Beekeeping farming

Beekeeping farming

·       Introduction

Beekeeping (or apiculture) is that the maintenance of bee colonies, normally in semisynthetic hives, by humans. Most such bee’s area unit honey bees within the arthropod genus, however different honey-producing bees like Melipona stingless bees also are unbroken. A husbandman (or apiarist) keeps bees so as to gather their honey and different product that the hive turns out (including beeswax, propolis, flower spore, bee pollen, and royal jelly), to fertilize crops, or to supply bees available to different beekeepers. A location wherever bees area unit unbroken is termed associate bee house or "bee yard.

Depictions of human’s aggregation honey from wild bee’s date to ten,000 years past. Beekeeping in pottery vessels began about 9,000 years ago in North Africa. Domestication of bees is shown in Egyptian art from around four,500 years assemble hives and smoke were used and honey was stored in jars, some of which were found in the tombs of phases such as Tutankhamun. It wasn't till the eighteenth century that European understanding of the colonies and biology of bees allowed the development of the movable comb hive so honey might be harvested without destroying the entire colony.

At some purpose humans began to aim to domesticate wild bees in artificial hives made of hollow logs, wood boxes, pottery vessels, and woven straw baskets or "skeps". Traces of beeswax are found in pot sherds throughout the Middle East beginning about 7000 BCE.

Honeybees were kept in Egypt from antiquity. [On the walls of the sun temple of Nyerere In from the Fifth Dynasty, before 2422 BCE, workers are depicted blowing smoke into hives as they're removing honeycombs. Inscriptions particularization the assembly of honey area unit found on the spot of Picasa from the 26th folk (c. 650 BCE), depicting pouring honey in jars and cylindrical hives. Sealed pots of honey were found in the grave goods of pharaohs such as Tutankhamun.

I am Shamash-rash-user, the governor of Suhum and the land of Mari. Bees that collect honey, that none of my ancestors had ever seen or brought into the land of Suhum, I brought down from the mountain of the lads of Habra, and made them settle in the orchards of the town 'Gabbai-built-it'. They collect honey and wax, and that I shrewdness to soften the honey and wax – and also the gardeners apprehend too. Whoever comes in the future, may he ask the old men of the town, (who will say) thus: "They are the buildings of Shamash-rash-user, the governor of Suhum, who introduced honey bees into the land of Suhum."

·       Origins

There are a unit over twenty,000 species of wild bees. Many species are solitary (e.g., mason bees, leafcutter bees (Megachilid), carpenter bees and other ground-nesting bees). Many others rear their young in burrows and tiny colonies (e.g., bumblebees and stingless bees). Some honey bees are wild e.g. the little honeybee (Apes florae), giant honeybee (Apes dorsa) and rock bee (Apes laborious). Beekeeping, or cultivation, thinks about with the sensible management of the social species of honey bees, which live in large colonies of up to 100,000 individuals. In Europe and America, the species universally managed by beekeepers is that the Western honey bee (Apes mellifera). This species has many sub-species or regional varieties, such as the Italian bee (Apes mellifera logistical), European dark bee (Apes mellifera mellifera), and the Carniolan honey bee (Apes mellifera arnica). In the tropics, different species of social bee’s area unit managed for honey production, including the Asiatic honey bee (Apes kerana).

·       Traditional beekeeping

A fixed comb hive may be a hive during which the combs cannot be removed or manipulated for management or harvest home while not for good damaging the comb. Almost any hollow structure can be used for this purpose, such as a log gum, skep, wooden box, or a clay pot or tube. Fixed comb hives are no longer in common use in industrialized countries, and are illegal in places that require movable combs to inspect for problems such as varroa and American foulbrood. In several developing countries fastened comb hives area unit wide used and, because they can be made from any locally available material.

Beekeeping victimization fastened comb hives is a vital a part of the livelihoods of the many communities in poor countries. The charity Bees for Development recognizes that local skills to manage bees in fixed comb hives are widespread in Africa, Asia, and South America. Internal size of fastened comb hives varies from thirty-two.7 liters (2000 cubic inches) typical of the clay tube hives used in Egypt to 282 liters (17209 cubic inches) for the Perone hive. Straw skeps, bee gums, and unframed box hives are unlawful in most US states, as the comb and brood cannot be inspected for diseases. However, skeps are still used for collecting swarms by hobbyists in the UK, before moving them into standard hives. Quimby used box hives to produce so much honey that he saturated the New York market in the 1860s. His writings contain glorious recommendation for management of bees in fastened comb hives.

·       Protective clothing

Most beekeepers also wear some protective clothing. Novice beekeepers usually wear gloves and a hooded suit or hat and veil. Experienced beekeepers generally elect to not use gloves as a result of the inhibit delicate manipulations. The face and neck area unit the foremost necessary areas to shield, so most beekeepers wear at least a veil. Defensive bee’s area unit interested in the breath, and a sting on the face will result in way more pain and swelling than a sting elsewhere, whereas a sting on a bare hand can usually be quickly removed by fingernail scrape to reduce the amount of venom injected