Apiary Management
Dr. B. Kanagaraj
Assistant Professor
Entomology
Pre-requisites to start beekeeping
Knowledge/Training on beekeeping
Knowledge on local bee flora
Sufficient on local bee flora
If necessary practice migratory beekeeping
Apiary site requirements
The site should be dry without dampness.
High RH will affect bee flight and ripening of nectar.
Water - Natural source/Artificial provision
Wind breaks - Trees serve as wind belts in cool areas
Shade - Hives can be kept under shade of trees.
Artificial structures can also be constructed
Bee pasturage/Florage - Plants that yield pollen/nectar
to bees are called bee pasturage/florage.
General apiary management practices
i) Hive inspection - Opening the hive atleast twice a week
and inspecting for following details.
Presence of queen
Presence of eggs and brood
Honey and pollen storage
Hive record to be maintained for each hive
Presence of bee enemies like wax moth, mite, disease
ii. Expanding brood net
Done by providing comb foundation sheet in empty
frame during honey flow period.
iii. Sugar syrup feeding
Sugar dissolved in water at 2:1 dilution
Used to feed bees during dearth period
IV. Supering (Addition of frames in super chamber)
This is done when brood chamber is filled with bees on
all frames are covered
Comb foundation sheet or constructed comb provided in
super chamber
V. Honey extraction
Bee escape board - Kept between brood and super
chamber
Bees bushed away using brush
Cells uncapped using uncapping knife
Honey extracted using honey extractor
Combs replaced in hive for reuse
vi. Swarm management
Remove brood frames from strong colony and provide to
weak
Pinch off the queen cells during inspection
Divide strong colonies into 2 or 3
Trap and hive primary swarm
vii. Uniting bee colonies - Done by Newspaper
method
Bring colonies side by side by moving 30 cm/day
Remove queen from week colony
Keep a newspaper on top of brood chamber of queen
Right colony
Make holes on the paper
Keep queenless colony on top
Close hive entrance (the smell of bees will mix)
Unite bees to the brood chamber and make it one colony
Seasonal Management
Pollen and nectar available only during certain period
Honey flow season (surplus food source) x Dearth
period (Scarcity of food)
Extremes in climate like summer, winter and monsoon
Need specific management tactics
Honey flow season management
(Coincides with spring)
Provide more space for honey storage by giving CFS
or built combs
Confine queen to brood chamber using queen excluder
Prevent swarming
Prior to honey flow - Provide sugar syrup and build
sufficient population
Divide strong colonies into 2-3 new colonies - if
colony multiplication need
Queen rearing technique may be followed to produce
new queens for new colonies
Summer Management
Bees have to survive intense heat and dearth period
Provide sufficient shade (under trees or artificial
structure)
To increase RH and reduce heat - Sprinkle water twice a
day on gunny bag or rice straw put on hive
Increase ventilation by introducing a splinter between
brood and super chamber
Provide sugar syrup, pollen supplement/substitute and
water
Winter management
Maintain strong and disease free colonies
Provide new queen to the hives
Winter packing in cooler areas (Hilly areas)
Management during dearth period
Remove empty combs (and store in air tight container)
Use dummy division board to confine bees to small area
Unite weak colonies
Provide sugar syrup, pollen supplement/substitute
Rainy season/monsoon management
Avoid dampness in apiary site. Provide proper drainage.
In rain when bees are confined to the hive, provide
sugar syrup feeding.
Bee Pasturage/Bee Forage
Plants that yield pollen and nectar are collectively called
bee pasturage or bee forage.
Plants which are good source of nectar
Tamarind
Moringa
Neem
Prosopis juliflora
Glyricidia maculata
Eucalyptus
Tribulus terrestris
Pungam
Plants which are good source of pollen
Sorghum
Sweet potato
Maize
Tobacco
Millets like Cumbu, Tenai, Varagu, Ragi
. Coconut
Roses
Castor
Pome granate
Date palm
Plants which are good source of Pollen and Nectar
Banana
Peach
Citrus
Guava
Apple
Sunflower
Berries
Safflower
Pear
Mango
Plum
Foraging
Refers to collection of nectar and pollen by bees.
Nectar foragers
Collect nectar from flowers using lapping torigue
Passes the nectar to hive bees
Hive bees repeatedly pass the nectar between preoral
cavity and tongue - to ripen honey
Later drops into cell
Pollen foragers
Collects pollen by passing flower to flower. Pollen
sticking to body removed - Using pollen comb
Packed using pollen press into corbicula
A single bee carries 10-30 mg pollen (25% of bee’s wt)
Dislodge by middle log into cell
Mix with honey and store
Floral fidelity
A bee visits same species of plant for pollen/nectar
collection until exhausted.
Bees travel 2-3 km distance to collect pollen/nectar
