Beekeeping in India: February 2017

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Beekeeping in India
Chapter · February 2017

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-10-3304-9_3
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Beekeeping in India
3
M. Kishan Tej, R. Aruna, Geetanjali Mishra,
and M.R. Srinivasan
Contents
3.1 Introduction 35
3.2 Honeybee Species in India 36
3.3 Biology and Society 39
3.4 Honeybee Foraging 41
3.5 Beekeeping Equipment 42
3.6 Bee Products 49
3.7 Rearing Methods and General Management of Honey Bees 52
3.8 Migratory Beekeeping in India 57
3.9 Pesticide Usage and Honeybees 58
3.10 Constraints in Beekeeping in India 60
3.11 Overcoming the Constraints 61
References 61
3.1 Introduction
Beekeeping is an art and a mesmerizing science. In India beekeeping is mostly

practised as a full-time occupation and an engrossing hobby to produce handsome
income and table honey. Honeybees are special gift to mankind because beekeeping
can be done for both their pollination services and their cherished products such as
honey, beeswax, propolis, bee venom, etc. These products have their widespread
use in different small and large scale industries in India. The only bitter part of bee-
keeping is the bee sting. Honeybees sting to defend their colony, but this bitterness
M. Kishan Tej • R. Aruna • M.R. Srinivasan (*)

Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,
Coimbatore 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
e-mail: mrsrini@tnau.ac.in; mrsrini@gmail.com
G. Mishra
Department of Zoology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow 226 007, Uttar Pradesh, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 35

Omkar (ed.), Industrial Entomology, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-3304-9_3
36 M. Kishan Tej et al.
will be only in the initial stage of beekeeping, and after one gets habituated to keep
bees, he will only taste the sweetness of honey. Most beekeepers develop a tolerance
for bee venom over time and have reduced sensitivity to pain and swelling. So
understanding honey bee science is to know and unravel nature’s most industrious
as well as most fascinating insects.
As of now seven species of Apis have been described; India is an exclusive coun-
try which habitats four of these; two domesticated species, viz. Apis cerana (orien-
tal honeybee) and A. mellifera (occidental or European honeybee) and two wild
species, viz. Apis dorsata (giant/rock honeybee or dumna) and A. florea (dwarf
honeybee). Among the four species, A. mellifera is an introduced species to India
because it is resistant to Thai sacbrood virus (TSBV) and also highly suitable for
commercial beekeeping.
Because of the different climatic zones in India, there is a massive multiplicity of
flora which helps in potential beekeeping. People of India have a long connection
with beekeeping and honey since ancient times. Ancient Indians gifted some records
about beekeeping as paintings or carvings on rocks. Honey and its medicinal uses
were mentioned in the old Ayurveda books of India. After independence, the gov-
ernment of India took policy decision to revive various traditional village industries
and an All India Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB) was formed in 1954.
Through harmonized efforts of well-joined organizations like KVIC (Khadi Village
Industries Commission) and State KVIBs, Beekeepers’ Cooperatives and Public
Institutions, the beekeeping industry came into limelight of village industries in
India within two decades. In view of the budding importance of beekeeping, in
1981, an All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Honey bee Research
and Training was launched by ICAR involving Agricultural Universities
(Ramchandra et al. 2012; Sivaram 2012). Later a Central Sector Scheme entitled
“Development of beekeeping for improving crop productivity” was launched by the
Ministry of Agriculture in 1994–1995 during the eighth 5-year plan. The scheme
targets production and distribution of honeybee colonies, organizing trainings and
awareness programmes. A Beekeeping Development Board also worked to organize
the beekeeping activities. The scheme was approved for continuation during the
ninth 5-year plan. However, the scheme got incorporated under the Macro
Management Scheme. Right now approximately there are about 1.5 million bee
colonies in India, which produce 55,000 tonnes of honey annually. India is one of
the honey-exporting countries. The major markets for Indian honey are Germany,
the USA, the UK, Japan, France, Italy and Spain.
3.2 Honeybee Species in India
3.2.1 Rock Bee (Apis dorsata)
They are huge and ferocious bees that construct a single comb in the open usually
about 3-4 feet tall. They can be seen all over the subcontinent mainly in the forests
and also in concrete jungles. In hilly regions they construct their nest up to an altitude
of 2700 m. Rock bees habitually shift their places. Nearly 50–80 kg of honey can be
3 Beekeeping in India 37
squeezed from a single colony of rock bee per year (Mishra 1995). They occur from
Pakistan (and, perhaps, parts of southern Afghanistan) in the west (Crane 2004),
through the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka to Indonesia and parts of the
Philippines in the east. Its north-south distribution ranges from the southern part of
China to Indonesia; it is found neither in New Guinea nor in Australia. The giant
honeybees of Nepal and the Himalayas have recently been reclassified as belonging
to another species of Apis, as A. dorsata laboriosa (Akratanakul 1990). Apis dorsata
binghami is another subspecies of dorsata distributed in restricted areas of the north-
east, namely, in Khasi Hills, Sikkim and Meghalaya (Allen 1995; Otis 1996).
Mostly these bees construct their combs at a height of more than 20 ft from the
ground, but in some cases, we can also see the colonies hanging from branches just
above 2 ft from the ground. Colonies of A. dorsata may occur singly or in groups. The
lower part of the comb is the energetic area in which the foraging and scout bees will
take off and land. As these bees are aggressive, they will attack the intruders
(Ramchandra et al. 2012), and every so often they will chase even up to 100 m.
Sometimes these bee stings can turn fatal to the humans. Because of danger involved
in harvesting rock bee honey, it is generally priced high locally. Some trained bee
hunters prefer to work at night. Smoke is used to pacify the bees, and in some places
professionals add chicken feathers to the smoke produced by burning charcoal which
irritates the rock bees and causes them to move out owing to odour produced due to
addition of chicken feathers, allowing easy honey extraction. There is general concern
that the total number of A. dorsata nests all over Asia is declining, partly due to shrink-
ing forest areas, the use of toxic pesticides in foraging farm lands and bee hunting.
3.2.2 Little Bee (Apis florea)
Apis florea or dwarf honeybee is also a wild honeybee spp., but these bees are small
and less ferocious when compared to the rock bees. These bees build single vertical
combs (Hepburn and Radloff 2011; Wongsiri et al. 1996). They also construct palm-
sized combs in the bushes, hedges, buildings, caves, empty cases, etc. The major
difference between the rock bee and little bee comb is that the little bees construct
combs encircling the twigs while the rock bees construct the comb on the undersur-
face of the branch. The honey produced by these bees is dramatically less when
compared to the rock bee as these bees produce only about half a kilo of honey per
year per hive. However, in the Kutch area of Gujarat, large quantities of honey from
A. florea are harvested (Soman and Chawda 1996). As these bees also have a habit
of shifting their colonies frequently, they are also non-rearable, but attempts in India
have brought partial success (Mishra 1995). These bees are found only in plains and
not in hills above 450 MSL. Compared to other honeybees, these bees are attrac-
tively coloured with red to brown colouration having white bands. They are excel-
lent pollinators, which give them an important ecological role in the places they
inhabit. These bees are well known for their distinctive defensive behaviours and
camouflage in dense forests. A more touching example is the specific behavioural
response they exhibit against their chief predator Oecophylla smaragdina (weaver
ant); when these ants are in close proximity, the bees produce adhesive barriers to
obstruct the ant’s path. Apis florea is also identified for their hissing sounds when
they see a predator. This hissing sound is audible to human ear.
3.2.3 Indian Bee (Apis cerana)
Indian honeybee or Eastern honeybee is a well-known bee species in India. Prior to

the introduction of Italian bee, this was the only rearable Apis bee spp. in India. It is
also found and has been domesticated in Pakistan, Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka and Thailand. These are comparatively non-aggressive and rarely shift loca-
tions. These bees construct multiple parallel combs in dark places such as clay pots,
logs, wall, tree openings, etc. and produce 7–9 kg of honey per colony per year.
Ruttner (1988) classified Apis cerana into subspecies based on the living habitats
and genetic diversity; of these Apis cerana indica and Apis cerana cerana occur in
India. In India, the subspecies Apis cerana indica is recognized into two morphot-
ypes like “hills bee” (black coloured) and plains bee (yellow coloured) (Ramchandra
et al. 2012). Presently beekeeping with Indian bees is mostly done in south India
and particularly in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, with more than 50,000
beekeepers involved.
Since these bees have built their colonies in dark cavities, it enables man to keep
them in specially constructed movable frame hives. The combs of A. cerana colony
are built parallel to each other and at uniform distance known as the “bee space”,
which is respected between them. Compared to rock bees and Italian bees, these are
small in size but bigger than the dwarf bees. Brood comb consists of cells of two
sizes: smaller for the worker brood and larger for the drone brood. The queen cells
are built on the lower edge of the comb. Like other bee species, these bees also store
honey in the upper part of their hive. Because of this behaviour, the bee boxes are
designed in such a way that the super chamber or the honey chamber is in the upper
part of the hive where these bees store honey which helps in easy honey
extraction.
3.2.4 European Bee/Italian Bee (Apis mellifera ligustica)
Italian bee (Apis mellifera ligustica) is one of the sub species of A.mellifera and is
not native to India and was introduced from Europe during the second half of 20th
century. The introduction was primarily because the native Indian bee colonies were
vanishing because of the Thai sacbrood virus. Presently they are well established in
India and mostly present in northern India because of the rich flora such as mustard,
safflower, sun flower, etc. As rice is the major crop in south India, these bees don’t
get enough amount of food they need. In south India, beekeeping with Italian bees
is hardly practised; for commercial beekeeping, these Italian bees have to be
migrated by floral mapping. They are also similar in habits to Indian bees, which
build parallel combs in dark places and store honey at the upper portion of their
colony (Akratanakul 1976; Maa 1953; Otis 1990; Tirgari 1971). They are bigger
than all other honeybees except Apis dorsata. They produce 25–40 kg of honey per
colony per year. Probably these bees are the one of the most studied animals. The
introduction of A. mellifera to India created problems such as the interspecies trans-
mission of bee pests and diseases. But the introduction of these bees to India can be
recorded as success story because it created employment for many people in India
with profitable income and also by the pollination service these bees done to Indian
flora.
3.2.5 Stingless Bee
Stingless or dammar bees are of smallest size compared to other honey-yielding

bees (less than 5 mm). They belong to the family Apidae and subfamily Meliponinae.
It consists of two genera Melipona and Trigona. Meliponinae includes eight genera,
having 15 subgenera and more than 500 species (Wille 1983). These bees are widely
known as dammar bees in India (Rasmussen 2013) (dammar is a resin from among
dipterocarp trees) with additional local names commonly applied, e.g. “putka” in
Sikkim and Nepal (Gurung et al. 2003; Singh et al. 2011; Lepcha et al. 2012); “ngap
siwor”, “ngap hamang” and “ngap khyndew” in Khasi language (Pugh 1947); and
“cherutheneecha” and “arakki” in Kerala (Nair 2003). As the name implies, these
bees can’t sting as their stingers are highly reduced, but they try to defend their
colony from intruders using their mandibles (Michener 2000). The stingless bees
are important pollinators of various food crops and can be domesticated. But the
honey yield per hive per year is very low approximately 100 g. As in other regions
where stingless bees occur, colonies can be kept in tree logs, wooden boxes and clay
pots for harvesting small quantities of highly prized medicinal honey, wax and prop-
olis, used for its household and curative properties. The materials used for nest
building are mainly pure wax or cerumen, a mixture of wax and propolis, resins,
plant fibres and clay (Rasmussen and Camargo 2008).
3.3 Biology and Society
Honeybees are one of the most brilliant products of nature. One of the most superior
characters which honeybees demonstrate is eusociality in which they take care of
their young ones with cooperative brood care and have other advanced ways of
communications and defensive mechanisms. Honeybees have three developmental
stages (egg, larvae and pupa) and an adult stage. In adult stage there are three castes
(single queen, hundreds of drones and thousands of workers). The queen is a fertile,
functional female that can produce males and females, the worker is an unfertilized
female capable of only producing males (due to the haplodiploid sex determination
system found in honey bees) and the drone is male (Tribe and Fletcher 1977;
Winston 1979). The food they are fed during larval stage decides their caste; queen
larvae is fed with royal jelly by nurse bees throughout its larval period. Recently,
Kamakura (2011) found that a 57 kDa protein royalactin, present in the royal jelly,
is a reason for the larvae to become queen.
3.3.1 The Queen
Queen bee is the mother of all other bees in the colony. It can be identified with its
long abdomen and short wings. The duty of the queen is to lay eggs. The queen main-
tains the colony by its pheromones. Her productivity depends on the amount of food
the workers bring in and the amount of brood space in the colony. She can lay more
than 1500 eggs a day. If it is a honey flow season and if there are enough cells avail-
able, she will lay up to 2500 a day (Winston 1992). Queen emerges from queen cell
which is situated at the bottom portion of the comb and looks like a small cup, and in
India it is famously known as cow’s teat because of its structural resemblance. After
emergence the newly emerged queen destroys the remaining queen cells in the col-
ony and fights any other queens she finds. The virgin queen will typically stay in the
colony for a few days in order to feed and gain strength and allow her reproductive
organs to mature a little further (Mackensen 1943; Winston 1992; Woyke 1963,
1969, 1973). After 6–8 days, the queen will leave the colony for her nuptial flight,
which occurs 30 m above the ground where she mates with many strong drones who
can fly with the queen as she flies better than drones. Postmating, the queen returns
to the hive to lay the eggs (Mackensen 1943; Winston 1987, 1992). Average life span
of queen is about 5 years, but the egg laying capacity will be only up to 2 years.
3.3.2 The Worker
There are thousands of workers in a colony, and they perform all the duties in the
colony including foraging, defending, brood rearing and cleaning activities. They are
smaller than the queen and drones. There are about 8000–25,000 workers in A. florea
colony, 40,000–50,000 workers in A. mellifera colony, 20,000–40,000 workers in
A. cerana and 50,000–80,000 in A. dorsata colony (Winston 1992; Wongsiri et al.
Wongsiri et al. 1991; Wongsiri et al. 1996). For defending the colonies, worker bees
possess sting which is a modified ovipositor, and venom is pumped out at the time of
stinging. Workers may lay eggs, under certain conditions, which develop into drones
since workers never mate and they have no sperm to fertilize their eggs (Anderson
1963; Mackensen 1943). However, in a normal queen right colony, worker regulation
occurs and workers consume eggs produced by other workers (Ratnieks 1993). In A.
cerana, unlike A. mellifera, there can be a relatively large number of egg laying
workers (Partap and Verma 1998). Workers at their young stages perform indoor
duties, and they will get license to go out for foraging only when they are old enough
(normally after 21 days) (Winston and Fergusson 1985).
3.3.3 The Drone
Drones can be easily identified by their dark colour and eyes touching at the top of
their head. Their only function is to fertilize the queen and enjoy the food inside the
hive. They do not sting as they lack stingers. Drones are “haploid”, and they only
possess one-half of the pairs of genes found in the “diploid” workers and queen
(Anderson 1963; Mackensen 1943; Winston 1992). In a colony there are about hun-
dreds of drones, drone cells differ from worker cells with enlarged cappings, and in
India commercial beekeepers decap these drone cells as drones consume the stored
honey. They have excellent navigation abilities when compared to the other two castes
because they have around 75–80 % more facets in their compound eyes than the work-
ers or queen (Gary 1963; Koeniger 1969, 1970; Ruttner 1966; Winston 1992).
3.4 Honeybee Foraging
India is a vast country with different climatic zones providing rich flora for honey-
bees. By foraging, honeybees collect pollen and nectar where pollen is a protein
source and nectar is carbohydrate source which together fulfils their nutrient
requirements (Seeley, 1985 and Winston 1987). As the honeybees have division of
labour, foraging will be only performed by the forager bees (Von Frisch 1967;
Suwannapong 2000). Among the foraging bees, there are two types: nectar collec-
tors and pollen collectors. For collecting the full load of nectar or pollen, they have
to visit hundreds of flowers (Akratanakul 1976). In addition to these, the foragers
also collect water (Farnesi et al. 2009; Marcucci 1995; Bankova et al. 1983, 2000)
and propolis (plant resins) in case of Italian and stingless bees. Bees are the most
effective pollinators of crops and natural flora and are reported to pollinate over
70 % of the world’s cultivated crops. It has also been reported that about 15 % of
the 100 principal crops are pollinated by domestic bees (Kenmore and Krell 1998;
Abrol 2012). Table 3.1 lists some commercial crops benefitted by honeybee polli-
nation in India.
As the honeybees in India have vast floral diversity, shortlisting of the flora is
difficult, and these are some of the crops with rich source of pollen and nectar from
which bees were benefitted.
Anacardium occidentale, Nephelium litchi, Azadirachta indica, Callistemon cit-
rinus, Glycine max, Cajanus cajan, Hevea brasiliensis, Acacia catechu, Dalbergia
sissoo, Eucalyptus sp., Syzygium cumini and Nephelium litchi are some of the rich
nectar sources. Zea mays, Psidium guajava, Sesamum indicum, Sorghum bicolor
and Helianthus annuus are some of the rich sources of pollen. Citrus sinensis,
Coriandrum sativum, Cucumis melo, Eucalyptus spp., Musa spp. and Pongamia
pinnata are some of the plants that provide high levels of pollen and nectar to bees.
Carica papaya, Cocos nucifera and Musa spp. provide food source to bees through-
out the year (Kishan et al. 2014).
3.4.1 Foraging Distances
Foraging distance of A. cerana is around 200–300 m from the hive (Pratap, 2011
and Koetz 2013). Some studies showed that the Indian bee can forage up to 900 m
(Hyatt 2011). Maximum foraging range of A. cerana is 1500–2500 m (Dhaliwal and
Table 3.1 Some of the commercial crops benefitted by honeybee pollination in India
Fruits and nuts Almond Prunus dulcis, apple Malus spp., apricot Prunus armeniaca, peach
Prunus persica, strawberry Fragaria spp., citrus Citrus spp. and litchi Litchi
chinensis
Vegetable and Cabbage Brassica oleracea var. capitata, cauliflower Brassica oleracea var.
vegetable seed botrytis, carrot Daucus carota, coriander Coriandrum sativum, cucumber
crops Cucumis sativus, melon Cucumis melo, onion Allium cepa, pumpkin
Cucurbita spp., radish Raphanus sativus and turnip Brassica rapa subsp.
Rapa
Oilseed crops Sunflower Helianthus annuus, niger Guizotia abyssinica, rapeseed Brassica
napus, mustard Brassica juncea, safflower Carthamus tinctorius, gingelly
Sesamum indicum
Forage seed Lucerne Medicago sativa and clover Trifolium spp. (Ragumoorthi et al.
crops 2007)
Sharma 1974). Apis mellifera have a great foraging range and can go even up to
10 km (Abrol 2011). But most of the foraging range of A. mellifera is below 6 km
(Visscher and Seeley 1982).
3.5 Beekeeping Equipment
As beekeeping has changed over the centuries, the related equipment has also
changed. Traditionally beekeepers in India used to practice beekeeping in baskets,
wooden logs, underground beehive, clay pots for keeping stingless bees, etc., but
the Langstroth bee space (1851), Johannes comb foundation (1857) and honey
extraction techniques by Frang von Hruschka concepts had a great impact on bee-
keeping in India which made a dramatic change and urged the beekeepers of the
subcontinent to switch over to movable frames, as beekeeping with movable frames
is user-friendly and also the modern beekeeping equipments make work easy for
commercial handlers. (Mishra 1995; Ramchandra et al. 2012; Singh 2014).
3.5.1 Honeybee Hive
A beehive is a place in which a single colony of honeybee exists containing and

performing various functions for their livelihood; it contains various parts like hive
stand, bottom board, brood chamber, super chamber, inner and outer cover. The hive
stand consists of a wooden pole or iron stand fixed to the ground; it may be of single
legged made up of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or iron or four-legged stand made up
of iron. Each had their advantages and limitations as it is easy to attach an ant pan
for single stand, while the four-legged stand is easy to carry from one place to
another because it is not completely fixed to the ground like single legged stand. The
bottom board rests on the stand and is separable from the hive stand. Above the
Bottom board, one can find the brood chamber that consists of brood frames which
is a home to honeybees where they rear their larvae in the comb constructed in the
brood frames; it also contains pollen and some honey for their daily consumption;
these frames are also made of wood and are arranged vertically and parallel to one
another. A brood box normally contains one queen bee. The queen lays eggs, plac-
ing one each inside a cell of the comb. The eggs hatch to larvae and the larvae
mature into the adult bees. When the brood chamber is well populated with bees, the
beekeeper fixes a super chamber on the top of the brood chamber. Like the brood
chamber, the super chamber also consists of frames arranged parallel and vertical,
and it is the place of our interest as it is a honey-storing place for bees. Queen
excluder is placed between the brood and super chambers for prevention of queen
to enter into the super chamber. However, if the queen is a prolific egg layer, the
beekeeper can use the option of fixing a second brood chamber to the first before
fixing the super chamber. In such cases there will be great yield of honey because of
more number of worker bees gathering nectar. The honey and pollen stored in the
brood chamber are meant only for the developing larvae and not for extraction by
the beekeeper. The standard height of the super chamber is three-fourth of the brood
chamber. The number of super chambers will increase in the honey flow season as
the bees will collect more nectar in that season. If the beekeeper extracts honey from
the hive at short intervals, there is no need for fixing a second or third super chamber
to the first. Over the super chamber, there will be top cover which acts as roof to the
hive (Fig. 3.1).
Types of Beehive
There are different types of hives used in India such as Langstroth hive for A. mel-
lifera, BIS hive (Bureau of Indian Standards) for A. mellifera and A. indica and
Newton hive and Marthandam hive for A. cerana.
Langstroth Ten-Frame Hive

Stand: Any four-legged stand 15–25 cm high will do. Its upper dimensions should
be such as to support the bottom board properly (Fig. 3.2).
Bottom board: It can be made either by taking a piece of wood 550 mm long,
406 mm broad and 22 mm thick or by joining two wooden boards together, nailed
in position with wooden rods. Along each end of the longer side is nailed a wooden
rod 550 mm long, 22 mm broad and 22 mm thick, and another wooden rod 363 mm
x 22 mm is nailed at the back. The front is provided with entrance rod which is
363 mm x 22 mm x 22 mm, and this has an entrance 75 mm long and 22 mm deep
in its middle. Two wooden blocks, to be used for shortening the entrance, when
necessary, should also be prepared, each block being 75 mm x 38 mm X 22 mm.
Brood chamber: It is a rectangular box without top and bottom and is made of
22 mm thick wood. Its length on the outside is 500 mm and on the inside 456 mm,
its breadth on the outside is 406 mm and on the inside 363 mm and its height is
238 mm. A rabbet 16 mm deep and 13 mm wide is cut along the entire length of its
width planks.
Inner cover Outer Cover
Queen
Shallow super
excluder
Deep super
Bottom board
Hive stand
Fig. 3.1 Components of a standard beehive
Frame: Consists of top bar, two side bars and a bottom bar.
(i) Top bar: 475 mm long, 25 mm wide and 22 mm thick. It is cut to 9 mm thick-
ness on both sides for a length of 25 mm. It has a groove in the middle of its
lower side for fixing the comb foundation sheet.
(ii) Side bar: Each is made of 9 mm thick wood and is 226 mm long. The upper
part of each is 34 mm wide and lower part 25 mm wide. Each is cut out from
the middle portion at either end to accommodate the top and the bottom bars,
respectively. There are four holes in each side bar for wiring the frame.
(iii) Bottom bar: 440 mm long, 19 mm wide and 9 mm thick. The outside measure-
ments of the frame are 440 mm x 228 mm.
(iv) Two 15 mm staples should be driven into the top bar on its opposite side so that
the frames stand 34 mm apart. One should make all frames either Hoffman or
staple-spaced type. Tinned wire of 28 gauge should be used in wiring the
frame.
Super: The dimensions of the super and the super frames should be the same as
those of the brood chamber and the brood chamber frames, respectively.
Inner cover: This is wooden board to cover the brood chamber or the super as
the case may be. It is 500 mm long, 406 mm broad and 9 mm thick wood. It has
9 mm thick and 22 mm wide wooden bar nailed onto each of its four sides.
End
Rabbet
CHAMFERED
Side TOP BAR
B END
A. Corner of 10-frame hive body, showing GROOVE FOR

A END BAR
construction and position of frames FOUNDATION
HOLES FOR
B. Part of end of hive body, showing rabbet, CROSS WIRING
which should be made of tin or galvanized OR SUPPORT PINS
iron
BOTTOM BAR
Outside cover
Inside cover
Shallow super
Queen excluder
18 1” 1”
9 5”
Brood chamber
4 2 14
8
Reversible bottom
board
Fig. 3.2 Langstroth ten-frame hive
Top cover: It is made up of 9 mm thick wooden board nailed to a rectangular

frame 50 mm high, all covered over with a metallic sheet so as to make it impervi-
ous to rainwater. Its inside measurements are 525 mm x 425 mm. It rests loosely
over the hive.
Newton Hive (Fig. 3.3)

Stand: A log of wood of about 10 cm in diameter and well soaked in wood preser-
vative is buried deep into ground. A length of about 20–30 cm is left above the
ground, and a board 40 x 30 cm is fixed on its top with long nails and screws. The
hive is placed on this platform on the log.
Bottom board: It is a plank slightly wider and 25 mm longer than the brood
chamber with beadings on three sides into which the hive body fits in tightly. The
extension of the front serves as the alighting board.
Brood chamber: It is a box without top and bottom and is made of 22 mm thick
planks with outer dimensions 278 mm x 256 mm x 160 mm and inner 234 mm x
225 mm x 160 mm. Along the top of the front and rear planks, a groove of 6 mm
depth and 9 mm width is made for resting the frames, and a clearance of about 6 mm
is provided between the lower extremity of the frames and the bottom board. The
front plank has an opening 88 mm x 9 mm at its lower side to serve as an entrance.
1”
16
1”
1” 13 ” 2
4 16
1” 1”
4 4
3”
8
4” 7”
8
7”
8
63 ” 3
9 ”
8 8
11 1
”
8 3”
10 4
Side view
9”
Front view
Fig. 3.3 Newton hive
Brood frame: Self-spacing (i) top bar breadth 22 mm, length 250 mm and thick-
ness 3 mm; (ii) side bar height 144 mm, width at the top 28 mm and width at the
bottom 12 mm; and (iii) inner length of frame 206 mm and inner height of frame
144 mm.
An extension of 3 mm is given on either side of the side bar, and a clearance of
6 mm is ensured when two frames are kept side by side. There are seven frames in
a brood chamber.
Super and super frame: It has the same length and breadth as the brood cham-
ber, but its height is 78 mm. The dimensions of the super frame are those of the
brood frame, but the internal height is 62 mm.
Fig. 3.4 Beekeeping tools
Top cover: It has sloping planks on either side. An opening of 87 mm square,
fitted with wire gauge, is made on the low ceiling plank to provide ventilation. Two
holes in the front and rear planks of the top provide the necessary draught. Care
should be taken to provide a clearance of about 6 mm between the ceiling plank and
the frames below.
For the manufacture of hives, light, well-seasoned, good quality timber should be
used. The wood used should not have a strong smell. Kail (Pinus excelsa), teak
(Tectona grandis) and toon (Toona ciliata) are some of the woods suitable for the
purpose. The hives should be preferably painted white or aluminium on the outside
to protect the timber from weathering agencies. The hive parts should be accurately
cut so that they may be interchangeable throughout the apiary and the particular part
of the country.
3.5.2 Other Beekeeping Equipments (Fig. 3.4)
Smoker
The smoker is a metal cylinder in which smoke is produced by igniting fire. The
smoker is attached with a bellow to blow air into the fire. The regulated smoke that
comes out of the nozzle is directed into the hive to make the bees docile and less
prone to stinging.
Honey Extractor
It consists of a metal drum with a centrifugally rotating device, for the extraction of
honey from the frames. Four frames filled with honey from the super chamber can
be placed in the extractor at one time to extract honey by rotating it with the help of
a handle, and the honey gets dislodged through a pipe attached at the bottom of the
extractor, and the honey can be collected in jar, cylinder, etc. The use of the extrac-
tor does not cause any damage to the combs, and they can be placed back in the
super chamber after honey extraction. Two-frame extractor is also available in
which only two frames can be placed at a time; it will be helpful for small-scale and
household beekeeping.
Comb Foundation Sheet

In nature, bees build new combs from beeswax secreted by them and make parallel
combs which are attached to the ceiling of the cavity or box. The combs may be
built in the direction of the entrance, at right angles to it or in an oblique fashion. In
the movable frame hive, it is imperative that straight combs be built in the frames so
that when shifted from hive to hive, they may maintain the correct bee space
between them. These comb foundation sheets are prepared by using comb founda-
tion mill which uses wax sheets. These comb foundation sheets will save the energy
of honeybees for building their combs as we are providing the basement.
Decapping Knife
Honeybees seal the cells in honeycomb once the honey is stored in it, so for extract-
ing the honey by using extractor, we have to decap the sealed portion by means of
decapping knife. The decapping knife may be a normal plain steel knife or an elec-
tric heated knife.
Hive Tool
It is a piece of flattened iron with hammered down edges and is used for prying apart
the frames in the hive and for scraping bee glue and superfluous pieces of comb
from the various parts of the hive.
Bee Veil
It is worn over the face for protection against stings. It should be made of black light
material such as nylon nettings so that we can get a better picture. Veils should be
made to fit snugly around the hat and to fit tightly to the shoulder leaving enough
space between the veil and face.
Gloves
They give much protection as the honeybees mostly sting on the fingers and hands
while handling them. They may be made of heavy canvas or rubberized cloth and
are useful for beginners to develop confidence.
Bee Brush
A bee brush or a whisk broom is often employed to brush off bees from honeycombs
before it is used for honey extraction.
Feeders
Various kinds of feeders for feeding sugar syrup to bees are used by beekeepers. The
division board feeder, a wooden trough of the regular frame dimensions with shoul-
ders so made that it may hang in the hive just like any other frame and with a
wooden strip to serve as a float, is a useful appliance. A sugar syrup filled tin with
holes in the lid is also a good type of feeder.
Queen Cell Protector

It is a cone-shaped structure made of a piece of wire wound spirally. It fits around a
queen cell. A queen cell which may have to be introduced from a queen right to a
queenless colony is often protected in a queen cell protector until its acceptance by
the bees.
Dummy or Division Board

It is a wooden partition which serves as a movable wall and helps to reduce the size
of the brood chamber so that bees can keep the hive air conditioned and well pro-
tected from bee enemies or inclement weather.
Embedder
It is a small tool with a spur or round wheel on the top. It is used to fix the comb
foundation sheet on the wires of the frame. Electric wire is also used for this pur-
pose which is useful to reinforce the comb and give extra strength to the comb.
Drone Trap
It is a rectangular box with one side open. The other side is fitted with queen
excluder sheet. At the bottom of the box, there is a space for movement of worker
bees. There are two hollow cones at the bottom wall of the box. Drones entering
through the cones into the box get trapped. The narrow end of the cone is wide
enough to let the bees pass out but not large enough to attract their attention or
re-entry. This device is used at the entrance to reduce the drone population inside
the hive.
Pollen Trap
Pollen-trapping screen inside this trap scrapes pellets from the legs of the returning
foragers. It is set at the hive entrance. The collected pollen pellets fall into a drawer
type of receiving tray.
3.6 Bee Products
Besides providing the treasured pollination services, honeybees gift some valuable
merchandises to the mankind. As the name indicates, the first and foremost gift by
honey bee is honey; other products which the honey bee provides include beeswax,
pollen, royal jelly, propolis and bee venom.
Table 3.2 Average Water 17.2

composition of honey (White
Fructose 38.2
1962)
Glucose 31.3
Sucrose 1.3
Maltose 7.3
Higher sugars 1.5
Free acids 0.43
Lactone 0.14
Total acid 0.57
Ash 0.169
Nitrogen 0.041
pH 3.91
Diastase value 20.8
3.6.1 Honey
Honey is the substance made when the nectar and sweet deposits from plants are
gathered, modified and stored in the honeycomb by honeybees (Singh et al. 2012).
Quality of honey varies depending upon the types of floral and extrafloral nectar. The
honey gathered can be classified as uni- and multifloral. Though mono-floral honeys
are not common, yet honeys can be categorized on the basis of floral source such as
litchi honey, berseem honey, eucalyptus honey, Brassica honey, etc. (Mishra 1995).
Honey is a rich carbohydrate source which mainly contains fructose and glucose.
Water is the other main constituent of honey, and it also contains numerous other
types of sugars, acids, vitamins, proteins and minerals (White 1980). Honeybees seal
the honey in comb cells after evaporating the excess moisture to reduce it to less than
20 % (Mishra 1995). The average composition of honey is shown in Table 3.2.
Honey is harvested in two ways: in case of Apis dorsata by squeezing the combs
which contains some impurities like pollen and larva, but in case of domesticated bees
(A. mellifera and A. cerana) honey is extracted with honey extractor without impuri-
ties using centrifugal force. Honey may remain in liquid form or may crystallize and
hence can be presented to consumers as liquid honey or granulated honey (Mishra
1995). Honey is processed by a two step process. First the honey is indirectly heated
in a water bath and kept at 60 °C for 30 min to kill the yeast cells responsible for fer-
mentation of honey. Later it is filtered while still warm through a two layer cloth filter
(when the viscosity of honey is lesser), cooled and bottled in glass bottles.
3.6.2 Beeswax
Wax is the other product produced by honeybee. The wax is produced by the wax
glands when the worker bee is about 14–18 days old. The wax is used for building
their nest by bees, and the normal colour of the wax is white, but the colour may
change because of the influence of pollen source. Specific gravity of beeswax is
0.95 and melting point is 65 °C. Beeswax contains complex esters of monoatomic
alcohols, 70.4–74.7 % of fatty acids and 13.5–15.0 % and 12.5–15.5 % of saturated
hydrocarbons (Phadke and Phadke 1975). Normally wax is obtained from the dam-
aged combs. Wax extraction can be done by two types: extracting wax using hot
water bath is the most common method in India, and solar extractor is also in use
which uses sun energy for melting of wax. Wax is used in preparing comb founda-
tion sheet, candles, polishes, furniture, pharmaceutical industry and perfume indus-
tries, and it is a vital constituent of cosmetics like cold creams, lipsticks and rouges
because it adheres better to the skin (Mishra 1995).
3.6.3 Bee Venom
The main components of bee venom are proteins and peptides. Urtubey (2005)
mentioned the use of bee venom in apitherapy in China, India, Egypt, Babylon and
Greece. Bee venom is present in the venom sac and will be injected using sting. The
bee venom can be collected using venom extractor which possesses mild electric
current, and the bees get irritated with this current so they try to sting, and the
venom will be collected in the bottom glass plate. The USA is the leading producer
of venom and had produced only 3 kg of venom in the past 30 years (Mraz 1982;
Abrol 2012). Apitherapy is an age-old practice followed in India and some other
countries for curing of joint pains in which bees are made to sting the patient by
holding the bee from its wings with thumb and index. The venom collected by the
above method can be made for subcutaneous injections. Ointment made by mixing
apitoxin, Vaseline and salicylic acid (1: 10: 1) can be applied on the affected areas.
The salicylic acid makes the skin soft and increases penetration (Mishra 1995).
3.6.4 Propolis
Propolis is used in construction and adaptation of honey bee nest and also to cover
the cracks and crevices of the hive; it is a sticky dark-coloured material (Burdock
1998). The colour of the propolis may vary in temperate climates; it ranges from a
light yellow or brown to a dark-brown colour, often with a reddish hue. Propolis
tends to become darker the longer it is in the hive. The colour of propolis also varies
according to the trees and plants from which it is harvested (Fearnley 2005). It can
be used to treat wounds, infections, dermatitis and cancer. It is a strong fungicide
and disinfectant (Ghisalberti 1979). It has an inhibitory activity against bacteria,
fungi and yeast (Aspay 1977and Olivieri et al. 1981). Among the Apis spp., only A.
mellifera is known to forage for propolis. The tropical stingless bees do collect a
resinous substance similar to propolis, which they use to seal up the hive and to cre-
ate honey and pollen storage vessels (Fearnley 2005).
3.6.5 Royal Jelly
Royal jelly is a milky white cream. It is strongly acidic and rich in protein, sugars,
vitamins, RNA, DNA and fatty acids and is secreted by the nurse bees at the age of
6–12 days (Abrol 2013). It is also a very nutritious food for human beings as it
increases vigour and vitality. Royal jelly is rich in amino acids such as alanine,
arginine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, isoleucine, lysine, methionine, phe-
nylalanine, tryptophan, tyrosine and serine. Eight of the essential amino acids
required for human beings are present in royal jelly. Besides this, it also contains
vitamins A, B and C, iron, copper, phosphorus, silicon and sulphur. It can be har-
vested by Doolittle or grafting method in which artificial queen cell cups made from
pure wax are attached to a brood frame which consists of bars holding small wax
blocks. Then one- or two-day-old larvae will be placed in the queen cell cups and
kept inside the hive. The nurse bees feed the larva with royal jelly which can be
harvested (Mishra 1995). As the royal jelly is more nutritious, it can be helpful to
mankind in many ways.
3.7 earing Methods and General Management

R
of Honey Bees
The apiary or the place where bees are kept must be dry without dampness. Natural
or artificial water source in the vicinity for honey bees, shade such as trees or artifi-
cial structures under which the bee hives will be placed and sufficient bee forage or
the plants that provide pollen and nectar to honey bees are essential prerequisites.
Hive inspection must be taken up at least twice a week to look for the presence
of queen, eggs and brood, honey and pollen storage and bee enemies like wax moth,
mites and, diseases. Brood net expansion must be done by providing comb founda-
tion sheet in empty frame during honey flow period. Sugar syrup feeding must be
provided inside the hive during dearth period by dissolving sugar in water at 1:1
dilution. Supering or addition of frames in super chamber is done when brood
chamber is covered with bees on all frames. Comb foundation sheet or constructed
comb is provided in super chamber. At the time of honey extraction, the bees bushed
away using brush, cells are uncapped using uncapping knife and honey is extracted
using honey extractor and the combs are replaced in hive for reuse.
Swarming is a natural method of colony multiplication in which a part of the
colony migrates to a new site to make a new colony. Swarming occurs when a col-
ony builts up a considerable strength or when the queen’s substance secreted by
queen falls below a certain level. When bees swarm, it is possible that a beekeeper
may lose a part of his colony and hence swarm management must be done by
removing brood frames from strong colonies and providing to weak ones, pinching
off the queen cells during inspection, dividing strong colonies and trapping and hiv-
ing the primary swarm.
The honey bees have to be managed during the honey flow season that normally
coincides with spring season. Providing more space for honey storage by giving
CFS or built combs, confining queen to brood chamber using queen excluder, pre-
vent swarming as explained earlier, building sufficient population prior to honey
flow by provide sugar syrup, dividing strong colonies into two or three new
ones. – if colony multiplication need and taking up queen rearing technique to pro-
duce new queens for new colonies.
During severe summer the management methods include, providing sufficient
shade, sprinkling water on gunny bag or rice straw put on hive to increase RH and
reduce heat, increasing ventilation by introducing a splinter between brood and
super chamber and providing sugar syrup, pollen supplement or substitute and
water. To overcome winter the management methods comprise maintaining strong
and disease free colonies, provide new queen to the hives and providing winter
packing in cooler areas (Hilly areas). At the time of rainy season the management
methods are to confine bees to the hive, providing sugar syrup, avoiding dampness
in apiary site and providing drainage.
Honeybees are attacked by many pest, diseases and viruses, and they are strong
enough to defend their colonies from various pests, but when they are weak, bee-
keeper should assist the bees for defending the colony.
3.7.1 Pest and Predators of Honeybee
These include minute mites to gigantic bears, in fact bears are very much fond of
honey. Major opponents in this category include wax moths, birds, mites, ants, hive
beetles and bears (Morhe 1999).
3.7.1.1 Wax Moth

Wax moths are major problem to beekeeping in Asia and predominantly in India.
Wax moth occurs because of the poor management practices by beekeeper. Galleria
mellonella (greater wax moth) and Achroia grisella (lesser wax moth) are the major
damaging wax moth species. Vitula spp. (dried fruit moth), Plodia interpunctella,
Ephestia kuehniella and E. cautella are the other moths associated with colonies of
honeybees (Apis cerana, A. mellifera, A. dorsata and A. florea) (Kumar 1996).
Greater Wax Moth (Galleria mellonella)

In India it is the major pest of A. cerana causing the colonies to abscond. It causes
considerable damage if the beekeeper doesn’t follow the proper storage of empty
combs, rendered wax, comb foundation sheets and bee-collected pollen. Larval
stage is the damage-causing stage, and the larva is about 3–30 mm long, lives in
silken tunnels and feeds on pollen, nectar and newly emerged honeybees. Larval
period is between 22 and 60 days. In India they are active during March to October
(Garg and Kashyap 1998), but from June to October which is considered as a dearth
period in India, their activity is high.
The Lesser Wax Moth (Achroia grisella)

As the name suggests, it is smaller than greater wax moth, but it is widely distrib-
uted and is also seen in higher altitudes. The length of the larvae is about 15–20 mm
and the larva feeds on the same food as the greater wax moth do. Their highest
activity will be during June to October in India and completes three to four genera-
tions during that period (Singh 1962).
Control Measures
Maintaining hygienic beekeeping practices is the best way to prevent or control the
honeybee colonies from wax moth attack. In south India, the Indian bee boxes are
mainly of Marthandam type which readily produces cracks, and this provides a suit-
able habitat for the wax moth. Closing the cracks and crevices and reduction of hive
entrance could stop the wax moth arrival (Ramachandran and Mahadevan 1951).
However, in north India as the beekeeping is mainly with Italian bees, they have less
problem with the wax moth as the Italian bee itself closes the cracks and crevices by
using propolis. By keeping the infested combs in hot water (60 °C) for 4–5 h, the
larvae can be killed. Fumigation of the affected wax combs with paradichloroben-
zene (PDB) will be effective (Casanova 1992). The use of biocontrol agents like
Bacillus thuringiensis, Galleria nuclear polyhedrosis virus (GNPV), oviposition
attractants and genetic manipulation are some of the measures for keeping the wax
moth population in check. Apanteles galleriae is a larval parasite of wax moth.
Major work was carried on Bt formulations (Ali et al. 1973). Initial larval stages of
Galleria were more susceptible to Bt treatment than the later stages.
3.7.1.2 Other Minor Pests
Hive Beetle (Aethina tumida)

This is small and black beetle which is present in and around the bee colonies; it will
eat and destroy the cells constructed by the bees and also feed on pollen, eggs and
small honey bee grubs (Lundie 1940 and Caron 1990). When the population of
these beetles is high, they will cause considerable damage. For controlling, fume
boards can be placed over the beehive, and the hive may be kept on a concrete floor
as the beetle is a soil pupator.
Ants and wasps
Ants are enemies to both honeybee and beekeeper as they cause pain to the bee-
keeper by their influential bites and they will feed on everything they get from the
honeybee colony which includes the dead and the live bees, honey and the brood.
(Akratanakul 1986; Buys 1990; Abrol 1997; Abrol and Kakroo 1994). When the ant
population is high in number, they even cause the A. mellifera and A. cerana colo-
nies to abscond. In India, engine oil or grease is applied to the ant stand for obstruct-
ing their movement. Chemicals like ethyl or methyl alcohol, sodium fluoride, borax
powder, salt or powdered sulphur can be used for ant control (Nikiel 1972).
Large social wasps Vespa sp prey honey bees with ease. V. orientalis, V. magnifica
and V. cincta are some of the species that devor honey bees and weaken the colonies.
Peak activity of the wasp was reported from August to November in Himachal
Pradesh (Rana et al. 2000). The bees kill wasps through shimmering behaviour
forming balls around wasps. The intruders is killed either being stung or due to high
temperature at centre of ball (43–46 °C) and suffocation (Abrol and Kakroo 1994).
Destruction of wasp nest, use of protective screens and bait lures have been sug-
gested for managing wasps.
Birds
As the honeybees have aerial movement, they are prone to hunting by birds. Merops
apiaster (European bee-eater), M. orientalis (small green bee-eater), M. leschenaulti
(chestnut-headed bee-eater), M. superciliosus persicus (blue-cheeked bee-eater), M.
philippinus philipinnus (blue-tailed bee-eater), Indicator indicator (honey guides),
Dicrurus macrocercus, D. aster (drongo/King crow), Cypselus spp., Apus spp.
(swifts) and Lanius spp. (shrikes) are some of the major bird enemies attacking bees
(Gulati and Kaushik 2004; Ramchandran et al. 2012). Among them, bee-eater poses
major threat to honeybees (Dyer and Fry 1980). For control of these birds making
high pitch noises, producing scaring sounds by beating the empty tins can be done
so that the birds get scare (Gulati and Kaushik 2004).
Indian Bear (Melursus ursinus)

The apiaries located near to the hilly regions are more susceptible to bear attack.
Hanging of beehives to tree branches can be done to control. Besides hanging nor-
mal hives, top bar hives can also be used.
3.7.2 Viruses
Honeybees in India are affected by Apis iridescent virus, Thai sacbrood virus
(TSBV) and Kashmir bee virus. Among them TSBV was an introduced virus and a
major one. TSBV was first detected in Meghalaya in 1978 (Kshirsagar et al. 1982).
This virus caused a disastrous outbreak and devastated more than 90 % of A. cerana
colonies in India (Mishra 1995; Devanesan and Jacob 2001). Both the larval and
pupal stages are susceptible to this disease, but the adult is an immune stage
(Ramchandran et al. 2012). Because of viral attack, brood will die in prepupal
unsealed stage, dead larvae can be seen with tip of the head capsule turned upwards,
dead prepupae turn into saclike structure and the colour of the affected larvae also
changes from white to yellow or grey (Mishra 1995). There are no packed materials
for the virus control. The disease can be avoided to certain extent by avoiding,
replacing or mixing bee colonies and hive equipments from TSBV-affected apiar-
ies. Recently RT-PCR based method of diagnosis of TSBV has been developed
(Aruna et al. 2016).
3.7.3 Bacterial Diseases
American foulbrood (AFB) disease caused by Paenibacillus larvae and European

foulbrood (EFB) caused by Melissococcus pluton are the dangerous bacterial
disease infecting honeybee colonies (Nakamura 1996; Oldroyd and Wongsiri 2006;
Bailey and Collins 1982).
3.7.3.1 American Foulbrood Disease

AFB is the one of most widely spread bacterial disease (Gochnauer 1981).AFB-
infected larvae normally die after their cell is sealed. Caps of these dead brood cells
are usually darker than the caps of healthy cells. The entire population of the hive gets
infected. For control of the disease, sterilization of equipments can be done using
formalin at 6 ml per litre, and Terramycin at 250–400 mg in 5 l of sugar syrup can be
fed to diseased colony twice at weekly intervals for effective control (Mishra 1995).
3.7.3.2 European Foulbrood Disease

European foulbrood is less harmful compared with American foulbrood, and it
infects the midgut of infected bee larvae (Suwannapong et al. 2011). In India it was
first observed in Maharashtra in 1971 by Diwan and his coworkers on A. cerana
indica. The honeybee colonies which are attacked by the Varroa are highly suscep-
tible to EFB disease as this bacterial disease is a stress-related disorder (Bailey and
Collins 1982). Young larvae of 4–5 days old are highly susceptible to EFB, and the
colour of the larvae also changes from shiny white to yellow or brown in colour. For
control of the EFB disease, Terramycin and formalin can be used as mentioned in
AFB control. Other mechanical methods namely shookswarm (where the adult bees
are shaken into new hives discarding the infected brood combs) can be adopted to
avoid use of antibiotics.
3.7.4 Mite Enemies of Honeybee
Mites are important adversary of honey bee in India; they spread from one place to
another as the beekeeper moves the colonies to floral-rich source and also because
of migratory beekeeping (Anderson 1999, Boecking et al. 2000; Oldroyd and
Wongsiri 2006). Tewarson et al. (1992) was the first person to study about life cycle
of Varroa destructor on A. cerana in India.
3.7.4.1 Varroa jacobsoni

The mite was first reported in India by Phadke et al. (1966) from Delhi. It is a native
pest to A. cerana in India, but after the introduction of A. mellifera to India, it started
affecting the Italian bee colonies also (Mishra 1995). Mite is reddish brown in colour
and female mite is about 1.1 mm in length and 21.6 mm (Sammataro et al. 1994;
Sammataro 1997). It can pierce and tear open the host’s integument and feed on the
haemolymph of the honeybee (Suwannapong et al. 2011; Delfinado and Baker 1987).
Symptom is called as varroasis and larval stage of honeybee is the most susceptible
stage. For controlling, sugar powder can be dusted over the honeybees and in the
frames; as the bees tend to groom and by the process, the Varroa mite can be dis-
lodged. Other than sugar dust, sulphur and Acorus calamus (sweet flag) powder can
also be dusted. Ritter (1981) and De Jong et al. (1982) suggested synecar, a mixture
of sugar powder + chloropropylate or bromopropylate at the rate of 50–100 mg per
colony, depending upon the strength, can be dusted in passages between the frames.
Presently some commercial products are available such as Coumaphos®, Bayer Bee
Strips® or CheckMite® (Suwannapong et al. 2011; De Jong 1997; Gerson et al.
1988; Le Conte et al. 1989) which are hardly practised in India.
3.7.4.2 Acarapis woodi

Acarapis woodi was first reported in India (Singh 1957) from A. cerana colonies.
This mite was first named as Tarsonemus woodi (Rennie 1921; Rinderer et al. 1999),
but later it was renamed as Acarapis, Acar from Acarus (mite) and Apis from bee
(Suwannapong et al. 2011). This mite attacks the tracheal system of honeybee; it
attacks all the three castes of honeybee. The typical symptom is “K”-winged condi-
tion, where the bees cannot fly and the wings are disjoined in condition. This mite
also feeds on haemolymph and the life span of the honeybee is reduced (Hirschfelder
and Sachs 1952; Mishra 1995). For controlling of this mite, formic acid, menthol or
thymol can be applied; fumigation using Folbex strips can be done (Atwal 1971).
3.7.4.3 Tropilaelaps clareae

It was first reported in India from Apis dorsata (Bhardwaj 1968). This mite species
attacks all five species of honeybee but is primarily found on A. dorsata and A. mel-
lifera (Atwal and Dhaliwal 1969; Laigo and Morse 1969). It was first discovered in
the rat (Delfinado and Baker 1961). The mite attacks the pupae and prepupae stages
of bees. Mature female mites attach on and suck the haemolymph from the larvae
and adults. Infected honey bees have poor wings; irregular brood pattern is a typical
symptom of this mite (Mishra 1995; Suwannapong et al. 2011). Sulphur dusting is
an effective control method (Atwal and Goyal 1971). The use of organic products
like formic acid, oxalic acid and other essential oils at the right time can be effective
for all mite species (Cramp 2008). T. clareae is difficult to control compared to
other mite species, as this mite is readily available with A. dorsata colonies, but the
professional beekeepers remove the brood frames from their hives so that the female
mite will starve to death as this mite can live only 7 days without food.
3.8 Migratory Beekeeping in India
Migratory beekeeping provides good returns to the beekeeper as the returning bees
to the hive are maximum, because of abundant flora in that region. For doing com-
mercial migratory beekeeping, the beekeeper has to map the floral resources avail-
able and do planned migration accordingly.
In northern India, commercial beekeepers shift the colonies between plains
and hills for migratory beekeeping. During October–November, colonies are
migrated to the plains of Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and
Rajasthan to exploit rapeseed and mustard. During December–January, colonies
are migrated to eucalyptus plantation of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Bee colo-
nies will also be migrated to litchi orchards at Ramnagar and Dehradun from
February to March. Some beekeepers will also migrate to sunflower fields of
Punjab and Haryana. Beekeepers will also migrate to forest plantations of Uttar
Pradesh for shisham till May.
In southern India, migration of bee colonies from southern Tamil Nadu (mainly
Marthandam of Kanyakumari District) to Kerala during January–March is a
renowned practice. The commercial beekeepers migrate the colonies to rubber plan-
tations which are spread over about 0.40 million hectares. During that period, bee-
keepers will harvest tons of honey and store to sell when they get better price.
Rubber is considered as the third major source of honey next to rapeseed/mustard
and sunflower in India. Beekeepers from Kerala and Tamil Nadu migrate their colo-
nies mainly to Quilon, Kottayam, Changanacherry, Trichur, Palghat, Kozhikode
and Cannanore districts for rubber–honey flow. In Tamil Nadu, during May–June,
beekeepers migrate the colonies for harvesting nectar from tamarind flowers.
Colonies are also migrated to high ranges of Devikulam, Peermedu, Idukki and
other districts to cardamom estates.
3.9 Pesticide Usage and Honeybees
Pesticide use has become inevitable in modern agriculture. With pesticide con-
sumption increasing several folds during the last four decades, the side effects are
also increasing, one of which is the toxicity to honeybees. Pesticides, alone and in
combination with other factors, have had a devastating effect on honeybees and
wild pollinators. Pesticides commonly found in lawn and garden products and used
in agriculture are known to be hazardous to bees, some killing bees outright and
others with subtle effects that reduce a bee’s ability to thrive. Besides increasing
agricultural production, they cause undesirable environmental effects including the
effect on nontarget species, such as honeybees and other pollinators. Hence, the
safety of poisonous agrochemicals must be ensured.
The use of pesticides for pest control on the one hand and the use of honeybees
for cross pollination are not always compatible, as honeybees are susceptible to
many of commonly used pesticides for the control of insect pests (Johansen 1977;
Mac Kenzie and Winston 1989; Poehling 1989; Stark et al. 1995; Russell et al. 1998;
Cuningham et al. 2002; Sundararaju 2003). The major constraint confronting polli-
nator–plant interaction is the indiscriminate and excessive use of pesticides for con-
trolling insect pests (Bisht et al. 1983; Rana and Goyal 1991; Zhong et al. 2004). The
loss of honeybees directly affects beekeeping through loss of honey production and
indirectly the crop production due to inadequate pollination. Reduction of population
of these beneficial insects due to insecticides, therefore, incurs significant environ-
mental, ecological and economic costs (Pimental 1980; Crane and Walker 1983).
3.9.1 Impact of Pesticides on Bees
The use of pesticides affect the bees in several ways:

• The use of herbicides eliminates the weed flora which serves as very good food
source for bees especially during dearth period.
• Direct exposure to insecticidal sprays result in the death of bees and sometimes
lead to the total destruction of bee colonies.
• Contamination of water resources affect water carriers.
• Contamination of nectar and pollen causes brood mortality.
• Widespread use of chemicals also contaminates the hive products.
• Indiscriminate use of pesticides threatens the integrity of bee–flower mutualistic
system.
3.9.2 M
inimizing Pesticide Hazards to Bees/Management
Practices
Proper understanding of above-mentioned principles can go a long way in reducing

pesticide hazards to honeybees. The basic principle, of course, is that honeybees
should not get exposed to the toxic effects of insecticides as far as possible. Reducing
pesticide injury to honeybees requires communication and cooperation between
beekeepers and farmers, since both mutually benefit from honeybees, the beekeeper
in terms of its products and the farmer in terms of increased production of crops.
While it is unlikely that all poisoning can be avoided, a balance must be struck
between the effective use of insecticides, the preservation of pollinators and the
rights of all – the beekeeper, farmers and the community.
3.9.3 Guidelines to Beekeepers
• It is most desirable that bee colonies should be maintained where use of pesti-
cides or drift from pesticides is minimum. For this, the beekeeper should be fully
conversant with the type of pesticides used in their locality, which in turn depends
upon the cropping pattern and the pest complex. He/she should also be aware of
normal wind currents prevalent in that area to protect against the harmful effects
from drift.
• If ever disinfestation of beehives becomes necessary, he/she should use only the
recommended chemicals, safe to the bees, for the purpose.
• During bloom if the crops in the surrounding areas are being sprayed with the
insecticides, it is always advisable to confine the bees within the hives. If it is
apprehended that the spray programme will continue for a longer period, it is
better to move the hives away to the safe location free from the drift in advance.
• Apiarists and farmers should have close cooperation so that beneficial activity of
bee is not jeopardized by the irrational use of pesticides by the latter.
• Feeding of colonies with sugar syrup following pesticide application to reduce
bee foraging may help substantially in reducing the exposure of bees to
pesticides.
3.9.4 Guidelines for Farmers
The golden principle for the farmers is to use insecticides only when necessary. For
this purpose, integrated pest management approaches are available on most crops,
which should be strictly practised. It is in the mutual interests of both that the farmer
should intimate the spray programme in advance to the beekeeper:
• If there is a choice for insecticides, the use should be restricted to the chemicals
in the less hazardous groups.
• The spray operation in the evening is always preferable as it not only gives better
deposit and distribution but also bee activity subsides.
• Apply granules or sprays in preference to dusts. Baits used for fruit fly control,
should be discouraged as far as possible during the crop in bloom.
• Examine fields and field margins before spraying to determine if bees are forag-
ing on flowering weeds. Where feasible eliminate weeds by mowing or tillage.
• Give careful consideration to position of bee colonies relative to wind speed and
direction. Changing spray nozzles or reducing pressure can increase droplet size
and reduce spray drift.
3.10 Constraints in Beekeeping in India
As discussed above, indiscriminate use of pesticides poses a major threat to honey-

bees (Shinde and Phadke 1995; Kaur 1998; Kumar 2000). Lack of honeybee profes-
sionals and trained bee labours allows poor management of colonies. Many
commercial beekeepers face problems including interference of police and octroi
people during the migration of their colonies. A survey conducted in Punjab resulted
37.5 % of beekeepers are facing these problems. The transport costs are also high in
migratory beekeeping (Kaur 1998; Sharma et al. 2014). Depletion of floral resource
because of growing concrete jungles is one of the major concerns in beekeeping, as
the bee boxes are placed in field where 24-h care is not possible, theft of boxes occur
(Bansal et al. 2013). Many beekeepers report that the cost of the equipments is too
high and this will also discourage the entrepreneurs in this field. There is no separate
market for honey and beekeepers sell their honey to local markets. For exporting
honey, most of the commercial beekeepers are troubled by the international stan-
dards as the beekeepers have poor knowledge of the standards (Bansal et al. 2013;
Sharma et al. 2014). Honey from the rubber plantations is the major source in south-
ern India, and the beekeepers from this part cannot export their honey as it has high
moisture content. Producer price for honey and other products from beekeeping is
very low compared to retailer price, and this always irritates the beekeepers (Singh
2000).
3.11 Overcoming the Constraints
As per FAO (2016), the world total honey production during 2013 was 2.13 million
tonnes. China ranks first in honey production with 466,300 tonnes while India ranks
seventh with 61,000 tonnes. India has vast potential for beekeeping. The diversity in
flora provides more opportunities for the development of beekeeping industry. It is
said that based on the area under cultivation in India and bee forage crops, India has
a potential to have about 100 million bee colonies while the current figure is less
than one million colonies.
Beekeeping should be recognized as an important agricultural activity for
increasing the productivity of agricultural/horticultural crops, and a section of bee-
keeping should be developed within the line departments of the states. Forest
department should take an initiative for planting bee flora and should allow the
beekeepers to use it. Free trainings on beekeeping with latest improvements can
help the beekeepers for updating their knowledge. Effective cooperation among
beekeepers, traders, exporters, extension agencies and government should be estab-
lished. Intensive efforts should be made to improve the domestic consumption of
honey through developing honey-based food/consumer products and intensive
generic promotion of honey through media. There is a need to conduct effective
promotional and awareness campaigns to remove the myths about honey and bees.
Government must take steps for selling the honey at best price which helps in bee-
keeper’s economy. The concept effect of pesticides on honeybee should be undewr-
stood by the farmer so the beekeeper will be forewarned by the farmer before
spraying. Presently government is encouraging organic farming (recently Sikkim
was declared as a first organic state in India) which is a good initiative for saving
bee health and consuming organic honey (Bansal et al. 2013; Sharma et al. 2014).
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Chapter · February 2017

Kishan Tej Mitta Aruna Ramaiah

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Beekeeping is an art and a mesmerizing science. In India beekeeping is mostly

M. Kishan Tej • R. Aruna • M.R. Srinivasan (*)

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 35

3.2 Honeybee Species in India

3.2.1 Rock Bee (Apis dorsata)

3.2.2 Little Bee (Apis florea)

3.2.3 Indian Bee (Apis cerana)

Indian honeybee or Eastern honeybee is a well-known bee species in India. Prior to

3.2.4 European Bee/Italian Bee (Apis mellifera ligustica)

3.2.5 Stingless Bee

Stingless or dammar bees are of smallest size compared to other honey-yielding

3.3 Biology and Society

3.3.1 The Queen

3.3.2 The Worker

3.3.3 The Drone

3.4 Honeybee Foraging

3.4.1 Foraging Distances

3.5 Beekeeping Equipment

3.5.1 Honeybee Hive

A beehive is a place in which a single colony of honeybee exists containing and

Langstroth Ten-Frame Hive

Inner cover Outer Cover

Fig. 3.1 Components of a standard beehive

A. Corner of 10-frame hive body, showing GROOVE FOR

Fig. 3.2 Langstroth ten-frame hive

Top cover: It is made up of 9 mm thick wooden board nailed to a rectangular

Newton Hive (Fig. 3.3)

Fig. 3.3 Newton hive

Fig. 3.4 Beekeeping tools

3.5.2 Other Beekeeping Equipments (Fig. 3.4)

Comb Foundation Sheet

Queen Cell Protector

Dummy or Division Board

3.6 Bee Products

Table 3.2 Average Water 17.2

3.6.3 Bee Venom

3.6.5 Royal Jelly

3.7  earing Methods and General Management

3.7.1 Pest and Predators of Honeybee

3.7.1.1 Wax Moth

Greater Wax Moth (Galleria mellonella)

The Lesser Wax Moth (Achroia grisella)

3.7.1.2 Other Minor Pests

Hive Beetle (Aethina tumida)

Indian Bear (Melursus ursinus)

3.7.3 Bacterial Diseases

American foulbrood (AFB) disease caused by Paenibacillus larvae and European

3.7.3.1 American Foulbrood Disease

3.7.3.2 European Foulbrood Disease

3.7.4 Mite Enemies of Honeybee

3.2 Honeybee Species in India

3.2.1 Rock Bee (Apis dorsata)

3.2.2 Little Bee (Apis florea)

3.2.3 Indian Bee (Apis cerana)

3.2.4 European Bee/Italian Bee (Apis mellifera ligustica)

3.2.5 Stingless Bee

3.3 Biology and Society

3.3.1 The Queen

3.3.2 The Worker

3.3.3 The Drone

3.4 Honeybee Foraging

3.4.1 Foraging Distances

3.5 Beekeeping Equipment

3.5.1 Honeybee Hive

3.5.2 Other Beekeeping Equipments (Fig. 3.4)

3.6 Bee Products

3.6.3 Bee Venom

3.6.5 Royal Jelly

3.7 earing Methods and General Management

3.7.1 Pest and Predators of Honeybee

3.7.1.1 Wax Moth

3.7.1.2 Other Minor Pests

3.7.3 Bacterial Diseases

3.7.3.1 American Foulbrood Disease

3.7.3.2 European Foulbrood Disease

3.7.4 Mite Enemies of Honeybee

3.7.4.1 Varroa jacobsoni

3.7.4.2 Acarapis woodi

3.7.4.3 Tropilaelaps clareae

3.8 Migratory Beekeeping in India

3.9 Pesticide Usage and Honeybees

3.9.1 Impact of Pesticides on Bees

3.9.3 Guidelines to Beekeepers

3.9.4 Guidelines for Farmers

3.10 Constraints in Beekeeping in India

3.11 Overcoming the Constraints