Posts Tagged ‘Beekeeping’

Bees are very essential insects because worldwide, they provide pollination service which is very important to agriculture and biodiversity conservation.  Aside pollination, bees also provide hive products which are nutritious and medicinal such as honey, royal jelly, beebread, propolis, wax and many more.  Most people however perceive all bees to be stinging and dangerous. This is entirely not the case because there are some bees which are harmless and very friendly to the extent that they could be kept on porches, study rooms, etc.  These bees are known as Stingless Bees.

Stingless bees also known as Meliponines are a group of bees with non-functional stings.  They are tropical bees of African origin which have dispersed to other tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world.  There are about 500 species of stingless bees, and they are the only highly social bees aside the common honeybees (Apis mellifera L.).  Stingless bees usually live in permanent colonies that consist of the queen and the drone as the reproductives and hundreds or thousands of workers (depending on the species).

The colonies are found in all forms of nest with the most common being in tree cavities. A few species however build underground nests and some also build exposed nests surrounded by hard and brittle layers, hanging over tree branches in the air.  The bees use all forms of materials including resin, sand particles, excrement, etc in building their nests, which are waterproof and highly resistant to predators.

Even though stingless bees have non-functional stings, they have various and efficient means of defence within and without their nests.  Some species adopt aggressive ways of external defence like biting, releasing caustic mandibular secretions, unpleasant oduors and irritating by crawling into eyes and ears of intruders.  The most external tactic of defence of the bees is making their nests invisible.  Internally stingless bees use a substance known as propolis to embalm intruders.

Stingless bees and pollination

The transfer of pollen grains to the stigma of flowers thus pollination is very crucial for plant reproduction and therefore, seed and fruit production.  Plants depend on agents called pollinators to effect pollination.  Bees constitute the principal pollinators, ensuring the survival of many plant species including plants that provide food security to innumerable rural households.

Most species of stingless bees exhibit some characteristics that enhance their potential as pollinators.  The bees are polylectic or generalist flower visitors, visiting and adapting to a broad range of plant species.  They also demonstrate floral constancy whereby the workers visit only one plant species on a single trip.  Floral constancy is linked with pollinator efficiency because the collection and deposition of a mixture of pollen from two or more plant species tends to contaminate the stigma with the wrong pollen.

Meliponiculture (stingless beekeeping)

Transferring stingless bee colonies into artificial nests boosts the potential of the bees for crop pollination because the hives could be transported where and when needed for pollination.  Stingless bees were kept by man centuries ago but unlike Central and South America and parts of Asia, the practice did not evolve in Africa.  Currently in Africa, meliponiculture exists only in Tanzania and Angola on small to medium scale.  Stingless bee honey in Africa is mostly harvested destructively from feral colonies.

Stingless bee keeping has some advantages over honeybee keeping. For instance the colony could last permanently as long as no damaging disaster occurs, by replacing the old queen with a virgin queen.  Also stingless bee queens and workers generally tend to live longer that of the honeybees.  Aside the longevity of their colonies and castes, stingless bees have not yet been found to be affected by the disease and the Varroa mite problems that are plaguing the honeybee keeping industry.  In addition stingless bees do not sting making them the golden and friendliest bees of the world. The stingless attribute also makes them harmless to man and therefore easy to handle and manage. This means that stingless bees could be kept as close as possible to our homes, on the porches, backyard gardens, and study rooms etc as pets. Thus stingless bees are the only pets that provide additional benefits of pollination, honey and other hive products to enjoy.

Stingless bee hive products

The hive products of Stingless just as that of the common honeybees include honey, propolis, pollen (beebread) and wax.  The hive products, some of which have antioxidant, antimicrobial and antifungal properties have been used in the food and cosmetic industries as well as in medicine.  Stingless bee honey has a higher medicinal value than that of A. mellifera.  It is either taken in its pure form or as a component in both in traditional (including herbal extracts especially in Africa) or conventional medicines.

Threats to stingless bees

In recent times bee population densities are declining below points of sustaining pollination services in both agro and natural ecosystems.  This decline is as a result of habitat loss, land management practices, agricultural and industrial chemicals among others.  Most feral bees and for that matter stingless bees require safe and undisturbed habitats for nesting and foraging.  The elimination of these resources by lumber exploitation, clearing of natural vegetation, wild bushfires, land degradation, literally starve and kill the bees. 

Most pesticides and other chemicals used in agriculture also kill bees directly, decreasing their populations significantly.  Stingless bees are particularly affected by these threats especially in Africa where meliponiculture is virtually non-existent.  This is further exacerbated by the destructive harvesting of the stingless bee honey from the wild colonies.

There is the need for more research and education on stingless bees, their importance and the need for meliponiculture as means of conserving this very important resource; the stingless bees.

How to make your own honey extractor
To extract honey from the beehive one must have an extractor of honey. Honey extractors are available in the market and cost around $300, which is the approximate price of getting a new bee hive. Sometimes instead of investing so much money in a new honey extractor, several beekeepers who are located near each other collectively get a honey extractor and share it. In case there are no beekeepers near your place, then the next best option is to make your own honey extractor.
How to make your own honey extractor
To put together your own honey extractor you would first have to get all the materials that would be required for this. What you would need are six coach screws, is a single pillow block bearing, a bearing that is self centering, four sections of 400 mm of 8mm rod that is threaded, for the metal bolt you will require ten bolts, a metal drum that is fairly large, a single meter of fencing wire which is 2 to 3 mm thick, two bits of wood, two wheel rims of a bicycle and a one meter rod of metal that is thickly threaded. While selecting the metal drum that is a large one for storing the honey, make sure that no toxic or dangerous material was ever stored in it before. The tools that you will require for making your honey extractor would be a hack saw, a socket set, a machine for welding, and an electric drill.
The step by step instructions for making the extractor
See the side of the drum that is without the two holes and open it, this will be the upper end of your drum for the honey extractor. With the coach screws fasten one piece of wood diagonally across the underneath of the drum. Now put the pillow block into place securely with the coach screws.
The threaded rod should be inserted through the middle of the initial bicycle rim, firmly lock the frame to the rod about ten centimeters away from the rods end. On the opposite side of the rod thread a but for the other wheel, on this nut you should make the second wheel will rest. Drill four holes and when both the wheel rims are in place around each wheel. After this job is done use the 8mm rods to secure the wheel rims together. Using two of the nuts on the rod, ensure that two cm of the rod stick out
Next you should cut a slit 10mm deep and 3mm wide in the last part of the rod. After this thread the lock the nuts together at the finishing end of the rod. Once the nuts are in place, with the welding machine permanently secure them into place. Secure the wire to the spokes of the wheel rim which is at the bottom, about 5-8cm from the edge of the rod. Your honey extractor’s basket is ready. Take this basket and put it inside the drum on the pillow bearing. Now bolt another bit of wood to the self centering bearing and the sides of the drum. Drill a screwdriver piece into the chuck and place the chuck inside the slit at the slot on top of the threaded rod. For details with photographs for a better understanding of making an extractor for honey go to the websites for more informtaion.

1. The new beekeeper
The new beekeeper will be more than enthusiastic to have his new bees arrive by post.
Before the bees arrive he would have chosen a suitable place to put his new bees in along with the new hive. The place for the bee hive would have to be in a secluded area where the bees will not be disturbed by both humans and animals. The hive also has to be in a place where strong winds will not knock it down.
Before the bees arrive it would be a good thing to try out the safety equipment and specially the body suit so that you are well protected and do not get stung. The post office will keep you informed on the arrival of the bees, and once they come will ask you to come and take your dangerous parcel away as soon as possible.
2. The newly arrived bees
In the container you will probably find a few bees lying dead, but this is to be expected after the stressful journey that they have undertaken. The rest of the bees will be alright and will have to be transferred to the new hive that you have set up for them from the container that they were shipped in. Before trying to transfer the bees make sure that you have the safety gear on and also the smoker ready. Inside the shipping container there will be a smaller container; this has the queen bee in it. This box will be closed with a cork, and if you remove the cork there will be another stopper inside that is made of sugar.
3. Placing the queen in the hive
The queen’s container should be hung inside the hive that has been prepared for the new bees. Now pierce a hole in the sugar so that the worker bees will be able to free the queen bee easier and allow her to escape into the hive. Care should be taken that the queen bee is not damaged in anyway while you pierce the sugar cube as it is not easy to find a replacement for the queen bee during winter months.
After the queen bee has been put into the hive, blow a puff of smoke into the container with the other bees and allow them out into the hive. The bees will automatically spill out of the container into the hive and settle down there. Make sure you put a feeder filled with ordinary sugar n to the hive. If there are any bees still in the container just leave the container near the hive and they will go into it on their own. The bees prefer being changed from the container to the hive wither early in the morning or in the evening time.
4. A week for the bees to settle down
The bees will take at least a week to settle down to their new hive and then the queen bee will start laying her eggs and the bees will also start making honey.

1. The new beekeeper
The new beekeeper will be more than enthusiastic to have his new bees arrive by post.
Before the bees arrive he would have chosen a suitable place to put his new bees in along with the new hive. The place for the bee hive would have to be in a secluded area where the bees will not be disturbed by both humans and animals. The hive also has to be in a place where strong winds will not knock it down.
Before the bees arrive it would be a good thing to try out the safety equipment and specially the body suit so that you are well protected and do not get stung. The post office will keep you informed on the arrival of the bees, and once they come will ask you to come and take your dangerous parcel away as soon as possible.
2. The newly arrived bees
In the container you will probably find a few bees lying dead, but this is to be expected after the stressful journey that they have undertaken. The rest of the bees will be alright and will have to be transferred to the new hive that you have set up for them from the container that they were shipped in. Before trying to transfer the bees make sure that you have the safety gear on and also the smoker ready. Inside the shipping container there will be a smaller container; this has the queen bee in it. This box will be closed with a cork, and if you remove the cork there will be another stopper inside that is made of sugar.
3. Placing the queen in the hive
The queen’s container should be hung inside the hive that has been prepared for the new bees. Now pierce a hole in the sugar so that the worker bees will be able to free the queen bee easier and allow her to escape into the hive. Care should be taken that the queen bee is not damaged in anyway while you pierce the sugar cube as it is not easy to find a replacement for the queen bee during winter months.
After the queen bee has been put into the hive, blow a puff of smoke into the container with the other bees and allow them out into the hive. The bees will automatically spill out of the container into the hive and settle down there. Make sure you put a feeder filled with ordinary sugar n to the hive. If there are any bees still in the container just leave the container near the hive and they will go into it on their own. The bees prefer being changed from the container to the hive wither early in the morning or in the evening time.
4. A week for the bees to settle down
The bees will take at least a week to settle down to their new hive and then the queen bee will start laying her eggs and the bees will also start making honey.

1. Advertising beekeepers produce
Initially some beekeepers start their business on a small scale and at this time they sell their products locally. Some of them even set up a wayside stall and put up some of the other products from their farms like apples, and other fruits and vegetables for sale. This way they create a market for their products and their stuff gets advertised by word of mouth. If the sales increase and people find that the quality of their products is good, then they could even start putting their stuff in the local stores and markets too. The beekeepers get to know most of their customers personally as they meet them regularly when they come to buy the honey and other products from their farms and this creates a good rapport between them. So not only do they make a good sale they also end up with good friends.
2. More ways of increasing sales
The way their wares are packaged is another important aspect of increasing their sales. Making the labels and containers attractive also attracts the customers. The labels should be legible and catch the buyer’s eye and the bottles clear so that the honey can be seen in them. The labels should give details of the name and address of the farm where it is produced and the date it was packed on. The bottles should be of a quality that the customer would want to retain and put on his kitchen shelf. The beekeepers should make sure that they keep their stall spotlessly clean and arrange their display attractively too.
3. Signboards for road side stalls
To make the roadside stall more noticeable the beekeeper should put up a signboard which can be seen clearly by those who are driving by and should mention in bold letters that they have put up farm fresh produce and honey for sale. There should not be a jumble of words and colors on the signboard but it should state the facts in bold and clear letters. A canopy or some sort of sunshade would make the customer more comfortable instead of their standing in the sun. This way they will not be in a hurry to get out of the sun and into the comfort of their cars.
4. Ensure top quality products on the shelves
Make sure that what you put on the shelves in the stall is always of good quality. If you notice the honey in any bottle crystallizing immediately replace it with a fresh bottle of honey. Do not let anything that is not in good condition be seen by the customers.
5. Give out pamphlets at the stall
No doubt the roadside stalls do increase the sales of the beekeeper’s produce, but to gat a still better response giving out cards and pamphlets would be helpful too. It would be nice for the customers if pamphlets with recipes using honey are given to them and also a list of all the other products that they are selling here. A few small free samples being handed out is another good way to create a good rapport with customers too.
While pricing the honey take into consideration the time and effort spent on the whole job and do not under sell or over price your commodity.

1. How large beekeepers can make a profit
To be able to make a good profit large beekeepers cannot just sell their products within the local community but will have to spread their wings and get business from the super markets and grocery stores too. Only then can they cope with the financial expenditure and remain solvent financially. For this to happen the beekeepers have to pay heed to the packaging of the honey and other by products which should meet the standards set by USDA.
2. How do they decide on the packaging?
The container is what makes the package attractive and this is what the beekeeper has to bear in mind when thinking of the packing. These packings can be in various types of containers like glass bottles, plastic containers and cans. The sizes of the containers can vary from a few hundred grams to several kilos. The smaller containers come in attractive shapes and colors and can be reused for storing anything else by the buyer later. Another aspect is to keep the bottles and containers firmly sealed so that they can be shipped to any destination without fear of leakage.
3. Labels are equally important as a visual effect
After the container has been decided on you will have to think about the label which is what makes the container colorful and attractive and gives the buyer details about the product. Before designing the label or going to an artist who will help you with the design you should check with the government of your state about the laws that govern certain requirements. This will decide about the information that you are supposed to put on every label. The name of the product, which in this case is “Honey”, should be mentioned boldly on the label. If you are using a distribution or packaging company their name and address as well as the name and address of your farm should also be on the label. Apart from all this the date of packaging the honey and the net weight should also be mentioned clearly. The size of the font on the label will be according to the size of the container and the label.
For those beekeepers who harvest honey of different flavors, the name of the flavor should also be mentioned on the label, as different people would prefer different flavors. Ig the honey is not filtered then you would have to mention that it is raw, natural or unfiltered on the label too.
4. USDA grades
The beekeepers who have the USDA certification will also have their honey graded and the grades will have to be mentioned on the labels too. These grades are based on the defects, quality of flavor, clarity and the amount of moisture in the honey.

Beekeeping is a great way for someone who doesn’t have  loads of money and acres of land to take up a hobby that is both rewarding and that you can make some money from. The start up expense of the average hive can be from $300 to $400 per hive. To start I would only recommend the one.

You can locate your hive at the bottom of your garden or a  remote corner of your back yard, it is now becoming more common to see suburban homes with a bee hive at the back of their house.

Before you rush out and buy your first bee hive it is worth checking with the local authorities or Cooperative Extension office. They will to tell you if you live in an area that beekeeping is allowed. Remember to ask them for the contact information of your local areas beekeeping organization where you can become a registered beekeeper.

Select a site for your honey bee hive.

Now that you have selected your site you will need to buy the basic equipment. I would recommend searching on the internet to find your local beekeepers association or use eBay and if all that fails try the local yellow pages. If you are struggling to find a hive you could always build one, instructions can be found at http://www.30media30.com/beekeeping/  there is nothing more satisfying than building your own bee hive.

Now that your hive is in place and you are happy and confident that everything is in 100% it’s time to order your honey bees. The easiest and best way is to order Honey Bees is from an established Apiary. Honey Bees should be ordered early in the winter, the average beekeeper orders their bees in January and February. The order is then shipped in March and April but depending on your country this may vary, ask before you bye.

Bees can be either, sent by post / shipped or collected, although a lot of couriers do not like to transport bees. Again check with the Apiary for the best way to transport your bees to their new bee hive.

When your bees arrive they should have been packaged in a special carrying case that is designed just for bees. The package should be a wooden framed “house” that has a screen covering the outside. This packaging allows air to circulate to the traveling bees.

On unpacking your bees, do not be surprised if you see a few dead bees at the bottom of the package, this is normal. Bees do not like traveling and they find it hard, so unfortunately you will loose a few. You will find the rest of the bees clutching the sides of the container.

You should also notice that one bee in the container has been separated from the rest of the hive. This is your queen bee. The rest of the bees in the container will make up the rest of your bee hives hierarchy.  Good Apiaries will ship the queen with a couple of nurse bees and some times the top of the queen’s container will be covered with piece of sugar candy.

With the bees there should also be a container that is filled with a sugar solution. This sugar solution is food for the bees. As soon as you get the bees home offer them something to drink, do this by taking a spray bottle and covering the container with a very fine covering of water.

If you would like to know more about beekeeping and how to keep bees or looking to take this up as a hobby then visit

http://www.30media30.com/beekeeping/

1. The unique life cycle of the honey bee
The queen bee lays eggs in the octagonal shaped cells and the eggs get attached to the wall of the cell with a strand of mucus. During spring when the eggs are being laid, the queen bee can lay up to 1900 eggs in a day. The egg remains in the cell until it hatches and there emerges a larva. There are nurse bees that have to care for the larvae and feed the larvae with honey and secretions from the glands which are referred to as bee bread.
There are five stages to the development of a larva, and the larva sheds the outer skin after each of these stages. On the sixth day of this procedure the larva is cocooned by one of the worker bees in its cell where it stays for the next eight to ten days and then emerges as a fully formed bee from its cocoon.
2. The life span of a honey bee
The life span of the honey bees depends on the purpose that they are in the hive for. Different jobs have different honeybees doing it and their life spans also differ accordingly. The queen bee has a life span of two years but this is only if she has been inseminated with a sufficient amount of sperm while she was on her nuptial flight. The queen bee if she is in a good condition can lay up to 2000 eggs in a day and is also responsible for killing her mother and sisters too. The queen bee has nothing to do as there are enough bees in her entourage to feed her and to clean the waste matter too. An older queen bee will leave the nest while the rest of the bees from the hive are going to swarm. This usually happens during spring time. Those who are proficient in bee keeping, think that the queen bee generates some sort of pheromone that avoids the worker bees from the hives in becoming interested in sex. The virgin queen bee is one who has not had her nuptial flight. The drone bees are the ones that survive only until they have impregnated the queen bee during her nuptial flight. The drone bee dies after mating with the queen bee.
3. Life of the worker bee
The worker bee lives for one hundred and forty days only during the winter, and during summer it is only forty days. They have a short life span because they literally work themselves to death. There are many different duties that the worker bees have to perform. The nurse bees take care of the larvae while others have to go out and collect pollen to make honey. Other workers have to be capping the honey combs while some have to attend on the queen bee. These worker bees also have to starve the drone bees to death and clean the hives. All worker bees are always sterile and in case they lay an egg are drone bees. Each hive has between twenty thousand to two hundred thousand bees in a one hive. The bees only survive if their queen life, if anything happens to the queen bee then the whole hive dies.

No one can pin a date on when humans learnt to cultivate bees for their honey. Neither can anyone say for sure when man learnt that honey can be consumed. Perhaps man observed the bears and other animals in the trees pursuing honey bee hives and taking the honey from it and eating it. And as always man – following his ‘monkey see, monkey do’ instinct tried it out for taste and discovered that honey had a unique sweet taste of its own.
All this probably happened around 700 years before Christ. We can fix this date by the drawings on the caves where prehistoric man lived. It is not difficult for scientists to fix dates on caves based on radio carbon dating of skins and bones along with other organic remnants found in the cave. However, scientists seem to think that the drawings depicted on the walls of the caves tell tales of humans standing around a bee hive and are absolutely unaffected by the bees. Could this mean that they had discovered some pre historic ‘Bee Go’ to ward off the bees. Bee Go is a chemical that bee keepers smear on a tray and leave it in the hive to encourage the bees to move to the bottom of the hive.
Man might have discovered that smearing some similar substance on their bodies would prevent the bees from stinging them while they collected the honey from the hive. What is a fact is, however, that man did learn that smoke was a very useful tool in scaring the bees away from the hive while they dismantled it from the tree. This was no guarantee of not getting stung though.
As civilization progressed man learnt to cultivate the honey bee. First indications of bee keeping are the clay and mud pottery scientists have found. Artificial bee hives had been constructed out of clay pottery to encourage bees to build their hives in them. When the honey was ready for harvesting the bees were driven out and the pot was broken to remove the honey.
Swarms of bees were trapped in these containers and kept there captive. Once they decided to make the hive their home the bees were allowed to come and go as they pleased making honey in the process.
Time advanced and so did the human intelligence. Man began to study the habits of bees and made uniquely designed hives for the honey bee. These wooden hives as we know them today are engineered to keep the reproduction part of the hive away from the food (larder) section. This way the bee keeper can only remove the honey combs without disturbing the off spring at the same time not having to remove all the bee’s food.