Apiculture/Beekeeping

1. Introduction

1.1 Definitions
Apiculture: Apis is Latin word for bee and culture means cultivation or keeping, and therefore
apiculture is the science and practice of bee keeping. Or it is the science that deals with managing
honey bees.
Beekeeping is the science and art of keeping bees using best practices. Beekeeping is very
important, for the production of honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen (bee bread), royal jelly and bee
venom; for food, medicine and income. Beekeeping is also important for pollination and
recreational activities. Beekeeping is one of the oldest agricultural activities in the world no
recorded information is available as to when and where the traditional beekeeping practice was
started.

1.2. Beekeeping in Ethiopia

Ethiopia, having the highest number of bee colonies and surplus honey sources of flora, is the
leading producer of honey and beeswax in Africa. Ethiopia produces about 60,000 metric tons of
crude honey and 4000 MT of wax per year, thus shares 23.5% of Africa and 2.5% of world's
honey production. This makes the country rank 1 st in Africa and 10th in the world. Honey and
beeswax play a big role in the cultural and religious life of the people of Ethiopia. Another very
important contribution of beekeeping is through plant pollination and conservation of the natural
environment. Beekeeping is environmentally sustainable activity that can be integrated with
agricultural practices like crop production, animal husbandry, horticultural crops and
conservation of natural resources.

Honeybee as pollinator

The most important thing that bees do is pollinate. Pollination is transfer of pollen from the
anther (the male part of the flower) to the stigma (the female part of the flower). Some plants can
pollinate themselves: in this case, the pollen passes from the anther to the stigma inside the same
flower, and this is called self-pollination. Other plants need pollen to be transferred between
different flowers or different individuals of the plant. This is cross-pollination. Many plants can

1
be pollinated both ways. When a bee collects nectar and pollen from the flower of a plant, some
pollen from the stamens—the male reproductive organ of the flower—sticks to the hairs of her
body. When she visits the next flower, some of this pollen is rubbed off onto the stigma, or tip of
the pistil—the female reproductive organ of the flower. This process results in fertilization, and
sexual reproduction of the plant to produce seeds. Example of plant pollinated by bees Alfalfa,
Bean, Onion, Sunflower, Watermelon, Coffee etc.

Plants can be pollinated by wind or animals. Some general rules can be used to detect whether a
plant is pollinated by bees, flies, beetles, wasps, butterflies, moths, thrips, birds, bats, marsupials,
slugs or rodents. Flowers pollinated by bees most often bloom in daytime, they can have
different colours, but seldom red. The scent of daytime bee pollinated flowers tends to be less
strong than that of night pollinated flowers, often pollinated by bats or moths. Honeybee
pollinated flowers have nectar tubes not more than 2 cm long. They have nectar guides (patterns
to direct the bee towards the nectary) and often a landing place for bees. Bees are especially
attracted to white, blue and yellow flowers. Plants pollinated by insects are called
“entomophilous”, and insects are generally the most important pollinators.

Some plants need several successful visits from bees to ensure that all the flower’s eggs are
fertilized. For example, some varieties of strawberry need about 20 pollen grains – requiring
visits by several bees, an apple flower may need four or five bee visits to receive enough pollen
grains for complete fertilisation. If the fertilization is inadequate because of lack of bees, not all
seeds will develop, and the shape of the fruit will be poor and small. Fertilization is the
beginning of a new seed, which perhaps will grow and develop into a new plant. The new plant
will bloom, provide the bees with food, be pollinated, and be fertilized, and in this way, the story
continues. When bees begin foraging for pollen and/or nectar, they will visit the same species of
flowers and work there as long as plenty of nectar or pollen can be found. For example, if a
honeybee starts collecting in an Acacia tree, she will fly from Acacia flower to Acacia flower,
and not behave as many other insects do, visiting different species of plants within the same trip
without any great pollination effect. This behaviour of bees is called foraging constancy.

How Do Plants Attract Bees?

2
Plants rely on bees and other insects to reproduce and so they have adapted, over time, to
become more attractive to them. Bees are drawn to plants with open or flat tubular flowers with
lots of pollen and nectar. A flower's scent can have particular appeal to bees, and its bright
colours may lure the bees in.

1.3. Advantages of beekeeping (Why people keep honeybee?)

 It helps for pollination: The honeybees provide pollination services, thereby playing a
vital role in food production and overall agricultural productivity. Over 75% of all the
crops in sub Saharan Africa benefit from pollination. Bees are considered the most
efficient pollinators because they have hairy bodies which easily pick up pollen grains as
they move about in flowers. During a single day one bee may visit several hundred
flowers. So bees are important to farmers. More bees means better pollination and high
yields. In other countries pollination by bees is hired and fetches additional money to the
beekeeper.

 As source of food: Honey is delicious and nutritious. It is consumed whole or mixed

with other foods as supplement. Bee brood (larvae and pupae) have high nutritional value
and are fed to malnourished children. Royal jelly and pollen are consumed for their high
protein value.
 As a source of medicine: Bee products such as bee venom, honey and propolis are used
for treatment of many conditions following the antibiotic nature of the products. The
conditions/diseases treated using bee products include stomach upsets, diarrhea,
vomiting, wounds, burns, cough, measles, false teeth, toothaches and fungal infections. It
also helps to boost the immunity of people living with HIV/AIDS.

 Beekeeping is a cheap undertaking

(i) Beekeeping does not involve mass feeding of bees because in most cases the bees
provide their own food all year round.
(ii) All the necessary inputs and technologies required for beekeeping are available
locally.
Some may be wasted if bees are not kept, e.g. pollen and nectar from flowering plants.
(iii) Honey and beeswax can be produced in semi-arid areas that are unsuitable for any

3
 other agricultural use. The beekeeper requires limited land to keep bees. It can be done by
any age and sex
 Conservation of natural resources: Beekeeping is a non-destructive activity that could
be employed in the conservation of biodiversity in protected areas. Households living
adjacent these areas can support the conservation efforts of these resources by
establishing apiaries within or at the boundary of these protected areas. Farmers realizing
that vegetation is a source of forage for bees will guard against the destruction and be
encouraged to plant more plants for supplying pollen and nectar. In the process many
plants are conserved and protected from destruction
 The products are not perishable if kept properly
 It creates job opportunity
 Other people keep honeybees as hobby
 It requires low technological inputs
 It is source of income generation: The honeybee products can be marketed locally or
abroad to get money, with or without value addition. Beekeeping industry also provides
incomes to various stakeholders in the value chain. These include bee farmers, artisans,
pharmaceutical industry, food, beverage industry, honey dealers among others.

1.4 Relative Advantage of Beekeeping

Beekeeping has many relative advantages over other agricultural activities to mention a few:
i) It doesn’t compete for resources with other agricultural activities,
ii) Bee husbandry does not disturb ecological balance,
iii) The investment and running costs are relatively low with minimum risks,
iv) Beekeeping can be run as part time, side line or off time activity,
v) It can be done irrespective of sex and working age,
vi) Most bee products are not easily perishable, and
vii) Beekeeping helps rural communities for self-reliance.

4
2. BIOLOGY OF THE HONEYBEES
Apicology - the study of honey bee ecology.
Melittology- (from Greek μέλιττα, melitta, "bee"; and -λογία -logia.), is a branch of entomology
concerning the scientific study of bees.
Apiology - (from Latin apis, "bee"; and Greek -λογία, -logia) is the scientific study of honey
bees. Honey bees are often chosen as a study group to answer questions on the evolution of
social systems.
Meliponiculture: is the science and practices of keeping stingless bee.

2.1 Taxonomic classification of honeybees

Honeybee belongs to

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropod Junction tarsus
Class Insecta Divided in head, Thorax, Abdomen
Classification Hymenoptera Hymenoptera
Super-Family Apoidea Bees
Family Apidae Honey bees and bumblebees
Sub-Family Apinae Perennial, social colonies
Tribe Apini/ Meliponini Honey bee/ stingless bee
Genus Apis Honey bee
Species mellifera Western honey bee
 Species > 20,000 spps
The following is the current view of bee taxonomy according to Michener (2000): all bee species
are classified within seven main families, and one of these is the family Apidae. Apidae has three
subfamilies: Xylocopinae, Nomadinae and Apinae. The subfamily Apinae has nineteen tribes
including Apini (honeybees), Meliponini (includes stingless bees), and Bombini (includes
bumblebees). The tribe Meliponini are the stingless bees found in tropical and southern
subtropical areas throughout the world. The tribe Apini contains just one genus, Apis and these

5
are the true honeybees. Like the Meliponini, they are social bees that establish permanent
colonies. It is these bees’ social behaviour, storing significant quantities of honey for the colony
to survive dearth periods, which means they have been, and are still today exploited by human
societies for their honey stores. There are very few species of honeybees.

Michener names eleven species in the genus Apis. They are:

 Apis andreniformis  Apis florea
 Apis binghami  Apis koschevnikovi
 Apis breviligula  Apis laboriosa
 Apis cerana  Apis mellifera
 Apis dorsata  Apis nigrocincta
 Apis nuluensis
These eleven species of honeybees nest in one of two different ways, and this nesting behaviour
determines whether or not the bees will tolerate being kept inside a man-made hive. Some of the
species make nests consisting of a series of parallel combs, other species nest on just one, single
comb. The species that build a series of parallel combs usually nest inside cavities, and this
behaviour enables them to nest inside man-made containers and therefore opens up possibilities
for the keeping and management of these bees inside hive.

Five hundred stingless bee species are recorded and they are classified into five genera:
Melipona, Trigona, Meliponula, Dectylurina and Lestrimelitta; of which, Trigona and Melipona
are the honey producing bees. Stingless Bees (Trigona spp.) are classified under Class Insecta
and Order Hymenoptera. They belong to the Family Aphidae and the Tribe Meliponini. Unlike
honeybees (Apis mellifera), which are mostly domestic, the stingless honeybees are wild and
they keep their honey in storage pots built of resinous cerumen in the ground (“Tazma” honey) or
in the tree trunk (“Tinign” honey). Tazma and Tinign honeybees, the same as the stingless bees,
could nest in the ground or tree trunks depending their preferences.

Species of honeybees
 Among these 20,000 spp. of honey bees, 5 spp. are considered as economically
important
1. Apis dorsata

6
 2. Apis florae
3. Apis ceranae /Indica
4. Apis mellifera
5. Apis laboriosa
Of these five species of honeybees, A. mellifera has the greatest economic importance and
widely distributed all over the world. These species of honeybees are categorized into two as
primitive or advanced.
Primitive Advanced
A. florea A. cerana(indica)
A. dorsata A. mellifera
A. laboriosa
Honeybee species and their behaviour
1. Apis florea (the little bee / the dwarf honeybee)
 It is found in lowlands of south Asia (i.e. Pakistan, India, Srilanka, Thailand& Malaysia
 Its’ colony size is small (about 5,000)
 It tolerates very hot temperature (up to 500c)
 It is economically less important (produce 0.5-1kg of honey/colony)
2. Apis Dorsata (giant bee)
 These bees are large in size- 17-19 mm
 Produce honey up to 35kg/year
 Their nests are constructed high in trees or suspended from open cliff face.
 The colonies migrate up and down mountains to take advantage of seasonal food source,
i.e. has nomadic nature
 The workers are aggressive
3. Apis laboriosa
 Is the largest honeybee species  It construct a single comb
 Is dark in appearance  It is very aggressive
 Has long hairy
4. Apis cerana/Indica/
 Apis cerana is more closely resembles A. mellifera
 It is body size is quite similar but a smaller than A. mellifera

7
  It built several combs
5. Apis mellifera
 Apis mellifera is the most productive of all honeybee species
 Average honey yield is 45-180kg /year in good honey yield area
 It has high degree of adaptability
 The population of worker bees is about 50,000-80,000
 It is less prone to swarm than other species
 The serious disadvantage of this honeybee is its vulnerability to certain diseases
especially a parasite like the varroa mite.

2.2. Honeybee races of Ethiopian (A. mellifera races).

There are 24 to 25 races of A. mellifera in the world, most of which are in Africa. Races in
honeybees are purely the result of natural selection. The geographic races of honeybees are very
distinct units, representing very different gene types adapted to different environmental
conditions.
Distinctive characteristics of races of bees;
a. Morphometric character;
 Size  The number of hooks on the wing
 Colour  Width of the metatarsus
 Length of tongue  The shape and size of wax glands
 Hair coverage  and others
b. Behavioural characters;

 Productivity  Resistance to diseases

 Inclination to swarm, migrate or  Gentleness (aggressiveness)
abscond
Being part of Africa, Ethiopian honeybee races are very similar to that of African races. Based
on some of the works so far done by different investigators on geographical races of Ethiopian
honeybee, the following are identified: 
I. According to Ato Ayalew Kasaye 1990 about 5 geographical races of honeybees were
reported.
These are:

8
  A. m. adansonii found to exist in South and Western parts of country (samples
from Negelie, Gamugofa, Kaffa, & Wollega.)
 A.m. jemenitica found to exist in the low land areas of Eastern Ethiopia Wollo,
Afar & Harraraghe.
 A.m. monticola found to exist in South East mountain of Bale- Dinsho
 A.m. litorea found to exist in Gambella
 A.m. abyssinica found to exist in the Central high land, West & Southern parts of
the country.
But this study considered only partial part of the country: -i.e. central, east, South & West.
II. According to the study made by S.E. Radloff and H.R.Hupbern University of South Africa in
1996.
1. A.m. jemenitica found to exist in the Northern Ethiopia: (Gonder & Gojjam )
2. A.m. bandasii was reported to be found in the central parts of Ethiopia
3. A.m. scutellata found to exist in the Sothern Ethiopia (Ageremanian)
But in this study A.m Monticola &, A.m.litorea were not reported to exist in the country. This
may be due to the samples were taken along the transect of one route (i.e. from Mega,
Ageremariam, Shashemene, Holetta, Debremarkos, Bahirdar, Gonder & Adi Arkay)

III. According to recent study done on morph clusters of geographical races of Ethiopian
honeybees by Amssalu B. e.t.al. (2002), the following 5 honeybee races have been reported to
exist in the country. These are:
1. A.m. monticola
 The biggest and darkest of all other races found in the country
 Found to exist in the northern high mountainous part of the country
 Has low tendency for reproductive swarming and migration
 Less aggressive than other races
 Has longest body hair than other races
2. A. m. bandansii
 The largest honeybees and has longest body hair next to monticola
 Found in central highlands of the country
 Dark in colour, but has few yellow members
 Has high tendency for reproductive swarming

9
  Has less migration tendency and less aggressive than A. m. jemenitica
 Give better honey yield than A. m. jemenitica
3. A. m. scutelltata
 Occupy the wet tropical forest lands
 It is darker than A. m. jemenitica & A.m.woy-gambella
 Its population comprises some yellow honeybees
 Has higher tendency for migration
 It exhibits aggressive to highly aggressive behaviour
 Give better yield than A. m. Jemenitica
4. A. m. jemenitica
 Is the yellowiest honeybee but also consists black members
 Smaller than bandansii, monticola & scutellata
 Has less tendency for reproductive swarming
 Has high migration tendency and aggressive than other races
5. A.m. woyi-Gambella

 Found in the extreme western and southern semi-arid to sub moist low lands
 Found only in Ethiopia and has shortest hair cover
 It is predominantly yellow in colour, but also comprise black members
 Has less tendency for reproductive swarming
 Has intermediate migration behaviour
 It is aggressive to highly aggressive in behaviour

2.3 Anatomy and Physiology of the Honeybee

Before the discussion about the internal anatomy of honey be let see the external body parts that
includs Head, Thorax and Abdomen.
A). Head: the head of honeybees in general seems triangular in shape. This structure differs
among the members of colony. In the head of the honey bee there are about 5 eyes which three
simple eyes and two compound eyes. Simple eyes are three in number and located on the head.
There is no lens or ocular unit that can form image on the retina. The function of these eyes is to
detect the intensity of light. And, Compound eyes are two in number & located on the sides of
the head of honey bees. Their size varies with the members and contains very small and

10
numerous facets called ocular unit/ known as ommatidia. The facets serve as the lenses and can
form image. The function of compounds eyes includes to detect movable objects and to
recognize colour and shape of the objects.
Organ of feeding in honey bee that found in the head part consists mandible and proboscis
Mandible – spoon shaped jaws which concave and rigid on the inner side and the functions of
mandible includes
 It helps to transfer pollen in to the mouth
 It helps for chewing (kneading) bees wax
 It helps supporting external proboscis while feeding
 Feeding brood food to the larvae
 Dragging debris & dead bees of the hive
Proboscis –it folds when not used and extended when used; while the function of proboscis
includs
 Licking/sucking of liquid materials such as sugar and syrup
 Used for exchanging of food b/n workers & Queen
 Lick pheromone from the queen and exchange them with other workers
B). Thorax: it is the middle portion of honey bees body that has four different parts
 prothorax –base of front leg
 mesothorax –contain middle leg &front wing
 metathorax - contain hind leg & hind wing
 propodeum –not true thoracic segment
Function of legs: Front leg –have hairy bushes, which are used to clean dust, pollen and other
foreign materials from thorax, antennae. Middle legs - Serves for cleaning pollen & dust from
abdomen. Hind legs –contains specialized organ called pollen basket serves for cleaning pollen
& dust from abdomen.
Remark – The functions listed above works only for worker honeybees
Wing –honey bee contains 2 pairs wings namely the front and hind wings
Function of wings for flying, to regulate hive temperature by fanning, to evaporate the moisture
content from unripe honey by fanning and helps to remove bad odour and CO2 from the hive.
C). Abdomen: the last segment of honeybee and freely attached to the thorax with the narrow
petiole. The body honeybee has 10 segements on abdomen but only 2-7 (II, III, IV, V, VI, VII) is

11
visible. The abdomen contains the principal viscera of the honeybee such as stomach, intestine
and reproductive organs. It also contains glands such as wax gland and ting gland. The sting
gland /stinging organ /is located in the VII segment of the abdomen. The sting is a highly
modified for its defensive and it is found in the sting chamber.

Figure: the external morphology of honey bee

Figure: External morphology of a worker stingless bee

The internal Systems of honey bee includes the digestive system, Circulatory system,
Respiratory system, Nervous system and Reproduction system.

12
A. Digestive system: Alimentary canal of honey bees consists three parts Fore gut, Mid gut and
Hind gut.
1. Fore gut – consists of pharynx, oesophagus, crop & proventriculus,
Crop- principal function is to carry nectar from field to hive it is called honey stomach and serve
as a temporary storage
2. Mid gut / ventriculus/ It is principal stomach of honey bees and the largest part of Alimentary
canal and also the secretion and digestion takes place in it.
3. Hindgut has two principal parts: Anterior (small intestine)- several enzymes are produced and
posterior (rectum) –serve as a passage for waste material, reabsorb some nutrients from the waste
like salt, sugar, water & amino acids.

B. Circulatory system
 The space in the body of an insect, not occupied by the organs/ tissues, filled with
colourless fluid (heaemolymph).
 it is open circulatory system. There is no blood vessel.
 There is a dorsally located situated heart to pump fluid. The fluid bathing the body serves
to transport digested food material and waste substances

C. Respiration system
 Insects breathe by means of air tubes (trachea) whereby O2 is taken directly to body tissue
from out side
 bees have no lung for breathing, rather, they use the tracheal system this consists holes
used for breathing called spiracles.
 Spiracles are pairs of openings usually located on the sides of each segment of the thorax
and abdomen.
 Contraction and relaxation of abdominal muscles results in a rhythmic pumping of air
into and out of the trachea.
D. Nervous system
-The brain is centre of command
- It is a well-developed & organized system in honeybees
- It is highly endowed in its power of sensory organs
- The eye on the head is the best sensory organ

13
 - Sensory hairs are present on the flagellum of antennae
E. Reproduction system
 The reproductive organs of honey bees are entirely internal. And, male reproductive
system includes Pair of testicles, vas deference, Seminal vascular mucus gland, part of
ejaculator
 Female reproductive system consists ovaries, oviducts, spermathecal, vagina and Bursa.

Figure: the internal anatomy of honey bee

3. THE COLONY ORGANIZATION OF THE HONEYBEES

Chapter 3
The colony organization of honey bees
Colony: Always comprises the adult bees and brood, but some authors don’t include the combs
and stores in them where as others do.

Nest site: is a place where a colony lives. A beekeeper provides a nest site for each of his
colonies in the form of a hive which has been made, especially the traditional one, to suit his own
convenience in managing the bees.

Nest: In ‘nature’ nest usually refers to what has been constructed by the bees, i.e. the combs
(whether it empty or containing brood and stores) together with any construction of wax or

14
propolis in the cavity or at the flight entrance. If the entire colony absconds or dies, the nest still
remains (until it is destroyed).

The nest of honeybee consists of a number of vertical combs which hang parallel to each other at
a distance of about 10-14mm which is known as Bee space. The comb are composed of
hexagonal cells. There are two types of comb cells: the smaller is the worker cells and the larger,
the drone cells. In the worker cells in the lower part of the comb, the bees rear worker brood; in
the upper part of the comb, they store pollen and honey. In the drone cells the bees rear drones.
Occasionally they build the third type of cell, the queen cell for rearing queens.

3.1. Organization of honeybee colony

In the average topical colony there are

-One fertile queen, mainly involved in egg laying

-From 20 000 to 80 000 sterile female worker bees, which do almost everything to maintain the
wellbeing of the colony

_From 300 to 800 fertile males (drones)

-About 5000 eggs and 25 000 - 30 000 immature bees in various stages of their development,
called the brood of which about 10 000 are the newly hatched larvae and the rest are the pupae,
that are sealed in to their cells by the workers to mature.

Development of Honey bees

The bees develop from fertilized or unfertilized eggs laid by the queen at the bottom of the cells.
Fertilized eggs are laid into worker cells and the queen sells, and the unfertilized eggs develop
directly into drones. The eggs develop in three days.

All the larvae are fed during their first three days of life with “bee milk”, or royal jelly, produced
by the worker bees known as the nurse bees. After that time worker and drone larvae are fed on a
mixed food composed of honey and pollen, while larvae of the queen are fed on royal jelly

15
during their whole larval life of five days. Thus the queen can be reared from any worker larvae
younger than three days.

If the queen of the colony dies or removed by the beekeeper, the colony can rear a new queen
provided fertilized eggs are present, or either fertilized eggs or young larvae hatched from them.
Otherwise unless the beekeeper re-queens the colony, the colony will die out, even though some
workers may undergo sufficient ovary development to become laying workers and in most honey
bee races these lay eggs that give rise only to drones.

In general the genes of a queen and the workers that is her full sister, are derived from their
mother queen and the drone that is their father, i.e. whose spermatozoa fertilized the eggs from
which the full sister develops. On the other hands a drone develops from unfertilized egg; his
genes are derived only from his mother queen.

Queen larvae are sealed in their cells by the workers five days after being hatched, worker larval
after six days and drone larvae after seven. See the Figure below.

3.1.1. The Queen

There is only one queen in the hive. She is recognized by her long abdomen which extends far
beyond the tip of her wing in the resting position. Her thorax is larger than that of the worker.
Viewed from the front, her head is round. She is half as a worker and longer than the drone. The
queen has a sting but is only used to fight revival queens. She has no collecting apparatus like

16
pollen baskets, long proboscis for drawing nectar or wax glands to secrete wax to build comb
cells. As a queen, she usually doesn’t feed herself.

Immediately after the queen emerges, the queen tours the hive to see if there is any rival queen
hiding somewhere. If she finds one the two queens will fight until one is killed.

Five days after the queen merges from her cell, she starts to fly out of the hive, making an
orientation flight of about five minutes. Next she makes mating flight which last about 30
minutes. She flies to an area 6-10m above the ground where many of the drones are present. In
successful mating flight, she is mate by about 8-10 drones. A well-inseminated queen carries
about 5 000 000 spermatozoa stored in her spermatheca. The type of flight that the queen makes
for mating purpose is called Nupital flight. When the young queen keeps unmated for long
period she will start to lay unfertilized eggs in worker cells. From these eggs, only drones
develop.

New queens are produced under three circumstances: (a) when the colony is planning a
reproductive swarming, the bees build 10-20 royal cells, and the original queen lays an egg in
each. The new queens get born after the old queen departes with the swarm; (b) When the queen
is over-aged and laying badly, or otherwise failing, the workers build 1 to 3 replacement, or the
supersede queen lives together in the hive with the old queen for a certain time; (c) when the
colony loses its queen through accident or disease, the workers create emergency queen cells
from workers’ cells containing larvae less than three days old, situated at the central strip of the
comb.

Table 1. Adult life stages recorded for queens of some races of Apis mellifera.

Apis mellifera Emerge Days of first flight Day mating occurs Day egg laying starts
Temperate zone 0 5-6 6-9 8-13
Tropical zone 0 5-6 7-9

A good queen lays from 1500 to 2000 eggs a day, and she lives for up to five years, but her best
laying period is during her first two years only.

17
Pheromones produced by the queen are largely responsible for the coherence of a “queen right
colon” the fact that the adult bees stay together as a social unit. In queen right colonies,
pheromone production from the mandibular glands is greatest in young mated and laying queens,
and colonies headed by such queens are least likely to supersede their queens to swarm.

Young workers feed the laying queen, and repeatedly lick her body and brush over it with the
antennae. By so doing the workers obtain some amount of pheromones; these pheromones are
the translocated on the body surface of each individual bee, and they also spread it by grooming
her body. Subsequently she moves around among other bees in the colony, by making physical
contacts. The other workers obtain a share of pheromone, with the result that all are aware of the
queen’s presence. It is likely that 9-oxo-decenoic acid is the main queen presence signal within
the colony.

The adult queen emerges from the cell 16 days after deposition of egg.

Queen Rearing
Beekeepers rear queens to re-queen existing colonies, to make new colonies, and to improve the
genetic quality of their bees. Subjects that are related to queen rearing include development of
the queen from egg to emergence, marking queens, re-queening and queen introduction in
general and re-queening with a queen cell during a honey flow and making new colonies.

Small scale queen rearing (using swarming or supersedure cell)

At this level the simplest is to use sealed queen cells found in a colony preparing to swarm or to
supersede a queen which is deficient in some way. These two conditions are characterized
differently as follows.
Table 2. The relative study of swarming and supersedure bees
Swarming Supersedure
Many queen cells (3-30) Few queen ells (1-5)
Queen cells hang down from a comb, Often Isolated queen cells, protruding slightly from
the lower edge, sometimes several in a group. the face of the comb
The cells may be at different stages of The cells are of similar age
development
Healthy queen Queen in poor condition or missing
Brood in compact pattern on combs Irregular brood pattern on combs
Probably no eggs in worker cells Eggs probably present in worker cells

18
A frame containing one or more queen cells can be transferred to a colony to be re-queened
(whose own queen has been removed), or a hive in which frames of bees, worker brood and
stores have been placed, in order to start a new colony. The queen will emerge from her new
colony, and will start to lay eggs a few days after mating.

It is also possible to induce Queen rearing in a colony that is not preparing to swarm or supersede
its queen and the method is indicated here below.

Assuming that the colony is in a single brood box, half the frames of brood are put into the center
of the second box, and in each box the extra space on either side of the brood frames is filled by
inserting frames containing drawn out comb- or failing that foundation. The second box is placed
above the first, but separated from it by a board having a feed hole which has been covered with
a queen excluder screen. After 8 days, eggs will be found in one box, indicating the presence of
the queen, and it is placed on a new stand. In the other box the bees will have started building
queen cells or newly hatched larvae were present; if not, a frame containing them is inserted to
enable them to rear a queen. Lensky (1971) and Forster (1972) discussed the details of queen
rearing methods for requeening the colony.

Large scale queen rearing

Professional operations in which hundreds of queens are reared at the same time, taking account
of the colony conditions require at each stage of development apart from that of the genetic
considerations. All these factors are crucial to the quality of the queens produced.

Further notes in the methods and techniques of rearing queen at this scale are mentioned by
Cranes (1990).

Emergency queen cells

When the queen dies or is killed, the workers reconstruct several worker cells into queen cells,
normally on comb areas containing brood, around larvae younger than three days. The larvae are
fed with royal jelly throughout the whole larval period.

Queen rearing using emergency cells

If a laying queen is removed from her nest or killed, her absence will be felt, and the workers
will be forced to construct emergency queen cells. After one week, these cells will be capped.

19
Two days later, three capped queen cells can be removed with a knife and transplanted to
queenless colonies. On the other hand, it is also possible to stimulate such situation by killing the
queen. An alternative is to build a hive smaller than the normal beehive and forms nucleus
comprising the workers, pupae, young larva and eggs, plus one or two honey combs and a comb
with some pollen so that the bees will build emergency cells and rear queens. Such method of
rearing is simple and can be performed by following the procedure indicated below.

1. Construct a number of small beehives, called nucleus hives, large enough to contain not more
than five frames or top-bars. The hive must accommodate the same bars or frames and combs
as the bee yard, so that the combs can easily be transferred between hives.
2. Insert bees into one nucleus hive along with one brood comb with old pupae, one or two
brood combs containing some young larva and possibly eggs, and one or two combs
containing honey and pollen. Place the brood combs in the center and the honey and the
pollen combs side by side.
3. If the hive is installed near the parent hive the bees in the nucleus will rejoin the former
colony. So to insure success, install the nucleus hive at least three kilometers away from the
old nest.
4. On the six or seven day, visit the hive and count the number of well-developed capped queen
cells on the comb containing young larva and eggs.
5. Prepare as many nuclei as there are capped queen cells, using bees and capped pupae, and
ignoring young larvae and eggs. Insert honeycombs or food for the bees. These nucleus
boxes are called mating hives or nuc boxes.
6. On the tenth days (day 13 from egg laying) use a knife to remove all capped queen cells.
Handle them with great care because the wings of the queen are now forming.
7. Transplant one queen cell into each nuc box by attaching it gently to the waxy section of one
of the combs in the warmest section of the hive, making sure that the tip hangs freely down
wards.
8. Two weeks after transplanting visit the hive to ensure that the queen has emerged. Inspect
the empty combs to ensure that she has started laying. If so, the she is ready to be used in a
breeding program.
9. When the queen cells have been removed, the workers will still be motivated to rear a new
queen but there will not be young larvae below three days in the queen less hive. It is

20
 therefore necessary to restock the hive with young larvae and eggs. The workers will then
rear queens, and at the appropriate time these can be removed for development in boxes. And
in such way a succession of excellent queen cells can be raised, provided that there is a
reliable supply of food and of eggs, larvae, pupae, and workers of all age.

3.1.2. The Drones

The drones are the colony members that show a high degree of laziness. His presence in the hive
is of little importance except for mating purpose. It may also play a small part in raising the
temperature. A drone is much more broader than a worker but shorter than a queen. The
abdomen is not pointed. Their compound eyes, at the top of the head, are twice as large as those
of the queen and the workers, and their wings are the largest of those of the three castes; these
differences help them to locate the queen in the air and to reach her during the mating flight.
Drone has no suitable proboscis for gathering nectar and has no sting to defend himself or the
colony. He has no pollen basket and glands to secret wax for comb construction.

The drones emerge 24 days after egg deposition and become sexually mature within 9-12 days or
older.

Drones release a special pheromone into the air at a congregation site to attract queens as well as
other drones to the site, and when a queen enters it many drones have her.

Workers control the number of drones in a colony. The extent of drone rearing is very variable,
but it is a feature of strong colonies or colonies nearing the culmination of their population
growth, and of prime swarms after 3 weeks in their new nest of hive. In both colonies, in the wild
and those traditional hive, workers can increase drone rearing by building more drone cells. The
bees seem to restrict the total number of the drones in the colony although the mechanism is not
well understood.

In queen right colonies, normal mortality of the drone brood is always higher than that of the
workers brood. In general, brood mortality was lower in colonies with a good pollen supply or to
which pollen combs were given. It was highest in the early larval stage.

21
Workers also limit the total number of adult drone in their colony. They can restrict the total
population of the drones by reducing the number reared when there are already many in the
colony, and by not feeding adult drones.

3.1.3. Workers

Workers are the smallest and most numerous of the bees. Viewed from the front the workers
have a triangular shape. The tips of her wings in the rest position cover the end of her abdomen.

The workers are females whose reproductive organs are atrophied; they cannot be fertilized by
the drones as they do not possess sperm reserve capacity. On the other hand, they have organs
other than those of the queens and the drones, to enable them to execute all duties in the colony.
Their tongue is longer than that of the other caste, to enable them to suck nectar from flowers;
they have a special sac for carrying honey and water; pollen basket for carrying pollen, a well-
developed sting, Their heads contain glands producing royal jelly, salivary gland in the thorax
produce enzymes which ripens the honey; and four pairs of wax glands to produce wax.

A large colony can consist of more than 50 000 workers. Workers perform different kinds of
work within and outside the colon depending upon her age. Workers live entirely within the
colony during the early part of their life, they are negatively photostatic, shunning the light
outside. They are at this stage sometimes referred to as House bees and carry out a number of
activities that are needed to maintain the wellbeing of the colony such duties include: preparing
brood food, for defense, building up of the comb with wax. As House bees become older, they
are driven gradually out from the brood nest by the pressure of the emergence of new workers.

Worker bees have secretary glands. Different glands have their greatest activity at different
periods in the life of an individual worker although conditions within the colony and outside it
influence the exact age of the bee. Quite commonly, brood food is secreted by relatively young
workers, bees wax by slightly older ones, enzymes required for converting nectar into honey, and
for synthesis of venom, are elaborated later. During the age as house bee, she remains in the nest
and carries out activities sequentially as follows.

Cleaning
This is the first activity of the workers on reaching maturity. She, at this time, remains in the
entrance of the nest, cleans and caps the larvae. During this age the glands are not yet active. The

22
comb cells are cleaned to receive eggs laid by the queen who, before laying, examines the comb
cell to satisfy herself that it has been properly cleaned. Other duties in this regard is removing
dead intruders or dead bees from the hive, and removing debris and other objectionable material.
Anything that is too large to carry is often dragged along and pushed outside, while dead snakes,
wax moths or what else are encased with propolis by field bees.

Feeding the brood

This is the second step which is carried out by the worker bees age wise. Still during this age she
remains in the center and rears, attends and feeds the brood. First she feeds larvae more than
three days old with a mixture of honey or nectar, pollen, small quantities of bees milk and some
water. After a few days, she starts to feed the younger larvae exclusively on bees milk. The next
work undertaken by the young worker is to provide for the needs of the queen bee. Whenever the
queen needs food she calls for it by stretching out her proboscis towards the mandible or mouth
of the nearest worker. The workers are always anxious to satisfy her needs and make a circle or a
semi circle around her. The bees at this age are known as the Nurse bees. It is also the duty of
nurse bees to bathe her with their tongue and mandibles and to carry away her feces.

Orientation flight
This is not in fact so much a house duty. But the young worker bee must learn how to fly and she
must know the vicinity, specially the location of the hive. She therefore first makes some short
flights in front of the hive environment.

Comb building late, throughout the nest, the worker bees’ wax gland becomes active to secret
wax. This gland is best developed and becomes best productive when she is 12-18 days old. The
wax secreted as a liquid hardens quickly. The bees normally need large amount of food to
produce the wax.

Ventilating the hive

Temperature control is one of the important duties of the house bees. When the temperature is
low, bees cluster to generate heat for themselves, but when it is high, some of them have to fan
their wings to circulate air throughout the hive. The right temperature required is between 33 0c
and 36 0c, while the brood chamber requires a constant temperature of 35. Honey has to be
cured in order to ripen, and this also requires the help of circulating air.

Packing pollen, receiving nectar and elaborating honey

23
Pollen is packed to about three-quarter full in comb in the brood chamber, sometimes side by
side with brood cells. Nectar is brought by the forager, and she transfer it to a house bee, who
proceeds to empty on uncrowded part of the hive, where she rests and exposes the nectar to the
air being fanned by the fanning bees. The air circulation helps reduce the moisture content of the
nectar and thus aids sugar concentration. The time required for the nectar to mature into honey
depends, for the most part, on its original moisture content. For example, if the sugar content is
high, ripening takes about two hours.

Execution and guard duty

House bees may protect the colony from hunger, disease and other events. This may also be
performed to eliminate strange bees, to kill or drive away old and sick bees, to discourage other
hive predators from entering the hive and the like. Guard duty is the final activity of the house
bee before she leaves the hive. She, at this age, inspects all the incoming foragers by smelling
their odor.

Social activities outside the colony (outside the hive)

The bees which are involved in activities related to outside the hive are called field bees. The
activities include

Nectar gathering
Nectar, the sweet liquid secreted by plant nectaries, is collected by foragers, taken to the hive and
turned to the house bees for processing. The forager then returns to the flowers and collects
more. The number of trips the forager makes depends on a number of factors; the availability and
accessibility of the nectar source, the quantity of nectar present, and the nectar requirement of the
colony for a day.

Communication about forage

Honeybees find forage outside the colony in the light of a day but the center of communication,
where a forager learns what to collect and where to find it, is in the darkness within the colony.
Information is transmitted to the foragers both by house bees taking their loads of nectar or water
and by recently returned foragers performing recruiting dances on the comb. The bees that locate
the food source pass on the information to other bees by a series of dance like movements called
scout bees.

24
Water collection: Bees consider water carrying as one of their most important duties. They
execute it regardless of what may be involved.

Robber bees: All worker or foraging bees are thieves. They claim anything they like as their
own property. Robber bees visit other colonies’ hive and try to take honey in order to store it in
their own hive.

Chapter 4
Honeybee behavior and communication
The same as other higher animals behave differently under various circumstances, bees also
show various behaviors depending on their surrounding circumstance. Some of these behaviors
are induced by the alternating environmental factors, and some others are due to the genetic
make of the bees. Honey bees have a means of communication through which the can learn
about the location and distance of resource availability. The honey bees deploy various means of
communication depending on the environmental condition to which they will have to respond.
The use of chemicals called pheromones is one way they communicate among one another, and
they also use typical movement called honey bee dances. Below are detailed discussions on
honey bee behavior and communication.

4.1 Fanning: The survival of an animal society depends on how individual interactions influence
group coordination. Interactions within a group determine coordinated responses to
environmental changes. Individuals that are especially influential affect the behavioural
responses of other group members. This is exemplified by honey bee worker responses to
increasing ambient temperatures by fanning their wings to circulate air through the hive. Groups
of workers are more likely to fan than isolated workers, suggesting a coordinated group response.
There are studies that show individual worker bees influence other bees inside the hive to fan.
An influential individual may ultimately affect the ability for a society to efficiently respond to
environmental fluctuations. When the bees are fanning with their butts high up in the air, they’re
releasing a pheromone called the Nasonov pheromone – this is used for guidance and direction.
Fanning isn’t just used as a homing signal the forager bees back home, it is also used to regulate
the temperature inside the hive by circulating air through the hive. It’s easy to recognize the
difference in these two fanning behaviors. The homing signal is different from that of fanning for

25
ventilation. Fanning for ventilation has them with their bums facing towards the hive. This
behavior also helps to evaporate the water off the nectar stores and reduce the water content in
the nectar to safely store it as honey. This fanning dehydrates the nectar stores to create honey
that has 18% moisture content and is an extremely dry, liquid substance.

4.2 Aggression

The character of the African honeybee species is highly self-regulating and reacts with an
enormous sensitivity on every change. Smaller colonies are more sensitive to the changes than
large colonies. Temperature also plays a role. Honey bees sometimes become aggressive and
may attack animals and people nearby. Smaller colonies are more sensitive to the changes than
large colonies. Temperature also plays a role in the behavior of honey bees. Honey bees show
aggression for various reasons, and below is detailed discussion on the causes of aggression.

1. Genetics Sometimes the apple simply falls right under the tree. Usually, aggression is cyclic
and the colony will only be aggressive and testy at certain times of the year. This period is
usually very brief. However, if you notice that your colony is steadily getting more aggressive
than when you first got them regardless of the season, then aggression could be running through
their bee blood. If the colony has swarmed after initiating a new queen, or you introduced a
locally bred queen, then you are exposing yourself to the risk of hosting an aggressive colony. In
the case of swarming or a queen’s death, the new virgin queen will mate with whatever drones
happen to be at the mating spot. Naturally, you don’t have any control over what drones will be
hanging around hollering at pretty young queens. If these drones have some aggressive genes in
them, they’ll pass these down to the future workers to your detriment.

26
2. Lack of a Smoker or Using One Incorrectly The smoke interrupts the alarm pheromone and
causes the bees to fill up on honey, which makes them much easier to work around. Too much
smoke or too little can cause the bees to get agitated. Not having a smoker at all can be a huge
mistake. When you open up a hive and you hear a loud hum, that’s the equivalent of a siren. The
greater the hum, the faster the alarm pheromone travels. If you have a very docile colony, you
might get away with it, but it simply isn’t worth the risk.

3. Nectar Dearth being hungry is always an excuse to be in a dark mood. Have you ever been
“hangry” before? For bees, even when they have enough honey, they get paranoid. All bees are
not created equal and some colonies may either have too many mouths to feed or too little honey
stored in their pantry. Honey then becomes a very precious commodity and the last thing the
bees want is visitors. It gets so bad that they throw their brother drones out in order to ensure that
their stores get them through to the next blooming season. So you’ll notice that you get a very
unfriendly welcome and aggressive bee behavior if you approach the hive during this period.

4. Clumsy Beekeepers when we are new to beekeeping, we can be a little sloppy. You crush
bees unnecessarily as you bang frames when you’re trying to take them out or replace them.
Your fear of bee stings makes your movements jerky and unsteady. When a bee makes contact
with its sting anywhere on your body, your arms start flailing causing even more aggression
among your honey bees. Handling bees is like dancing with a partner. If you’re nervous, you’re
likely to hurt the other party which causes them to get slipped even right there on the dance floor.

5. Bad Weather In this case of aggression, we are talking about hot and humid weather
conditions. This usually happens as the summer draws to a close. It starts to get wet but the
weather is still warm making it difficult for the bees to cure the honey. It’s no wonder they are
unhappy.

6. Robbing as mentioned, in times of scarcity, the bees get mean. Sometimes scarcity is caused
by a lack of nectar. Other times, big bad bullies come through the hive and do some damage.
Sometimes it’s other bees. Italian bees are known for this vice and they pick on smaller colonies.
Now, even though the smaller colonies may lose, they fight to the death. Once robbing begins,

27
everyone becomes an enemy, even you. This, in turn, could be one cause of aggression among
your honey bees.

4.3 Absconding

Swarms are everywhere in all calendar seasons in tropical Africa, i.e., the area between the Tropics of
Cancer (22°5’N) and Capricorn (22°5’S). A swarm flies with high speed in the air as a cloud, hangs from
the branch of a tree, or flies into a cavity in a tree or it may be baited in a bee hive and start nesting there.

Swarms have their origin in another colony, it is a whole colony or it is part of a colony, a daughter
colony. The first are called absconding colonies (when all the bees leave the have), the second (when part
of the hive leaves the hive) a reproductive swarm. Absconding colonies are found mainly in the off-
season, reproductive swarms mainly in the on-season. For the absconding this is in April to June on the
northern hemisphere, October to December on the southern hemisphere (Zambia Honey Council, 2008).
African absconding is often called migration.

Seasonal absconding; seasonal absconding is the result of fluctuation in colony size and
composition, due to decreasing flowering of the vegetation. But with honey in stores, brood-
laying continues long and even drones may still be present. The rains come, flowering restarts,
and new colonies grow when the old ones are absconding. Many colonies abscond also because
rain drips into their nest. It is a misunderstanding that the rainy season causes the absconding. It
rains only <10% of the time and bees are very efficient at escaping the rains, coming in with
large numbers even before the rain falls. Also the pests are not causing it, because colonies leave
behind the combs totally clean (Mutsaers 1993). As a rule, the pests come only after and destroy
the combs, but there are exceptions, particularly in managed hives.

Absconding through disturbance; any colony can abscond under stress or adverse conditions.
The smaller colonies leave their nest or hive with the least change of comb. Before 3 weeks after
birth a hive should not be opened, but on the evening of arrival of a swarm it is still possible.
There is no comb yet. The effect of disturbance also depends on the season. In a growing season
it happens not so easy as when the season goes down, or under other harsh conditions. Larger
colonies abscond only after a major disturbance and not as a whole. Part of the colony may

28
abscond and part may stay behind still living on the honey. Bees remain with each other, with
their queen, with their brood, with their honey, all depending on conditions.
4.4 Honey bees’ communication (round dance and waggle dance)

An amazing symbolic communication system exists among honey bees. In studies of bees begun

in the early 1900s, the Austrian zoologist Karl von Frisch determined many of the details of their
means of communication. In a classic paper published in 1923, von Frisch described how after a
field bee discovers a new source of food, such as a field in bloom, she fills her honey sac with
nectar, returns to the nest or hive, and performs a vigorous but highly standardized dance. If the
new source of food is within about 90 m (about 295 ft) of the nest or hive, the bee performs a
circular dance, first moving about 2 cm (about .75 in) or more, and then circling in the opposite
direction. Numerous bees in the nest or hive closely follow the dancer, imitating her movements.
During this ceremony, the other workers scent the fragrance of the flowers from which the
dancer collected the nectar. Having learned that food is not far from the nest or hive, and what it
smells like, the other bees leave the nest or hive and fly in widening circles until they find the
source.

If the new source of nectar or pollen is farther away, the discoverer performs a more elaborate

dance characterized by intermittent movement across the diameter of the circle and constant,
vigorous wagging of her abdomen. Every movement of this dance seems to have significance.
The number of times the bee circles during a given interval informs the other bees how far to fly
for the food. Movement across the diameter in a straight run indicates the direction of the food
source. If the straight run is upward, the source is directly toward the sun. Should the straight run
be downward, it signifies that the bees may reach the food by flying with their backs to the sun.
In the event the straight run veers off at an angle to the vertical, the bees must follow a course to
the right or left of the sun at the same angle that the straight run deviates from the vertical. Bees
under observation in a glass hive demonstrate their instructions so clearly that it is possible for
trained observers to understand the directions given by the dancers. Certain aspects of the dance
language, such as how attendant bees perceive the motion of dancers in the total darkness of the
nest or hive, are still unknown. The dance language is an important survival strategy that has
helped the honey bee in its success as a species.

29
 Chapter 5
Selecting bee keeping site/apiary site selection

5.1. Factors to be considered for determining an ideal site for beekeeping,

5.1.1 Natural vegetation and field crops
Site your apiary near a nectar source like flowering trees and shrubs, food crops and cash crops.
Moreover, a beekeeper should know the flowering periods of the various plants in and around the
apiary.

5.1.2. Fresh Water,

Site your apiary close to a perennial source of water. However, if there is no permanent source,
you can provide water in neat colourful bowls or containers with floating sticks for bees to step
on and avoid drowning. Water is a necessity for bees for various uses in the hive such as cooling
(temperature regulation), feeding of larvae and own use.

5.1.3 Presence of native bees in the locality

Sustainability in beekeeping depends on the suitability of bees to their local environment. Honey
bees collect honey to feed themselves through the winter: their survival depends on their ability
to make best use of the resources available to them during short flowering seasons. Bees
imported from other regions may not adapt to the Ethiopian weather. Mild winters, long cold
springs, and cool wet summers can increase stress, disease and the possibility of starvation in
poorly adapted bees. Historically, the importation of bees and queens has diluted the genetic
fitness of wild bee populations and spread parasites and disease. Healthy colonies require queens
to mate successfully with many drones from different colonies. Polyandry brings genetic
variability to the worker offspring; the advantages are improved social organization and
tolerance of changing environmental conditions. Natural mating behaviour allows bees to
optimise their adaptability and resilience. Beekeepers can contribute to the genetic fitness of the
bee population in their area by keeping only local bees, never importing queens or bees, and
allowing natural mating.

5.1.4 Weather condition,

30
Protect your bees from the hot afternoon sun if you possibly can, especially in Summer. As
we’ve discussed before, a honeybee colony is a warmth organism, which means that the colony
actively regulates it’s core temperature to 37 degrees celcius, both night and day. Therefore, a
hive doesn’t want to be too hot, anymore than it wants to be too cold. And a hive in the full
Summer sun, after midday, is going to get hotter than it wants to be. For a day or two, this is not
that big a deal – if the hive gets hot, the bees have various strategies to cool down their brood –
fanning at the entrance, and bearding on the front of the hive if need be. But over time, an over-
heated hive will struggle. The heat will affect the health of the brood, and also the entire colony’s
ability to fight disease, as the bees will be stressed.

5.1.4.1. Effect of high temperature

As mentioned above, your hive will strive to maintain a stable internal temperature, for optimal
colony health. One of the best ways you can help with this is by choosing an apiary site that is
protected from hot summer and cold winter winds – get to know where the winds come from in
your area, and do a site analysis of your property to define where is and isn’t a good idea to site
your hives.

5.1.4.2 Effect of low temperature,

The temperature of the site where the bees to be located shouldn’t be too low. When it is too low,
it affects their physiology, making it difficult for the bees to survive.

5.1.4.3 Wind,

Strong winds will knock your hives over, allow rain to blow in or remove your covers. Ideally
your hives will be sheltered from the prevailing wind, and you should tie them down as an extra
measure. Place the hives on the lee side of the hill or beside a hedge. Hive straps are designed to
help secure your hive and stop them blowing down.

Quiz 2

1. When one establishes his apiary site, he has to check whether the area has vegetation or not.
Discuss why this is important.

2. Why is water important for bees? Discuss.

31
3. What is the problem is the hive is located in windy place? Discuss.

4. If the honey bee site is too hot for the bees, what are the problems? Discuss.

5. In establishing bee keeping site, choosing local bees is better than the ones imported from
abroad. Why? Discuss.

32