Sweeping
the bees from their natural environment and farming in cage by
scientific methods and modern technological ways is called apiculture
or bee farming. According to the weather of our country, Indian bee
is most suitable for farming. These types of bees are small in size,
golden colored with white stripe. They usually lives in the hole of
trees in multiple parallel room. Accessing routes are arranged with
parallel hole. In scientific bee farming system bee cages are made in
this method. Farming bees in this system is called apiculture.
Necessity:
We
can get honey from natural sources. So, why bee farming ? Be main
benefits of bee farming are described below.
Usually,
the hive is destroyed while collecting honey from it. At this time
many bees die, baby bees and eggs also damaged. As a result, the
number of bees are reducing day by day. Nowadays, for using
pesticides in the crop field, the number of bees is ominously
reducing continuously. The crop production is also decreasing for
using it. By farming bees in modern ways we can increase the number
of bees.
We
use deprived bee hive honey as food for consuming. Honey is very
nutritious as well as it also helps to prevent different types of
harmful diseases. In general system honey is collected by griping
the bee hive. In this system we can't collect all the honey from
hive and the collected honey remains mixed with wax, bee eggs and
different types of trashes. But in modern bee farming methods we can
collect all honey from the bee hive and the collected honey is very
fresh and pure.
We
get wax from natural system but in modern bee farming ways wax is
not available. The hive is damaged if wax is collected. It takes
huge time to make new hive. In modern method the hive is remain
intact. After collected honey from hive the bees can collect honey
again. As a result we can get more honey in short time.
While
surfing from one flower to another it carries pollen grains and it
helps to increase crop production. If you set up the bee cage near a
crop field it will increase the production of both crop and honey.
- Bee farming can be considered
as a cottage industry. And it can be a great source of employment.
For the rural poor people it can be an additional income source.
Appropriate
environment:
The
selected location of farming the bee box will be dry, shadow and
proper food facilities available near the place. If needed you can
plant some seasonal tree near the box. The selected location should
free from horrible sound and all types of smoke. The bee box may made
with wood or bamboo.
Food
of Bee
When
the bee go outside for searching of food they generally eat nectar
and pollen. This types food of bee get mixed with enzymes inside the
stomach which produce honey. It also get mixed with pollen and
produce highly protein containing beebread.
Difficulties
of Bee Farming
There are many difficulties of bee
farming. Because all required equipments and environment are not
available throughout the world for bee farming. For successful bee
farming it needs
proper care and management and all required facilities. The main
difficulties of bee farming are shown below.
Lack
of sufficient facilities.
Lack
of required equipment.
Adverse
weather.
Low
quality bee cage.
Suitable
environment.
Lack
of bee feed.
Lack
of knowledge.
- Low interest in bee keeping.
Diseases:
The
bee can be get affected by different types of enemies and diseases.
About two major enemies and diseases are described here. In wet
condition the bees are affected by wax-battle. These diseases can be
determined by seeing the hive covered with a layer like spider net.
By keeping the box neat and clean and changing them occasionally we
can prevent this diseases. Potassium permanganate can use in the bee
box to prevent this. The door of the box should closed at night and
open again in the morning. The another harmful diseases of bee is
acarine. The wing of the affected bee looks like 'A'. And they move
by using their chest. The closet of the affected bee is yellow
colored. The bees moves here and there separately. In many cages they
become paralyzed. Affected quin bees stops laying eggs. The main
solution of these diseases is spreading mithael solicide vapor in the
cage.
Bee
farming requires a very low investment. No needs separate place for
them. You can keep the bee box in your house corner, roof or near the
home garden. In proper care and management up to 10 kg honey can
collected from each bee box.
Bee
Cage
Bees are
one type of insects which can fly like ant and wasp. They are very
popular to the farmer for farming because they produce honey and
beeswax highly. They has a great importance in plant or crop
pollination. However, for keeping bee, bee cages are a must. It gives
the bee safe shelter and place for gathering honey. Every worker bee
collect honey and make wax inside the cage.
Honey
Bee
Honey
bee is the most common species of bee. They are highly honey
productive bee species. The beekeepers can easily feed, transport and
maintain this bee. So, honey bees are very popular to the farmer.
There are two types of honey bee available, mellifera and cerana
indica. Both species are easily transported from one field to another
field. The farmer can keep the hives near to a crop field. This
method will increase both crop pollination and honey production.
Like
other bee species colony of honey bees generally contain a queen bee
or a fertile female bee. They mate with fertile male bees and produce
thousands of baby honeybees. They lay an egg in very cell of a wax.
This cell and wax is produced and shaped by the worker bees. The
worker and queen bee take cares of the larvae of a cell. The worker
bee serve food known as royal jelly to the larvae. Later this jelly
turned to honey and pollen.
The young worker bee works as a labor
in the bee team. They clean the hive and feed the larvae. They used
to communicate with each other by dancing. They cooperate with each
other for finding feed.
The
queen bees only lay eggs and produce baby bee. A virgin queen bee
flights away from their home colony. They do so during their mating
period. They go far and mate with numerous male bees. After that they
come back to their home colony. The male bees die after mating with
queen bees.
A
bee colony generally established by a mated queen and a large number
of worker bees. The worker bees build the cells and wax. And the
queen bee lays eggs in every cell.
In winter season if the
temperature becomes lower than 10 c then the honeybees stop flying
and stay in the central area of the hive. The queen bee always stay
at the middle of the worker bees. The worker bees try to keep worm
the hive and queen. They try to maintain the temperature between
27-34 c. This temperature keeps the queen productive. The worker bee
changes their place from outside to inside so that no bee gets too
cold. They consume their stored honey to keep their body worm. The
consumption of honey depends on the length of winter season.
The
farmer generally collects the stored honey from the wax for
consumption. After collecting honey from the wax the worker and queen
bee start making new hive and collecting honey again. After
collecting honey the bee wax can be used for various purposes.