HOW TO START BEE KEEPING

PRESENTED BY

DR. L.N.MOHAPATRA

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF RESEARCHREGIONAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER STATION

BHAWANIPATNA

PRESENTED BY

DR. L.N.MOHAPATRA

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF RESEARCHREGIONAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER STATION

BHAWANIPATNA

BEEKEEPING SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT OF HONEYBEE COLONIES IN ORDER TO GET HONEY AND

OTHER HIVE PRODUCT LIKE WAX, BEE VENOM ROYAL JELLY, PROPOLIS AND POLLEN.

PRACTICE OF BEE KEEPING

• Honey hunting is an age old practice documented and known from time immemorial.

• Bee keeping is a century old practice.

• Scientific bee keeping in India

is a practice of only a few decades old

Importance of Honey bees and bee keeping

• After independence bee keeping was taken as an avocation in small scale cottage industry providing income and employment to rural poor.

• Bee keeping was meant for production of honey and other hive products.

BUT• Importance of Bees as POLLINATORS was

hardly realized.

BEE KEEPING IN ORISSA WAS INITIATED AS A COTTAGE INDUSTRY

DURING 1936

IN 1956-57, KVIB SHOULDERED THE RESPONSIBILITY OF SPREADING BEE KEEPING IN THE STATE BUT IT REMAINED CONFINED TO A VERY RESTRICTED AREA FOR ABOUT ONE AND HALF DECADE.

HONEY BEES SAY:-

If you keep us scientifically and friendlyA

We will give you HONEY

BEEWAX BEE VENOM

PROPOLIS ROYAL JELLY

POLLENAND MANY MORE

EMPLOYMENT PLEASURE & INCOME THROUGH

Sale of bee colony

Sale of bee equipment

Hiring of bee colony

Sharing of Intellectual skill

Hiring of bee equipments

BWe will give your farmers increase crop produces through POLLINATION

Worth of which is more than the worth of hive products put together AND CONSERVE YOUR BIODIVERSITY

SPECIES OF HONEY BEE

Apis dorsata Apisdorsata Trigona irridipennis

Apis cerana indica Apis mellifera

Honey bees as pollinators

• Honey bees enhances 11 – 79% yield in different crops through pollination.

• Value of additional yield obtained due to bee pollination alone is 15-20 times more than the value of all the hive products put together

• Honey bees alone accounts for 80% of pollination service done by the insects.

• Bees have specialized adoption for pollination.POLLEN BASKETS, FLORAL CONSTANCY,

AMMENABLE FOR MANAGED BEE POLLINATION MAKE HONEY BEES THE

BEST POLLINATOR

Role of honey bee in pollination

Cross pollination of entomophilous crops by honeybees is considered as one of the effective and cheapest method for triggering the crop yields.

Role of honey bee in pollination

Role of honey bee in pollination services especially for cross pollinated crops as wells as conservation of biodiversity is well recognized.

Suitability of honey bees as efficient pollinators:

• body parts are specially modified to pick up many pollen grains,

• flower fidelity and constancy,• potential for long hours,• maintainability of high populations

as and when needed,• adaptability to different climates

and niches,• through micro-manipulation of

flowers,

Honey bees are the most efficient pollinators of several agricultural, horticultural, silvicultural, fodder and wild plants because of their following characteristics:

Some facts about bee pollination: Value of additional yield

obtained due to bee pollination alone is 15-20 times more than the value of all the hive products put together.

The total value of pollination services rendered by all insects globally comes in excess of 100 billion US dollars annually (2003 valuation).

In India 50 million hectares of land is under bee dependent

ADVANTAGES OF BEE POLLINATED CROP

QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE CHANGES IN CROP PLANTS :

Stimulated germination of pollen on stigma

Increase viability of seeds, embryos and plants

More nutritive and aromatic fruits Stimulate faster growth of plants Increases number and sizes of seeds

and yield of crops Increases nectar production in the

nectaries Increases fruit set and reduces fruit

drop Enhances resistance to diseases

other adverse climatic conditions Increases the oil content in oil seed

crop

Bee pollination in mustard

Yield increase : 55%

Bright yellow fragrant flowers attract a large numbers of insects

which come for nectar as well as for pollen

Bee pollination

Increase in production

due to bee pollination. Mustard -10.6%

Sesame -25.0%Niger -

33.0%Safflower - 64.0%Sunflower- 79.0%

Fruit yield Litchi - 5.3 times

Recommendations

• Setting 3-5 colonies/ha• Spraying crops before flowering

and during evening hours

Various pollinators in mustard

•

Apis cerana indica

Apis dorsata Apis florea

Syrphid fly Dipteran

Unidentified

BEE SPECIES USED IN BEEKEEPING

Italian honey bee Apis melliferaIndian hive bee A.c.indica

Stingless bee Trigona iridipennis

• The scope to maintain the colonies of sting less bees in the backyard to ensure pollination of backyard crops or kitchen garden has been explored and it could be hived successfully in wooden box (25 X 15 X 13cm).

• Thus, there is scope to maintain the colonies of sting less bees in the backyard to ensure pollination of backyard crops or kitchen garden.

Stingless bee Trigona iridipennis

Stingless bee management:

Small wooden box

(25 X 15 X 13cm)

Earthen pot (12cm diameter and 14cm height)

A piece of bamboo

(40cm length and 7cm dia.)

Small wooden box (25 X 15 X 13cm) is ideal for

Trigona irridipennis

Method of colony divisionhas been partially successful

and needsto be standardized forTrigona irridipennis

Stingless bee Trigona iridipennis:

• The colony building activity of the bees was observed during March, when the nectar yielding plants were abundantly available.

• They were quite active during warm (mean maximum temperature: 34.6-36.4 0C) and dry (RH= 51.7-65.0) weather conditions

• No of plants visited by stingless bee: 58

a) Agricultural crops: 20

b) Ornamental plants: 12

c) Medicinal plants: 11

d) Weeds: 8

e) Fruits: 7

BEE KEEPING AS AN ENTERPRISE Most suited to land less rural poor or with small land

holding Require no land Does not compete with any branch of agriculture Does not require continuous labour or require light

physical work Does not require heavy investment No sophisticated instruments are required Provide multi source income, provide employment Improves crop yield through cross pollination - Both production and productivity increases

- Improves quality of produce - Maintain stability of ecosystem

- Conserve biodiversity

THE INCOME FROM BEEKEEPING

Through the sale of honey Through the sale of bee products like bees wax, bee

venom, royal jelly, propolis and pollen Preparing and selling the comb foundation sheets Renting the bee colonies to farmers for effecting the

cross pollination in the field as well as horticultural crops

Renting the honey extractor Sale of pedigree queen bee through mass queen bee

rearing Trading bee equipments, bee packages for transport

in potential areas Establishing apiculture based floriculture (calendula,

cosmos, marigold, gladioli, aster, chrysanthemum, rose, dahalia,zinnia etc.)

HONEY A USEFUL HIVE PRODUCT

• Use of honey is known to mankind since vedic times

• Rock painting of 7000 BC evidences honey collection as an ancient practices

CONSTITUENTS OF HONEYConstituents Percentage

Total dissolved solids 70-80

Sugars: Fructose Glucose Sucrose Other higher sugars

3837020.5

Water 20

Minerals(Potassiium, calcium,Mg, fe, Cu,Mn,P,S,Cl, and traces of Cr,Ag,Au,Sn etc

0.5

Acids 0.2

Proteins and Amino acids o.25

Enzymes and vitamins Traces

USES OF HONEY

Honey provides instant energy due to presence of simple form of sugars (Fructose, Glucose, and sucrose)

Used as carrier of Ayurevedic medicines

Used to cure a host of ailments like cold, fever, piles, anemia, and infection in the throat, skin,eye and intestine

Has antibacterial activity

BEES WAX

Bees wax is synthesized by 14 -18 days old worker bees secreted through four pairs of wax secreting epidermal wax glands, present on the ventral side of fourth to seventh abdominal segment of the worker bee’s body.

Wax glands results from digestion of carbohydrates.

In India major proportion of wax comes from the combs of Apis dorsata.

Annual production of bees wax in India is 29.1 metric tonnes.

USES OF BEES WAX

The bees wax is used extensively in pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries which consume 75% of world production of bees wax.

Its main uses are for church candles, cosmetics, shoe polish, and by cobblers, car /mason polish, carbon paper, electric and textile industry, in metal castings and mouldings, for water proofing, crayon colour industry, for scientific decorative models (batik), for polishing optical lenses, in certain adhesives and inks, in candy and chewing gums, for musical instruments, for bow strings, electric insulation etc.

In beekeeping industry, bees wax is mostly used to prepare comb foundation sheets.

The pharmaceutical use of beeswax are coating of drugs and pills, ointment and capsule.

Bees wax is also used in food processing for coating metal containers internally against the effects of acids from fruit juices and honey.

BEE VENOM

• It is called as apitoxin, which is produced in the venom gland and stored in venom sac attached at the base of the sting of worker bees..

• The main venom producer is USA. The price of bee venom on the U.S. open market varied form $ 100-200 /g ( Rs 4700-9400/g).

The normal recovery is 0.5-1.0 l per bee and about one million stings are required to make one gram dry venom.

PROPERTIES

Bee venom is a clear watery material having somewhat sharp and bitter taste, hydrolytic blend of proteins with basic pH,an aromatic odour on acid reaction having a specific gravity 1.313.

It dries out at room temperature. It is mostly used by the worker bees for their defense. Venom proteins exhibit various degrees of allergic reaction to the victim of stinging.

It is composed of many active substances like Histamine, Apamine , Acithinase, Minimine, tryptophan, phospholipase, lecithinase, HCl,Formic acid, Orthophosphoric acid ,S, Ca, Cu and magnesium sulphate.

USES OF BEE VENOM

Apitherapy which is carried out either by natural bee sting or through extracted bee venom in the form of injection , ointment inhalation of venom vapour and tablets.

It is used for curing rheumatoid arthritis, many diseases of nervous disorders, suppressing oedema (swelling), as anti-inflammatory agent, lowers the blood pressure, decreases the cholesterol levels and for treatment of individuals hypersensitive to bee stings.

Ointments made by mixing apitoxin, vasaline and salicylic acid (1: 10 : 1) can be applied to the affected areas.

ROYAL JELLY

Royal jelly is a mixture of secretions of hypo pharyngeal glands (watery-clear) and mandibular glands (milky-white) in a ratio of 1:1 and is produced by 7-13 days old nurse worker bees when the glands are fully active.

It is fed to the larvae destined to be queens and also for feeding to the adult queen bees. The worker larvae (1- 3 days old) are also fed royal jelly in a ratio of 3:1 or 4:1 while the older larvae are seldom fed milky-white secretions.

A well managed hive during a season of 5-6 months can produce 500g of royal jelly.

Royal jelly is a creamy milky white, strongly acidic, highly nitrogenous substance with a slight pungent odour and somewhat bitter in taste. The royal jelly has the following range of constituents:

Protein - 11.4 %( 15 – 18%) Lipids - 2 – 6% Carbohydrates - 9 – 18% Ash - 0.7 – 1.2% Water - 66.9% (65 – 70%)

USES OF ROYAL JELLY

As Dietary Supplement: Royal jelly has possessed stimulant and therapeutic value. Royal jelly can be mixed with a little honey, sugar syrup or water or it may be encapsulated

As Ingredient in Food Products: A mixture of royal jelly in honey (1.3% royal jelly) is probably the most common way in which royal jelly is used as food ingredient.

Yogurtis which is already a popular food for health conscious consumers

Sometimes, vitamin supplements and fruit juices are enriched with freeze dried royal jelly. Royal jelly is widely used in beverages in Asia. Royal jelly is also sold in a jelly made of honey, sugar, jam and pectin.

As Ingredient in Medicine like Products: In medicine-like formulations, royal jelly is generally included for its stimulatory effects.

Royal jelly has occasionally been used (fresh or freeze-dried) to stimulate race horses.

For experimental purposes, it is also used as a food for rearing mites and insects.

It possesses antibactericidal properties

PROPOLIS

It is sticky / gummy and resinous material collected by the forager bees of Apis mellifera as resinous exudates of buds, bark and wounds of plants/ trees.

Propolis production can be10-300 g per colony per year.

The main constituents of propolis :

Waxes and fatty acids - 30%,

Resins and balsams - 55%

Etheral oil - 10%

Pollen - 5% Propolis also contains flavonoids, phenolic and

aromatic compounds. It is a complex substances containing protein, vitamins and minerals like Fe, mn, Ca, Al, Si, ua and Sr. It also contains volatile esters.

USES OF PROPOLIS

Propolis is antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory; acts as topical anesthesia and has spasmolytic activity. It is considered as a curative agent in human health in ailments like cold, sore throat, skin problems, stomach ulcers, burns, hemorrhoids, gum diseases, and wounds.

In food technology it is used as oxidant, antimicrobial and antifungal. Propolis has antibacterial properties.

It is used as animal growth stimulant and in human and veterinary medicines especially for burns and wounds.

Its use in gum paints and toothpaste is increasing. It is also used in various ointments and paints. Its traditional use is as wood preservative and in varnishes.

Propolis coated layer inside the hive also serve as a moisture barrier to maintain the inside humidity and also checks the excessive moisture following heavy rains and a barrier against microbial growth.

POLLEN

Pollen, the male reproductive cells, produced by anthers of flowering plants is another important product collected by forager bees from the stamens of flowers.

It is the chief source of protein, lipids, amino acids, minerals, vitamins etc. in the honey bee diet.

Properties and composition of pollen Carbohydrates - 24

%

Crude fat - 5 %

Minerals - 3 %

(K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu). It is rich in vit B (thiamine, niacin, riboflavin,

pyridoxine, pantothenic acid, folic acid and bioin ) and variable levels of vitamin C. It does not contain lipid soluble vitamin D, K and E.

USES OF POLLEN

Pollen has a potential as an excellent food and can become a competitive food item in the human diets

Potential of pollen in human health / well being : Pollen is undoubtedly beneficial for the treatment of chronic prostatitis, probably because pollen contains high concentration of Zn which is the key element in prostrate gland functioning.

Pollen consumption helps protecting against the adverse effect of

x- rays, reduces symptoms of hay fever.

Use of pollen for animals : Pollen is useful for race horse care, poultry birds, piglets

Aas an ingredient of artificial diets of experimental insects including honeybees, birds and mammals like bats in captivity, in aquaculture and of course

. Use in bee keeping industry : Pollen can be used for stimulating the

brood rearing during dearth period .

HOW TO START BEEKEEPING

Judge the area for suitability Acquire knowledge of bee behaviour and

management Attend beekeeping training course or gain

experience by working with successful beekeepers Start beekeeping at the onset of bee flora

availability season Choose bee species / race with highly desirable

traits Keep colonies at appropriate location

BASIC TIPS IN ACHIEVING SUCCESSFUL BEEKEEPING

Ensure the availability of pollen and nectar(food of honey bee)

Maintain strong colonies and regular inspection of bee colonies

Replace the queen bee every year Take timely remedial measures against the bee

enemies(wax moth, wasp, Thai sac brood disease, mite etc.)

Avoid toxic insecticides particularly dust formulations and plan accordingly

PROMOTION AND SUSTENANCE OF BEEKEEPING

Regulated marketing of raw honey / processed honey

Establishing the honey processing unit

Establishing apiculture based social forestry with plants like Eucalyptus, gambari, silver oak, soobabul, litchi, bael, kadamba, jamun, golab jamun, cinamon, amla, drumstick, karanja, soapnut(Ritha)

ECONOMICS OF BEEKEEPING

Total expenditure for medium scale apiary( 10 colony )

Item Indian hive bee Apis cerana indica

Italian hive bee Apis mellifera

Ist year 2nd year onwards

Ist year 2nd year onwards

(a) Fixed capital(Rs.) Rs16,978=00 - Rs50,272=00 -

(b) Consumable or variable working capital/ operating period (Rs.)

Rs1070=00 Rs1070=00 Rs2525=00 Rs2525=00

Cost of production Rs18048=00 Rs1070=00 Rs52797=00 Rs2525=00

Estimated sales realization

Indian hive bee Apis cerana indica Italian hive bee Apis mellifera

Ist year 2nd year onwards Ist year 2nd year onwards

Rs.12,050=00 Rs.12,250=00 Rs.40,100=00 Rs.40,100=00

Economics contd. :

Honey bee

species Ist year 2nd year 3rd years

onwards

Indian hive bee Apis cerana indica

( - ) Rs. 5998=00 Rs. 4982=00 Rs.10980=00

Italian hive bee Apis mellifera

( - ) Rs.12697=00 Rs.24878=00 Rs. 37575=00

PROFIT / LOSS ESTIMATION :

Additional earnings;

By renting honey extractor @ Rs25=00 to Rs30=00 per day

By renting the bee colony for crop pollination @ Rs50=00 per flowering season

Value accrued owing to enhanced crop yield due to cross pollination

BEEKEEPING POTENTIAL AREAS OF ORISSA

HONEY SOURCE

• Orissa : 37.3% of its geographical area under forest

• Proportion of forest honey (60-80%) is more than apiary honey

• Potential for exclusively Forest honey: Malkangiri, Nawarangpur,

Nayagarh, Gajapati

• Potential for forest honey & Apiary honey: Kandhamal, Mayurbhanj, Sundergarh, Sambalpur, Ganjam, Kalahandi, Angul, Keonjhar, Rayagada, Koraput.

MAJOR BEE FLORA OF ORISSA

• Agricultural crops: Niger, Sunflower, Mustard, Arhar, Sesame.

• Horticultural crops: Litchi, Coconut, Guava, Ber, Drumstick, Citrus,

Coriander• Agro-forestry: Eucalyptus, Cashew, Bael, Silk

cotton, Sesbania sp. Acacia, Cassia sp. Siris (Albizia

lebbeck), Arjun(Terminalia arjuna), • Forestry: Teak, Tamarind, Mahua, Amla, Sal,

Gravillea pteridifolia, Karanj, Palas, Sisoo(Dalbergia sissoo

SELECTION OF SITE FOR BEEKEEPING

Availability of sufficient be flora The land should be dry all round the year and easily

accessible The site should be near open field where there

should be isolated trees for shade- preferably the orchard an ideal apiary site

The selected site should contain natural sources of water

The hives should be kept behind a natural or artificial wind break and should face in the east direction

DESIRABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF COLONIES

Capable of adopting to floral resources Higher reproductive efficiency Calm and easily manageable bees Good honey gatherer No or little swarming and absconding

instinct Less prone to attack of diseases