History and Development

➢ First attempt to keep bees in movable frame hive were made in 1882 in
Bengal and in 1883-84 in Punjab but with little success.
➢ The Central Bee Research and Training Institute was established in 1962
in Pune under aegis of KVIC (Khadi and Village Industries Commission).
➢ Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) conceived a project
entitled ‘All India Coordinated Project on Honeybee Research and
Training’ in 1980-81.
❖ Bee species:
➢ There are five important species of honey bees as follows:
✓ Apis dorsata: The rock bee Apidae.
✓ Apis cerana indica: The Indian hive bee Apidae.
✓ Apis florea: The little bee Apidae.
✓ Apis mellifera: The European or Italian bee Apidae.
✓ Melipona irridipennis: Danner bee, Meliporidae stingless bee.

Evolution and Diversity

➢ Bees are aculeate Hymenoptera.
➢ The family Apidae includes bumble bees, stingless bees and true
honeybees.
➢ Bumble bees collect food for larvae and have social organization.
➢ The origin of Apis is believed to be from South Asia since many forms of
Apis spp. are present between Mediterranean and Caucasus
➢ There are four Apis species viz. Rock bee, Apis dorsata F.; the little bee,
Apis florea F.; Asian honeybee, Apis cerana F. and European honeybee,
Apis mellifera L. Apis cerana is the race of Apis cerana present in India.
The former two species are wild and latter two are domesticated and
serve the commercial beekeeping.
➢ First three species were present in India but Apis mellifera was
introduced from European countries.
❖ Rock bees:
➢ The Apis dorsata F. known as rock bee.

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 ➢ Concentration of colonies on one tree is common and there can be 50 to
100 colonies on a tree where the forage sources are plenty. Colonies
return to the same tree year after year.
➢ The comb area can be up to 1 m2.
➢ Rock bee has a ferocious temperament and is provoked by slight
disturbance. They are sensitive to smoke which is normally used by
honey hunters.
➢ Honey from one colony can be as high as 30 to 80 kg honey per colony
can be obtained. (about 36 Kg honey /comb/year)
➢ This species is very hard working and very efficient pollinator of crops in
India.

❖ Dwarf or Little bee:

➢ This is a wild bee .
➢ Apis florea is highly migratory but long distance migrations are
unknown.
➢ These bees are very prone to swarming. They are gentle in temperament;
however, they do sting when irritated. Colonies can be shifted to crops at
blooming time for pollination.
➢ Apis florea is a poor honey yielder and a comb yields 200 to 2000 g of
honey on an average (1/2Kg honey/year/hive.). This honey is thin in
consistency.

❖ Indian honey bee, Apis cerana F.:

➢ Apis cerana species has been the base of Indian beekeeping and is found
throughout India.
➢ A. cerana has now mostly been replaced by A. mellifera which was
introduced some decades ago.
➢ Apis cerana, a bee with high swarming instinct and responds to smoking,
it is frugal in habits but lack of flora is quickly compelled to absconding.
➢ It also has a strong tendency for swarming; a colony may issue up to 5-6
swarms in a year.
➢ They produce about 5Kg of honey/year/hive or 6-8 kg per colony per
year.
➢ On an average a colony yields 3-5 kg of honey per year in plains but the
yields are as high as 20-25 kg in Kashmir.

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 ❖ Western honeybee, Apis mellifera L.:

➢ The species is found all over Europe and has spread to other continents
also during the last five centuries. Now, it is found almost in every
country.
➢ It maintains a prolific queen, swarm less, has gentle temperament and is
good honey-gatherer. This race has achieved a great success in some
states of India where this has proved to be superior performer than Apis
cerana and commercial apiculture in the country is mainly based on this
species.
➢ They are larger than Indian bees but smaller than Rock bees.
➢ They have been imported from European countries. (Italy)
➢ They yield on an average 35Kg/hive/year or 25-40 kg per colony

Morphology and Physiology

➢ Like insects, the honeybee has three principal body divisions.
➢ The head bears the mouth parts, the eyes and the antennae.
➢ The thorax of the bee, unlike that of most insects, is composed of four
segments consisting of the pro-, meso and meta-thorax and the first
abdominal segments, the propodeum.
➢ The meso- and meta-thoraces each bear a pair of wings.
➢ The abdomen appears to be composed of 6 segments, but actually
contains nine, excluding the propodeum.
➢ the eyes of the honey bee to light intensity
➢ The mouth parts are composed of the upper lip or labrum, the epiphaynx
which is concealed by the upper lip, paired mandibles, paired maxillae,
and the lower lip or labium.
➢ The prothorax is the smallest of the thoracic regions.
➢ The mesothorax is the largest of the thoracic divisions.
➢ Mesosomal appendages The thoracic appendages consist of three pairs
of legs and two pairs of wings. By means of these, the bee is able to move
about. The legs are also modified so as to aid in the collection and
carrying of pollen and in cleaning the body of the bee. Each leg is made
up of 6 principal segments. The concavity is known as the corbiculum or
pollen basket, and serves to carry pollen and propolis to the hive.

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 ➢ The wax glands The wax glands are located on the ventral surface of
abdominal sternites.
➢ The sting The sting of the worker and queen bees is a modified
ovipositor.

INTERNAL MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY

➢ There are various systems are: Digestive system, excretory system,

nervous system, circulatory system, respiratory system, reproductive
system and special organs,
➢ The excretory system The waste products of metabolism of the bee are
removed principally by the Malpighian tubes.
➢ The nervous system Insects in general have three types of nervous
systems: (i) the central nervous system, (ii) the stomo gastric or
sympathetic nervous system, and (iii) the peripheral nervous system.
➢ The circulatory system The circulatory system consists of a single
pulsatile organ, the heart aorta.
➢ The respiratory system it consists of long, tubular, branched
investigation of the ectoderm known as tracheae. Air is taken into the
body through the spiracles.
➢ The reproductive system The reproductive organs produce sperms or
ova from which succeeding generations develop.
➢ The female reproductive organ To determine the influence of queen on
the ovary development of the worker bees, the queen was manually
removed from a colony and the development of the ovaries of the worker
bees in normal and queen removed colonies were examined by
histological studies. The worker honey bee ovary was incompletely
developed in the queen right colony. In queen less colony, the worker
bees have developed functional ovaries and laid unfertilized eggs.
➢ The male reproductive organs The drone dies after the act of mating.
The supermatheca holds between 4 to 7 million spermatozoa
➢ 9-ODA is a major sex pheromone component in Apis cerana in
contrast to 10-HDA in Apis florea queens.

Developmental Biology

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 ➢ BEES undergo complete metamorphosis, and pass through egg, larval,
pupal and adult stages
➢ As in most Hymenoptera, eggs of bees that have been fertilized and
develop into females; those that are unfertilized develop into males.
➢ Eggs that have been fertilized give rise to female and unfertilized or
parthenogenicity produces male or drone.
➢ The egg In a normal colony, all the eggs are laid by the queen.
➢ Deposition of the egg The sting of the bee is frequently referred to as a
modified ovipositor.
➢ General development of the egg Since the drone egg develops
parthenogenetically and hence is somewhat specialized.
➢ Absconding of bee colonies is a common phenomenon during April-May
when there is brood area and pollen and honey store is low after the last
extraction of honey.

Bee Behavior
➢ Colony organization and caste system - There are three castes: Queen,
Worker and Drone
➢ Queen: The queen is the only perfectly developed female and is the
mother of the colony. She mates with the drone in the air only once in her
life time which is known as nuptial flight and settles down for egg laying
in the hive. The fertilized eggs give rise to workers and sexual females or
potential queens and from unfertilized eggs drones are produced.
➢ Worker: The worker bees are imperfectly developed females unable to
reproduce but posses all the maternal instinct.
➢ Drone: The only function of the male bee is to mate with queen. Drone
has short proboscis but does not collect pollen and nectar from flowers.
➢ Nursing: When the bee is 4 to 6 days old, it begins to function as a nurse.
➢ Comb building: When the scales are developed, the worker bee builds
comb.
➢ Guarding and defense: Bees of 18 days old become guard
➢ Activities of the field bees As a field bee, the individual worker is
probably directed to sources of pollen, nectar, propolis or water by other
field bees.
➢ The bee intensity was the highest in late morning and it declined
continuously with passage of day-time in the afternoon.

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 ➢ COMMUNICATION IN BEES (a) Round dance; (b) Sickle dance; (c)
Wag-tail dance
➢ Round dance is used to indicate a short distance (Less than 50m in case
of A.mellifera). The bee runs in circles, first in one direction and then in
opposite direction, (clockwise and anticlockwise).
➢ Tail wagging dance or Wag-tail dance: This is used to indicate long
distance.(more than 50m in case of A.mellifera).

Bees Castes

➢ Worker Sterile Female - Born From Fertilized Eggs (AFO-2020)

➢ Queen bee emits pheromones that can encourage male drones to
mate
➢ Queen Fertile Female - Responsible For Laying Eggs
➢ Drone Male Insect - Male Bees Unfertilized Eggs
➢ Worker Sterile Female - Born From Fertilized Eggs
➢ Foraging means collection of pollen and nectar by honey bees

❖ Duties of a queen

1. The only individual which lays eggs in a colony .(Mother of all bees).

2. Lays upto 2000/day in Apis mellifera.

3. Five to Ten days after emergence, she mates with drones in one or more
nuptial flights.

4. When her spermatheea is filled with sperms, she will start laying eggs and
will not mate any more.

5. She lives for 3 years.

Queen bee is the busiest in summer months, when the hive needs to be at its
maximum strengths and lays up to 2500 eggs per day

6. The secretion from mandibular gland of the queen is called queen’s

substance.

7. The queen substance if present in sufficient quantity performs following

functions.

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 a) Prevent swarming and absconding of colonies.

b) Prevent development of ovary in workers.

c) Colony cohesion is maintained.

8. The queen can lay either fertilized or sterile eggs depending on the
requirement. (Fertilized eggs are laid into worker cells and queen cells, and
the unfertilized into drone cells.)

❖ Duties of a drone

1. Their important duty is to fertilize the queen.

2. They also help in maintenance of hive temperature.

3. They cannot collect nectar / pollen and they do not possess a sting

❖ Duties of a worker

The average worker bee produces about 1/12th teaspoon of honey in their
lifetime.

1. Their adult life span of around 6 weeks can be divided into

a) First three weeks- house hold duty.

b) Rest of the life- out door duty

❖ Establishment of hives
➢ The apiary must be located in well-drained open area, preferably near
orchards, with profuse source of nectar, pollen and water.
➢ Protection from sunlight is important in order to maintain an optimum
temperature in the hive.
➢ Ant wells are fixed around the hive stand. The colonies must be directed
towards east, with slight changes in the directions of the bee box as a
protection from rain and sun.
➢ Keep the colonies away from the reach of cattle, other animal, busy roads
and streetlights.

Bee behaviour

❖ Swarming: Swarming is a natural method of colony multiplication in

which a part of the colony migrates to a new site to make a new colony.

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 Swarming occurs when a colony builts up a considerable strength or
when the queen’s substance secreted by queen falls below a certain level.
Swarming is a potent instinct in bees for dispersal and perpetuation of the
species.

❖ Supersedure:

➢ When an old queen is unable to lay sufficient eggs, she will be replaced
or superseded by supersedure queen.

➢ Or when she runs out of spermathezoa in her spermatheca and lays many
unfertilized eggs from which only drones emerge.

➢ In this case, one or 2 queen cells are constructed in the middle of the
comb and not at the bottom.

➢ At a given time both new and old queens are seen simultaneously. Later
the old queen disappears

❖ Absconding: Absconding is the term used when a colony of honey bees

leaves its home in search of another. It is not the same as swarming. When a
colony absconds, however, the entire colony leaves together and finds a new
home. In general, the environmental conditions in the hive became too
stressful for the bees.

PHEROMONE FOR NAVIGATION

➢ Queen pheromone: The queen pheromone actively suppresses the egg
maturation process in the nonreproductive worker caste
➢ Brood pheromone: Brood pheromone (BP) is responsible for feeding
behaviour of nurse bees

Genetics and Breeding

➢ The common number chromosomes (n=16) of Apis cerana and A.
mellifera is often considered a sign of their close relationship
➢ Reproduction Honey bees are eusocial insects.
➢ Queens: Shortly after emergence, the queen can be observed moving
about the brood area of the nest. She will destroy sealed queen cells she
encounters if the colony is not preparing to swarm. A queen kept with

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 worker not older than 3 days was not attacked but also did not leave the
hive.
➢ Drones: For the first 3 days after emergence, drones are fed by workers.
➢ Flight range The average distance between apiary and mating place was
more than 2 km, and the maximum distance was 5 km.
➢ Mating behavior Apis cerana is closely related to A. mellifera and has
very similar mating behavior. Apis cerana has a shorter mating time per
drone (0.79 min) than Apis mellifera (2.04 min).

Queen Rearing and Multiplication

➢ Drones which are reared from the unfertilized eggs are haploid and carry
the genomes of their mother.
Bee Management
➢ Seasonal management Four major seasons are important in regard to bee
management viz. spring, summer, rainy and winter in India. There is no
continuous nectar and pollen flow throughout the year in India.
➢ Spring management With blossom in nature, honey flow season starts
during spring. During spring, bee colonies go ‘all out’ to rear brood and
invest all resources in increasing their strength. Queen lays more
vigorously after winter egg laying rest.
➢ Good colonies attain yielding strength and BEE MANAGEMENT honey
extraction is possible in January.
➢ Honey flow period Major honey flow period starts after winter and onset
of spring season. Management of the bees is essential during these days.
➢ Honey harvesting Depending upon the strength, 5 to 15 kg of honey
should be left with the colony of A. mellifera in rainy dearth periods.
Apis cerana is a frugal species and colony strength is also less and 5-7 kg
of honey stores may suffice for dearth period.
➢ Artificial diet Honey is the best food for the bees and a beekeeper should
always leave enough stores for them at all times. When honey is not
available, the best substitute is sugar syrup made from white crystalline
sugar by dissolving 2 parts of sugar and one part of water or 1 part of
sugar and one part of water. The feeding should not be done during the
day time which may result in robbing. It should be done in the evening
hours.

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 ➢ Winter management Honeybees live in an environment of their own and
regulate hive temperature between 32° and 35°C. Bees form a cluster
when the atmospheric temperature drops below 10°C. This, roughly
spherical cluster becomes tighter as the temperature drops further down.
The colonies find it difficult to regulate the nest temperature when
relative humidity is high, that is about 70-75%. the colony should not be
located in damp places and under thick grooves of vegetation.
➢ Winter hive packing During winter, the bees form cluster when the
temperature falls below 10°C. In some parts of India, the temperature
goes below 0°C. In such circumstances, the honeybee colony should be
exposed to sunlight; bees tried to regulate the temperature by muscular
movement and are possible by the consumption of honey.
❖ Harvesting of honey

➢ Harvest the honey by smoking the bees off the parts which needs to be
harvested and cut the combs carefully.

➢ Harvests are normally possible during and shortly after the two main
flowering seasons, namely October/November and February-June .

➢ A ripe comb is light in colour and filled with honey. More than half of the
honey cells on both the sides are sealed with wax.

❖ Honeybees as pollinators

➢ All bee species aid in pollination Value of honey bees in pollination is

15-20 times higher than that of the honey and wax it produces.

❖ Per cent increase in yield due to bee pollination

➢ Mustard & Sunflower - 44%

➢ Cotton – 32-45%

➢ Lucerne - 20%

➢ Onion - 90%

➢ Apple - 45%

➢ Cardamom - 21-37%

Management of bees for pollination in honeybee farming:

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 ➢ It is recommended to place hives very near the flied to save bee’s energy
and migrate colonies near the field at 10 % flowering.

➢ It is also recommended to place colonies at 3 per ha for Italian bee and

5 per ha for Indian bees.

➢ The colonies should have at least 5 to 6 frame strength of bees and with
sealed brood and young mated queen.

❖ Pests of honey bees

➢ Wax Moths

➢ Ants

➢ Wasps

➢ Wax beetles

➢ Birds

➢ Tracheal Mites

❖ DISEASES OF HONEY BEES

Nosema protozoan

Brood/chalk brood Infected materials

American Foul Breed Bacterial

European Foul Breed Bacterial

Chalky Brood Disease Fungal

Stone Disease Fungal

Sae Disease Viral

Deformed Wing Viral

Chronic Bee Paralysis Viral

Bee Diseases and their Management

➢ Honeybees are affected by large number of viral, bacterial, fungal and
protozoan organisms

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 ➢ VIRAL DISEASES Three viruses, viz. Apis iridescent virus, Thai sac
brood virus and Kashmir bee virus, have been reported from India. Out of
these three, the first two have devastating effect on Apis cerana in some
parts of the country.
➢ BACTERIAL DISEASES American foul brood, European foul brood
➢ Fungal disease Two fungal disease, viz. chalk brood (Ascophera apis)
and stone brood (Aspergillus flavus) are known in honeybees.
➢ Nosema disease Among the disease of adult honeybee, Apis mellifera,
Nosema is one of the most serious diseases caused by Nosema apis. the
incidence of nosema disease in Apis mellifera and reported as the fungal
disease instead of protozoa from Himachal Pradesh as reported earlier.
Management Treatment with the antibiotic Fumidil B (prepared from
Aspergillus fumigatus), the causative agent of stone brood, inhibits the
spores reproducing in the ventriculus, but does not kill the spores. Heat
treatment in 49°C for 24 hr can be used to kill the spores on contaminated
equipment.

Bee enemies and their Management

➢ HONEYBEES are subjected for predation or infestation by various
enemies such as wasps, wax moth, wax beetles, ants, birds, lizard,
cockroach and mites etc.
➢ Wax moths There are two different types of wax moth viz. the
greater wax-moth, Galleria mellonella L. and lesser wax moth,
Achroia grisella F.
➢ Mites Honeybees are infested by both ecto and endo-parasitic
mites and also some phoretic mites have also been observed in bee
hives.

Bee Pollination
➢ Pollinating agents
➢ Biotic pollination
✓ Beetles : Cantharophily
✓ Flies : Myophily
✓ Wasps : Sphecophily
✓ Bees : Melittophily
✓ Ants : Myrmecophily

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 ✓ Butterflies : Psychophily
✓ Moths : Phalaenophily
✓ Birds : Ornithophily
✓ Mammals : Therophily
✓ Bats : Chiropterophily
✓ Rodents : Sminthophily
•Self- pollination : Autogamy + cleistogamy
• Wind- pollination : Anemophily
• Water-pollination : Hyphydrophily

➢ Flight range and foraging rate: Honeybees can have extreme

foraging range up to 7-10 km but economic foraging range is up to
2 km for Apis mellifera and 1 km for Apis cerana
➢ Migratory beekeeping or managed pollination would help in
greater extent for increasing the crop yield.

Pollination research in India

➢ Oil-seed crops: Honeybees are major pollinators of mustard crop.
➢ Apis cerana @ 5 colony/ha gave the optimum yield of 7.61 g/ha
which is 48.63% higher than without bee and 25.71% over open
pollination.

Toxicity to Honey Bees

➢ Mortality of bees is high when most toxic chemicals are applied
during blooming period of the crops.

Pesticidal hazards to bees

➢ Symptoms and effects of pesticidal poisoning The nectar and
pollen can also be contaminated with pesticides and there can be
stomach toxicity to bees and also to brood when fed on
contaminated pollen.
➢ Signs of poisoning in Apis cerana indica were first observable
when acetyl cholinestrase inhibition exceeded 35% and death
occurred at 96% or more inhibition.
➢ Reduction of pesticidal poisoning to bees A golden rule for the
safety of bees and other insect pollinators is not to apply pesticides
unless the pest damage is at threshold level.

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 ➢ Application of pesticide should be avoided when the crop is in
bloom.
➢ In most cases, it can be possible to control the pest before the start
of flowering and next treatment can be postponed till the end of
flowering period but in some crops the flowering period is
staggered and pesticidal treatments may become essential.
➢ Plant toxicity to bees There are evidences of pollen or nectar of
some plants being poisonous to bees.
➢ Some plant poisoning render field bees black and shiny from loss
of hair. Brood can also be killed and dead brood do not have brown
or black colour as produced in foul brood diseases larvae in all
stages may die

Migratory Apiculture
➢ MIGRATION of honeybee colonies is necessary to get the nectar
and pollen reward from the flower sources by the worker bees.
Such migratory practice is being done on rape-seed and mustard
and other oil seed crops during winter. Again, in the spring, the
colonies are migrated from oil seed crops to fruit crops such as
apple, litchi, mango, guava, lemon, citrus etc.
➢ With migratory beekeeping, one can get an additional 30 or 40
kg of honey/hive
➢ Migratory beekeeping has not only increased the production of
honey per hive but also enhances the chances of success in the
division of colonies to a great extent.
➢ Experience shows that more than 60% of the colonies suffer
mortality due to floral dearth coupled with attack of wasps or birds
and other predators in stationery colonies.

Bee Hive Products

➢ The other valuable beehive products such as beeswax, royal jelly,
bee venom, pollen and propolis have been known to the apiculturist
➢ Honey is a sweet, viscous liquid produced by honeybees mainly
from nectar of plants.
➢ Composition of honey: Chemical composition of honey is very
complex. Honey mainly contains sugars but acids, minerals,

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 vitamins, enzymes and antibiotic substances are also present in
small amounts
➢ Honeybees, after putting through the ripening process, seal honey
in comb cells when the moisture content is about 20%
➢ Honey is hygroscopic, which means it absorbs moisture from air.
➢ By using refractometers the moisture in honey can be determined.
The measurement of these two properties gives quick readings for
moisture content.
➢ Pure honey should have the specific gravity of about 1.35 to
1.44.
➢ Fermentation of honey is very common at the temperature between
11 ° and 21 °C and the tendency to ferment is reduced at lower and
higher temperatures
➢ Fermented honey is sour in taste because the acidity is as high as
1.5-3.1 milli equivalents. Heating honey to 64°C for about 30
min. destroys yeasts in honey and thus the fermentation is
prevented.
➢ The crystallization is also reduced at low temperature between 0°-
5°C. The optimum temperature for crystallization is about 14°C.
➢ Antioxidant properties of honey Antioxidants are substances
which protect the body from damage caused by free radicals,
Hydroxymethyl furfural is produced by degradation of honey
sugars,
➢ Heating reduces the viscosity, which facilitates handling. To
achieve this objective the appropriate temperature to move honey is
between 38° - 43°C
➢ The honey can be made yeast free by heating at 71.1 °C for 0.4 min
of 65.5°C for 2.8 min or 60.0°C for 22 min. Honey needs time to
raise its temperature and this time is taken into account for its
pasteurization.
➢ Storage containers for liquid or crystallized honey should be made
either of glass or stainless steel or coated with food grade plastic,
paint or beeswax
➢ Storage rooms should have a temperature near 20°C and a
relative humidity of less than 65%
➢ Other beehive products :

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 ➢ Bee wax is a natural wax produced in the bee hive of honey bees of
the genus Apis. Worker bees secrete wax in the abdominal sternites
IV-VII when they are 14-18 days old, Beeswax is a complex
substance. It is rich in vitamin A
➢ In India, major proportion of wax comes from the combs of Apis
dorsata.
➢ Bee venom Sting of worker bee is attached to a poison sac where
venom is stored.
➢ Composition of bee venom is complex and is composed of many
active substances such as histamine, apamine, acithinase,
hydrochloric acid, formic acid, orthophosphoric and, sulphur,
calcium, copper and magnesium sulphate
➢ Royal jelly is secreted by glands of nurse bees of the age of 6-12
days when the glands are fully active. It is very nutritious food and
is fed to the young worker larvae and the queen larva and adult.
Royal jelly is milky or light pale in colour. It contains 65-70%
moisture. Eight essential amino acids for human beings are present
in royal jelly. It also contains vitamin A, B and C. Iron, copper,
phosphorus, silicon and Sulphur are present in royal jelly.
➢ Propolis is a mixture of various amounts of beeswax and resins
collected by the honeybee from plants, particularly from flowers
and leaf buds.
➢ Pollen is frequently called the “only perfectly complete food”.

Value Added Beehive Products

➢ The best known primary products of honeybee are honey and
wax, but pollen, propolis, royal jelly, venom, larvae are also
marketable primary bee products.
❖ Amendment

➢ Any honey having more than 20 percent moisture at raw stage, that needs
processing for moisture reduction, may not be considered as pure natural
honey.

➢ This does not seem to be appropriate, particularly in case of tropical

countries like India with high relative humidity during honey flow
season.

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 ➢ Government has allocated Rs.500 crore towards Beekeeping under the
Atma Nirbhar Abhiyan.

➢ By rising honey exports, beekeeping will be an important factor in

achieving the goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2024.

Important Facts about Apiculture

➢ Beekeeping can be done by domesticating 2 species of bees viz; Apis

cerena and Apis mellifera.

➢ Restrict number of bee colonies in an apiary from 50-100.

➢ Keep row to row and box to box distance as10 and 3 feet, respectively
(Recommended by NBB).

➢ When temperature in the apiary increases beyond 37°C, water is used by

bees to evaporate and cool the colony.

➢ Feed the colonies in the evening preferably after sunset

➢ Start migration late in the evening and ensure the colonies reach the
destination within 10-12 hrs.

➢ Harvests are normally possible during and shortly after the two main
flowering seasons, namely October/November and February-June.

➢ The government is providing financial assistance under pollination

support through beekeeping, a component of Mission for Integrated
Development of Horticulture (MIDH).

➢ The average worker bee produces about 1/12th teaspoon of honey in

their lifetime.

➢ Queen bee is the busiest in summer months, when the hive needs to be
at its maximum strengths and lays up to 2500 eggs per day.

➢ Honeybees are native to Europe.

➢ A queen bee can live up to 5 years, whereas a worker bee often has a
life span as short as 6 weeks.

Agricoaching Chandigarh Contact: 9828822277

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