International Journal of Tropical Insect Science (2021) 41:1791–1798

https://doi.org/10.1007/s42690-020-00392-5

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Evaluation of different hive designs for domestication

and conservation of native stingless bee
(Apidae: Meliponula beccarii) in Ethiopia
Alemayehu Gela Bayeta 1 & Zewdu Ararso Hora 1

Received: 30 August 2020 / Accepted: 20 November 2020 / Published online: 7 January 2021
# African Association of Insect Scientists 2021

Abstract
There has been a long standing tradition of stingless bee, Meliponula beccarii (M. beccarii), honey hunting in Ethiopian farming
communities. However, attempt has not been made to domesticate and manage stingless bees for sustainable harvest of the
products. Domestication trial of M. beccarii in different hives types were conducted for colony adaptation. For this purpose, a
total of 33 stingless bee colonies excavated from wild nests were transferred into five UTOB, 10 rectangular box and 18 pot hives.
All of the colonies transferred to UTOB and rectangular box hives were absconded within six months of their establishment,
indicating a 100% failure of M. beccarii domestication in wooden box hives set above the ground. However, among 18 stingless
bee colonies transferred into pot hives and placed under the ground, 16 (88.9%) were adapted and successfully domesticated.
Two season honey yield was harvested from pot hived colonies using disposable syringe and the average honey yield/colony/
year was 1.10 ± 0.20 L that ranges from 90 ml – 3 L/colony. Moreover, the average volume of honey/honey pot was estimated to
be 6.26 ± 1.08 ml. Furthermore, the nests of M. beccarii were protected with an average of 6.87 ± 0.65 guard bees/nest.
Therefore, this study demonstrated for the first time that the possibility of M. beccarii domestication using pot hives for the
sustainable honey production and conservation of this native bee species in Ethiopia. Although the current results highlighted the
possibility of M. beccarii domestication for sustainable honey production, more research is needed on how to manage, multiply
them, on the best way of honey harvesting technique and use of these bees for pollination services.

Keywords Stingless bee domestication . Pot hive . Stingless bees . Absconding . Stingless bee nest

Introduction Hora 2013). Meliponula. beccarii (“Damuu”) is among the most

frequent species and this indicates more is expected to be inves-
Stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponinae) are a group of eusocial tigated in Ethiopia (Pauly and Hora 2013).
insects with various genera known to live in tropical and sub- Meliponula beccarii is an inimitable species that lives in
tropical regions of the world. About 56 genera of stinglees bees perennial colony by constructing its nest harbouring the un-
containing over 600 species are known to occur in various derground soil where the bees reproduce and store honey and
nesting ecological areas of the world (Cortopassi-Laurino et al. pollen materials. These bees utilize resins of different plant
2006; Eardley 2005), of which majorities are living in feral col- species for nest construction and chemical defences against
onies. Among many species of stingless bees assumed to exist their pathogens (Sakagami 1982; Wilms et al. 1996;
worldwide (Michener 2007), about six genera comprising twenty Leonhardt et al. 2009). Typically, a colony of stingless bees
species are known to live in Africa (Eardley 2005). Out of these. is composed of a few hundred to several thousands of
Only five species have so far been found in Ethiopia (Pauly and workers, few drones and single queen with similar labour
division like that of Apis mellifera. Meliponula beccarii is a
very docile species in character and its non-stinging behaviour
* Zewdu Ararso Hora helps for easy management and adaptation around home
[email protected] gardens both for production of quality honey and polli-
nation services. The bees are harmless to beekeepers,
1
Holeta Bee Research Center, Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, easy to transport, and pose no any environmental risk
P.O.Box 22, Holeta, Ethiopia
1792 Int J Trop Insect Sci (2021) 41:1791–1798

rather they can be used for pollination services particu- Rather, only feral colony hunting for honey harvesting
larly in green house farming. remained to be a common practice in the country. However,
Honey production from wild stingless bee (M. beccarii) this traditional practice of honey harvesting from feral colo-
colonies through honey hunting has a long standing tradition nies is absolutely destructive, which contributes to the decline
in Ethiopian farming communities. In the traditional honey of colony population and endangers the existence of the spe-
hunting, local hunters search for natural stingless bee nests. cies. Moreover, it reduces the quality and quantity of honey to
The hunters recognize the number of guard bee posted and the be harvested from individual colony.
entrance diameter as the criteria for high honey harvest and In view of this, it was felt valuable to undertake a compre-
they believe in that the wider entrance with many guard bees is hensive work on the domestication and management of
more productive (Shenkute et al. 2012). The widely occur- M. beccarii using different hive types developed at Holeta
rence of such traditional practice and abundance of wild sting- Bee Research Center (HBRC). This work represents the first
less bee nests have been reported from the central (Ebissa et al. and effective effort to domesticate and manage colonies of
2012; Kinati 2020), northern (Lemma 2018) and south west M. beccarii in newly designed pot hives (made of clay soil)
(Shenkute et al. 2012) high- and mid-highlands of the country. as a new opportunity for sustainable honey production, as well
In these areas, large quantity of stingless bee honey produced as for the conservation of the native species.
by local hunters is supplied to the local markets annually like
that of honeybees’ honey. This possibly indicates the exis-
tence of huge potential for stingless beekeeping in the country, Materials and methods
which encourages the start of formal stingless beekeeping than
depending on honey hunting although the volume and value/ Scope of the study
annum is not yet documented.
The honey produced by M. beccarii bees is a valuable bee For the purpose of regular attendance and management of
product with a long consumption tradition, to which several M. beccarii colonies, domestication trial was done at the api-
traditional medicinal uses are attributed in Ethiopia. It is con- ary of HBRC. A total of 33 queen right nests of stingless bees
sidered to be important in traditional treatments of wound, were collected from five different locations, such as Gedo,
respiratory ailments, surface infection, diarrheal and various Chalia, Toke Kutay, Wolmera, and Holeta areas of West
other diseases (Andualem 2013; Nidia et al. 2019). As a result, Shoa Zone of Oromia Regional State. Domestication trial of
stingless bee honey has been known as a product with high the stingless bees was conducted using different hive types for
market demand, achieving higher prices than the honey pro- three consecutive years (2015 to 2017).
duced by bees of the genus Apis and locally commercialized in
different regions of Ethiopia. As a result, stingless bees are of Hive design and colony establishment
great potential for small-scale farmers as source of income
generation, as well as for pollination of various crops and Before deciding the volume of different hives in the experi-
natural vegetation. However, the existence of the species in ment, a quick preliminary observation on wild stingless bee
the country is threatened by many factors, such as habitat nests was conducted to obtain a rough estimate for the volume
degradation, agricultural intensification, misuse of pesticides from wild stingless bee nests which was about 10 L. Based on
and destructive way of stingless bee honey hunting, an activity this observation, three types of hives (UTOB, rectangular
which kills individual bees or destroys the whole colony. wooden box with the volume of about 10 L and pot hives)
Despite the roles of stingless bees in sustaining human were designed and tested for the domestication of stingless
livelihood and the threats to this social insects, efforts made bees. UTOB hives were developed according to the design
in domesticating and conserving African stingless bee species of Utrecht University (Marinus 1999), with little modification
in general is at its infant stage (Raina et al. 2006). Only few on the entrance position (the side entrance on a honey cham-
attempts have been initiated on meliponi culture as new op- ber of the original design was made on the upper top side of a
portunity for source of income generation in few African brood chamber) (Fig. 1a). The other two hive types (rectangu-
countries like Ghana, Kenya, Botswana and South Africa lar wooden box and pot hives) were designed at HBRC fol-
(Cortopassi-Laurino et al. 2006). On the other hand, in lowing the natural nest structure of native M. beccarii (Fig. 1b
Ethiopia, only a preliminary inventory work of stingless bees and c). The pot hives were particularly designed and devel-
was conducted in West Shoa Zone of Oromia Regional State oped at HBRC and constructed by local potteries following
via interviewing traditional hunters (Ebissa et al. 2012). the natural nest structures of feral colonies that includes all the
Moreover, no attempt has been made so far to domesticate structures, such as entrance tunnel, honey and brood chamber,
and manage stingless bees in artificial hives either for sustain- and defecation hole (Fig. 2).
able harvest of the products, such as honey and cerumen After hive preparation, assessment and hunting of natural
(propolis) or for the conservation of this native species. nests was conducted with the help of traditionally experienced
Int J Trop Insect Sci (2021) 41:1791–1798 1793

Fig. 1 Stingless bee colony

domestication trials in different
hive types. (a) and (b) represent
the trial using UTOB and
rectangular box hives,
respectively, which finally ends
up in 100% colony absconding.
(c) indicates the successful
domestication of stingless bees in
pot hive

local stingless bees’ nest hunters. The natural nests of stingless is relatively reduced to minimize the losses of forager bees.
bees were located in their natural habitats (arable and non- This way, all the 33 native stingless bee colonies of
arable lands, and forest areas). Then, each nest was excavated M. beccarii were established in the three hive types (five in
carefully with 25 cm radius from the entrance to the depth of UTOB, 10 in box and 18 in pot hives) in the same
about 50 cm. After reaching this depth, a soil mass on the nest honey flow season. All the colonies were settled under
was removed with a great care not to damage the nest until the the same environment under hive shade, except the two
nest became free of the soil. Then, the whole nest with its box hive types (UTOB and rectangular box hives) were
contents was transferred in to each new hive type, where placed above the ground on the hive stand/bed, while
brood combs with bees and the queen were mainly placed in colonies in the pot hives were placed under the ground
the center of the hives and all the gaps were sealed and plas- in the soil leaving their entrance out in the upright
tered with mud. The excavation and transferring process were position (Fig. 1). Data on the number of adapted colo-
carried out from 12:00–2:00 PM when the bees’ flight activity nies to different hive types were recorded thoughout the

Fig. 2 New design and structure of pot hive used for stingless bees (M. beccarii) domestication. The picture shows detailed view (a), section view (b)
and front view (c) of the pot hive. All the dimensions are measured in cm
1794 Int J Trop Insect Sci (2021) 41:1791–1798

years. If the colonies absconded (left the hives), the Finally, the average honey yield/colony/year was esti-
hive type was regarded as non-accepted hive. mated based on the colonies origin.

Feeding and management Guard bees

Although the age of natural nests from which each bee colo- Number of guard bees on the nest entrance before excavating
nies were obtained is unknown, uniform management prac- wild nests were recorded. Also, the number of guard bees
tices were provided to all colonies after establishment. The regularly attending nests for protection at the entrance were
colonies established under the shade were protected from en- counted for the established colonies in the designed pot hives
emies with mesh wire fences. During the dearth period (when at three different time points (morning, mid-day and after-
natural floral resources are scarce), all the established colonies noon) and compared for the three time points.
were given a supplementary feeding of 100 ml sugar syrup in
1:1 (sugar to water) ratio for each colony every fortnight. The Data analysis
sugar syrup was provided in falcon tubes as feeders which is
inserted at a side of each pot hive (Fig. 3). Data on the number of colonies adapted to different hive types
thoughout the experiment were entered into Microsoft excell
Honey harvesting and colony adaptation rate was analyzed using descriptive
statistics. After one year of managing, honey stored in the
After one year of colony setting, honey was harvested from accepted hives/colony was computed to determine the poten-
those colonies domesticated in pot hives and an average honey tiality of the colonies to produce honey at the establised site.
yield was measured for respective colonies originated from Then, amount of honey/colony and per honey pot were com-
different locations. To collect the honey yield, the pot hives pared using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) proce-
were carefully opened from up covers without damaging the dures of IBM SPSS Statistics version 20. Tukey’s Honest
nest chambers containing the pots used for both honey and Significant Difference test at 95% confidence interval (α =
pollen storages (Fig. 4). Ripen honey was harvested directly 0.05) level of significance was employed for mean separation.
from exposed and sealed honey pots using disposable syringes Colony adaptation rate/hive type was caculated by the fol-
with a volume of 20 ml and pulled in to air tightened glass jars lowing formula:
for each respective colony to measure the honey yield of a
colony. The honey contained in a honey pot was also random- Colonyadaptationrate
ly measured to determine the average volume of honey stored/ numberofcolonieslivedinthehivetypeforayear
honey pot (five honey pots/colony were considered). Honey ¼ X100
allthenumberofcoloniestransferedintothehivetype
yield was measured for two honey flow seasons (October to
November and June to July) to estimate the average honey
yield/colony/year. Although stored honey was harvested for Result and discussion
yield estimation, there was still some honey remained in the
honey pots and some honey pots were deliberately kept intact Among the 33 M. beccarii colonies transferred to different
to serve for colonies sustenance unlike that of honey hunting. hive types, only colonies transferred to the pot hives were able
In this way, the total volume of honey harvested was to adapt and survive to the level of honey production under the
recorded and honey yield <50 ml/colony was considered established apiary conditions. All the colonies transferred to
essentially nil, and was recorded as zero production. UTOB and rectangular box hives were absconded within the

Fig. 3 Dearth period stingless bee colony management through supplementary feeding
Int J Trop Insect Sci (2021) 41:1791–1798 1795

Fig. 4 Colony inspection and honey harvesting from domesticated broods in its cells (c), exposed honey pots for honey harvesting (d), the
M. beccarii colonies. Pictures show guard bees at pot entrance (a), process of honey harvesting using disposable syringe (e) and the collected
opening a propolized pot hive lid for inspection (b), brood comb with honey in falcon tubes (f)

maximum of six months of their establishment, indicating that colonies concealed underground in a soil so that it is more or
stingless bees failed to adapt in wooden box hives situated less similar with their natural nest ecology helping to maintain
above the ground. This is considered as 0% adaptation rate the hive temperature and protect them against enemies
for the M. beccarii to live in wooden box hives above the as in wild nests. This evidence supports that it is pos-
ground. In contrast, out of 18 colonies transferred to the pot sible to keep M. beccarii in pot hives for sustainable
hives, about 89% were well-adapted and survived for more honey production and colony conservation by simulating
than two years at the established site (Table 1). This indicates their natural nesting ecology.
that the natural nest of the native stingless bees, i.e., Unlike that of the traditional practice, hive inspection and
M. beccarii is underground (Amano 2004), whereas the 0% honey harvesting from managed bee colonies in pot hives is
adaptation rate in UTOB and wooden box hives above the relatively more simple and suitable. Likewise, honey harvest-
ground was noticed as an attempt to tame them against their ing is operated by carefully opening the lids of the pot hives
natural nest ecology. Under natural conditions, feral colonies that exposes the internal parts separately without destructing
of M. beccarii bees build their nests in underground cavities, any nest structure (Fig. 4). This would help for sustainable
such as in termite mounds (Amano 2004) where they dwell for honey production from the same colonies, as well as to con-
longer period of years and produce honey. Thus, the success serve the native bee species for long period of time at the same
of current work to establish these bees in pot hives might have site for pollination services. Also, the quality of honey har-
created a similar environment with their natural nest ecology vested from managed nests is by far better than that of tradi-
because of two main reasons. First, the constructed pot hives tional practices, because honey harvested by honey hunters is
were made up of clay soil which simulates with the environ- undoubtedly mixed with soil particles and other impurities.
ment where stingless bees naturally construct their nests. The average honey harvested from managed stingless bee
Secondly, after colony transferring to the pot hives, the bee colonies varied depending on many factors such as colony

Table 1 Adaptation rate of

M. beccarii colonies in different Hive type Number of Number of colonies Colony adaptation rate (%)
hive types during the first year of transferred colonies lived for one year
their establishment
UTOB hive 5 0 0
Rectangular pot hive 10 0 0
Pot hive 18 16 88.9
Total 33 16 48.5
1796 Int J Trop Insect Sci (2021) 41:1791–1798

Table 2 Honey production of

M. beccarii colonies. Within a Nest source N Average honey yield/colony/year (L) n Average honey volume/honey pot (ml)
column, similar superscript lower
case letter shows non-significant Mean ± SE Min Max Mean ± SE Min Max
differences between location
means at p < 0.05. N represents Wolmera 4 0.55 ± 0.19a 0.09 1.00 20 4.62 ± 1.03a 2.00 7.00
a
number of sampled colonies/nest Mada Gudina 4 1.78 ± 0.43 1.00 3.00 20 3.50 ± 0.84a 2.50 6.00
source and n represents number of
Birbirsa Siba 4 1.25 ± 0.43a 0.40 2.40 20 6.13 ± 1.01a 4.50 9.00
sampled honey pots/colony
HBRC 4 0.81 ± 0.31a 0.23 1.44 20 10.8 ± 3.12a 6.00 20.00
Total 16 1.10 ± 0.20 0.09 3.00 80 6.26 ± 1.08 2.00 20.00

strength and original nest locations from which the colonies the market demand and local price of stingless bees’ honey is
were obtained. After one year of colony establishment, an much higher than that of the Apis honey (de Oliveira Alves
average of 1.10 ± 0.20 L (ranging from 0.09–3 L) honey yield 2013). This indicates keeping stingless bees (meliponi culture)
was recorded/colony/year (Table 2). Specifically, the highest is more profitable for the local communities for income gen-
mean honey yield (1.78 ± 0.43 L per colony/year) was record- eration, as well as to use the honey as medicine. In addition,
ed from colonies obtained from Mada Gudina area and the the bees themselves are an important asset to assure plant
lowest (0.55 ± 0.19 L) was from bee colonies acquired from biodiversity in many natural ecosystems, and to fulfil the
Wolmera area. However, at this stage, it is difficult to specu- growing agricultural demand for pollination services (Jaffé
late the reason for the yield variation among colonies is due to et al. 2015).
location. The overall average honey production of stingless For stingless bee colonies either in wild or managed nests,
bees from the domesticated colonies is almost similar with there are several worker bees called the guard bees protecting the
colonies of natural nests (1.5 ± 0.43 L/colony) (Kinati 2020). nest by watching around their entrance (Fig. 4a). In our observa-
The volume of honey harvested from domesticated colonies tion, the number of guard bees counted for wild colonies before
might be relatively lower as honey reserve was left in each performing excavation rages from 3 to 12 with an average num-
nest for colony sustaining. However, the purity and repeatabil- ber of 6.88 ± 0.67 bees/nest entrance (Table 3). The average
ity of honey produced from domesticated colonies is by far number of guard bees counted for an established colony at
better than that of honey obtained through traditional hunting. three-time points of a day is depicted in Fig. 5. The largest num-
Moreover, as it is difficult to estimate the ages and colony bers of guard bees were observed for the mid-day and the
strength of natural nests, there is a probability of getting no smallest for the morning for all the colonies throughout the count.
honey yield in traditional honey hunting practices after fully This variation in the number of guard bees is due to several
destructing the colony. These observations suggest that do- factors including time period, weather condition, presences of
mestication of M. beccarii colonies using pot hives is a prom- pest and predators, and colony strength (Grüter et al. 2011). In
ising initiation to harvest pure, clean and uncontaminated hon- general, the larger number of guard bees on the entrance, partic-
ey with considerable amount on sustainable bases, well as to ularly during the mid-day, suggests that enemies and intruders’
conserve and use the species for pollination services. bout the stingless bee nests during the day time. In the morning
Owing to their distinctive characteristics, stingless bees store
their honey and pollen in unique honey and pollen pot cells quite
different from the brood cells (Fig. 4c and d). In addition to the
total honey yield, we also measured the volume of the honey Table 3 Number of guard bees on the nest entrance before excavating
contained in each honey pot to determine the average honey wild nests. Within a column, means followed by similar lower superscript
volume/honey pot for colonies obtained from different localities. letter indicates non-significant differences among locations
Accordingly, an average of 6.26 ± 1.08 ml honey/honey pot was Wild nest location N Average number of guard bees on the entrance
obtained with the range of 2 ml to 20 ml (Table 2). The higher
volume/honey pot (20 ml) was recorded from colonies obtained Mean ± SE Min Max
from HBRC areas and the lower was recorded from colonies
Walmera 4 7.25 ± 1.10a 4.00 12.00
obtained from Wolmera areas (2 ml). Although the cumulative a
Mada Gudina 4 7.00 ± 1.73 5.50 10.00
volume of honey collected from each honey pot that gives the
total honey yield/colony/harvest, the greater the number of honey Birbirsa Siba 4 6.25 ± 1.38a 3.00 9.00
pot/nest provides the grater honey yield/colony. HBRC 4 7.00 ± 1.58a 3.00 10.00
In general, the average honey production from M. beccarii Total 16 6.88 ± 0.67 3.00 12.00
is smaller compared to that of Apis mellifera bees. However,
Int J Trop Insect Sci (2021) 41:1791–1798 1797

Fig. 5 Number of guard bees

counted at three different time
periods for domesticated
M. beccarii colonies

and afternoon, when pests and intruders become slow to hunt, the provide new opportunities for people in the rural areas as a
number of guard bees also become low. source of income generation that can improve the economy of
In Ethiopia, traditional hunters count the number of guard many households and may create good opportunity for their
bees on the entrance to estimate the age of a colony in a crop pollination service .
particular nest and estimate honey production. However, the
current result showed that there is no relationship between the Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the Oromia Agricultural
Research Institute through the Holeta Bee Research Center for funding
number of guard bees and age of the colony. It is probably
this research.
affected by time of the day and associated environmental fac-
tors (Grüter et al. 2011). Therefore, the number of guard bees Author contributions A.G.B and Z.A.H conceived this research and de-
cannot be used as indicator for honey yield estimation. Rather, signed the experiments. A.G.B performed the experiment and data anal-
we hypothesize that colony strength and floral resources in the ysis. Both authors were involved in the interpretation of data and editing
of the manuscript.
area might be vital factors to produce good honey yield from
stingless bee colonies.
Data availability Not applicable.

Compliance with ethical standards

Conclusion
Conflict of interest The authors of this paper do hereby disclose that
Our findings have important implications for the initiation of there are no conflicts of interest whatsoever in relation to this article.
stingless beekeeping (meliponi culture) in Ethiopia. We iden-
tified newly designed pot hive to domesticate wild colonies of Code availability Not applicable.
M. beccarii and particular management practices, which could
help stingless bee hunters produce pure, clean and uncontam-
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