CGA 195 CLASS

BEE KEEPING (APICULTURE)

Importance
1. Production of honey which is used as a sweetener, provision of the energy and medicinal
purposes.
2. Honey & bee wax are sold to earn income
3. They are pollinators for many crops
4. They require little capital and land for keeping
Most common types are the honeybees and bumblebees (They live in colonies)
Solitary bees live in their own small family nests.

Importance terms in bee keeping

Hive – house of the bees
Apiary – home of bees
Swarm of bees – a group of bees moving together as they look for food or shelter. Also known as
scout bees, composed of workers.
Bee colony - when swarm of bees assembles together and has an appropriate host they make a
colony. Colony must be composed of one queen, a number of drones (males) and many workers
(females)
Swarming – part exodus of a bee colony
Absconding – where the whole colony vacates the hive.
Reasons for swarming and absconding
 infertile queen
 lack of food and water
 disturbance – results from harvesting of honey
 bad smell
 overcrowding
 outbreak of disease and parasites
 Damage of the brood combs broad – immature stages of bees which include the egg, larvae
and pupa.
 Shortage of food in the surrounding
 Queen may be sick, infertile or dead or there are two queens
 Direct sunshine entering the hive
 High temperatures in the hive

Hive products
- Among hive products is honey (mixture of nectar and pollen) -honey is the vomit of bees.
- Pollen – source of nutrient with vitamin, minerals and proteins
- Propolis – gum picked from trees and uses it to seal the hive brood.

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Classification of bees
The kingdom – Animalia
Phylum – Arthropoda
Class – Insecta
Order - Hymenoptera
Family – Apoidae
Genus – Apis
There are seven species of honey bees and the main one is Apis melliffera
Characteristics
 high flying power and therefore can fly long distance
 more active in scarce food and water and very protective to hive compared to other species
 fairly resistance to disease attack
 very vicious /aggressive

BEE COLONY
It consists of a queen, drones and workers
QUEEN
 only one queen in a colony
 leader of colony and also called mother bee
 Her work is to lay eggs about 1500 – 2000 egg/day after mating with 12-15 drones.
 Mated once in her life time and stores approximate 6 million sperm in the spermatheca to
ensure all the eggs produced and fertilized
 keeps colony together by producing of pheromones known as queen substance
 Pheromone are used for identification
 Determines the sex of bees. (fertilized egg are females, unfertilized are males)
DRONES /HONEY BEES
 are males in the hive and usually are not many
 work is to fertilize the queen after which they are killed by worker bees
 help in cooling the hive by flapping their wings
 they are stingless
 they die after copulation

WORKERS
 Are infertile or under developed females hence they do not breed
 They sting
 Very many in the colony and smallest in the body size
 Their work is – according to their age .When they are aged:

1 – 3 days -cleaners, clean the hive

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3 – 10 days age- nurse bees; to feed queen
10 – 16 days age -builders; to build cells
16 - 20 days age- receive and load pollen from foreign
20 – 30 days -guard around the hive entrance
From there to 7 weeks they act as foragers looking four water pollen and nectar.
Drive the drones away during cold seasons they die outside due to inability to protect themselves.
They are evicted since they deplete the hive’s resources too quickly yet they don’t know how to
fend for the food.

Summary of workers bee

i. Looking for food and water
ii. Feeding the queen, drones and brood
iii. Build combs and seal the cracks using profolis
iv. Clean the hive
v. Making honey and bee wax

NB: a queen can survive four a maximum of 9 years, drones 5years and workers 3 months.

Life cycle of bee

Have complete metamorphosis –ie four stages of their cycle egg, larvae, pupa and adult.
Once the queen is fertilized she will move from one cell to the other laying eggs. The workers
generate warmth which allows eggs to hatch after 3 days .It turn into larvae after 3 days and is fed
with special feeds known as loyal jelly and a mixture of pollen and honey.
Larvae then turn into a cocoon and after 2 days it moults into a pupa. 3 days later the pupa emerges
from cocoon and becomes an adult. The development takes 21 days to produce a worker; 24 days
20 produce a drone and 16 days to produce a queen.

QUEEN WORKER DRONE

Eggs 3 days to hatch 3 days 3 days
Larvae feeding stage 5 days 6 days 7 days
Pupa non feeding 8 days 12 days 14 days
Total 16 days 21days 24 days

NB: A t 16, 12 and 24 days stage they cannot perform their duties and the queen will need 3 more
days to mature after which she will go for wedding/mating flight.
- After mating she will take more 3 days before laying eggs.
- The workers will need another 21 days before they are able to perform their duties
- The drones will take 2 weeks to reach sexual maturity.

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MANAGEMENT OF BEES
Sitting of an Apiary
Factors to consider in locating
i. Keep away from homestead because they can sting
ii. Must be forage source/availability of flowers
iii. Away from roads and public utilities like hospitals, fields
iv. Availability of water if not available it should be provided with containers -put sticks for
stepping on
v. Sheltered place – to protect hives from strong winds and sun to prevent overheating.
vi. Free of disturbance

Nutrition of bees
 Bees like any other animal require a balanced diet.
 They require vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, water fat and oils.
 Bees collect pollen and nectar as their main food
 Pollen is their main source of proteins and minerals.
 They use their hairy bodies to collect pollen grains from plants which they put in pollen
basket which they use to transport to hive.
 Pollen is the major feed in the hive and without it the queen will not lay enough eggs. The
workers will eat the eggs when there is no enough pollen.
 They collect nectar which is composed with water and sugar and is their main source of
carbohydrates
The sugar content in the nectar is between 5-35% . It’s the nectar is used to produce honey.
Once they collect nectar they store in honey sac and enzymes are added which hydrolise the
complex sugar to simple sugars. The nectar is put in cells of moisture content is reduced from 65 to
20% through funning of wings by workers bees when honey becomes thick the combs are sealed
using wax and this allow the honey to ripen and it can be stored for a long time.

NB: incase a drought, supplement can be provided to the bees inform of pests of Soya flour brewers
yeast (to provide carbohydrate) skimmed milk and egg yolk.
Ordinary sugar solution at ration of 1:1 for the provision of carbohydrates
Water provided in containers.
TYPES OF BEE HIVES
There are four major types
1. log hive
2. box hive
3. Kenya top bar hive
4. Lang stroth

LOG HIVE/TRADITIONAL
Made of a log

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Log is split into two parts one larger than the other. The larger one is shaped into a trough by
removing the inner tissues using a chisel. The larger forms the top and is where the bees attach their
combs
The two-part are then tied together using wires and then suspended from a tree or a post.
BOX HIVE
Made of timber where the top and side are nailed together and the bottom board attached by means
of wires. The bottom is drilled to allow ventilation
KENYA TOP BAR HIVE
Consists of a series of bars arranged to form a top of the hive. The bees attach combs at the bars
which can be removed for inspections. These bars are known as top bars and the name of the hive.
In normal circumstances the bars are 27 in number however there are times one bar is prepared by
queen excluder.
Excluder – compartment which prevents queens from laying eggs on the bars. The top bar has a
strip to guide the bees to build their combs straight.
LANG STROTH
Improvement of Kenya top bar hive. It has two compartments – super box – bee store honey
Brood chamber box – bees lay eggs.
This prevents mixing of honey with brood.
QUEEN REARING
Bees rear queens in three ways
 Accidental loss of a queen – result from bees keeper killing a queen during harvesting
 Super side – involves replacing a failing queen
When daughter queen is mature, she goes to mating and when she comes back she kills the
failing queen
 Reproductive swarming – bees don’t reproduce as individuals but as a colony. An existing
colony – into groups and move in different directions. These happen when colony is large in
size. They make their daughter queen and when ready they move out with part of
population. Mother may move or daughter. The objective of reproducing swarming is to
increase the population and increase honey production.
HIVE PRODUCTS
Pollen – has high nutrient value
- main source of protein in hive
Propolis – collected from trees and used to seal cracks and smoothen the inside.
Brood – immature bees egg larva and pupa
Bee wax – used in industries for various purposes
Bee venom – substance found in sting of the bee
Honey – main product in the hive used as food by bee and is harvested by man.
Nectar- main ingredient in manufacture of honey

HONEY
Main product in the hive and used for various purposes such as
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  Preservative
 Medicinal purposes
 In bakeries as sweetener
 At home it has many uses

Properties of honey
a. It is hygroscopic – has ability to absorb moisture from its surrounding and should be
stored in air tight containers
b. It is heaver than water
c. Resistant to flow
d. Moisture content is mainly 17 – 20% if above this it will make honey to ferment
e. Acidic in nature – should not be stored in metallic containers
f. It crystallizes due to low moisture content
g. Colour of honey is determined by source of nectar and it is not an indicator of the
quality.

Factors that determine quality of honey

 Plant that provided the nectar
 Maturity stage of the plant
 Method of harvesting
 Method of processing
 Season determines availability of nectar when its dry the bees use supplement
provided by the farmer and this make low quality honey.

Handling of bees
Factors to remember when handling bees
 They should not be frightened to prevent them becoming wild and sting
 Hives should not be approached from the front
 Smokers must be used properly to avoid the bees from getting wild before harvesting and
also to avoid bush fire
 Avoid crushing the bees during handling
 Any movement towards the hive be made quietly to avoid alerting the bees
 If stung by bees don’t run away or throw the combs away
 Don’t lab the sting as this presses out more poison, if stung scrub off
 In handling bees always wear protective clothing i.e.
 gloves
 overall
 Veil

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  gumboots – cover legs
 bee brush – brush off the bees
Honey harvesting
Be done early in the morning (6.00 am) or (6.00 p.m.) because at this time there is enough light for
harvester to see and the bees are not so active.

Procedure
 Assemble all the equipment i.e. containers, hive tool, smoker and the clothing, bee brush.
 Dress properly for the occasion
 Approach the hive quietly from behind and blow smoke through behind and later through
the front. It makes bees to start eating honey and become heavy inactive.
 When sure they are inactive, lower the hive into the ground
 Remove each bar separately and cut the combs that contain honey 3 cm or 4 the attachment
of new combs
 The bars are replaced and hive returned to its position

Honey processing
There are three main methods of extracting the combs.
It involves separating honey and the combs.

1. Heat method
Involves heating honey comb in a hot water bath
This is necessary to avoid burning the honey
The heating is done in order to melt the honey inside the combs
Steps
- heat water in a sufuria
- put honey combs in a container and put the container inside the boiling water
- leave water to boil until the honey melts
- separate the melted honey from combs by straining using a muslin cloth
- This is left to drain freely. Honey is put in containers to cool down.
- This will make the wax that has melted to float on top of honey. This layer can be scooped and
honey put in containers for packaging.

Disadvantage.
 The wax mix with honey
2. Crushing and straining method
Involves crushing the honey so that honey inside is released. This is then strained through muslin
cloth and the straining can be quickened by squeezing by two pieces of sticks.
After squeezing the honey is left to stand for some time and the layer of scum form on top. This can
be removed with a wooden spoon
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The honey is put in containers that are tightly closed ready for market.
NB: this method gives better quality honey than heat method
3. Centrifugal
Used in large scale product where the combs are placed in an extractor and to the rotary and unitary
motion and the extractor forces honey out

Bee wax
It’s secreted by a pair of glands in the abdomen of the worker bee. They use it to make the content
where the brood is raised and the honey is stored.
Wax processing.
After honey is extracted from combs the empty combs put in a basin and water is added. The
mixture is put in heat till the wax melts NB: should not be allowed to boil because this will burn
and change the colour of the wax which gives it low quality.
After wax is melted the mixture is strained through a muslin cloth and the residue squeezed to force
out the wax. The mixture is left over night to cool
This will make the wax to float in water and can be separated by draining water.
The wax is re-melted and any foreign particles removed and the clean wax is put in clean containers
ready for marketing.
Uses of wax
- manufacture of candles
- manufacture of chewing gums
- used in making floor polish
- used by dentist to make teeth impressions
- used in pharmaceutical industries in coating of pills
- used in the making of paints and it acts as a water proof material
- in textile industry to make wax material

Marketing of honey and wax

Honey is sold locally or exported for direct consumption and industrial uses.
Wax is sold directly to industries that use them.

PESTS AND DISEASES OF BEES

1. Man – is the worst enemy of bees and interferes with bees in many ways e.g.
- disturbance of harvesting of honey
- disturbance of the broods
- source of bad smell that makes bees abscond
- he use pesticides and other chemicals whose toxicity kill bees in larges numbers

2. Ants/Army ants
These enter the hive especially if there is a plant or branch touching the hive

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Make holes on the hive which allow them to get in and cause disturbance rotting of the material
This can easily cause absconding
Control
-Suspend the hive and put greese on the wire and post
-Slashing the vegetation
3. Wax moth
The adult moth feed on the nectar where the larva feed on combs
Control
Can be destroyed by use of chemicals
Remove and burn all infected combs
4. Bee louse
It’s a parasite of bees that hatch on the wax and spoil the combs. The adult resides on the bees
Control
Use of smoke that has chemicals
5. Honey badger
It’s a small but strong animal
Can break the hive and feed on honey
Control

Hung hive using wire – make hive to swing when badger climbs on it and this will scare and
discourage them.

6. Birds
There are certain species of birds that eat bees as they come in and out of the hive.
Control
Have scarecrow around the bee hive
Diseases
1. Foul brood
It’s a bacterial disease and kills bees as they come in and out of the hive
Control
Use of antibiotics
Stocking the hive
Act of encouraging bees to occupy an empty hive or putting bees in an empty hive
Methods used
1. Use of catcher box
It is a small movable hive
Kept where it’s likely to attract bees
Once they occupy the catcher box it’s transported and put inside or top of main hive and bees move
out on their own
2. Use of swarm net

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It is a long stick which a piece of mosquito net is fixed on one side. Such is used to get a swarm that
is up in a tree
This can be done in darkness or cold weather and then transferred to the hive
3. Placing hive in a permanent place
Leaving it there for the bees to occupy on their own phase
In order to attract bees you should put honey, bee wax or honey combs
Behavior of bees
Bees have an elaborate communication system and are specialized for specific functions.
The queen and drones are specialized for reproduction while the workers are specialized for all the
work in the hive
Bees are able to communicate information about the direction and distance of nectar source
If the source is some distance from the hive the scout bee performs a wagging dance in the hive
then walk in a straight line for a short distance and again do the dance and goes back to the starting
position and repeat the dance. The dance is repeated many times depending on the distance .The
direction of the straight path indicate the direction of the nectar in relation to the position of the sun.
The duration of the entire dance and the number of waggles in the straight part are related with the
distance that the bee must fly to get the source. As she dances the others are able to pick the scent of
the nectar
If the nectar is close to the nectar the scout bee performs the dance around the hive.
Pheromones
They have an effect on behaviour of the animals e.g. They stimulate animal’s nervous system and
this is followed immediately by behaviour response.
- Stimulates animals endocrine (hormones) system causing hormones to be released and this
stimulates other physiological activities in the body eg increase in the heart beat.
Factors that affect bees behaviours
(a) Time- Bees are less active early in the morning and late in the evening. However during the day
when it is very hot they go back into the hive.
(b) External factors – Any disturbance from outside make bees to produce pheromons which are
transmitted through the air and are specific to the bees of the colony.
(c) Chemicals - eg CO2 make the queen bee lay eggs faster
(d) Presence of food and nesting can be communicated through dances
(e) Internal factors – The physiological age of the bee . The worker bee behaves differently at
different ages.
(f) Genetic makeup – Behavior such as defending the hive and cleaning activities are genetically
determined.

Signs of Swarming
- Presence of queen cells along the edge of combs
- Clustering of bees in the entrance of the hive
- Presence of many drone cells and drones

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- Bees become more aggressive and they sting any one they encounter

Temperature control in the hive

- When temp is high ie during the day bees fly into the hive. In the morning and late evening
temperatures are low and bees are most active and they go for pollen and nector

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