Buzz-ing Info about Apiculture – Unfolding vector and nectar | 1
We are very much aware about the concept “Survival of the fittest“, Do you
have any idea about survival due to the tiniest ? Before you jump into a
conclusion, let me give you some other cues. These creatures are yellow brown
in color, they are known for their stinging behavior and also they are the
largest producer of honey and wax. Yes, you got it right ! It’s “honey bee”.
“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would
only have four years left to live.” this reveals the fact that about 80% of the
world’s pollinating insects are honey bees, ensuring food security. Now we can
understand the importance of 5-15 mm sized Bees and our role in protecting
them. Technically beekeeping is termed as Apiculture and the place where
the bees are reared is called an Apiary and the person who pursue these
activities is known as Apiarist or simply Bee Keeper.
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Featured in Image
–Arunprakash
The different kinds of honey bees are:
1. Indian or eastern bee
–
Apis cerana indica
2. Italian bee
–
Apis mellifera
3. Little bee
–
Apis florea
4. Rock bee
–
Apis dorsata
5. Sting-less bee
–
Trigona iridipennis
Bees are social insects living in colonies. A Bee hive is the structure inhabited
by honey bees and divided among themselves based upon their status and
work they do. A colony consists of a queen, few hundred drones and several
thousand workers. There is division of labor and specialization in the
performance of various functions like Queen bee, Worker bees and drones.
Let’s look into that in detail.
The Royal being
The eggs laid by the Queen ensures existence of bee population over the
generations. There is usually a single queen per hive. If the queen dies,
emergency queen takes the place. New queen are selected from adult females
who are fed with a special diet of royal jelly for a larval period of 5 days. This
royal jelly is made up of mandibular secretions and honey that enables the
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adult female worker to develop into a fertile queen. Queen also regulate the
activities of other bees by producing a pheromone called Queen Substance.
Queen cell
Queen bees can be identified by its gigantic figure and pointed abdomen. They
are perfect females capable for reproduction. Unlike workers who are also
females but are not involved in the progeny generation due to their
underdeveloped female features. The queens are placed in a special cup
shaped cells in the lower edge of the combs. The major distinction between the
emergency queen and a queen is its quality of larval diet.
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Italian Queen bee with Workers
Benevolent employees
Bees that do all the works of colony irrespective of any expectation are labelled
as worker bees. And the bees that we witness usually belong to this group.
These bees are females that are not sexually developed. These
workaholics are subdivided among themselves as nurse bees, attendants and
Field bees. Nurse bees are those who feed the larvae until they are old
enough to fend for themselves. The bees that clean the old cells, takes care of
the queen’s and young drone’s needs and caps the cells are called attendants.
Field bees are involved in gathering of pollen and nectar as bee bread and
create propolis using its saliva, beeswax and other plant sources. This propolis
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is used as glue to seal the cracks and crevices of the combs.
Worker bee collecting pollen
Potent labourer
Large blunt ended abdomen is the prominent feature of the drones; in addition
they have large compound eyes. Male honey bees are otherwise called
Drones. Several centenary drones occupy each hive. These drones are
developed from unfertilized eggs, since the fertilized egg develops into
workers. These drones are nurtured inside a dome shaped cell with a central
hole.
The drones mate with the queen to continue the bee clan. Pollen and
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nectar serves as the staple food for honey bees. The protein and vitamin
requirements are satisfied by pollen whereas the water and sugar
requirements are met out by the consumption of nectar.
Honey to money
Different types of beehives are pot hive, Madhusagar hive, house hive, single
walled and double walled Dadant hives, British standard hive, Langstroth hive,
Jeolikote hive and Newton hive. Of all these types, the one designed by Newton
is the most popular in South India. Langstroth hives are suited for rearing
Italian bees. Newton’s hives, BIS hives and Marthandam hives are suited for
rearing Indian bees.
Marthandam hive (Indian bees)
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A typical hive setup consists of Top cover, Super chamber, brood chamber and
Bottom board. The bottom board is the place where the hive is set up. The
queen lays the egg in a box called ‘super chamber’ and the swarm is raised by
the workers in the ‘brood chamber’ allocated for brood raising. The supers can
be removed and passed through a honey extractor, which extract the honey
and the comb remains intact. Moreover these combs can be reused. It is
advisable to use smoke while harvesting honey as it disrupts its flight and
reduce stinging.
– Sushma Balasubramanian, Horticulture student.