Summer Project On Bee Keeping

Made By: Aalokit Barua

y Beekeeping also known as Apiculture, is the

maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans.

y A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect honey and

other products of the hive (including beeswax, pollen, and royal jelly), to pollinate crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers.
y A location where bees are kept is called a Bee Yard".

 Collecting honey from wild bee colonies is one of

the most ancient human activities and is still practiced by aboriginal societies in parts of Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. Some of the earliest evidence of gathering honey from wild colonies is from rock paintings, dating to around 13,000 BC.

 Traditional beekeeping  Modern beekeeping

y Fixed comb hives

A fixed comb hive is a hive in which the combs cannot be removed or manipulated for management or harvesting without permanently damaging the comb. Almost any hollow structure can be used for this purpose, such as a log gum, skep or a clay pot. Fixed comb hives are no longer in common use in most places.

 Movable frame hives  Top bar hives  Protective clothing  Smoker

Movable frame hives

y In the United States, the Langstroth hive is

commonly used. It was the first successful topopened hive with movable frames, and other designs of hive have been based on it. y In the United Kingdom, the most common type of hive is the British National Hive, which can hold Hoffman, British Standard or popular Manley frames,

Top bar hives

y A few hobby beekeepers are adopting various top-

bar hives of the type commonly found in Africa. Top bar hives were originally used as traditional beekeeping a method in both Greece and Vietnam. These have no frames and the honey filled comb is not returned to the hive after extraction

Protective clothing
y Beekeepers often wear protective clothing to protect

themselves from stings. y While knowledge of the bees is the first line of defense, most beekeepers also wear some protective clothing. The face and neck are the most important areas to protect, so most beekeepers will at least wear a veil.

Smoker
y Smoker is a device designed to generate smoke from the

incomplete combustion of various fuels. Smoke calms bees; it initiates a feeding response in anticipation of possible hive abandonment due to fire. Smoke also masks alarm pheromones released by guard bees or when bees are squashed in an inspection. The ensuing confusion creates an opportunity for the beekeeper to open the hive and work without triggering a defensive reaction.

y About 10,000 tons of forest honey are produced annually. Apiary

honey produced under the KVI sector is estimated to be a little less than 10,000 tons in 1990-91. Over 95 per cent of this was from the A. Cerana colonies, the rest being from the European bee colonies. Forest honey, mostly from rock bee hives, is usually collected by tribal in forests and is procured by forest or tribal corporations as a minor forest produce. Quite a large quantity is also collected by groups or individuals on their own. Forest honey is usually thin, contains large quantity of pollen, bee juices and parts, wax and soil particles. The honey collector gets between Rs. 10 and Rs. 25 per kilogram of the forest honey. Forest honeys are mostly multifloral. y Much of the forest honey is sold to the pharmaceutical, confectionery and food industries, where it is processed and used in different formulations. y Indian honey has a good export market. With the use of modern collection, storage, beekeeping equipment, honey processing plants and bottling technologies the potential export market can be tapped.