1

BEE FLORA AND POLLINATION OF CROPS

Bee visits plants for its food, nectar and pollen. This floral fidelity of bees is due to their preference for nectars having sugar
contents and pollens with higher nutritive values. Besides getting food for the bees as a result of their visit pollinate a number of
crops.

Qualities of honeybees which make them good pollinators

Body covered with hairs and has structural adaptation for carrying nectar and pollen.

Bees do not injure the plants

Adult and larva feed on nectar and pollen which is available in plenty

Considered as superior pollinators, since store pollen and nectar for future use

No diapauses is observed and needs pollen throughout the year

Body size and proboscis length is very much suitable for many crops

Pollinate wide variety of crops

Forage in extreme weather conditions also

Effect of bee pollination on crop

It increases yield in terms of seed yield and fruit yield in many crops

It improves quality of fruits and seeds

Bee pollination increases oil content of seeds in sunflower

Bee pollination is a must in some self incompatible crops for seed set

Crops benefited by bee pollination

Fruits and nuts: Almond, apple, apricot, peach, strawberry, citrus and litchi
Vegetable and Vegetable seed crops: Cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, coriander, cucumber, melon, onion, pumpkin, radish and
turnip.
Oil seed crops: Sunflower, niger, rape seed, mustard, safflower, gingelly.
Forage seed crops: Lucerne, clover.

Yield increase due to bee pollination

Crop
Per cent yield increase

Mustard 43
Sunflower 32-48
Cotton 17-19
Lucerne 112
Onion 93
Apple 44
 2

Scope of beekeeping for pollination in India: Total area of bee dependant crops in India is around 50 million hectare. One
hundred and fifty million colonies are needed to meet this, at the rate of 3 colonies per hectare. In India at present, there are
only 1.2 million colonies exist. Hence there is a wide scope for expansion of bee keeping for pollination in India.

Management of bees for pollination

Place hives very near the field source to save bee's energy

Migrate colonies near field at 10 per cent flowering

Place colonies at 3/ha for Italian bee and 5/ha for Indian honey bee

The colonies should have 5 to 6 frame strength of bees, with sealed brood and young mated queen

Allow sufficient space for pollen and honey storage

Pollination by bees - case studies with selected crops

1. Sunflower: It is a cross-pollinated crop. The pollen of the plant cannot fertilize ovary of same plant. Pollen source should be
from different plant. Hence, honey bees acts as important agents for pollination in sunflower. In sunflower, yield increases even
up to 600 per cent due to bee pollination. It improves quality and quantity of seeds. Oil content also increases by 6.5 per cent in
seeds. To achieve this it requires five strong C. indica colonies or three A. mellifera colonies. Mostly irrigated crop is preferred
by bees.

2. Cucurbitaceous vegetables: Cucurbits are monoecious with staminate and pistillate flowers in same plant. Due to bee
pollination fruit set increases up to 30 to 100 per cent.

3. Alfalfa or lucerne: These plants have tubular flowers with 5 petals joined at base. They posses one large standard petal, 2
smaller petals on sides and 2 keel petals holding staminal column. When bee sits on a keel petal, stamina column strikes
against standard petal resulting in shattering of pollen. This is called tripping.Seed set occurs only if bee sits to trips the flowers.

4. Coriander: In coriander yield increases up to 187 per cent due to pollination.

5. Cardamom: It is an important commercial crop depending on bees for pollination. Here yield increases up to 21 to 37 per
cent.

6. Gingelly: Another oilseed crop where bee pollination causes 25 per cent increase in yield.

7. Apple: In apple seed set occurs only if it is pollinated by bees. Fruit is formed only around the seeds. If improper seed set
occurs fruit shape is lopsided resulting in decreased market value.

Sunflower Alfalfa or Lucerne

The following are some of the important plants either wild or cultivated visited by bees for collecting nectar or pollen or both.
 3

Other fruit Trees

All kinds of citrus, litchi, peach, apple, guava, jamun, date palm, apricot, quince, pear, almond, plum, loquat, phalsa, and
cashew.

Honey bee on acid lime flower

Cultivated field crops

Pigeon pea, lentils, clovers, Lucerne, mustard, rape, linseed, sesame, gingelly, buck-wheat, Cambodia, safflower, millet and
sunflower

Vegetables
All cucurbitaceous plants, okra, beans, turnip, radish, onion, brinjal, and sweet potato.

Timber trees
Neem, Cassia fistula, Acacia, Albizzia spp., Kachnar (Bauhinia purpurea), eucalyptus, sandle-wood, raintree, wild cherry.

Natural and ornamental flowers

Cosmos, shoe flower, Golden rod, Cup & saucer, Tecoma stans, zinnia, coral creeper (Antigonon leptopus), rose, rangoon
creeper, aster, wild rose (kuja), hydrangea, violet, portulaca, poinsettia, honey suckle, corn flower, coreopsis, dandelion etc.

Cosmos Hibiscus Golden rod

 4

Aster Tecoma stans Zinnia

Edward rose Coral creeper Rangoon creeper

It is now apparent that most of the pulses and oilseeds, fruits and orchard crops including vegetables heavily depend on bees
for their pollination. This is also true for seed production of vegetables like onion, cabbage, cauliflower, tabacco, sunnhemp, alfa
alfa and clovers. The number of colonies of honeybees required per hectare very much depends on the strength of foraging
bees in the colony, the crops and prevailing weather conditions. The optimum number of colonies of average strength may
range from 3 to 9 colonies per hectare, since the bees usually forage within a radius of about 1 to 2 km to harvest their nectar
and pollen loads, and then return to their own hive.

Selecting the right type of bee

New beekeepers face the sometimes difficult decision of which strain or race of bee to order, and from
whom to order them, when obtaining packages and queens.
Honey bees in the United States are a heterogeneous blend of several races introduced from Europe,
the Middle East, and Africa. Currently, there are three major races: Italians, Caucasians, and
Carniolans. However, those now present in the United States are not the same as the original races
they were named after. Many strains of the original races and a couple of hybrids have been
developed through interbreeding and selection along with various geographic and climatic influences.
To determine which race or strain of bees would best suit your operation, first consider the advantages
and disadvantages of each. Over time you may want to try queens and packages from different queen
breeders and suppliers to learn more about the behavior and productivity of each strain under your
local conditions.
Italian bees are the most popular race in the United States. First introduced in 1859, they basically
replaced the original black or German bee brought over by early colonists. The Italian bee is light
yellowish or brown with alternating stripes of brown and black on the abdomen. Those with three
abdominal bands (workers) are sometimes called leather-colored Italians; those with five bands are
sometimes called goldens or cordovan queens. Italian bees tend to start brood rearing early in the
spring and continue until late fall, which results in a large population throughout the active season.
 5

Large colonies can collect a considerable amount of nectar in a relatively short period, but they also
require more honey for maintenance during the fall/winter than do the dark races. Most strains of
Italian bees are considered to be quiet and gentle on the combs. Disadvantages include weaker
orientation compared to other races, which results in more bees drifting from one colony to another,
and a strong inclination to robbing, which can aid in the spread of disease. The Italians are considered
good housekeepers. Italians are comparatively resistant to European foulbrood (EFB)the major
reason why they replaced black bees. The lighter color of the Italian queen makes finding her in the
hive easier compared to queens of the other two races. Italian bees produce brilliant white cappings,
which are ideal for producing comb honey.
Caucasian bees are sometimes described as the gentlest of all honey bees. They are dark colored to
black with grayish bands on the abdomen. They tend to construct burr comb and use large amounts of
propolis to fasten combs and reduce the size of the entrance. Some of the newer strains, however, use
less propolis. Because they propolize excessively, they are not considered suitable for producing comb
honey. Caucasians are inclined to drifting and robbing but not excessive swarming. Colonies normally
do not reach full strength before midsummer, and they conserve their honey stores somewhat better
than the Italians do. They also forage at somewhat lower temperatures and under less favorable
climatic conditions than do Italian bees and are reported to show some resistance to EFB. Caucasians
are available but not common.
Carniolans are dark bees, similar to Caucasians in appearance, except they often have brown spots or
bands on the abdomen. These bees overwinter as small clusters but increase rapidly in the spring after
the first pollen becomes available. As a result, the major disadvantage is excessive swarming. Due to
their small overwintering cluster size, they are very economical in their food consumption, even under
unfavorable climatic conditions, and overwinter well. They are not inclined to robbing, have a good
sense of orientation, and are quiet on the combs. They are available but not common. Some of the
stock is listed as new world Carniolan and are considered the better Carniolan strain by some
beekeepers.
Hybrid bees have been produced by crossing several lines or races of honey bees. Initially, planned
crosses frequently resulted in a line of very prolific bees that exhibit what is called hybrid vigor. With
controlled matings, this vigor can be maintained. Commercial hybrids (Midnite and Starline) are
produced by crossing inbred lines that have been developed and maintained for specific characteristics
such sgentleness, productivity, or wintering.
Buckfast bees are a hybrid selected over a long period of time from many strains of bees from
southwestern England. They have been shown to be more resistant to tracheal mites and better suited
to the cool climate of that region. The stock has been imported into this country (eggs, semen, and
adult queens via Canada) and they are easily available here in the United States.
The destructive presence of parasitic mites and drug-resistant diseases has led researchers and queen
breeders to search for mite- and disease-resistant bees. Some of these stocks can now be purchased as
queens. Interest in stock selected for more northern regions has also increased in popularity. One
selection is the Buckeye strain from Ohio. Another is the West Virginia selection. The State of West
Virginia, in an effort to improve the plight of beekeepers by reducing tracheal mite losses, has
arranged for a queen breeder in an isolated area of Canada to supply a U.S. queen breeder with
breeder queens obtained from Buckfast Abbey in England. These bees have demonstrated excellent
resistance to tracheal mites and display all the traits of truly superior bees under West Virginia
conditions.
Other groups of stock such as Russian, SMR, or Hybrid (sometimes Minnesota hybrid) are bees
selected for greater mite resistance and/or improved hygienic behavior (hive cleaningspecifically,
dead/dying brood removal), a trait that results in bees ridding their colony more quickly of potential
harmful pathogens. As with any stock, querying your potential supplier is best if you are uncertain
 6

about the claims made concerning the characteristics of the stock. Checking on the experience of
other beekeepers that have used the stock is not a bad idea.
If you use hybrid bees or bees of a selected stock in your operation, be sure to requeen regularly.
Allowing natural queen replacement usually leads to loss of hybrid vigor and sometimes causes
colonies to be quite defensive and thus more difficult to manage.

Traditional and modern beehives and

beekeeping equipment
Honeybees that nest in the open produce far less honey than those confined in enclosures. There are
good reasons for this. Colonies in the open are exposed to predators (see pp. 105-110) and therefore
have to employ numerous workers as guards to fight intruders. They have to consume large quantities
of honey, which they use as fuel, to enable them to cluster to stop the wind which cools down their
combs and to generate enough heat to maintain the proper temperature for brood development. During
severely hot days, more bees have to use honey as fuel to enable them to fan and cool melting combs
to avoid disaster. This temperature control can only be quite inefficient, because of the colony's
exposed condition. The exposed colony therefore has to keep larger numbers of house bees, and will
thus have fewer foraging bees available to bring in the needed nectar and other essentials from the
field.

It has been seen that the bees' primary natural ranges are in the savannah and semi-arid lands, where
temperature variations are extreme. Often the few nesting enclosures available to the bees are in ant-
hills and rocks from which honeycombs cannot be easily harvested. Large trees are scarce; few have
hollows large enough to house a colony. With the increased interest in beekeeping and the growing
demand for bee products and services, bees can no longer be maintained in their few natural dwelling
places, but must be provided with special artificial hollows in the form of beehives.

Traditional hives

Beekeeping is not new in Africa. It has been practiced from time immemorial, especially in the Sahel
regions. In these large areas, wooden boards or timber are scarce, and therefore grass and mud have
played major roles in providing material for beehive construction.

The grass hive

Dry grasses are woven together in a basket or cylindrical form, usually with entry points at both ends.
The hive is installed high in tree-tops to avoid termites. Some beekeepers lower it carefully at harvest
time, while others drop it carelessly by cutting the suspension rope. Owing to the weakness of the
material, such hives' usefulness is usually less than one year, and they are used for seasonal
beekeeping only.

The gourd hive

The gourd provides a natural hollow for bees, but most gourds are too small for an average bee
colony, so that their use often induces swarming. There are two types of gourds. One is more or less
pot-shaped, while the other has a long neck attached to the "pot" section. Both are installed by a
suspension cord or by resting the mouth on a wooden peg.
 7

Most gourd hives have to be broken into pieces before honey and brood combs can be removed. In the
savannah areas, some tribes eat both honey and brood, and do not care to wait until there is a
maximum of honey to harvest.

The log hive

Two main types of log hive are known. In some isolated areas of the Vest African coasts (e.g. Ghana
and Guinea-Bissau), the ciba or palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer) produces natural hollows for
interested beekeepers to use as hives. When the plant dies, the beekeeper waits for termites to
consume the soft inner pith. The tree is then felled and cut into pieces and the ends are sealed with
woven grass, a few small holes being left at the ends to provide entry and exit for the bees.

For the second type, found in East Africa (e.g. Kenya and Tanzania), a tree is felled and cut into
cylindrical logs which are carefully scooped out to form hollows. They are then sealed, leaving some
small holes for exit and entry. In Tanzania, the hive is split into halves, which the beekeeper attaches
together before baiting and installation. At harvest time, the hive is split open and the honeycombs
removed. The halves are then rejoined for the bees to start the next honey crop.

The East African log hive, while simple in construction, is however expensive and inefficient. Several
cheap and more productive hives could have been made with wooden planks from the same tree if
only it had not been crudely shaped into log sections first.

The barrel hive

Metal and wooden barrels are sometimes employed as beehives in some places in West Africa. In
Guinea-Bissau, for instance, barrels containing pigs'-feet or wine, imported by the Portuguese, were
adapted for use as hives. Some of these old barrels are deteriorating, however, and no new ones are
available to replace them.

The clay-pot hive

The cheapest and most durable of all the traditional hives is the clay pot, very popular especially in
the northern savannah of West Africa. The pot is similar to the type generally used to carry water or
other liquids, modified to provide a wider mouth and a small mid-section hole for both exit and entry.

The pots, usually made by the elderly women, are bisque-fired, and the inner part is smoked as part of
the baiting. They are then baited with cow dung or other waste and installed on the ground or on pegs
in trees. In some areas, the pots are turned upside down directly on the ground, for beekeepers find
that when they are installed on a flat plate or wood, bees glue the plate firmly to the hive with
propolis, making harvesting tedious. This method of installation, however, has a serious drawback:
frequent ant invasions force some bee colonies to abscond.

Traditional beekeeping utilizes cheap and plentiful local materials for hive construction, some of
which would otherwise be wasted, e.g. the ciba palm. But such simple beehives cannot be easily
manipulated because bees fix combs to the hive body. Combs cannot be inspected at all, and detached
combs cannot be easily replaced. To counter this problem, traditional beekeepers should adopt the top-
bar system as a simple, modern way to convert traditional hives into movable-comb hives.
 8

Modern rives

The design of all modern beehives is based on the discovery, by the father of modern beekeeping,
Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, that when bees build their combs they always leave exactly the same
amount of space (the bee space) between them (see pp. 39-40). On the basis of this finding,
Langstroth invented a hive with frames separated by this bee space, in which the bees could build
their comb. The frames are so arranged that they can be removed individually without disturbing other
combs and without crushing bees, and the sides and bottom of the frame provide very good support
for the comb.

Langstroth also found that several communicating hive boxes can be stacked one above another, and
that the queen can be confined to the lowest, or brood, chamber, by means of a queen excluder. In this
way, the upper chambers (called supers) can be reached only by the workers, and therefore contain
only honey-comb. This made hive inspection and many other management practices possible, and
turned the art of beekeeping into a full-scale industry. Almost all commercial hives in use today
operate on the Langstroth pattern, although they may contain from 10 to 13 frames.

Other bee enthusiasts have given their names to similar hives that are essentially modifications of the
original Langstroth, and these frame hives are in general use throughout Europe, North America,
Australia, and parts of South America and Asia, as well as in some northern and southern African
countries. For technical and economic reasons set out on pp. 44-45, however, most African countries,
mainly in the tropics, are not yet in a position to use frame hives, and for them the top-bar
hive represents a satisfactory compromise, although it is admittedly less efficient and perhaps
somewhat more difficult to use, especially for beginning beekeepers.

The top-bar hive

In the top-bar hive, the Langstroth frame is replaced by a simple modification of the top bar of the
Langstroth frame, and the bees build their combs hanging down from the centre of the bar. Since the
combs are not supported on all four sides as they are in the Langstroth frame, they can break more
easily, but because they are fixed only to the top-bars and not to the hive body, it is still possible --
with care -- to remove and replace them at any time for inspection or other management practices.

While boxes built especially to receive top-bars give the best results, clay pots, barrels and most
containers used by traditional beekeepers can easily be fitted with top-bars: the important thing is to
maintain the proper, equal distance between the combs.

Cut any piece of wood to fit the size of the container's opening. The width of the wood must be
exactly 32 millimetres (3.2 centimetres or 11/4 inches). This is a crucial measurement. The tropical
honeybee builds a comb which has a thickness of 25 millimetres. This comb is usually attached to the
centre of the top-bar. A space of 3.5 millimetres is thus left at either side of the comb. When two or
more top-bars fixed with combs are placed side by side, the inner space becomes 7 mm (i.e. 3.5 mm
plus 3.5 mm). This space, vital to the bees, is usually referred to as the "bee space". These bee spaces
are also found between the combs and the hive body. They serve the bees as paths in which they can
move freely.

Fig. 4. Beehives, top-bars and frame. (Courtesy Intermediate Technology Publications, Inc.)
 9

Currently, three types of top-bars are in use. Their names refer to their shape. These are the V-shape or
ridge, the groove and the pointed starter.

The V-shaped top-bar (see Fig. 4 (i) c)

This is usually the first to be used by the beginning beekeeper who has no beeswax or comb
foundation to serve as a guide for the bees. It is easy to be built by any local carpenter with simple,
basic tools. The bees are naturally guided to follow the top-bar's ridge, fixing their comb along the
line. The problem with this type of hive is that new honeycombs can easily break away from the bar.
Therefore, the beekeeper is warned to handle top-bars with combs carefully. However, given enough
time, the bees will reinforce the combs, fixing them firmly to the bars.

The groove top-bar (see Fig. 4 (iv))

This type can be built more quickly than the V-shape, but its manufacture requires the use of
electrically powered machines to cut the groove in the centre of the bar. The beekeeper fixes strips of
wax about 6 mm thick into the groove to form a guide for the bees. They will then glue this
wax foundation firmly into the groove and begin to build their combs along it.

The pointed starter (see Fig. 4 (v))

Like the groove top-bar, the pointed starter cannot be produced cheaply and easily by a village
carpenter. Electric machine tools are required for production. This type of top-bar does not require any
foundation as does the groove; however, wax can be rubbed along the edge to show the bees where to
fix the comb. The bees find this with ease, and the combs built are always firmly attached. Care must
be taken by the carpenter to place the pointed edge at the centre of the top-bar.

The Kenyan top-bar hive (K.T.B.H.) was developed by Professor G.F. Townsend and his team of
Kenyan bee students at Fuelph University, Canada, for use in East Africa. It is an ideal
accommodation for the aggressive tropical bee, and therefore it is highly recommended for use by
beginners. The hive is illustrated in Fig. 5 below and its dimensions and technical drawings are shown
in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6. Kenyan top-bar hive (K.T.B.H. ) - Specifications

The rectangular hive can be fitted either with top-bars or frames or both at the same time. A
rectangular hive built according to Kenyan top-bar hive specifications can utilize the standard top
bars; however, if the hive's width is modified, then the top-bar length must reflect this change.

The Tanzanian transitional long hive (see Fig 6 (iii)) is a single-box rectangular hive that uses frames
(see Pig. 6 (vi)) instead of top-bars. Usually it contains 27 to 33 frames. All the frames are patterned
after the Langstroth type, but the dimensions differ to suit the tropical African bee.

Advantages and disadvantages of frame and top-bar hives

Advantages of the frame hive

 10

a) The comb is fixed firmly to the four sides of the frame. This facilitates easy harvesting, and the
beekeeper has little fear of damaging the comb.

b) The strength of the built-in comb also allows easy transportation, even over bad roads. It also
affords easy control of a colony of bees without fear of breakage before the arrival at the new
destination.

c) Honey is extracted by means of the centrifugal honey extractor, which makes it possible to remove
the honey without damaging the comb. Empty combs are returned to the hive for the bees to refill
with new honey, thus saving the insects from wasting time and energy to construct a replacement
comb. Honey harvests are maximized, as the beekeeper can obtain several honey crops within the
year. In Canada, for instance, a frame hive with a strong colony of bees may produce over 200 kg of
honey per year. Thus, it is ideal for a serious large-scale honey production programme.

d) During hive manipulations, very few bees are crushed between frames, whereas dozens of bees can
easily be killed by careless handling of top-bars.

e) The hive is so designed (with queen excluder and supers) that the queen and brood are confined to
the lower chamber. Supers contain only honey, and the lower brood chamber is undisturbed when
honey is harvested.

f) Stealing a double- or triple-storey hive with a colony is a difficult feat for a thief. The Kenyan top-
bar hive, on the contrary, can be carried away easily.

g) A swarm of bees can be hived with ease. Bees can easily pass through the numerous spaces
between the frame and at the top of the hive.

h) Hive boxes can be stacked easily. This makes it easy to expand and contract the hive to meet the
needs of the bee colony.

i) Drugs can be applied with ease through the openings.

Disadvantages of the frame hive in tropical Africa

a) A frame hive with two supers costs three times as much as a Kenyan 27-top-bar hive.

b) A high degree of craftsmanship is required to build the hive. Frame dimensions must be precise.
Local village carpenters are not usually skilled enough for the job, and suitable tools for large-scale
production of frame parts may not be available. Even if they are, it is never certain that the craftsmen
have the patience to construct the hive correctly. Hives ordered for use in Ghana by the Technology
Consultancy Centre failed to achieve the desired goals due to lack of precision in construction.

c) Wood for frame construction must be seasoned for at least a year. Very few carpenters or
entrepreneurs can tie up their capital in this way.

d) The need to keep a stock of frames to replace those removed during the honey harvest creates an
additional cost.
 11

e) The need to import centrifugal honey extractors, decapping-knives, trays and other sophisticated
equipment cannot be ruled out. In many countries, currency to order these from abroad cannot be
obtained easily by local beekeepers.

f) If frames are unguided, honeybees find it difficult to start the combs correctly on the frame. The
beekeeper has to install a wired comb foundation which is not available. The only foundations that
can be ordered from abroad cannot be successfully used by the tropical honeybee, because the African
bee is smaller than the European bee, and the cell size on imported foundation is too large for African
bees.

g) A hive with supers is heavy and difficult to carry as a head-load; therefore, a vehicle may be
required to move colonies if the need arises.

h) Because the frames do not fit together as the top-bars do, it is very difficult for the beekeeper to
control the numerous bees which pass through the spaces between the frames and the top of the hive.
This problem is very serious with the transitional long hive, which has as many as 30 frames arranged
in a single-storey rectangular box. Such a beehive needs a special large smoker, and even such a
smoker may not be able to produce enough smoke to "cool" the aggressive bees. The new beekeeper,
upon seeing hordes of bees escaping, may run away, leaving the hive uncovered.

In the light of these serious problems, it is advisable for the beginner to start with the simplest type of
movable-comb hive, which is, of course, the top-bar hive.

Advantages of the top-bar hive

a) This hive is cheaper and easier to produce than a frame hive. Any semi-skilled carpenter can make
it. Only a few simple carpentry tools are required.

b) There is little or no need to import anything. All materials required can be obtained locally.

c) The hive can be opened easily and quickly. There is little or no need to employ a hive tool. Top-
bars can be constructed to overlap the sides of the hive body slightly, and this makes it possible to use
the thumb to pry up the top-bar.

d) Top-bars occupied by combs can easily be detected, so that the hive is opened from the empty side.
This avoids crushing the bees between the top-bars when lifting the first comb.

e) Bees in the top-bar hive can easily be controlled when harvesting or inspecting the combs. The
smoker puffs smoke through the opening created by the removal of one top-bar. Few bees can attack,
since the beekeeper drives them away with smoke. When the top cover is removed from the
transitional long hive, all the frames' 7-mm spaces are exposed, which permits numerous attackers to
fly out and attack the beekeeper.

f) The top-bar hive is lighter to carry, even when the colony is inside.

g) More beeswax can be produced. Sales of beeswax increase the beekeeper's earnings and solve a
great national problem. Beeswax is a multi-purpose industrial raw material required by factories and
craftsmen.
 12

h) There is no need to employ a queen excluder, which at the moment is not available. In practice, the
bees keep their brood chamber separate from the honeycombs. Clean honey can be taken away,
leaving brood combs undisturbed.

i) Honey production can be high. A well-managed hive with a good strong colony can produce
between 50 and 120 kg of honey annually.

j) Honeycombs adulterated with pollen can be of high value. Pollen is a nutritious food supplement;
the only way the nutrition is passed on is through honey harvested from such combs.

k) Only a few extra top-bars need be held in stock to replace worn-out or damaged bars.

In general, the top-bar hive is significantly cheaper and easier to use than hives with frames. The
following disadvantages, however, cannot be overlooked.

Disadvantages of the top-bar hive

a) A newly-constructed comb and all combs filled with honey must be handled with the utmost care. It
is not advisable to move a top-bar hive, occupied by bees and combs, on lorries along bad roads full
of potholes.

b) Honey can only be extracted by destroying honeycombs, either by using the solar wax melter to
dissolve the comb cells or by crushing them and squeezing out the honey. Bees have to build up new
ones in their place, and this involves time, material and resources of the honeybees.

c) Bees are often crushed between top-bars as the beekeeper rearranges the bars after removing them
from the hive body. This problem can be serious when colonies are manipulated at night. When bees
are crushed in this way, it is difficult to fix the last top-bar into place. Crushing bees is usually not a
serious problem with frame hives.

d) A top-bar hive is relatively easy to steal, as it is light and compactly designed. It is more difficult to
steal hives and supers arranged one above the other.

The hive entrance

The tropical honeybee colony seems to attach great importance to the design of the hive entrance.
After colonizing a hive, the workers select among themselves suitable "masons" which use propolis to
re-shape the entrance to conform with their own taste. They rebuild it, taking into consideration
strategies to deal with their enemies. They close up the entrance if it is too large, leaving a space not
more than 7 mm high. This prevents birds, reptiles and larger insects such as beetles and butterflies
from entering. If the entrance gap is less than what the bees require (due to an increase in population
and foraging activity), they will widen it by chewing the wood or removing propolis. The re-shaping
of the entrance helps to protect a weak colony. It also helps to prevent water from entering from the
outside platform even if the hive is tilted upward.

The landing board

 13

The tropical honeybee seems to be satisfied without a landing platform, but one must be provided
because some heavily-loaded foragers sometimes fall on their back when landing. If a lizard or a toad
is close by, such a forager will be swallowed in no time.

The swarm-catcher is a small beehive, usually containing only five or six top-bars or frames. Thanks
to its small size, it can be carried high up in a tree. The beekeeper then visits it frequently to find
whether the box has attracted a swarm. If it has, the box is lowered or carried down and the bees,
together with their combs, are transferred carefully into the beehive, which is four to six times the size
of the catcher box. The top-bar or frame of a swarm-catcher should have the same dimensions as that
of the beehive to facilitate easy transfer of bees and combs from one to the other. The shape of the
catcher box for Kenyan top-bar hives should not be different from that of the beehive. If it is, new
combs built by the new swarm cannot be easily transferred into the main hive unless the beekeeper
reshapes them to conform with the shape of the hive.

The queen cage is a small container designed to hold and carry the queen and a few "attendants",
usually between six and ten worker bees. This is important only when the queen is being transported
from one place to another. In the absence of a neatly-designed queen cage, a match-box can be used. It
is important to perforate the box with tiny holes to give the bee the needed ventilation. This is done by
simply heating a metallic rod and drilling it into the light wooden cover of the matchbox.

Timber used for making beehives

The beekeeper should consult forestry authorities and wood craftsmen for advice on the best locally-
available timber to use for beehive production. The wood must be termite-proof, resistant to the
rotting effect of the sun and rain, warp-proof, and non-bee repellent.

The wood of three tree species, all found in the tropical evergreen rain and deciduous forests, manifest
these desirable qualities: Terminalia ivorensis, Chorophora excelsa and Piptadeniastrum africanum.

The common name of Terminalia ivorensis is "mir". It is a hard wood yet light in weight. It is used
for fencing, building and as roofing beams. Termites find the wood sour-tasting, yet the flower
provides the honeybee with sweet nectar. The wood is sawn into boards of various sizes: in Ghana, up
to 65 centimetres wide and 6.5 metres long. Most beehives produced in that country are made of this
timber, but the wax-moth larvae found in it can seriously damage both the hive body and the top-bars.
Before the larvae turn into pupae, they eat away the wood to form shells which protect them during
the pupal period. The beekeeper must be alert and quickly remove all combs from the hive if the bees
abscond.

Chorophora excelsa ("odum"), a most popular wood in Ghana's forests, is often used by wood-
workers to manufacture furniture and for general building purposes. It is hard, heavy and expensive. A
well-constructed beehive of this wood has a life span of not less than 40 years. At the Technology
Consultancy Centre in Ghana, it became necessary to use this wood for hive production when the
wax-moth larvae problem was detected in mir. The larvae can do no appreciable damage to odum.
In fact, top-bars should only be constructed from hard wood; Chorophora excelsa is the best for the
job. Care must however be taken to select only the best quality, what the timber market terms "grade
one". (Grade two contains "slabs" which are good only for firewood.) Beehives made
from Chorophora excelsa are usually heavy. The wood must be allowed to dry for at least a year to
ensure thorough seasoning before construction.
 14

Piptadeniastrum africanum is also a hard wood, but it is not very popular on the market. Because of
the low demand for it, beekeepers would be wise to utilize this relatively inexpensive wood rather
than the higher-priced Chorophora excelsa.

Equipment required by the beekeeper

The smoker is next in importance to the beehive itself. No honeybee will ever allow a beekeeper to
harvest its honey without a fight. The tropical honeybee is noted for its aggressiveness, and the
beekeeper is warned not to conduct any brood control or harvest without using his smoker.

The smoker has two main parts: the container, which is a metallic can, big enough to carry enough dry
material to last at least 40 minutes; and the bellows section, which puffs air into the container to drive
the smoke out of the can. The container is loaded with wood shavings, smouldering cow-dung or any
dry material which provides white smoke. (No oil or kerosene should ever be used in a smoker.) The
smoke renders bees docile, so that the beekeeper can work undisturbed.

A hive tool may be necessary to pry up and remove the frames from the beehive. The Kenyan top-bar
hive may not need a hive tool, but a knife instead.

A knife may be required to pry open top-bars or frames which are usually glued to the hive body by
the bees. The knife is also useful for cutting a portion of the comb attached to the hive body,
separating two combs joined together, and cutting out the honeycomb from the top-bar during the
honey harvest. A knife can perform almost all the functions of the hive tool, but the hive tool cannot
be used to cut bee combs as neatly as is required.

The brush or quill: Bees must sometimes be brushed gently into a container or a hive. A brush with
soft hairs is useful for this, but if the beekeeper can easily obtain a strong, large quill like an ostrich or
turkey feather, there is no need to acquire a brush. Indeed, the quill of a big bird is better than any
artificial device for this purpose.

The feeder can be a jam jar or a special container turned upside down and so arranged that water
trickles slowly from it for the bees to drink.

Protective clothing: Most traditional honey-tappers prefer to strip themselves naked than to wear
clothes when harvesting honey at night, but the modern beekeeper is advised to acquire suitable
protective clothes to keep the bees from reaching his flesh. Thus a bee suit, gloves, veil and a pair of
boots should be acquired before the honey is harvested or any work involving the opening of the hive
is undertaken. When working with bees during the daylight hours, light-coloured clothing (preferably
white, yellow or green) should be worn; for night work, dark colours are better.

The bee suit is sewn to cover all parts of the body except the head, hands and feet. Bee suits are worn
to harvest honey and to control the brood nest during the daylight hours.

The veil is the most important. The beekeeper can easily make or purchase a straw hat (or any type of
hat with a brim). Netting is sewn firmly around the hat and attached at the back by a piece of cloth.
The veil protects the head, face and neck from attack.
 15

Bee gloves must be sewn with good, flexible white leather to protect the hand and fingers from stings
and help the beekeeper to scoop up bees with his hands if the need arises. Indeed, bee stings on the
hand or fingers are among the most painful, and the beekeeper is urged to acquire gloves to ensure
that he works with little or no difficulty.

A pair of long boots is also important to protect the feet from stings. When they are not available, a
pair of light shoes and thick white socks can be worn. Dark or black socks should only be worn at
night when the bees, vision is poor.

EXTRACTION OF HONEY

Different honey bees have different jobs. Some of these bees are forager bees, which collect nectar from
flowering plants. The foragers drink the nectar, and store it in their crop, which is also called the honey
stomach. The crop is used solely for storage, and the bee does not digest the nectar at all.
The forager bee then takes the nectar back to the hive, regurgitating the nectar directly into the crop of a
processor bee at or near the entrance to the hive.
While the forager heads back to the flowers for more nectar, the processor bee takes the nectar to the
honeycomb, which tends to be near the top of the hive, and regurgitates it into a hexagonal cell.
But now the nectar needs to ripen. The processor bees add an enzyme called invertase every time they
regurgitate their nectar (and it takes many loads of nectar to fill a cell). The nectar consists largely of sucrose
(table sugar) and water. The invertase breaks the sucrose down into two simpler sugars: glucose (blood sugar)
and fructose (fruit sugar). By definition, honey contains less than 18.6 percent water, but water usually makes
up approximately 70 percent of nectar. During the ripening process, the bees dry out the nectar. One of the
ways they do this is by fanning their wings, which creates airflow around the honeycomb and helps water
evaporate from the nectar.Once the nectar has ripened into honey, it contains so little water that no microbes
can grow in it. That keeps it from becoming contaminated by bacteria or fungi. At this stage, the processor
bees cap the cell with an airtight wax seal. If the cap is not airtight, the honey will absorb moisture from
the air, making it susceptible to bacterial or fungal growth. (This is also why its important to screw the lid
back on your jar of honey.)

INDIGENOUS HONEY

1. Violent and brutal way of getting honey from the comb: For thousands of years, Humans way of getting
honey from a comb is so violent and brutal. Man does excessive smoke under the comb and a lot of bees die
because of hit and suffocation. Remaining bees have to fly away from their family. Then man gets honey by
crushing the comb violently. During this process, thousands of eggs and child bees die. During the crushing
process, organic impurities like eggs and child are incorporated in honey, so this kind of honey will worsen over
time. To save this kind of honey from the worsening, many people add preservatives into it.

2. Nonviolent and modern way to getting honey from the comb: In the Indigenous honey farm bees (with
comb) are put in the wooden boxes which are prepared with scientific criteria. The wooden box is called BEE
HIVES.
 16

The internal designs of wooden boxes are so similar to the natural colony of bees. Bees store honey in these
boxes like their natural comb and they grow with their own breed. These boxes are put in areas which are full
of flowers. Bee collects nectar from flowers and converts nectar into honey by the process of digestion. Bee
stores this honey into comb.

A wooden box has two different divisions 1. Honey chamber (contain only honey) 2. Brood chamber (contain
eggs, child bees and a little honey). We use only honey chamber for extracting honey, so this method is not
harmful to the eggs and child bees.

The most important thing is that a required amount of honey is kept in the comb for bees and their child, so
bees can grow their family.

And thus we can save time and labor of bees. During this process of extracting honey, not a single bee, egg or
child bee dies. So honey which is getting by this nonviolent method is called Jain Honey. We have to change
the location of boxes continuously and have to provide areas which are full of with flowers. So bees collect
nectar from flowers and make honey from this. Thus we can get honey continuously.