaram
Scientist
Or. S. Devansen ICAR Research Complex for NEH
Professor Barapani, Shillong-793 103 (Meghalaya)
Department of Entomology
Kerala Agricultural University Faculty from School of Agriculture
Vcllayani-695 500 (Kerala) Prof. B. S. Hansra, Director
nr.~M. K. Salooja, Professor
Dr. R. S. Singh Dr. S. K. Yadav, Reader
Chief Scientist (Apiculture) Dr. P. K. Jain, Assistant Professor
Rajendra Agricultural University Dr. P. Vijayakumar, Assistant Professor
Pusa, Samastipur-848 125 (Bihar) Er. Mukesh Kumar, Assistant Professor
Dr. Mita Sinhamahapatra, Assistant Professor
Programme Coordinators: Dr. S.K. Yadav and Dr. D. Lallo
BLOCK PREPARATION TEAM

Writers Editors
Dr. G. S. Gatoria Dr. J. K. Gupta
Sr. Entomologist Senior Scientist
Department of Entomology Department of Entomology and Apiculture
PAU, Ludhiana-141 004 (Punjab) UHF, Nauni, Solan-173 230 (HP)
Dr. P. K. Chhuneja Dr. S. K. Yadav, Reader

Entomologist SOA,IGNOU
Department of Entomology New Delhi-I I0 068
PAU, Ludhiana-141 004 (Punjab)
Course Coordinator: Dr. S. K. Yadav
MATERIAL PRODUCTION
Mr. Rajiv Girdhar Ms. Rajshree Saini
Section Officer (Publications) (ProofReader)
SOA, IGNOU, New Delhi SOA, IGNOU, New Delhi
November, 2009
© Indira Gandhi National Open University. 2009
ISBN: 978-81-266-4284-7
All rights reserved. 0 part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any other
means, without permission in writing from the Copyright holder.
Further information on the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtained from the
University s office at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-I! 0068 or the official website of IGNOU at www.ignou.ac.in.
Printed and published on behalf of Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi by Director,
School of Agriculture.
Laser typeset by Rajshree Computers, V-166A, Bhagwati Vihar (Near Sec 2, Dwarka), N.D.-II 0059
Printed at: VijayaJakshmi Printing Works Pvt. Ltd., B-117, Sector-5, Noida-201301
OAPI-Ol1 INTRODUCTION TO
BEEKEEPING
The beekeeping is now becoming an important agrobased profession. It may be
described as an art and skill of keeping the bees and managing them in movable
frame hives for hobby and fascination, production of honey and other bee products
and for crop pollination service. Beekeeping was revolutionized after the invention
of movable frame bee hive by L.L.Langstroth in 1851. Commercial beekeeping in
India was started in 1910 in Southern region of the country when, Rev. Father
Newton devised a movable frame hive suitable for Asiatic hive bee, Apis cerana.
This hive was named after him as 'Newton Hive'. After independence, Khadi and
Village Industries Commission (KVIC) took up the work of beekeeping and
established Central Bee Research and Training Institute (CBRTI) at Pune
(Maharashtra) in 1962.
Many new products such as royal jelly, propalis and honey bee venom are being
taken in beekeeping. These products are high value products.
The course on "Introduction to Beekeeping" aims at familiarizing the readers to

the basics of the honey bee rearing, bee flora, pollination due to honey bees, honey
bee body structure and how to start beekeeping? This course comprises two blocks.
Block 1 consists 4 Units: An Overview of Beekeeping History, Species
Diversity and Social Organization, Structure of Honey Bee, Starting of
Beekeeping. Block 2 comprises of two Units: Bee Flora and Bee Pollination.
Each Unit has a questions section and important key words. For further reading,
suitable references has also been given.
BLOCK 1 INTRODUCTION TO BEES AND
BEEKEEPING
The beekeeping is now emerging an important agro based enterprise. It is still a
poorly organized sector in our country. The honey production has been initiated
since time immemorial. The stupa ofMuzaffurpur in Bihar depicts the significanceof
honey.In differentmythological literatures,the significanceof the honey can be traced.
In our country, the research on this honey bee rearing and honey production has
started recently. Now due to introduction of high yielding species of European bee
and easy in management have led the spread on this business. Now the Govt. of
India has set up Bee Board which give fund for carrying out different beekeeping
related activities.
Unit 1 deals with the Overview of Beekeeping History. After explaining the
history of the beekeeping in the world and India, the scenario and status of honey
production has been described. Different avenues of the beekeeping profession
have also been depicted in this unit.
Unit 2 is about Species Diversity and Social Organizations. This unit explains
the nature and characteristicsof different species ofhoney bee. The roles and functions
of the different casts of honey bee are also described in this unit. The life cycle and
foraging behavior of honey bee are also explained.
Unit 3 covers Structure of Honey Bee. In this unit, the body structure of the
honey bees have been explained. This unit also covers the internal organs of the
honey bee. This unit deals the different systems of the honey bee body.
Unit 4 is about Starting of Beekeeping. Different approaches to be adopted for
the honey bee rearing and honey production have been described in this unit.
UNIT 1 AN OVERVIEW OF BEEKEEPING
HISTORY
Structure
1.0 Aims and Objectives
1;1 Introduction
1.2 History of Beekeeping- World
1.3 History of Beekeeping-India

1.3.1 Strengthening of Beekeeping Research and Development in the Country
1.3.2 Successful Introduction and Establishment of Apis mellifera in India
1.4 Present Scenario of Beekeeping in India
1.5 Importance and Scope of Beekeeping

\.5.1 Suitability of Beekeeping as an Agro-based Enterprise
1.5.2 Who can Adopt Beekeeping?
1.6 Let Us Sum Up

1.7 Key Words
1.8 Further References
1.9 Model Answers
1.0 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit, you will be able to:
• comprehend about the beekeeping, and
• discuss the development of beekeeping over the years across the world.
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Before going into the history of Beekeeping, first let us understand the concept
of Beekeeping. The beekeeping is an art and skill of maintaining the bees in
modem movable frame hives for hobby or fascination, production of hive products
(honey, beeswax, etc.) and for pollination services. Apiculture is synonym of the
beekeeping. It has been derived from Latin word apiscultura. Apis means
"bee" and cultura denotes "cultivation through education." It is a high
profit enterprise. It can be taken up both as subsidiary industry as well as a whole
time profession. Beekeeping has an edge o,:er the other agro-based subsidiary
enterprises as it involves low initial expenditure and does not need elaborate
infrastructure. It does not interfere with other agricultural activities and provides
handsome income. It plays a great role in agricultural diversification by producing
various kinds of bee products and pollination of crop. We can manage some hive
at our backyard. Thus, at any stage we may sell the honey and earn some amount
for our livelihood.
-,
The advent of honey had been correlated with the appearance of flowering plants
on the earth about 90 million years ago. The significance of the beekeeping has
5
been depicted in different
Introduction to Bees
and Beekeeping 1.2 HISTORY OF BEEKEEPING -WORLD
It is not clear when man started
beekeeping, but there is
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.
Fig. 1.1: Wooden log hive
. 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
nutritionaland pharmaceuticalvalue
of honey. Greek athletes used
honey as an energy burst. The
Roman poet, Virgil, explained the
proper way to install apiaries. The
writer, Varro, who was called by
the Romans "the most learned of
all the Romans," discussed the
business and profit opportunities
derived from apiculture. The
primitive man used to hunt the
naturally existing honey bee
colonies. Gradually, he learned to
keep them in primitive type of bee
Fig. 1.2: Primitive log hives
hives made up of locally available
material such as hollowed wooden logs, earthen pots, baskets, skeps, wicker
hives and hollow parts of walls (Fig 1.1).
Commercial beekeeping started during the second half of the 19th century. In 1851,
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). Based on this concept, modern age 'Langstroth bee hive'
with movable parallel frames/combs was developed (Fig. 1.2) L.L.Langstroth is
known as Father of Modern Beekeeping. There was an invention of comb
foundation mill by Johannes Mehring (German), honey extractor by Franz von
Hrushka (Austrian), Bee Smoker and Uncapping Knife by Mosses Quinby
(American), Bee Escape by E.c. Porter (American) and Continuous Comb
Foundation Roller Mill by CB. Weed (American).
6
An Overview of
1.3 HISTORY OF BEEKEEPING-INDIA Beekeeping History
Bees and honey were known to human being in India since time immemorial
astheir 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. In our country, first attempt to keep
honey bees in movable frame hive was made in early 1880s in pre-partition
Bengal and Punjab. Commercial beekeeping in India started in 1910 in South
when Rev. Newton devised a movable frame hive suitable for Asiatic hive
bee, Apis cerana. This hive was named after him as 'Newton Hive'. This
hive is still popular for keeping the indigenous hive bee, Apis cerana.
During 1911-17, Newton also trained a large number of beekeepers in
Southern India. The Royal Commission on Agriculture (1928) recommended
development of beekeeping as a cottage industry in India. The All India
Beekeepers' Association (AlBA) was established in 1938-39. This association
started publishing the Indian Bee Journal (lBJ). During 1880, high yielding
European bees, Apis mellifera, were introduced in our country. A sizable quantity
of this species was imported from 1920 to 1951 in the states of Maharashtra,
Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Punjab and Kashmir but none
succeeded to establish this exotic honey bee species in the country.
1.3.1 Strengthening of Beekeeping Research and

Development in the Country
After independence, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Govt.
of India took up beekeeping as one of its ventures. Some states like Jammu &
Kashmir, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh established
Departments of Beekeeping under their Ministry of Agriculture/ Industries. Further,
considering the importance of applied and basic research in apiculture, KVIC
established Central Bee Research and Training Institute (CBRTI) at Pune in
1962.
The research in beekeeping started when Indian Council of Agricultural Research

(ICAR), New Delhi started funding different projects. Two Beekeeping Research
Stations were also established at Nagrota-Bagwan (erstwhile Punjab, now in
H.P.) in 1945 and at Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) in 1951.
1.3.2 Successful Introduction and Establishment of Apis

mellifera in India
After a long gap of unsuccessful attempts of Apis mellifera introduction in
our country, Professor A. S. Atwal (Fig. 1.3), an Entomologist of the Punjab
Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, with his associates, introduced
Apis .unellifera in 1962 at Beekeeping Research Stations of Nag rota-Bag wan
(H.P.) by adopting the 'Inter-specific Queen Introduction Technique'.
They imported disease free Apis mellifera gravid queens along with worker
bees. Later the worker bees were burnt and Apis mellifera queens were
introduced one each into the de-queened colonies of Asiatic hive bee (Apis
cerana). After the adaptation of Apis mellifera queens, the workers of Asiatic
hive bee (Apis cerana) reared the brood. It resulted in gradual replacement of
workers of Apis cerana who died with the age. Thus, Apis mellifera stocks 7
were further strengthened by importing disease free consignments of the gravid
and Beekeeping
queen bees.
Fig. 1.3: Prof. A.S. Atwal
Let us compare the features of Apis mellifera and Apis cerana. Their
characteristics are given in the following table:
Thlit Apis mellifera Apis cerana
Body weight (mg) 70-80 50-70
Tongue length (mm) 5.7-7.2 4.4-5.5
Flight range (km) 2-3 1.5-2.0
Nectar load (mg) 40-50 30-40
Pollen load (mg) 10-30 7-15
Fecundity (rate of egg laying per day) 800-1,500 eggs 300-800 eggs
Hive population prior to honey flow 50,000-60,000 25,000 -30,000
Adaptation to high temperature High Low
Swarming tendency Low High
Absconding tendency Very low High
Wax moth attack Less More
Resistance to Thai sacbrood virus Yes No
Honey yield/ colony 25 -30 kg 4-5 kg
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) sanctioned 'Operational

Research Project' on the Establishment of Italian Honey Bee in the Punjab in
1976. By 1980,Apis mellifera became very popular among the farmers. An 'All
India Coordinated Project (AICP) on Honey Bee Research and Training' was
launched by ICAR in 1980 with its headquarters (HQ) at CBRTI, Pune. Its
headquarters is now shifted to HaryanaAgricultural University, Hisar (Haryana).
The earlier All India Coordinated Research Project has been renamed as 'All
India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Honey Bees and Pollinators'.
This Project has 16 centers spread all over the country. State Departments of
Agriculture and Horticulture and National Horticulture Board (NHB), Govt. of
India are also engaged in the development of beekeeping.
8
An Overview of
National Horticultural Mission (NHM) launched by Department of Agriculture, Beekeeping History
Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India during 10th Five Year Plan has laid emphasis
on crop pollination by honey bees.
Convinced with the performance of Apis mellifora in the Punjab, H.P. and Haryana
and due to the outbreak of Thai Sacbrood Viral Disease causing large scale
mortality of Apis cerana colonies during late 1970s to early 1980s in the states,
practicing Apis cerana beekeepers of many other states expressed desire to
adopt Apis mellifera. Due to this, ICAR in 1986 decided to extend this species
from Punjab to other states. Now, this exotic honey bee (Apis mellifera) has
been spread to almost whole of the country.
During 1993, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of

Agriculture, Govt. of India laid special emphasis on beekeeping and started a
National Scheme on the 'Development of Beekeeping for Increasing Crop
Productivity'. Under this Scheme, beekeeping research, training and development
projects were sanctioned to various State Agriculture Universities (SAUs), State
Agriculture Departments, Government and Non-Government organizations (NGOs).
Govt. of India established National Bee Board in 2006.
1.4 PRESENT SCENARIO OF BEEKEEPING IN

INDIA
Presently, we have all the four traditional honey bee species of the world viz. two
wild species, Apis dorsata Fabricius and Apis florea Fabricius and two hive bee
species Apis cerana Fabricius and Apis mellifera Lin. in our country. Until mid
1970's, the beekeeping was being practiced only with Apis cerana in the country
which remained confined only to north-eastem region, north hill region and southern
peninsula
Presently, it is estimated that there-are about 14lakh hive bee colonies (6.73 lakh
of Apis mellifera and 7.30 lakh of Apis cerana in the country.
Keeping in view the area, topography and population of India, the current
beekeeping situation in the country is not very encouraging. On the basis of
available FAO statistics on honey production, India is at No. 5 in the world.
China is producing about 40% of the total world honey production and is at the
top in honey production in the world followed by the USA, Argentina and Turkey.
Within India, Punjab is leading in honey production. At present, Punjab with only
1.5 per cent of India's geographic area is contributing more than 25 per cent of
the National Apiary Honey. Ludhiana has emerged as the hub of beekeeping in
the country. The Punjab has not only witnessed Amber (Sweet) Revolution but
also brought India on the map of honey exporting countries of the world. A big
chunk of melliferous honey from Punjab is being exported to USA and Germany,
The climatic suitability and availability of abundant floral avenues are the major
reasons behind the higher productivity of honey in the state.
The technologies for mass production of queen bees, bee breeding, production
of more valuable bee products other than honey, such as royal jelly, bee venom,
propolis, pollen and bees wax etc. are available. The adoption of such technologies
would generate specialized human resources and bring about diversification of
apiculture in the country. These bee products are in great demand in the western
countries and can fetch handsome foreign exchange.
9
and Beekeeping 1.5 IMPORTANCE AND SCOPE OF
BEEKEEPING
Beekeeping is an ideal subsidiary or whole time occupation. It fits well in
diversification of agriculture. Besides adding to the farm income through production
of honey, beekeeping also leads to the generation of other sources of income and
employment opportunities including the development of several allied industries.
We may visualize the different industries having alliance with honey production
through Fig.1.4.
DEVELOPMENT
OF TRAINING
AND FINANCING
DIRECT AND
INDIRECT PRODUCTION AND
EMPLOYMENT IN LOCAL SALE OF
BEEKEEPING AND BEE PRODUCTS
AND THEIR
MULTIPLICATION
CUSTOM SERVICE AND SALE OF :
FOR: BEE PEDIGREE
MANAGEMENT, BEE QUEEN BEES,
POLLINATION AND NUCLEUS
FABRICATION COLONIES AND
AND SALE OF
BEEKEEPING
EQUIPMENT,
DEVELOPMENT OF
BOTTLING AND
PACKAGING
Fig. 1.4: Beekeeping - a multi pronged employment generating enterprise
Out of all the species reported so far, four are of major economic importance
of which two viz. Apis mellifera and Apis cerana are hive (domesticated)
species. Apis mellifera is recommended for commercial beekeeping in the
areas having higher beekeeping potential. According to an estimate, the country
requires nearly 737 lakh bee colonies for pollination of only 12 important crops.
So there is a great potential and scope of beekeeping in the country. Rock bee,
Apis dorsata and little bee, Apis florea are also hunted for honey in the
country by tribal honey hunters. Still honey from wild honey bee species forms
a major churik of total honey production in the country. Rock bee honey is
squeezed from its combs particularly in southern peninsular states and little bee
honey is conserved and exploited particularly in Gujarat. Further, stingless honey
bee (Trigona iridepennis) is also used for its exquisite and rare honey in
10 Kerala and Tamil Nadu states.
An Overview of
1.5.1 Suitability of Beekeeping as an Agro-based Enterprise Beekeeping History
We have discussed above about the benefits of beekeeping above many times.
To reinforce you, the following points highlight the suitability of beekeeping on an
Agro-Based enterprise:
i) Beekeeping does not need any special land or elaborate structure.
ii) It does not compete with other agricultural enterprises for the resources.
iii) It does not require heavy initial investment also the recurring expenditure is
negligible.
.'iv) It does not require continuous labour and heavy physical work. Thus, it is
very ideal as a part-time occupation, especially for women and children.
v) Beekeeping requires simple equipments which can be fabricated in rural
areas. Thus, beekeeping generates new employment opportunities.
vi) Honey itself is a very hygienic food, tonic and medicine and makes the diet
more balanced.
vii) Beekeeping is a multiple source of income. Beeswax is the second product
which has great commercial and industrial value. Sale of queen bees and
nucleus colonies by division of parent colonies are other sources of income.
Production of other special bee-products like royal jelly, bee venom, pollen
and propolis can further add in the income.
viii) Above all, pollination by bees improves the quantity and quality of the crop
produce and benefits the community as a whole rather than only the individual
beekeepers. Thus, a beekeeper can further increase his income by renting
out his bee colonies for pollination service.

Beekeeping is suitable for well to do farmers, landless labourers, small and
marginal farmers, employed persons, ex-servicemen and retired persons, house
wives/farm women, students and unemployed youth. Thus, beekeeping.
enterprise is suitable for people from all walks of life as a hobby, subsidiary
occupation for supplementing income or as a whole time job for self employment.
It is particularly suitable for under employed/unemployed youth residing in 'rural ,
areas. After investing once on honey bee, hives and other equipment, (non-
recurring expenditure), further (recurring) expenditure is very negligible. One can
easily maintain about 100 honey bee colonies and can earn income between
Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 2,00,000 per annum.
Check Your Progress Exercise 1

Note: i) Answer the following questions in the given blank space.
,
n) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit. .
1) What is beekeeping?
"••.•••.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
!••.•••••••••.•••.•••••.•••••.•
~••••••.•••••
~••••••••••.•••.•.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••.•••••.•••••••••••••••••.•••••••••••••••.•••••••.•••••••••.•••.••••••••••
,'"''''
••• ••• ••••• ••••••• • ,- ••••• ~ ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• e'•••••••••• 0" •••••••••••••••••••••••••••.••••••

, .
. .• .....•.....•.......•.•...•...•.•.....•.•...••...•...•.....•.••••••••••••••••••..•••..••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••. ,; ~ '.~.'" .0•..•. ' ••••••
................. ~...............................•...... - - ~ ,..

2) Who invented the present day moVable frame bee hive and when?
and Beekeeping
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• t.
3) What is the name of bee hive used for Asiatic hive bee and who
developed it, when and where?
4) Name the two earliest beekeeping research stations were developed in

the country.
5) Who introduced and successfully established Apis mellifera bees in India

and which technique didlhe follow?
1.6 LET US SUM UP

The beekeeping is a noble profession. It is an art and skill of keeping the bees
and managing them in movable frame hives for hobby and fascination, production
of honey and other bee products and for crop pollination service. Beekeeping
was revolutionized after the invention of movable frame bee hive by L.L.Langstroth
in 1851. Commercial beekeeping in India was started in 1910 in Southern region
of the country when, Rev. Father Newton devised a movable frame hive suitable
for Asiatic hive bee, Apis cerana. This hive was named after him as 'Newton
12
An Overview of
Hive'. After independence, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) Beekeeping History
took up the work of beekeeping and established Central Bee Research and
Training Institute (CBRTI) at Pune (Maharashtra) in 1962. The apicultural research
was strengthened when Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New
Delhi started funding the projects for the establishment of beekeeping and two
Beekeeping Research Stations were established, at Nagrota-Bagwan (erstwhile
Punjab, now in H.P.) in 1945 and at Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) in 1951. Now
in India, all the four species of Apis are present. A. mellifera and A. cerana are
being domesticated in different regions. India is at fifth position in honey production
in the world.
1:7 KEY WORDS

Beehive It is an enclosed structure in which a bee species of the genus
, Apis live and raise their young offspring.
Beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of honey bee

colonies, commonly in hives, by human being for some product
or service.
Exotic Bee Bee species introduced or domesticated in areas other than

their place of origin.
1.8 FURTHER REFERENCES

The following books or references can be used for further reading on the subject.
Gatoria, US.; Singh, Y. and Jhajj, H.S. 1988. Beekeeping in the Changing
Agricultural Scenario for Rural Uplift, pp. 14-39. In : R. C. Mishra (ed),
Perspectives in Indian Apiculture. Agro Botanica, Bikaner, India, 412 pp. '
Gatoria, o.S.; Mishra, R.C. and Chhuneja, P.K. 2002. Increasing high
Productivity through diversification of beekeeping. In : Proc. National Honey
. Festival-Cum-Beekeeping Conference - 2002. National Bee Board, New Delhi,
pp. 1-27.
Goyal, N. P. and Gupta, J.K. 1994. Development of beekeeping

with Apis mellifera L. in India. Present status and future scope. Indian Bee
J 56 (3-4): 127-131.
Jhajj, H.S.; Gatoria,o.S. and Bakhetia, D.R.C. 1996. Three Decades of
Beekeeping Research in Punjab. Department of Entomology, P.A.u., Ludhiana,
59 pp.
Mishra, R.C. and Sihag, R.C. 1987. Apicultural Research in India. ICAR, New
Delhi, 120 pp.
Mishra, R.C. 1995. Honey Bees and Their Management, ICAR, New Delhi,
India, 168 pp.
Shende, S.U and Phadke, R.P. 1993. Beekeeping in India: History, present-
status and future. In : Proc. First National Conference on Beekeeping (June
29, 1993), Chandigarh, pp. 9-2l.
Singh, S. 1962. Beekeeping in India, ICAR, New Delhi, India, 214 pp.
13
and Beekeeping 1.9 .MODEL ANSWERS
1) Beekeeping is the art and skill of keeping the bees and managing them in
modem movable frame hives for hobby and fascination, production of honey,
beeswax, etc. and for crop pollination.
2) L.L.Langstroth developed the present day movable frame bee hive in l850s
in USA.
3) The name of bee hive used for Asiatic hive bee is Newton hive which was
developed by Father Newton in 1910 in South India.
4) One is at Nagrota-Bagwan (erstwhile Punjab, now in H.P.) and another at

Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu).
5) Prof. A. S. Atwal of PAU, Ludhiana introduced and successfully

established Apis mellifera in India, following 'Inter-specific Queen
Introduction'technique.
14
UNIT 2 SPECIES DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL
ORGANIZATION
Structure
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Characteristics of Order Hymenoptera
2.3 Types of Bees
2.4 Species of Honey Bees
2.5 Castes of Honey Bees
2.6 Developmental Stages and Life Cycle of Honey Bee

2.6.1 Developmental Stages
2.6.2 Duration of Development Stages
2.7 Social Organization
2.8 Division of Labour
2.9 Bee Behaviour

2.9.1 Mating Behaviour
2.9.2 Brood Care
2.9.3 Foraging Behaviour
2.9.4 Stinging Behaviour
2.9.5 Communication Behaviour
2.10 Let Us Sum Up
2.11 Key Words

2.13 Model Answers

The aim of this unit is to make readers familiar with diversity of bees species and
their social organization. This unit will acquaint you with the:
• characteristics and types of bees (bee species, castes and their differentiation),
their life cycle; and
• colony organization, division of labour and bee behavior.
2.1 INTRODUCTION
You have studied the development of beekeeping from hunting to the commercial
rearing in the previous unit. Now, we shall study about the features of different
species of the honey bee in this unit. We shall also describe different kind of
15
Introduction to Bees activities of the bee species which is performed for the honey production. All the
and Beekeeping
matter in the universe is divided into living and non-living things. The living things
are included in - Plant and Animal Kingdoms. The plants and animals are
further classified into five different categories by Linnaeus - a well known naturalist
Subsequently, various scientists added more categories. The position of honey
bees (Apis species) in general system of hierarchy is as given below:
Categories Taxa (specific names given to the categories)
Kingdom Animal
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Insecta
Order Hymnoptera
Super family Apoidea
Family Apidae
Genus Apis
Species mellifera, cerana, dorsa/a, florea
Thus, the bees belong to the largest group of animais known as insects and are
put under the order Hymenoptera which refers to the insects with membranous
wings coupling during flight with each other on either side; by means of a sort of
hooks on the front margin of hind wing and a thick fold on the rear margin of fore
wing. Order Hymenoptera contains more than 1,30,000 species of insects in the
world. Bees, as a group, are closely related to ants and wasps. They have
branched hairs on the head and thorax and their hind tarsi are modified for
pollen collection.
2.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF ORDER

HYMENOPTERA
Let us examine the peculiar feature of order Hymenoptera. The insects belong
to this order will possess the following characteristics:
• Two pairs of wings or wingless.
• Fore wings larger than hind wings.
• Antennae with 10 or more segments and generally longer than head.
• Females with well-developed ovipositor.
• Chewing or chewing and lapping type of mouth parts.
• Complete metamorphosis.
2.3 TYPES OF BEES

When we say bee, it is honey bee. The bees are solitary (living single) and
social bees (living in communities).
Some of the important families of bees are given below:

16
Species Diversity and
Collctidae (Plaster bees): These nest in burrows in the ground and plaster
Social Organization
their burrows with a thin translucent substance.
ii) Halictidae (Mining bees): These bees also nest in burrows at ground level
or in the tree barks.
iii) Andrenidae (Mining bees): These bees also nest in burrow in the ground
or in tree barks.
iv) Megachilidae (Leaf cutting bees): They nest in the ground or dead-
wood. Their burrows are bedded with circular pieces cut from the plant
leaves.
v) Apidae (Bumble bees, honey bees, stingless bees): These are the bees
with well developed social system of different castes and division oflabour
and live in colonies.
vi) Anthophoridae (Carpenter bees): These bees nest as parasites in the nest
of other bees or in wood, bamboo stems, soft stems of other plants, etc.
2.4 SPECIES OF HONEY BEES
The honey which is produced and you consume comes from many species of the
bees having varied productivity levels. We shall examine the features of the different
bee species available in the nature in this unit. This will help you to identify the
appropriate bee species for the honey production.
Honey bees have developed highly social behaviour in founding and building
their nests, communicating among themselves, brood care, producing different
castes and division of labour. Honey bees have high degree of adaptability and
can live where human can. There are four species of true honey bees as
depicted in the Fig. 2.1 (i - iv). Out of these species, rock/giant honey bee (Apis
dorsata Fabricius) and small little honey bee (Apis florea Fabricius) are wild in
nature. They construct single comb at places where they get diffused light. On the
contrary, Asiatic honey bee (Apis cerana Fabricius) and European honey bee
(Apis mellifera Linnaeus) are hive species that construct a series of parallel
combs inside the enclosures! captivities or wooden hives. The wild bees are in the
habit of shifting from place to place (absconding). The giant honey bees (Apis
dorsatai are good honey collectors but because of their furious in nature, they
are not amenable by an ordinary beekeeper. Asiatic honey bee (Apis cerana) is
gentle but has strong swarming and absconding tendencies. This species is also
seriously affected by wax moth and prone to Thai sacbrood (TSB) disease. Its
average honey yield in the plains is very low. The European honey bee (Apis
mellifera) has prolific queen bees, less swarming tendency, little absconding instinct,
gentle temperament, relatively resistant to wax moth and immune to TSB disease
and has better honey collecting capacity. All the four honey bee species can be
differentiated on the basis of the following morphological and behavioral
characteristics (Table 2.1).
17
Introduction to Bees Table 2.1: Characteristics of Different Honey Bee Species
and Beekeeping
Characteristics A. dorsata (Giant Ai florea A. mellifera A. cerana

honey beef Rock (Small honey (European (Asiatic honey
honeybee) bee/Little honeybee) bee)
honeybee)
1. Body size Largest Smallest Medium Medium
Head black, Abdomen Body golden Body colour

2 Body orange
abdomen reddish yellow, profusely black, abdo-
colour anteriority with hairy with faint
anteriorily and men with white
black and white stripes on the
black at the tip and black
alternate stripes
abdomen stripes
posteriorily
3. Wings Smoky Transparent Transparent Transparent
4. Tongue Largest Smallest Medium Medium

(Proboscis)
size
5. No. of 18.75 32.8 to 36.0 19.3 21.25 to 25.0

worker
brood cells/
4 linear
inches
6. Nature and Wild bee, hostile Wild bee, Hive bee, Hive bee,
temperament docile docile docile
7. Comb Single, large Single, small Many parallel Many parallel

construction (5-7'x2-4 ') combs, (palm to quarter combs inside combs inside
constructed plate size) the enclosure or the enclosures
under the roof combs, in bee hives. or in bee
projections, constructed in hives.
water reservoirs bushy plants,
and on trunks/ cotton sticks,
branches of etc.
bigger trees.
We may have a glance of the figures of the four species of the honey bees
with the help of the following figures:
Apis dorsata Apis florea

(Rock/giant bee) (Little honey bee)
Apis cerana Apis mellifera

(Asiatic hive bee) (European/ltalian hive bee)
18 Fig. 2.1: Different species of honey bees
Social Organization
2.5 CASTES OF HONEY BEES
Honey bee is a social insect. They live in colonies. As you might have heard
that there are different types of bee in a hive to look after different works
related to the hive maintenance. These bees are known as castes. Let us
examme the features of these castes one by one. Their pictures are depicted at
Fig. 2.2.
Worker Bee
This is very important caste in the beekeeping. It is sexually abortive
(sterile) female and is the smallest individual as compared to the other two castes.
There individuals are present in several thousands in a colony. They perform all
important functions for the well being of the colony such as nest building, food
gathering, brood care, defense of the colony, attending the queen bee, keeping the
hive warm and hygienic, and gathering resins and water as per the need in the
colony.
Queen Bee
It is sexually matured female in a normal colony. It is bigger in size than the
worker bee, also a female. Queen bee has longer abdomen, distended and
extending well beyond the wings. It is for the reproduction and maintaining bee
population. She mates with drone(s) during nuptial flight outside the colony in the
air and later remains confined to the hive to lay eggs throughout her life. Thus, it
is the mother of the colony, but it lacks motherly instinct to look after the offspring.
It has a sting which it uses for killing rival queen bees.
Drone
It is a functional male, developed from unfertilized egg, and is larger and darker
than the worker bee. Its compound eyes are very large and fused at the vertex
(top) of the head. It has no sting or wax glands. Its hind legs are also not modified
for pollen collection. It takes part in the nuptial flight of the queen bee for mating.
It dies after successful mating with the' queen. These are present in honey bee
colonies during the specific (breeding) seasons.
(i) Worker bee (ii) Queen bee (iii) Drone bee
Fig. 2.2: Different castes of honey bees (A. mellifera)
Worker bee, queen bee and drone can easily be differentiated on the basis of
morphological characteristics (Fig. 2.3) as listed in Table 2.2. 19
and Beekeeping
(i) Worker bee (ii) Queen bee (iii) Drone
Fig 2.3: Head capsule of different castes of honey bee
Table 2.2: Morphological Differentiation of Different Castes of Honey Bee

Characteristics Worker Bee Queen bee Drone
l. Body size Small Longest Medium
2. Wings Fully cover the Do not fully Fully cover

abdomen cover the abdomen the abdomen
3. Head Triangular A little round Round
4. Abdomen Tip of abdomen conical Long, tapering Tip of

abdomen
blunt and
hairy
5. Compound Small and well apart Small and well Large kidney
eyes apart shaped,
meeting at
vertex
6. Pollen Well developed Not developed Not

collecting legs developed
7. Sting Present with barbs Present without Absent

barbs
Note : i) Answer the following questions in the given space.

ii) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit
1) Who classified plants and animals into different categories?
2) To which order do the bees belong? What are its important characteristics?
20
3) . Enlist the four important species of honey bees. Which of these are hive Social Organization
(domesticated) bee species?
4) How would you differentiate queen bee, worker'bee and drone on the basis
of their head, eyes and abdominal characteristics?
Queen Worker Drone

Head
Compound
Eyes
Abdomen
2.6 DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES AND LIFE

CYCLE OF HONEY BEE
Let us examine the stages through which a bee passes. These stages are called
developmental stages.
2.6.1 Developmental Stages

Honey bee undergoes four developmental stages during its life as shown in the
Fig. 2.4.
o Egg,
ii}: Larva,
ill) Pupa, and
iv) Adult bee.
Let us discuss these developmental stages have been briefly discussed below.
i) Egg: Egg is pearly white in colour and slightly curved. Eggs are laid in the
brood cells singly and vertically with the thin end attached to the bottom of
the cell. The fertilized eggs develop into worker bees or queen bee and the
unfertilized eggs develop into drones. Morphologically both fertilized and
unfertilized eggs are similar but worker eggs are laid in smaller brood cells
whereas drone eggs are laid in large sized cells. By the third day, after
passing through gradual inclinations, the egg lies flat on the bottom of the cell
and egg shell gets dissolved facilitating hatching.
ii) Larva: Growing larva sheds its skin many times before it is full grown. All
the larvae are fed royal jelly for the first three days. Thereafter, worker and
drone larvae are reared on glandular secretions mixed with pollen and honey
but queen bee larva, which is also raised from fertilized egg is fed on (royal
jelly) throughout its development period. Larva is legless and lies coiled in
its cell throughout this stage.
21
Introduction to Bees ill) Pupa: When larva is fully grown, its cell is sealed. Larva, after a brief
and Beekeeping
prepupal period, spins thin silken cocoon around it and undergoes gradual
distinct changes. The sealing in the case of worker bee is almost plane
where as in the case of drones, the cappings (seals) are raised, roundishl
dome shaped. The queen pupal cell is elongated and projects outward from
the comb surface and hangs downwards and is shaped like a peanut. All the
characters of adulthood appear during this stage.
Egg.
Pupa Larva
I I
----->-- 1,------------,
_ Adult
Unsealed Royal Sealed Royal Queen Queen

Queen Bee larva queen cell pupa Emergence cell
Fig. 2.4: Life cycle of Apis mellifera
iv) Imago (Adult stage): After the pupal development the insect transforms
into adult. Then, the adult bee emerges out of the sealed cells.
2.6.2 Duration of Development Stages

The duration of various life stages in different castes of honey bees has been given
22 below:
Caste Development Period in Days Social Organization
Egg Larva Pupa Total Adult Sexual Adult

(Unsealed (Sealed Development Emergence Maturity Longevity
Stage) Stage) Period (from Egg
Laying)
Queen 3 5 7 15 16 Within 3 Up to
days 3 years
Drone 3 7 12 22 24 In 14 One
days season
Worker 3 5 12 20 21 Sexually 4-6

imperfect weeks
caste
2.7 SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Honey bees are highly social insects. They live in a well organized colony. The
bees multiply their colonies and establish new nests. They interact among themselves
brood care; communication about the distance, direction and potential of a flora
and presence of queen bee, etc. As discussed, the hives have different castes
which perform different duties. Different castes are dependent on one another and
bees work for the benefit of the colony as a whole. The worker bees for the
defense of the colony die after stinging. A normal colony of honey bees is composed
of a queen, a few hundred drones and thousands of worker bees.
2.8 DIVISION OF LABOUR
Division of labour among the honey bees of a colony is based on different

castes and the age of worker bees. Queen bee is the only functional female and
mother of the colony. The inheritable duty of the queen bee is to only lay eggs
besides keeping the colony intact. This also releases queen substances. Queen
bee can lay 1,500-2,000 eggs per day at its peak. Drone bees are males and
their only function is to mate with the virgin queen bee (gyne). During off season
they are expelled out of the colony to die. Worker bees are females with
underdeveloped reproductive system. Except reproduction, worker bees perform
all other functions for the well being of the colony depending upon their age, as
given below:
a) For the first three weeks of the life/worker bees perform indoor duties like
cleaning and polishing (saliva smearing) of cells, production of royal jelly,
feeding / nursing the larvae and queen bee, comb construction, comb cleaning
for storing pollen and honey, ripening the honey, producing bees wax, using
propolis inside the hive to plug cracks and crevices and guarding at the hive
entrance.
b) Bees older than three weeks perform outdoor duties and act as foragers.
They collect nectar, pollen, water and propolis. There is, however, flexibility
in the working of honey bees. If due to some reason, a specific working
class is unable to perform a particular function, bees of other age group can
take up its work.
23
and Beekeeping 2.9 BEE BEHAVIOUR
2.9.1 Mating Behaviour
Queen bee may mate with one or many drones during its mating flight and further,
it may even make multiple mating flights before it starts laying eggs. For mating,
queen bee flies out of the hive and flies very fast with several drones following
it and mating occur in air. The sex organs of the drone get detached inside the
queen bee during mating and the drone dies. The following drone removes the
broken sex organ of the previous drone before mating. Queen bee returns with
the sex organ (mating sign) of the last drone which is removed by the worker bees
of the colony.
2.9.2 Brood Care

Nurse bee (worker bees of age 3-13 days) looks after the open (larval) brood
in feeding them. Queen bee larva feeds on royal jelly during larval period. Queen
bee larva feeds the royal jelly about 1,600 times during its larval period. Out of
the five days period, a total of 17 hours are spent on feeding queen bee larva.
Queen bee larva, thus, remains floating on the bed of royal jelly. Worker bee
larva, on the contrary, is progressively fed and is given fewer feedings. For the
first three days of life, the worker larva is fed on royal jelly but during the next
two days, thinner type of royal jelly mixed with pollen and nectar is fed by
younger nurse bees (3-6 days old). Drone larva, is also fed by the nurse bees
near to this latter kind of diet. Adult drone (after 14 days of age) and worker bees
(immediately after emergence) start feeding at their own, whereas the adult queen
bee is fed on royal jelly by the worker bees throughout its life.
In-house bees also regulate the brood-nest temperature during winter by converging
and covering the brood and producing metabolic heat, and during summer, by
expanding and fanning with wings. Brood is also protected from various diseases
by quicker removal of the infected! dead brood from the colony to prevent further
spread to the healthy brood.
2.9.3 Foraging Behaviour

Foraging bees collect nectar and pollen from flowers as their food. Besides, bees
also forage for propolis (plant resins) and water. While foraging, bees collect
nectar by inserting their tongue (proboscis) in between the petals from the side
without touching the reproductive parts of the flower. Top workers are thus better
pollinators. Foraging intensity (number of bees visiting per unit area and per unit
time) on the flowers is higher during the peak time of nectar / pollen availability.
Honey bees also exhibit floral fidelity/floral constancy. Floral fidelity means that
the foragers will keep on visiting the flowers of a particular crop foraging either
for nectar or for pollen or for both till the particular kind of flowers remain
available. This kind of behaviour makes them more dependable pollinator.
2.9.4 Stinging Behaviour

On realizing any threat, worker bee stings its enemy by bending its abdomen
through petiole (the second constricted abdominal segment). On stinging, it loses
its sting left broken inside the stung organism and the bee dies soon. While
stinging, it also releases a chemical kriown as 'alarm pheromone' marking the
24
enemy, and indicating to the other bees a potential threat to them. So, the other
Social Organization
bees come to attack the already stung animal at the same place. The immediate
masking the effect of the alarming chemical can be achieved by immediate removal
of the first sting followed by rubbing over the stung place. Giving a little smoke
at opening a hive, pacifies bees urge for stinging.
2.9.5 Communication Behaviour

Various castes communicate among themselves by releasing specific chemicals
known as 'pheromones'. Distance of the food source from comb/ hive is
communicated through different dances as depicted in the Fig. 2.5. Scout bees
on their return into the hive perform different kinds of dances on the comb
depending upon the distance of the food source from the hive. Other bees observe
these dances and then proceed to that bee flora (the food source). Round dance
indicates nearness of the food source while tail waggle dance (side-wise movement
of the abdomen) indicates different distances depending upon the intensity of the
tail wagging and the number of circuits (half dance circles) of the scout bees per
unit time. In the tail waggle dance, bee first makes a straight run while wagging
its tail and then turns to one direction and makes a semicircle and reaches at the
starting point, and then again makes a straight run while wagging its tail and this
time turns to the opposite direction and makes a semicircle and reaches again at
the starting point. Each half circle is known as a circuit. In between, there is
sickle dance to indicate medium distance. Further, more time spent in dance
indicates abundant food availability.
Sun
Compass
Angle
Fig. 2.5: Communications among the bees
The direction of the food source is indicated by the angle which a scout bee
makes with the line of gravity (straight up) during tail waggle dance. Dance with
the straight run directed upwards on the comb indicates food direction towards
the sun from the hive and if the straight run of the tail waggle dance is directed
downwards, it indicates that the food source is in opposite direction to that
towards the sun from the hive. If the scout bee moves straight up during straight
run of tail waggle dance without any angle with the gravity, it means food is
exactly in line towards the sun while bee moving straight down without any angle
with the gravity indicates the food source just opposite to the direction of the sun.
Any angle to the line of gravity during the straight run of the dance means that the
food source is at that angle with the line of hive to the sun's direction.
25
and Beekeeping Check Your Progress Exercise 2
Note: 0 Answer the following questions in the given space.
ii) Compare your answers, with those given at the end of the unit
1) How would you differentiate between worker and drone eggs laid by queen
bee?
2) How would you differentiate among the sealed brood cells of worker bee,
drone and queen bee?
3) What is the duration oflife cycle from egg to adult in case of worker bee,
drone and queen bee?
4) Describe the division of labour among worker bees.
5) How do the bees communicate distance of food source from their hive?
6) How db the scout bees communicate direction of new food source to their
hive mates?
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................
26
Species Diversity am
2.10 LET US SUM UP Social Organtzattoi
The bees belong to class insecta and order Hymenoptera. This order includes the
insects with membranous wings, coupling during flight. They have chewing or
chewing and lapping type of mouth parts and undergo complete metamorphosis.
Bees have two major groups i.e. solitary bees and social bees. They have branched
hair on head and thorax and their hind legs are modified for pollen collection. Of
the nine bee families, Apidae family includes honey bees which exhibit well
developed social system of different castes and division of labour and live in
colonies. There are four species of true honey bees (Apis spp). Out of these, the
rock/giant honey bee (Apis dorsata) and small/little honey bee (Apisjlorea) are
wild in nature. They construct single comb at places which receives diffused light.
On the contrary, Asiatic honey bee (Apis cerana) and European honey bee
(Apis melliferai are hive species which construct a series of parallel combs inside
the enclosures or wooden hives. All the four honey bee species can be differentiated
on the basis of morphological and behavioural characteristics. A colony of honey
bees has three castes i. e. queen bee, worker bee and drone. These castes can
easily be differentiated on the basis of morphological characteristics.
Virgin queen bee (gyne) mates with several drones. Drones die following mating.
Mated queen can lay two types of eggs - fertilize and unfertilized. Fertilized eggs
produce either worker bees or queen bees and unfertilized eggs produce only
drones. Honey bee passes through four developmental stages which are egg,
larva, pupa and adult. Queen worker and drone take 16, 21 and 24 days,
respectively to complete their life cycle (i.e. till their emergence). They bees are
highly social insects which live in a well organized colony. They are capable of
multiplying their colonies and establishing new nests; providing a high degree of
brood care; communicating among themselves about the distance, direction and
potential of a flora and presence of queen bee etc.; giving birth to different castes
which perform differentduties on the basis of division oflabour. Except reproduction,
worker bees perform all other functions depending upon their age for the well- •
being of the colony. For the first three weeks of their life, worker bees perform
indoor duties, and older than three weeks perform outdoor duties and act as
foragers. Honey bees exhibit well developed behavior of mating, during foraging
and for communication among them.
2.11 KEY WORDS

Castes Different class of bees in a colony.
Development The stages of the life which comes after certain time.
Stages
Forager The caste of honey bees collects the nectar. They are
also called searcher.
Hymenoptera Class of insect classification.
Metamorphosis This denotesthe physical changes in the anima bodies

due to growth and differentiation of the cells.
Solitary and The bee species living in isolation called solitary and
Social Bees those which live in a well organized society called,
social bee. 2
md Beekeeping 2.12 FURTHER REFERENCES
The following books may be used for further reading on the subject.
Abrol, D.P. 1997. Bees and Beekeeping in India, Kalyani Publishers, Ludhiana,
India.
Eckert, J.E. and Shaw, ER. 1960. Beekeeping, The Mac Millan Co., New York,
USA
Grahm, Joe M. 1992. Hive and the Honey Bee, Dadant & Sons, Hamilton,
Illinois, USA, 1324 pp. -
Mishra, R.C. 1995. Honey Bees and Their Management in India, ICAR, New
Delhi, India, 168 pp.
Root, AI.; Root, E.H.; Root, H.H. 1975. The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture,
A. I. Root Co. Medina, Ohio, USA
2.13 MODEL ANSWERS

1) Linnaeus, a naturalist, classified plants and animals into different categories.
2) Bees belong to order Hymenoptera. The important characteristics of this

order are:
o Two pairs of wings or wingless.
ii) Fore wings are larger than hind wings.
ill) Antennae with 10 or more segments and generally longer than head.
iv) Females with well-developed ovipositor.
v) Chewing or chewing and lapping type mouth parts.
vi) Complete metamorphosis
3) Four species of honey bees are: Apis dorsata, Apis florea, Apis mellifera
and Apis cerana. The latter two are hive bee species.
4) Morphological differentiation of honey bee castes (Apis mellifera)
Characteristics Queen Bee Drone Worker Bee
I) Head A little round Round Triangular
2) Compound Smaller and well apart Larger kidney Smaller and

eyes shaped, meeting well apart
at vertex of head
3) Abdomen Long, tapering Tip of abdomen Tip of

blunt and hairy abdomen
conical
I
Social Organization
1) Worker bees develop from fertilized eggs whereas drones deve op from
unfertilized eggs. Morphologically both worker eggs (fertilized) and drone
eggs (unfertilized) are similar but worker eggs are laid in smaller brood cells,
whereas drone eggs are laid in large sized brood cells.
2) During pupal stage comb cells are sealed. The sealing in the case of workers
is almost plane whereas in case of drones, the cappings are raised, round
and dome shaped. The queen pupal cell (queen cell) is elongated and projects
outwards and downwards from the comb surface like a peanut.
3) Total duration of life cycle of worker bee is 21 days, for drone, it is 24 days
and for queen bee, it is 15 days.
4) Except reproduction, worker bees perform all other functions depending
upon their age for the well-being of the colony, as given below:
a) For the first three weeks of the life, worker bees perform indoor duties
like cleaning and polishing (saliva smearing) of cells, production of royal
jelly, feeding! nursing the larvae and queen bee, comb construction,
comb cleaning for storing pollen and honey, ripening the honey, producing
bees wax, using propolis inside the hive to plug cracks and crevices and
guarding at the hive entrance.
b) Worker bees older than three weeks perform outdoor duties and act
as foragers. They collect nectar, pollen, water and propolis from the
field.
5) Distance of the food source from comb! hive is communicated through different
dances. Scout bees on their return into the hive perform different kinds of
dance on the coinb depending upon the distance of the food source from the
hive and other bees observe these dances and are then recruited to that bee
flora (the food source). Round dance indicates nearness of the food source
while tail waggle dance (side-wise movement of the abdomen) indicates
different distances depending upon the intensity of the tail wagging and the
number of circuits (half dance circles) of the scout bees per unit time. In the
tail waggle dance, bee first makes a straight run while wagging its tail and
then turns to one direction and makes a semi-circle and reaches at the
starting point, and then again makes a straight run while wagging its tail and
this time turns to the opposite direction and makes a semicircle and reaches
again at the starting point. Each half circle is known as a circuit. In between,
there is sickle dance to indicate medium distance.
6) The direction of the food source is indicated by the angle which a 'scout bee
makes with the line of gravity (straight up) during tail waggle dance. Dance
with the straight run directed upwards on the comb indicates food direction
towards the sun from the hive and if the straight run of the tail waggle dance
is directed downwards, it indicates that the food source is in opposite direction
to that towards the sun from the hive. If the scout bee moves straight up
during straight run of tail waggle dance without any angle with the gravity; it
means food is exactly in line towards the sun while bee moving straight down
without any angle with the gravity indicates the food source just opposite to
the direction of the sun. Any angle to the line of gravity during the straight
run of the dance means that the food source is at that angle with the line of
hive to the sun's direction.
29
UNIT 3 STRUCTURE OF HONEY BEE
Structure
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Morphological Features of Honey Bee

3.2.1 Head
3.2.2 Thorax
3.2.3 Abdomen
3.3 Anatomy of Honey Bee

3.3.1 Digestive System
3.3.2 ,Excretory System
3.3.3 Circulatory System
3.3.4 Respiratory System
3.3.5 Nervous System
3.3.6 Reproductive System
3.4 Let Us Sum Up
3.5 ~ey VVords
3.7 Model Answers

This unit aims at familiarizing you' about the morphology and anatomy of
honey bee. After going through this unit, you will be able to know about the:
• external body parts, appendages, sensory, locomotion, vision organs, to
and various glands, and
• internal body parts, their structure and 'functions.
3.1 INTRODUCTION
The body of the honey bee is divided into three distinct regions - head (H),
thorax (Th) and abdomen (Ab) as depicted in the Fig.3.l. Head" bears
the sensory (Ant-antennae), and vision (E, compound eyes and O,oee'llil
simple eyes), feeding organs (mouth parts), and inside encloses a brain.
Thorax bears three pairs of legs (LI L2 L3) and two pairs of wings (VV2'VV3)·
The thorax, is a locomotory centre. Abdomen is mainly concerned with
metabolic activities and is the seat of the reproduction as well. Various
morphological features of the honey bee have been briefly discussed in-the
next section ..
30
Structure of Honey Bee
Fig. 3.1: Morphological features of honey bee
3.2 MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF HONEY

BEE
3.2.1 Head
The head of the honey bee is flattened from the front. The rounded lateral
sides of the head bear compound eyes. The head of worker bee is triangular
and slightly longer than broad. The queen's head is little rounded. The head
of the drone is much large, round and greatly occupied by the large black
kidney shaped compound eyes which meet at the top (vertex) of the head.
The three simple eyes/ ocelli (0) arranged in a triangle shape, located on
the upper side of the head. Posteriorily, the head is perforated by a pentagonal
hole. The antenna is a sensory organ. It is a segmented appendage of the
head. It is located in between the compound eyes. The antenna of bee is
geniculate (elbowed) type. It bear numerous sense organs like sense of touch
(tactile) and smell (olfactory).
The mouth parts of

honey bee (Fig. 3.2) are
located at the
downward side of the
head. Generally, bees
have chewing and
lapping type month
part. Such month parts
are comprised of a
narrow, quadrangular
and hairy plate above
the mouth parts, the
labrum (Lb) as an
upper lip. On the sides
of the labrum (upper
lip), a pair of dumble-
shaped or spatula-like
. teeth or mandibles
(Md) are placed. The Fig. 3.2: Mouth Parts of honey bee
31
Introduction to Bees mandibles are used for grasping and molding wax into comb cells, ingestion
and Beekeeping
of pollen grains as food, and as support for the proboscis (tongue) during
feeding. In the queen bee, the inandibular glands produce a pheromone
which inhibits the workers to build emergency queen cells. It also acts as a
sex attractant to attract the drones. Mandibles of drone are the smallest,
whereas those of queen bee are strongest, sharp and bilobed to cut open the
anterior end of the sealed queen-cell for its emergence as adult queen. Each
maxilla and labium (lower lip) is a complex structure. These are closely
united to form lapping tongue. By its active retraction and protrusion, the
liquid food (nectar) is sucked in just like a straw in one's mouth while
sipping cold drink.
3.2.2 Thorax
This is the second region of the honey bee body. It comprises of three
segments (Th -1, 2, 3,) the frontal (prothorax), middle (mesothorax) and
posterior (metathorax) thoracic segments (Fig. 3.1) . Every segment bears a
pair of leg (L, L 2' L3). Mesothorax and metathorax also have a pair of wings
(W2' W3) each. The first abdominal segment (I) is fused with the metathorax
and is termed as propodeum. Wings are transparent, simple in shape and
venation. The fore wing is much larger than the hind wing. During flight,
two wings on each side are coupled together by a row of many hooks called
hamuli arising from the anterior margin of the hind wing and the thickened
fold on the posterior margin of the fore wing. The three pairs of legs are
structurally and functionally modified to perform various functions, especially
in worker bees for example, the fore legs are modified for antenna cleaning,
the middle legs for pollen brushing and the hind legs for pollen collection.
3.2.3 Abdomen
The first abdominal segment (I) is fused with the metathorax, called the
propodeum. The second abdominal segment (11) is greatly constricted
anteriorly at its union with the propodeum. This constricted segment is called
petiole. The petiole gives freedom to the abdomen movement. The remaining
abdominal segments (Ill-VII) are collectively called as gaster. The gaster
consists of six exposed segments in the females and seven in the drones and
the remaining are concealed and/or considerably modified into external
reproductive organsl genitalia. The abdomen also houses different types of
glands and spiracles (sp). Four pairs of wax glands are present in the anterior
part of the ventral (lower) side of 4th to T" abdominal segments (sterna). The
glands secrete wax on to the wax mirrors/ plates and later on it hardens as
wax scales on the outer surface of the wax mirrors/plates. From there, the
wax scales are removed by the bee with the help of a spine on the middle
leg, grasped by the mandibles and masticate (chewed) for the comb
construction.
There is one gland known as Nassanoff's gland or scent gland present in

workers only. This gland lies concealed between the upper side of 6th and
T" abdominal segments (terga). Its scent helps the workers in communicating
the availability of food sources.
The bee sting (Stn) is a modified ovipositor and serves as an instrument of

defense. The stinging apparatus consists of piercing sting shaft and a closely
32
associated poison gland. The sting is housed in the tip of abdomen. During Structure of Honey Bee
stinging, the bee arches its body and thrusts the sting shaft perpendicularly
into the victim's body. The sting being barbed, when stung, cannot be
withdrawn from the tight human skin, hence the bee has to tear it away. The
queen bee also has a sting which is used only against rival queens. The sting
of the queen is not-barbed; hence, after stinging the rival queen, it is retracted
without tearing it off the queen's body. The drone bees are sting less.
,
ii) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the
unit.
1) Name the important body regions of honey bee.
2) Which type of mouth parts the honey bees have? Explain the
specifications of this types of mouth parts.
3) What is the role of mandibles in honey bees?
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• o •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• '0 ~
4) Why does the thorax in honey bees is known as site of locomotary

organs?
5) Where are the scent glands and poison glands situated in honey bee?
33
rnd Beekeeping 3.3 ANATOMY OF HONEY BEE
Under this section, there will be a description about the internal organs of
the honey bee. Though honey bees have all the systems and characteristics
of a typical insect but there are some modifications or say specializations in
the body parts for their specific requirements. Let us explain the features of
different internal organs of a bee.
3.3.1 Digestive System

We all know that alimentary canal is the main digestive system of any live organism.
It is concerned with food intake (ingestion), its digestion, absorption of nutrients
and egesting of waste products (excretion). In case of honey bee, it also serves
as a carrier of nectar and honey. It is divided into three parts. Let us explain the
features of each section separately.
1) Stomodaeum (Fore Gut) : It is an anterior part of the alimentary canal.

The mouth leads into a suctorial pharynx, and then it continues as a
narrow tube through the thorax into the abdomen. This is called
oesophagus.
dorsal aorta esophagus heart

salivary gland
brain
intestine
rectum
antenna sting
nail
pharynx
ventral crop venom sac

nervous system
Fig. 3.3: Internal Anatomy of a Bee
Source: www.infovisual.info
The next dilated portion of the oesophagus is called crop or honey

stomach in which the surplus nectar is collected, stored and transported
to the hive for conversion into the honey. The crop is followed by a
neck like long and broad proventriculus. At its anterior end, it has four
mobile lips, each armed with a number of spines. The four lips form an
X shape aperture. The function of proventriculus in the worker honey
bee is to regulate the entrance of food from the crop to the ventriculus
(mid-gut or real stomach). The nectar to be taken to the hive is retained
in the crop. The opening of the proventriculus is the functional mouth
of the stomach.
ii) Ventriculus (Mid gut): It is the functional stomach. In honey bees, it is a

thick cylindrical tube bent upon itself in a U-shaped loop. It is concerned
with the secretion of the enzymes, digestion and absorption of the food
constituents.
iii) Proctodaeum. (Hind gut) : It is divided into an anterior and posterior

intestine commonly called the rectum. At its anterior margin, it has
34
numerous long thread like structures called Malpighian Tubules. Rectum Structure of Honey Bee
has six rectal papillae which help in salt and water regulation. The bees never
eject waste materials in the hive. During prolonged cold winter, the waste
material is retained in the expanded rectum.
iv) Associated Glands
a) Hypopharyngeal Glands: These are paired glands present in the head.

Their secretion makes up the royal jelly used for feeding the young
worker, drone larvae, queen larvae and adult queen bee
b) Head and Thoracic Salivary Glands: These glands produce the

enzyme invertase which breaks down the sucrose of the nectar into
honey sugars - glucose and fructose.
3.3.2 Excretory System

In bees, Malpighian Tubules are the main excretory system. The Malpighian
Tubules consists of hundred long, whitish and convoluted thread like
structures. They are wrapped and coiled with each other. They open into the
pylorus. They excrete urates, leucin, phosphates, calcium oxalate and calcium
carbonate.
3.3.3 Circulatory System

The circulatory system in honey bees comprises of dorsal blood vessel. This
is the main organ of the system. It extends from the posterior half of the 6th
abdominal segment into the head and lies in the dorsal cavity (pericardial)
of the body. It is divided into heart and aorta. The heart is the posterior part
of dorsal blood vessel and aorta lies in the anterior of the blood vessel. The
heart lies up to the second abdominal segment and contains five pairs of
lateral ostia or holes, one pair each in second to sixth abdominal segment.
The aorta enters into the thorax through the petiole and goes into the head
where it opens beneath the brain. The blood of honey bee is called
haemolymph. This is devoid of hemoglobin. It is not red in colour.
3.3.4 Respiratory System

The honey bee's respiratory system has several trachea which open at the
body surface for the exchange of gases. These openings are called spiracles.
The tracheal system in honey bees has 10 pairs of spiracles which open, one
each, into mesothorax, metathorax, propodeum and the next 7 in the
abdominal segments. Interiorly, the tracheae are expanded like air sacs. They
also lack taenidia. Tracheae are dispersed in the whole of the body.
3.3.5 Nervous System

The nervous system of honey bee comprises of Central Nerve Chord. It lies on
the inner side of lower integument (skin) and has several nerve centers called
ganglia (singular is ganglion). From a ganglion, several nerves arise and innervate
(open) into nearer organs. The front most ganglion is known as supra-oesophageal
ganglion (brain) which has a well developed protocerebrum, a deutocerebrum
and a tritocerebrum which can be recognized by the frontal connectives. The
supraoesophageal ganglion innervates the mouthparts. The ventral nerve cord
consists of seven ganglia, the first of which lies in the prothorax, very large second
35
Introduction to Bees ganglion in the meso- and metathorax (common to the two thorax segments)
and Beekeeping
and the subsequent five, one each, in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th abdominal
segments.
3.3.6 Reproductive System

In the drone (male), the reproductive organs are a pair of yellowish, small, triangular
testes, coiled vasa differentia having enlarged seminal vesicles and a pair of huge
mucus glands opening into the ejaculatory duct. This duct opens into penis.
The reproductive system of the female includes a pair of ovaries, paired lateral
oviducts and a median common oviduct. There are more than hundreds ovarioles
per ovary are in case of queen bee whereas this is seldom more than five in the
case of worker bee. The common oviduct opens into the vagina which opens at
the base of the sting. A sperm receptacle called the spermatheca (sperms'
storage sac) opens by a short duct into the vagina in the case of queen bee. When
a queen bee mates with several drones, the sperms of all the drones are stored
in spermatheca. Later on it is used for fertilizing the ova as and when required.

unit.
1) What is the function of crop (honey stomach) in honey bee's
digestive system?
2) What is the function of ventriculus in honey bee's digestive system?
3) What is the importance of rectum in honey bee's digestive system?
4) What for the secretion of hypopharengeal glands are used by the

worker bees?
.... ~ " , .
36
5) What is the role of mal pig hian tubules in the honey bee's system? Structure of Honey Bee
6) Describe the function of the spermatheca in honey bee queens.
3.4 LET US SUM UP

Like any typical insect, the honey bee has all the organs. The body system
of honey bee is well developed with some modified organs as compared to
the other insects. The body of the honey bee is divided into three distinct
regions - head, thorax and abdomen. Head bears the sensory vision and
feeding organs. Thorax is the main locomotory centre. It is comprised of
three segments-the prothorax, mesothorax and metathorax. Each part bears
a pair of leg. In the case of worker bee, the fore legs are modified for
antenna cleaning, the middle legs for pollen brushing and the hind legs of
for pollen collection. Mesothorax and metathorax also have a pair of wings
each. Abdomen is mainly concerned with metabolic activities and is theseat
of reproduction. Abdomen in bees is petiolated and houses scent glands, wax
glands and sting and poison glands. The sting in worker bee is barbed. After
stinging, it cannot be withdrawn from the tight human skin; hence, the bee
has to tear it away. Queen bee's sting is not barbed, thus, after stinging to
the rival queen; it can be retracted without tearing it off the queen's body.
The drone bees are sting-less.
The internal body parts consist of digestive, respiratory, circulatory, nervous

and reproductive systems. It is numerous glands for different functions.
3.5, KEY WORDS

Anatomy It denotes the internal body features.
Appendages All the attachments to the body of the honey bee are
called appendages. It is comprised of legs, antenna,
hairs and other such parts which are on the body
surface.
Locomotor Organs The organs concerned with the movement are called
locomotor organs such as legs.
Morphology It denotes the external body features.
Sensory Organs The organs concerned with the sensing are called
sensory organs. These are attached to the antenna of
the honey bee.
37
and Beekeeping 3.6 FURTHER REFERENCES
The following books or journals may be used for further reading.
Dade, H.A.1962. Anatomy and Dissection of the Honey Bee, IBRA, UK, 178
pp.
Grahm, Joe M. 1992. Hive and the Honey Bee, pp. 103-169. Dadant & Sons,
Hamilton, Illinois, USA, 1324 pp.
Mishra, R.e. 1995. Honey Bees and Their Management, ICAR, New Delhi,
India, 168 pp.
Root, A.I.; Root, E.H. and Root, H.H. 1975. The ABC and XYZ of Bee
Culture. A. I. Root Co. Medina, Ohio, USA.
Snodgrass, R. E. 1925Anatomy and Physiology of the Honey Bee. Me Graw
Hill Book Co., New York & London, 327 pp.
Snodgrass, R. E. 1956. Anatomy of the Honey Bee, Comstock Publishing
Associates, Ithaca, USA, 334 pp. '
Winston, M.L. 1991. The Biology of the Honey Bee. Harvard University
Press, 281 pp.
3.7 MODEL ANSWERS

1) Important body regions of honey bee are: Head, thorax and abdomen.
2) Honey bee has chewing and lapping type of mouth parts.
3) The mandibles are used as grasping organs, moulding wax into cells,
ingestion of pollen grains for food, and as support for the proboscis
(tongue) during feeding.
4) It is so because it bears three pairs of legs and two pairs ofwings.
5) The scent glands are situated on the dorsal side in the inter-segmental
membrane between 6th and T" abdominal segment, whereas poison gland
is connected with sting apparatus in the tip of the abdomen.
1) Nectar is collected, stored and transported by the forager bee in the crop
or 'honey stomach' to the hive.
2) Ventriculus is the functional stomach. It is concerned with secretion of
the enzymes, digestion and absorption of the food material.
3) Rectum is the posterior part of hind gut and it contains six rectal papillae
which help in salt and water regulation. The bees never eject faeces in
the hive and during prolonged cold winter, the waste material is retained
in the expanded rectum.
38
4) Secretion of hypo pharyngeal glands is used by the worker (nurse) bee to Structure of Honey Bee
produce royal jelly.
5) Malpighian tubules are concerned with the excretion of urates, leucin,

phosphates, calcium oxalate and calcium carbonate.
6) When a queen bee mates with several drones, the sperms of all the
drones are stored in spermatheca and are used later on for fertilizing the
ova/eggs as and when required.
39
UNIT 4 STARTING OF BEEKEEPING
Structure
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Beekeeping Equipments and Their Uses

42.1 Bee Hive
42.2 Hive Stand
42.3 Bee Smoker
4.2.4 Bee Veil, Gloves and Overall
4.2.5 Bee Brush
4.2.6 Queen Excluder
4.2.7 Comb Foundation
42.8 Wire Embedder
42.9 Uncapping Knife
42.10 Drip Tray
42.11 Honey Extractor
42.12 Queen Cages
42.13 Feeder
42.14 Miscellaneous Equipments
/
4.3 Important Points about Beekeeping
4.3.1 Suitability of Beekeeping as an Agro-based Enterprise
4.3.3 Considerations in Beekeeping
4.4 Let Us Sum Up
4.5 Key Words
4.7 Model Answers

/
I

This unit aims at acquainting you with:
• various beekeeping equipments; and
• general principles of establishing an apiary.
4.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous units, we have studied the history of beekeeping, diversity in bee
species and structure of honey bee body. In this unit shall study how anyone can
start beekeeping? The primitive man used to hunt the naturally existing (feral)
honey bee colonies. Gradually, he learned to hive (domesticate) them in primitive
type of bee hives made up oflocally available material such as hollowed wooden
logsvearthen vessels, baskets, skeps, wicker hives and hollows in the walls.
Beekeeping industry was revolutionized during the second half of the 19th century,
40
\
when, L.L.Langstroth discovered the concept of 'bee space' in 1951. Based on Starting of Beekeeping
this concept, modem age 'Langstroth bee hive' with movable parallel combs was
developed. This was followed by the inventions of wax comb foundations and
comb foundation mill, honey extractor, bee smoker, queen excluder (to keep
away queen), bee escape, etc., which increased the efficiency of the bee
management operations. Since then, there had been a lot of improvement in the
apiary equipments.
4.2 BEEKEEPING EQUIPMENTS AND THEIR

USES
There are different types of beekeeping equipments required at various stages.
We shall explain the features important equipments.
4.2.1 Bee Hive

It is a movable wooden home for bees with an entrance and parallel movable
frames on which bees raise combs. It provides protection to the colony from
adverse environment and various intruders including enemies. The important
parts of the hive are bottom/floor board with alighting board, entrance, lower/
brood chamber, frames, dummy board, super/honey chamber, inner cover
(crown board) and top cover (roof).
ive Tool
"- - ~
Uncapping Knife
Queen Excluder
Feeder
Bee Brush
I
Cone"~cape Queen Cell
Protector
i
Smoker Swarm Catching
Bee Escape
Basket
Top Cover
Inner Cover
Super
Queen Excluder I
i
Brood Chamber
Bottom Board
Bee Hive Honey Extractor
Fig. 4.1: Important beekeeping equipments

41
· Inersdaction to Bees 4.2.2 Hive Stand
and Beekeeping
It is a rectangular four legged angle iron. It is used to support the hive and protect
from soil moisture and keep colony safe from ants, termites, etc.
4.2.3 Bee Smoker

It is a device to puff cool smoke into the colony for suppressing the stinging
instinct of the bees. Bellows, smoker body, fire pot and nosecone are important
parts of bee smoker. Apart from this, PAU Battery Operated Smoker can also
be used, which works on just one push button and is operated through 9V
dry cell battery.
4.2.4 Bee Veil, Gloves and Overall

These are protective coverings to prevent bee stings on the face, hands and
other body parts, respectively.
4.2.5 Bee Brush

It is usually a thin 16 inch long horizontal brush having light soft bristles of
about 2 inch long. It is used to brush off the bees from the comb and other
hive parts during comb examination or at the time of honey extraction.
4.2.6 Queen Excluder

It is a perforated or wired device with wooden frame which is placed just
above the brood' chamber to restrict the queen bee in the brood' chamber to
prevent her to lay eggs in the honey chamber combs. Thus, by using the
queen excluder, brood free honey combs can be obtained.
4.2.7 Comb Foundation

It is bee's wax sheet with worker brood cell impressions providing the base
to the bees for raising comb. The comb foundations are fixed in the empty
wooden frames (one in each).
4.2.8 Wire Embedder

It is a tool to fix comb foundation with the wires of frame. Presently, the
electric operated wire embedder is also available.
4.2.9 Uncapping Knife

It is double edged ordinary or steam heated knife of about 10 inch long and
2 Yz inch wide with a handle. It is used for removing the capping from the
comb of fully ripened honey prior to honey extraction.
4.2.10 Drip Tray

It is a tray about 3' long, 1Y2 to 2' wide and '/4' deep. A 3" high removable
screened stand is placed inside it. It is used to collect the dripping honey and
wax capping while uncapping the sealed honey combs by placing on the
screened stand.
42
4.2.11 Honey Extractor Starting of Beekeeping
It is used to extract honey from uncapped combs with least damage to the raised
wax combs. Two to four frames tangential honey extractors or multi-frame (4-8
frame) radial honey extractors are available in the country. While tangential
extractors need reversing of combs for extraction of honey from other side of the
comb, radial extractors require rotation in the opposite direction for the extraction.
4.2.12 Queen Cages

Queen cages are small captivities used for transporting/mailing the queen bees or
introducing the queen in a queenless colony. Benton queen cage is extensively
used. It is made up of wood and has three round compartments which are
covered with a wire screen. The outer round compartment is used for filling
candy. Plastic made hair-roller type queen cages can also be used.
4.2.13 Feeder
This equipment is required for feeding of the bees during lean period. It is an
ordinary one litre tin, wide mouth bottle having two-three narrow holes in lid
placed on bottom board and inverted on twigs or division board. Sugar syrup
feeding can also be done through polythene bags or in raised empty combs.
Division board feeder is a frame sized feeder with a rectangular receptacle; for
filling sugar syrup and it has a wooden bar serving as float, sitting on which the
bees can pick-up the feed.
4.2.14 Miscellaneous Equipments

Apart from the above mentioned equipments, there are several miscellaneous
equipment which are required from time to time such as swarm catcher (basket),
bee escape, entrance guard, drone trap, pollen trap, propolis screen, venom
extractor, queen bee rearing equipment, wax melting drums, comb foundation
making equipment, honey straining, storage and processing equipment, etc.
Note : 0 Answer the following questions in the given blank space.
ii) /Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
1) Define bee space?
2) Enlist the important parts of bee hive.
43
Introduction to Bees 3) What is queen excluder and what is its utility?
and Beekeeping
4) Name the important equipment required during honey extraction.
5) What is the utility of queen cages?
4.3 IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT BEEKEEPING

As we have studied earlier that beekeeping does not require much physical labour
and investment in comparison to other agro based enterprises. It can fit well in
diversification of the agriculture. With the introduction of Apis mellifera, a highly
productive species, the people in India especially in the northern plains, have now
realized the importance of beekeeping. It is the most profitable enterprise both as
subsidiary industry as well as a full time profession. It is very much suitable for
the conservation of the natural resources.
Let us examine some of the important features of this venture.
4.3.1 Suitability of Beekeeping as an Agro-based Enterprise

1) Beekeeping does not need any special land or elaborate structural
requirements.
2) Heavy initial investment is not required and recurring expenditure is

also negligible.
3) It does not require continuous labour and heavy physical work. Thus, it
is very ideal as a part-time occupation, especially for women and children.
4) Beekeeping requires simple equipment and encourages the rural artisans

to undertake the jobs for their fabrication. Thus, beekeeping generates -
new employment opportunities.
5) Honey itself is a very hygienic food, tonic and medicine and makes the
diet more balanced.
6) Beekeeping is a multiple source of income. Income from honey

supplements the income from the crops. Beeswax is the second bee
product which has great commercial and industrial value. Sale of queen
bees and nucleus colonies by division of parent colonies are other sources
of income. Production of other bee-products like royal jelly, bee venom,
44
pollen and propolis can further be additional sources of income. It leads to Starting of Beekeeping
generation of several other avenues of beekeeping related trades and
employment
7) Above all, pollination by bees improves the quantity and quality of the crop
produce and benefits the community as a whole rather than only the individual
beekeepers. Thus, a beekeeper can further increase his income by renting
out his honey bee colonies for pollination service.

Since it is not a resource consuming profession, the following category of human
being may adopt this enterprise:
1) Well to do farmers, landless labourers, small and marginal farmers.
2) Employed and retired persons.
3) House wives/farm women, students and unemployed youth.
Thus, beekeeping enterprise is suitable for people from all walks of life as a
hobby, subsidiary occupation for supplementing income or as a whole time job
for self employment. After investing once on honey bees, hives and equiprnents
(non-recurringexpenditure), regular/annual (recurring) expenditure is very negligible
which can even be further reduced with better management practices. One can
easily maintain about 100 honey bee colonies and can earn quite a handsome
income between Rs. 50,000 to 2,00,000 per annum.
4.3.3 Considerations in Beekeeping

i) Fear of Bee Sting: Most of the people do not start beekeeping because
. of the fear of the bee sting. Only a fraction of people (one in one
thousand) are allergic to the bee sting. If you fear bee sting, use bee
smoker and adopt comfortable practices for bee rearing.
ii) Beekeeping Training: A beginner must acquire theoretical knowledge

and practical skill by undergoing beekeeping training at some recognized!
reputed institution. It is better ifhe spends one year with some commercial
apiarist.
ill) Availability of Honey Bee Species for Hiving: Two species of honey
bees, Asiatic honey bee (Apis cerana) and European honey bee (Apis
mellifera) are suitable for hiving (domestication). Apis cerana is a frugal!
spend thrifty bee species and can do well even in the marginal areas
having low beekeeping potential. It also requires less investment. Apis
mellifera is, however, a high yielding honey bee and is most suitable for
areas having high beekeeping potential. Beekeeping with Apis mellifera
is ideally suited for commercial beekeeping especially in plains where
due to the high summer temperature, Apis cerana does not thrive well.
iv) Beekeeping Equipments: The essential bee equipments of standard

quality must be arranged well before starting beekeeping. The other
beekeeping equipments required from time to time should also be
arranged in advance on loan or hired from fellow beekeepers whenever
required.
45
Introduction to Bees v) Suitable Area, Bee Flora and Floral Calendar: For establishing an apiary
and Beekeeping
in a new area, one must analyse the beekeeping potential of that area with
respect to climatic suitability and bee floral availability (Table 4.1). A calendar
of bee flora and period of their flowering should be prepared before initiating
the establishment of beekeeping. You may take help of the following table
Table 4.1: Major Bee Floral Plants and Climatic Conditions of Different Regions
of the Country
• Peninsular Region: Equitable climate (Arjuna. Cardamom, Cashew, Coconut,

Coffee, Cotton, Drumstick, Eucalyptus, Jam un, Karanj, Niger, Pistachio nut,
Rubber, Soapnut, Sunflower, Tamarind, etc.)
• North-Eastern Hill Region: Moderate climate (Brassica, Citrus, Eucalyptus,

Maulsari, Sunflower, Tamarind, Terminalia, etc.)
• Northern Hill Region: Severe winter, pleasant summer, harsh monsoon (Acacia
i.e. Phlahi / khair; Brassica, Buck wheat, Citrus, Jamun, Plectranthus, Robinia,
Shisham, Soapnut, Sunflower, Temperate fruit trees, Toon, etc.)
• Indo-Gangetic Plains: Favourable climate except monsoon (Ber, Brassica,

Cotton, Egyptian clover, Eucalyptus, Pigeon pea, Shisham, Lathyrus, Litchi,
Sunflower, etc.)
One must also know whether the bee forage crop is a source of nectar, pollen
or both? How long, is its flowering duration? How much is the acreage
under that particular bee flora? Is the bee flora of major, medium, minor or
poor utility to honey bees? How long is the dearth period in a particular
locality? All this information will help the beekeeper to exploit the bee flora
to the maximum and to plan colonies migrations to other area, in advance,
if required. Nine plant spp. that constitute the major bee flora in the northern
plains, their blooming period and utility to bees are depicted below (Table 4.2).
Besides these, many other plants spp, such as maize, bazra, temperate fruit
plants, litchi, Citrus, cucurbits, shisham, khair, ber, avenue / forest trees and
some weed 'plant species also provide pollen, nectar or both to bees. Intensive
vegetable growing areas and cotton belt can also be exploited for beekeeping
provided management operations to save honey bees from insecticidal hazards
are adopted.
Table 4.2: Calendar of Bee Flora in the Northern Plains, their Period of Availability
and Utility to Honey Bees
Bee-Floral Plants Period of Floral Utility to Honey

Species Availability (n) or Pollen (p)
Source
I. Sunflower April-June n+p
2 Egyptian clover April-June n+p
3. American cotton August-September n+p
4. Pigeon pea September-October n
5. Toria October/November-December n+p

(Indian rape seed)
6. Mustard Decernber-F ebruary/March n+p
7. Gobhi sarson December-February/March n+p
8. Pear March n+p
9. Eucalyptus November-March n+p

46
vi) Apiary Site: Apiary must be established at a place having easy access but Starting of Beekeeping
reasonably away from the highways with minimum disturbances. One must
ensure ample space for placing the colonies, plenty of fresh water, shade, sun
and availability of bee flora throughout the year in the vicinity. The site
selected should be upland and never marshy or flood prone. Provision for
wind-breaks should also be considered.
vii) Season for Starting Beekeeping: Beekeeping should be started in the

beginning of the suitable season which coincides with mild climatic conditions
and availability of sufficient bee flora. Generally, spring (February - April)
and post-monsoon (September-November) seasons are the best periods to
start beekeeping. These are the seasons when colonies would rear drones.
viii) Purchase of Nucleus Colonies: For starting beekeeping, nucleus colonies

should be purchased in the beginning of the suitable season. A nucleus colony
on four or five frame bee strength with a young, newly mated and quality
queen bee is ideal to be purchased. Purchased colony should have sufficient
amount of rightly laid eggs, worker brood (sealed and unsealed) and food
reserves (honey and pollen stores) and should not have excessive drone
brood, Be careful to ensure that the colonies to be purchased must be free
from bee diseases, parasites/ mites, etc.
ix) Number of Honey Bee Colonies to be procured: The de~irable unit for
a beginner to start with should normally consist of 5 to 10 but never more
than 25 colonies. Due to lack of experience, the loss may be heavy if the
beginner starts with greater number of honey bee colonies, whereas too less
number of colonies' has greater risk of failure owing to insufficient inter-
colony help, whenever required.
x) Transportation of the Purchased Colonies: The purchased colonies

should be shifted only when bees are not active i.e. at dusk or dawn when
all the field force/forager bees are inside the hive. Before shifting, the
colonies should be packed to make them properly ventilated but bee leak
proof. During summer, fully screened inner covers (traveling screens) and
wire mesh at the entrance should be used to avoid suffocation during
transit. During transportation in vehicle, ensure that the bee hives get minimum
jerks.
xi) Placement of the Bee Colonies: After arriving at the destination, the bee
hives should be placed in rows at least 10 feet apart with 6-8 feet distance
between the two adjacent hives to provide ample room for colony manipulation
and to minimize chances of drifting and robbing menaces. The hive entrance
should face towards south-east direction and preferably be away from a
common passage. After placing the hive at suitable site, their entrance gates
should be opened. Because of the disturbance during transit, the honey bees
usually are in a disturbed state. Hence, do not open and examine the migrated
colonies for a day. On the second day, open the colony for routine check-
up and follow the management operations as per the seasonal requirement!
condition of the colonies.
xii) Examination of Honey Bee Colonies: Before considering any

manipulation / management of the honey bee colonies, you must assess their
performance, For this purpose, frequent periodic examinations of the eolonies
are required.
47
Introduction to Bees Prerequisites for Examination
and Beekeeping
• Wear light coloured clothes without contrasting colour patterns and avoid
using any scent.
• Use protective clothing to avoid stinging.
• Be fully equipped with all the necessary materials required for examination.
• Never stand in front of the hive while opening it.
• Smoke the colony after removing top and inner cover and take out combs
gently avoiding jerks and crushing of bees.
• Examine the comb holding to avoid the loss of queen and replace the comb
in the hive without crushing of bees / queen bee in between two combs.
• Colonies should be examined only on a calm sunny day during noon hours
in winter season and preferably in the morning or evening hours in summer
season when bees are working the most actively.
• Examine the colonies very quickly during lean period to avoid robbing and
also exposure of brood to unfavourable environment conditions.
xiii) Seasonal Management
The development of honey bee colonies mainly depends on suitable climatic
conditions and availability of bee flora. Similarly,proper seasonal management
of the honey bee colonies is also important. For manipulation of the honey
bee colonies, beginner must understand the behaviour and needs of the
honey bee. He must have the knowledge and practical skill about the seasonal
bee management operations required to be followed from time to time. This
will lead to the maximum efficiency / benefits from beekeeping. The bee
management operations vary in time and space and with the honey bee
species adopted for beekeeping. We shall discuss the seasonal management
of honey bees in the course 2 , block 2 in detail. However, a brief cycle of
seasonal bee management operations are depicted in FigA.2.
(December - January)
Harsh Period For Bees
• Winter protection
• Supplementary feeding
(February - April
• Migration to raya/ Brassica
growingbeJt Best Season for Bees
• Migration to eucalyptus/
berseem growing area
• Strengthening colonies • Provision of space
• Division of colonies • Strengthening colonies
• Honey extraction • Division of colonies
• Shifting colonies under • Queen rearing
sun • Control of bee diseases
and enemies
(May-June)
(July - September)
Harsh Period for Bees
Most Harsh Period
• Dearth period feeding • Migration to sunflower belt

• Uniting weak colonies • Honey extraction
• Control wasps, wax Moth • Thennoregulation
& ants • Provision of shade, space &
• Migration to Kher! water
cotton belt
Fig. 4.2: Seasonal management of honey bees

48
Starting of Beekeeping
Note: 0 Answer the following questions in the given blank space.
unit.
1) Why beekeeping is more suitable as agro-based enterprise?
2) What is the importance of beekeeping training for starting this

venture?
3) Which seasons are better suited for starting beekeeping and why?
4) What points should be considered while purchasing the nucleus

colonies of honey bees?
5) What points should be considered while placing the honey bee

colonies at the selected site?
4.4 LET US SUM UP

Beekeeping is a profitable enterprise. It is suitable for people from all walks of
life as a hobby, subsidiary occupation for supplementing income or as a whole
time job for self employment. After investing once on honey bees, hives and other
equipment (non-recurring expenditure), regular/annual (recurring) expenditure is
very negligible which can even further be reduced with better management practices.
One can maintain about 100 honey bee colonies and can earn quite a handsome
income between Rs. 50,000 to 2,00,000 per annum. The beginners should know
and follow all important considerations for starting beekeeping and adopt scientific
seasonal bee management for attaining full success in this venture. Some of these 49
Introduction to Bees considerations include acquiring training, selection of honey bee species for hiving,
and Beekeeping
requirement of apicultural equipment, suitability of area for beekeeping, bee flora
and floral calendar, suitability of apiary site, season for starting beekeeping, purchase
of honey bee colonies, number of colonies to be purchased and their transportation
and placement at the selected apiary, etc.
4.5 KEY WORDS

Apiary : It is place where hives are kept for rearing the honey bees.
Beecolonies : The honey bees being domesticated for the honey

production.
Honey Hunting: Collection of honey from naturally existing hives.
4.6 FURTHER REFERENCES

The following references may used for further readings.
Abrol, D.P. 1997. Bees and Beekeeping in India, Kalyani Publishers, Ludhiana,
India, 450 pp.
Eckert, J.E. and Shaw, F.R. 1960. Beekeeping, The Mac Millan Co., New
York, USA
Grahm, Joe M. 1992. Hive ana the Honey Bee, Dadant & Sons, Hamilton,
Illinois, USA, 1324 pp.
Mishra, R.C. 1995. Honey Bees and Their Management in India, ICAR,
New Delhi. 168 pp.
Mishra, R.C. 1997-98. Perspectives in Indian Apiculture, Agro Botanica,

Bikaner, India, 412 pr
Root, A.I.; Root E.H. and Root H.H. 1975. The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture,
A. I. Root Co. Medina, Ohio, USA.
Singh, S. 1962. Beekeeping in India, rCAR, New Delhi, 214 pp.
4.7 MODEL ANSWERS

1) Bee space is 3/8" space or gap kept by the bees between two adjacent
combs as the passage for their free movement all around the combs.
Based on this concept, movable modem age 'Langstroth bee hive' with
movable parallel combs was developed.
2) The important parts of the hive are bottom or floor board, alighting
board, entrance, lowerlbrood chamber, frames, dummy board, superl
honey chamber, inner cover or crown board and top cover or roof.
3) Queen excluder is a perforated or wired device with wooden frame
which is placed just above the brood chamber to restrict the queen bee
in the brood chamber to prevent her to lay eggs in the honey chamber
combs. Thus, by using the queen excluder, honey can be extracted from
brood free combs.
so
4) Important equipment required during honey extraction are uncapping knife, Starting of Beekeeping
drip tray, honey extractor and honey strainer/filter.
5) Queen cages are small captivities used for transporting/mailing the queen
bees or introducing queen bee in a queenless colony. Wooden made
Benton type queen cages and plastic made hair roller type queen cage are
common in India.
I) Beekeeping is more suitable as agro-based enterprise due to the

following:
• It does not require any special land or elaborate sheds and structures.
• It does not compete with other agricultural enterprises for resources.
• Heavy initial investment is not required and recurring expenditure

is also negligible.
• It also does not require continuous labour and heavy physical work.
• Beekeeping requires simple equipment and encourages the rural

artisans to undertake the jobs for their fabrication.
• Honey itself is a very hygienic food, tonic and medicine and makes
the diet more balanced.
2) A beginner must acquire theoretical knowledge and practical skill by

undergoing beekeeping training from some recognized and reputed
institution. The ideal plan for a beginner is to attend the prescribed course
and then to spend the following year with some commercial apiarist. He
will be able to imbibe and understand clearly what he has learnt in the
training course. He will also get a better chance to recognize, understand
beekeeping problems which one faces occasionally in the field and find
their practical solution and evaluate the adopted technologies.
3) Suitable seasons for starting beekeeping coincide with the mild climatic
conditions and availability of bee flora in plenty. Generally, spring
(February-April) and post-monsoon (October-November) seasons are
the best periods to start beekeeping. These are the seasons when colonies
would rear drones.
4) While purchasing the nucleus colonies of honey bees, following

considerations must be given due importance:
• For starting beekeeping, nucleus colonies should be purchased in the

beginning of the suitable season.
• A nucleus colony on four or five frame bee strength with a young, newly
mated and quality queen bee is ideal for the purchase.
• Purchased colony should have sufficient amount of rightly laid eggs,

worker brood (sealed and unsealed) and food reserves (honey and
pollen stores) and should not have excessive drone brood.
51
Introduction to Bees • Ensure that the colonies being purchased must be free from bee diseases
and Beekeeping
and parasites.
5) While placing the honey bee colonies at the selected site, following points
should be considered:
• The hives should be placed at leas~ in 10 feet apart in rows, with 6-

8 feet distance between two adjacent hives.
• The hive entrance should face towards south-east direction and should
be preferably away from a common passage.
• After placing the hives at suitable site, their gates should be opened.
• As the bees would be under the disturbed state during transit, so after
opening gates, do not examine the migrated colonies for a day.
• There should be a clear space behind the hives for the working convenience
of the beekeeper.
• While placing the hives in rows, colony to colony distance has to be a

minimum of three feet and row to row distance a minimum of 10 feet to
minimizedriftingmenace.
,
• Hive gate should preferably be towards South-East direction to receive the
early sun rays in the morning in winter.
52
OAPI-Ol1 INTRODUCTIONTO
BEEKEEPING
Block 1 Introduction to Bees and Beekeeping
Unit 1 An Overview of Beekeeping History
Unit 2 Species Diversity and Social Organization
Unit 3 Structure of Honey Bee
Unit 4 Starting of Beekeeping
'Block 2 Bee Flora and Pollination
Unit 1 Bee Flora
Unit 2 Bee Pollination

Jothidam Adipadai

Transféré par

Informations du document

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Jothidam Adipadai

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

//~irr rffr ~.

"Education is a liberating force, and in our

Dr. G. S. Gatoria Dr. P.K. Chhuneja

Programme Coordinators: Dr. S.K. Yadav and Dr. D. Lallo

BLOCK PREPARATION TEAM

Dr. P. K. Chhuneja Dr. S. K. Yadav, Reader

The course on "Introduction to Beekeeping" aims at familiarizing the readers to

1.2 History of Beekeeping- World

1.3 History of Beekeeping-India

1.4 Present Scenario of Beekeeping in India

1.5 Importance and Scope of Beekeeping

1.6 Let Us Sum Up

1.0 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1.3.1 Strengthening of Beekeeping Research and

The research in beekeeping started when Indian Council of Agricultural Research

1.3.2 Successful Introduction and Establishment of Apis

Fig. 1.3: Prof. A.S. Atwal

Thlit Apis mellifera Apis cerana

Body weight (mg) 70-80 50-70

Tongue length (mm) 5.7-7.2 4.4-5.5

Flight range (km) 2-3 1.5-2.0

Nectar load (mg) 40-50 30-40

Pollen load (mg) 10-30 7-15

Hive population prior to honey flow 50,000-60,000 25,000 -30,000

Adaptation to high temperature High Low

Swarming tendency Low High

Absconding tendency Very low High

Wax moth attack Less More

Resistance to Thai sacbrood virus Yes No

Honey yield/ colony 25 -30 kg 4-5 kg

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) sanctioned 'Operational

During 1993, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of

1.4 PRESENT SCENARIO OF BEEKEEPING IN

Fig. 1.4: Beekeeping - a multi pronged employment generating enterprise

1.5.2 Who can Adopt Beekeeping?

Check Your Progress Exercise 1

................. ~...............................•...... - - ~ ,..

4) Name the two earliest beekeeping research stations were developed in

5) Who introduced and successfully established Apis mellifera bees in India

1.6 LET US SUM UP

1:7 KEY WORDS

Beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of honey bee

Exotic Bee Bee species introduced or domesticated in areas other than

1.8 FURTHER REFERENCES

Goyal, N. P. and Gupta, J.K. 1994. Development of beekeeping

4) One is at Nagrota-Bagwan (erstwhile Punjab, now in H.P.) and another at

5) Prof. A. S. Atwal of PAU, Ludhiana introduced and successfully

2.2 Characteristics of Order Hymenoptera

2.3 Types of Bees

2.4 Species of Honey Bees

2.5 Castes of Honey Bees

2.6 Developmental Stages and Life Cycle of Honey Bee

2.6.2 Duration of Development Stages

2.7 Social Organization

2.8 Division of Labour

2.9 Bee Behaviour

2.10 Let Us Sum Up

2.11 Key Words

2.12 Further References

2.0 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

• colony organization, division of labour and bee behavior.

Categories Taxa (specific names given to the categories)

Super family Apoidea

Species mellifera, cerana, dorsa/a, florea