Beekeeping Notes

Unit 1: Pages 9-17, 21-28

The honey bee is an insect ally.

Beekeeping is the care and maintenance of bee colonies for fun
and profit.
What is beekeeping?
- At the basic level is it simply providing honey bees a
convenient domicile, hive, that allows them to rear brood and
store honey.
- Learning and using bee biology to efficiently manage colonies
and promote the bees natural instincts. This also allows them
to predict colony development and needs
- Colony population management. Bee population size is
predictable and the beekeeper will support growth to take
advantage of resrouces offered by the environment. Bee
populations peak at the time of nectar flow.
As colonies reach their peak population they store extra food.
After the nectar flow bee populations decline before the next
season
Nectar flow max population
Brood population during the lowest point, may be zero
Drone population zero during the lowest point then rapid
growth
Bee have been used as weapons in the past. They can be used to
detect land mines, nuclear and chemical weapons.
Some bees can produce a toxic honey that can and has been
used as a weapon.

History of Bees
No one knows the first time bees were colonized but evidence
goes back to the Egyptians. They used elongated clay cylinder
hives and used smoke to move the bees so they could harvest
the honey.
The middle east beekeepers made hives of pottery.
The seasonal cycle of bees is more predictable in temperate
climates than tropical climates. In shorter winter days the bees
must huddle together to survive but this does not happen in
tropical climates.
Beekeeping management activites are similar wherever bees are
kept and vary only in timing and intensity.
Bees and honey practices have been mentioned the bible and
Quran as well as in greek and roman civilations.
Bee Gums and Skeps
Bees were often found in trees in forested areas and one tree
might house several colonies. Beekeepers eventually leanred to
construct tree hollows for their bees called gums.
In areas of fewer trees, upside down wicker baskets called skeps
were used to house colonies.
These structures were vertical and the bees stored brood
(beesmax where the queen lays eggs) in the upper portion and
the honey in the lower portion.
Beekeepers often added an extra hollow gum or skep so one
could be used for brood and one for honey making the
production bigger called supering.

Bees on the Move

Bees were not native of the Americas but were brought over from
Europe.

A New Hive
Bee Space was invented in the 1800s by Langstroth (the father
of modern beekeeping) which was a protable hive so people
could be beekeepers rather than control a natural hive and rob
their honey.
The smoker was developed which allows for better manipulation
and harvest of honey without harm to bees.
The queen excluder is a device ensuring separation of brood
and honey regions for increased ease of harvest.
Extractor, a device that removes honey from combs without
destroying them

Pages: 21-28

The Classification System

The honey is called Apis mellifera L.
All divisions of the classification system we use except that of
species are made primarily based on anatomical features
(morphology).

Phylum Arthropoda
The honey bee along with all insects is classified in the Phylum
Arthropoda (jointed-footed animals).
All arthropods have: a segmented body of 2 or 3 regions, paired
segmented appendages and an exoskeleton. All are bilaterally
 symmetrical with a tubular digestive tract. Open circulatory
system with a heart that circulated blood freely in the body.
Invertebrates

Class Insecta
Consists of
- 3 body regions (head, thorax, abdomen)
- 1 pair of antennae
- normally 3 pairs of legs
- usually 1 or 2 pairs of legs

Order Hymenoptera
insects with 4 membranous wings
Divided in to 2 subgroups (Symphyta and Apocrita (bees))
- Apocrita consists of: constricted abdomen, wings are
membrane-like, larvae that do not resemble ceterpillars and
generally do not damage plants by directly feeding on them.
- The Apocrita is further subdivided into 2 groups:
Parasictia (parasytic insects) and Aculeates (females having
the ovipositor modified into a sting; bees)

Family Apidae
Long tongued bees.
3 Subtypes:
- Apinae (stingless bees, orchid bees, bumble bees and
honey bees)
- Nomadinae (cuckoo parasitic bees)
- Xylocopinae (carpenter bees)

Genus Apis
- Mellifera common western honey bee

Courselink Notes

1. Honey bees are excellent biological study subjects

They are studied for what they can teach us about ourselves
Humans compare bees with humankind: busy as a bee lazy
like a drone
Characterisitcs of human interest aggressive behavior,
hormone regulation, alcoholism
 Architecture Masters combs built with perfect hexagonal
cells to withstand heavy loads and rear bees
Dance language bees can tell sister workers where food
sources are located
Pheromone communication for reporoductive, cohesion and
foraging aims
Evolution Studies
They are convenient easy to keep bee colonies and have
study subjects available when needed
Interesting intrigued philosophers, writers and artists,
photographers.
2. Honey bees are beneficial and productive insects
Honey: Food and medicine. Rich in carbs, vitamins and
antibacterial components.
Crop Pollination Growers have become more reliant on
honey bees to pollinate their crops.
Other Hive Products Beeswax, pollen, propolis, bee
venom
Soucre of Entertainment Hobby beekeepers, movies,
documentaries

3. Beekeeping
The art of providing honey bees a dwelling (hive) to
manage them according to season
Important to learn beekeeping practices over several
seasons

History of Beekeeping

The evolution of beekeeping practices

Beekeeping probably started when humans learned to safeguard
swarms and colonies, mostly keeping them in man-made hives.
The earliest record of beekeeping dates back to 4-5000 years
ago in Egypt. They used the honey as a natural sweetener,
medicine, alcohol, cosmetics.
Beekeeping discoveries included:
The queen could be reared by the bees from an egg or young
larvae. The large bee was a queen and not a king. The barrel-
shaped individuals were males, workers were females and
queens mate with drones.
Honey bees replaced stingless bees in America as they produced
5 times more honey and wax.
Classification of Honey Bees

What is a Honey Bee

3 pairs of legs and segmented body.

3 types of bees within a colony: Queen
worker, drone
The queen: has 2 main functions: 1) lay eggs 2) to produce
pheromones that help maintain colony cohesion, stimulate food
foraging and regulate colony reproduction.
Drones: male bees that develop from unfertilized eggs. They
mate with virgin queens during spring and summer
Worker: females with undeveloped reproductive organs and
make up most of the colony.

Evolutionary Origin
Evolved from a sphecoid wasp ancestor that preyed upon other
insects but switched to a vegetarian diet (pollen and nectar). Bee
fossils were found 50 million years ago in europe. The genus Apis
is tropical in origin from Africa or Southest Asia

Classification
Kingdom:Animalia(allanimals)(seeFigures1.11and1.12)
Phylum:Arthropoda(animalswithsegmentedbodyandexoskeleton:lack
backbones)
Class:Insecta(composedofthreebodyregions,withthreepairsoflegs,onepairof
antennaeandoneortwopairsofwings)
Order:Hymenoptera(fourwingedinsectswithconstrictedabdomen;manywith
socialhabits)
Superfamily:Apoidea(1011familiescomprisingabout20,000speciesofbees.
Theirbodiesareadaptedtocollectandtransportpollenandnectar)
Family:Apidae(comprisedoffoursubfamilies;includesthehoneybees,bumble
bees,orchidbeesandstinglessbees)
Genus:Apis(thetruehoneybees:sixspecieswithinthisgenus)
Species:Apismellifera(thecommonwesternhoneybeer)

There are many species of honey bees:

Apis mellifera common western honey bee that we keep in Europe,
Africa and Americas
Apis florea dwarf honey bee from Asia
Apis dorsata giant honey bee from Asai
Apis cerana Asian honey bee closely related to mellifera

Unit 2

Courselink Notes
From an Egg to Adult Bee
The class insect can subdivided into Holometabola and
Hemimetabola. Honey bees are Holometabola because they
undergo complete metamorphosis.
Honey bees go through 4 stages:
Egg -> Larva -> Pupa -> Adult
The first 3 stages are known as brood.

This table shows the days bees spend in each stage

The Egg: contains an embryo and nutrient for its development. It

contains a cytoplasm, nucleus and yolk. The egg nucleus divides
numerous times and the resulting nuclei migrate to the periphery
of the egg, where they form a layer of cells (cleavage cells) that
eventually becomes blastoderm. The blastoderm folds inwards
and differentiates into various structures and organs of the larva.
The Larva: Bees pass through 5 instars (stages), moulting
(changing cuticle) while growing between stages. Moulting is
necessary for larva to grow because the exoskeleton is relatively
rigid and does not allow space for size increments. Honey bee
larvae develop digestive systems that allow them to grow
rapidly. They increase in weight 1500 times before becoming a
pupae. Nurse bees feed all larvae a rich food of royal jelly. A
mixture of pollen and nectar known as bee bread is fed to
workers and drones while queens continue royal jelly feeding.
This difference in food is important for determining queen bees
from workers and drones. At the end of the stage, workers close
the cells with wax and the larvae spin a cocoon of silk for
transformation.
 The pupa: Hormones control its metamorphosis. The most
important hormones are ecdosyne (regulation of moulting) and
juvenile hormones (cell division and body differentiation).

Functional Honey Bee Morphology

The key information about the functional honeybee morphology include

the following:
1. The Colony Members:
- 3 types of colony members known as morphological castes
workers (non-reproductive females, drones (male), queen
(reproductive female)
2. The Exoskeleton
- composed of hardened plates made of chitin and other proteins
are connected by membranes for structure and movement.
- It provides protection, support and attachments for muscles and
organs. Prevents dehydration
3. The Body Segments:
- 3 body segments head, thorax, abdomen
4. The Head
- Contains sensory and digestive structures: eyes, antennae and
mouthparts
- Eyes 2 types: 3 ocelli or simple eyes, 2 compound eyes
- Ocelli: 3 eyes with simple lenses. Detect light intensity and may
serve for orientation during flight. No images are made.
- Compound Eyes: Thousands of single eyes each fixed looking in
a different direction. Vision is made out of mosaic-composed
images. Bees see UV light but not red. It helps them locate
nectar when foraging.
- Antennae: The bees nose. Composed of 12 segments that
contain sense organs. The sensilla used to detect odours, CO2,
humidity, flavours, temperature and airflow. The Johnsons organ
(ear) is inside the antennas pedicel.
- Mouthparts: Include mandibles and proboscis (tongue) which
are used for chewing to ingest or manipulate solids and liquids.
- Mandibles: Used to cut, shape, groom and fight
- Proboscis: Tube-like structures fro the ingestion of liquids.
5. The Thorax
- 3 subsegments: prothorax, mesothorax and metathorax.
Contains structures for locomotion and pollen transport. 3 pairs
of legs attached to each segment and 2 pairs of wings attached
to the last two segments.
- The legs: composed of the Coxa (hip), trochanter (femur head),
femur, tibia and tarsus. At the distal part of the tarsus there are
claws which allows the bees to walk on rough o flat surfaces. The
fore legs have the antennae cleaner which consists of comb-like
 hairs to clean. The hind legs are specialized for pollen or propolis
packing. The tibia contains a corbicula (basket) to carry pollen.
The hair of the bees is branched to carry pollen grains.
- The wings: outgrowths of the exoskeleton. The provide veins for
blood circulation.
- The Flight: Bees fly at an average speed of 24km/h and wings
beat at 200 cycles/second.
6. The Abdomen
- Composed of 7 sub-segments
- The first is the Propedeum which is attached to the thorax. Each
segment has 2 large plates, a tergum (back of the abdomen) and
a sternum (belly of the abdomen). Within the abdomen are the
reproductive and excretory systems and much of the digestive,
circulatory, respiratory, nervous, glandular and defecne systems.
7. The Digestive System
- The alimentary tract extends from the mouth to the anus.
- The mouth receives food from the mandibles which passes into
the oesophagus to the crop or honey stomach. The crop is
connected to ventriculus through the proventriculus, a valve that
allows or prevent the passage of food. The ventriculus is the real
stomach where digestion and absorption takes place. Food gets
surrounded by the peritrophic membrane as it enters the
ventriculus; enzymes and digested foods diffuse through this
membrane. Nutrients are absorbed into the blood. Food waste
passes to the anterior intestine to the rectum.
8. The Excretory System
- Composed by the malpigian tubules, which serve as blood filters.
There are more than 100 tubules winding in the internal organs
that discard waste at the junction of the intestine and
ventriculus.
9. The Circulatory System
- Blood is a clear liquid composed of blood cells and plasma. The
blood is part of the immune systems and the plasma carries
nutrients and wastes.
- The system is open except the heart and aorta (located in the
dorsal part of the abdomen). Blood moves by the heart, aorta
and contraction of the abdomens dorsal and ventral diaphragms.

10. The Respiratory System

- Gases are moved through a series of tubes and tubules known as
tracheae and tracheoles that are connected to the exterior of the
insects body by spircales (openings).
11. The Nervous System
- Composed of the brain, two ventral nerve cords, seven ganglia
and nerves. Controls the functions of organs and perceives and
processes stimuli from the environment.
 12. The Defence Apparatus
- Modified ovipositor made up of 3 piece shaft attached to a
venom sac. The shaft is composed 2 barbed lancets (reverse
spikes) and a stylet with a poison canal in the middle. When a
bee stings and flies away the whole apparatus is left behind. The
bee dies within a few hours. Drones dont have a stinger and the
queens is not barbed so it can sting several times without losing
it.
13. Glandular Systems
- Exocrine glands secrete compounds to the outside of the bee
- Wax glands 4 pairs between the 4th and 7th abdominal
segments. Wax is secreted as liquid that hardens into scales that
can be molded and manipulated by the bees legs and mandibles
when used for comb construction.
- Nasonov Gland Produces an attractive scent that orients bees
towards their hive entrance, or towards a swarm cluster or
flowers.
- Mandible Glands Glands In nurse bees produce lipids for larval
food. Older workers produce an alarm pheromone. Queens
produce queen substance (colony recognition, drone attraction
and foraging stimulation)
- Sting Glands Alarm pheromones
- Arnhart Glands At legs pads produce foot print substance
- Salivary Glands saliva to dissolve sugars and to soften pollen
grains
- Hypopharingeal (head) glands produce royal jelly rich in
proteins, lipids and vitamins
14. Reproductive System
- Queens and drones mate in the air. The queens ovaries develop
and start producing eggs
- Drone reproductive organs composed of the penis, testes,
seminal vesicles, mucus glands and ducts.
- Queen reproductive organs include 2 ovaries made of 150
ovarioles capable of producing 2000 eggs per day. Lateral and
central oviducts (tubes through which ovules descend), the
spermatheca (stores sperm) and the vagina.

Textbook Pg. 54-57

The 3 developmental stages are called brood.

A queen will deposit one egg in each worker or drone cell. The
worker eggs will be fertilized while the drones will not. If the
queen makes a mistake the egg is destroyed.
 The larva eats and never leaves it wax cell. Nurse bees visit the
larva 10000 times inspecting them, feeding them and capping
the wax cell.
The pupa stage or caped brood stage is where the larva develops
adult features. Juvenile and ecdysome hormones trigger these
changes.

Differentiation of Queen and Worker

In the developmental stage, all larva are given royal jelly for food
but after 3 days workers and drones switch to pollen and nectar.
They are also given much less food. This is called progressive
provisioning.
There is a difference between the type and orientation in which
queens and workers develop. Workers and drone develop
horizontally in hexagonal cells. The queen will measure each cell
and drop a fertilized or unfertilized egg into the cell. Queens
develop vertically.
The orientation and cell type are important to workers so they
can feed the larva appropriately.

Dead Bees
Worker bees die after 5-6 weeks. Most die outside while foraging
but others die inside the hive during the evening or on days
when flight is limited by poor weather. Dead bodies can
accumulate at the bottom of the hive where workers fly off with
the bodies.
Some workers specialize as undertaker bees.

Seasonality of Brood and Adult Populations

Bee populations fluctuate during the year while the queen lives
for a couple years and is replaced during favorable foraging
conditions during the season.
The fluctuations depend on weather and resources of he
environment.

Pg. 61-73

Head
The 3 ocelli on their head allows them to see light but not
images.
Compound eyes gives them fair vision
They have trichromatic vision seeing blue, green and Uv light
Each antenna consists of 12 segments. They are covered in hairs,
pore plates, pits, pegs and other very mobile sensory structures
 to perceive stimuli. They can smell, taste, perceive humidity and
temperature, feel etc.
The head of the queen is similar to the worker but a little rounder
in shape and with fewer eye facets. The mandible of the queen is
toothed and not spoon shaped.

Thorax
3 segments: pro-, meso, metathorax.
The wings are joined together by tiny hooks called hamuli
increasing flight agility.
The 3 pairs of legs are attached to each segment for locomotion
and sensory structures like taste, smell and feel

Abdomen
The abdomen lacks external attachments. The segments consist
of overlapping plates. The abdomen is continually moving due to
flexible membrane joints between segments. Its movements help
with breathing, digestion, excretion and circulatory functions.
Digestive and Excretory Systems
Food passes from the esophagus to the honey stomach. Its not a
true stomach because no digestion occurs there. It is used to
hold nectar collected from flowers before its converted to honey.
When the bee eats food, it passes to the mid portion the
ventriculus or stomach. This is where digestion occurs.
The rectum reclaims reusable products and resborbs water
Nervous System
2 part brain. Has a large brain and ganglia relative to its body
size.
Headless bees can still walk and sting although not as well as
with the brain intact.
Circulation
Insect blood carries nutrients to the body cells and removes
cellular wastes. It carries hormones, blood cells and other
substances.
Bees have an open circulatory system as the blood is not within
vein or arteries and doe not need to be circulated rapidly.
Reproduction
The reproductive organs are located in the abdomen.
The eggs of mated queens develop in hundreds of thread-like
ovarioles in the ovary and pass into the oviduct where they are
fertilized by sperm that was stored by the queen. The queen
place eggs into the cells of the comb.
Respiration
 Insects have 3 thoracic and 7 abdominal air openings, the
spiracles and internally many air sacs that lead to branching
tubes or tracheae. Oxygen moves through thachael sacs and into
and out of tracheae with wing and abdominal muscle activity.
Queen and Drone
The queen has a longer abdomen due to the large ovaries and
the drone has a barrel shaped abdomen to house its reproductive
organs.
Both the drone and the queen lack hairs on the legs since neither
collects pollen. They dont have as big of honey stomachs either
as they do not collect food.
Both drones and queens lack wax and scent glands. The queens
mandibular glands are very critical as they produce a complex
series of chemicals that serve to coordinate and organize the
colony.

Unit 3

Courselink Notes

The queen:
Two main functions lay eggs and produce pheromones (chemical
messages) that help maintain colony cohesion, stimulate food
foraging and regulate colony reproduction.

Drones male bees develop from unfertilized eggs though the

process of parthenogenesis (they have a mother but lack a father);
thus they only carry half the genetic make up of that carried by
female bees. The only function drones have is to mate with virgin
queens during the spring or summer.

Worker bees females with undeveloped reproductive organs and

constitute the majority of the adult population. They perform most
of the tasks in the colony. If the colony requires more food, foraging
is increased by getting young bees to do it and if the colonies
require more nurses old bees may produce royal jelly again and
start feeding larvae. Normal division of labour is related to age.

Division of Labour and Age Polyethism

The division of labour by age starts with low-risk activities (cell

cleaning, brood care, food processing) and ends with high-risk
activities (foraging and nest defence).
The Bee Emerges
Newly emerged workers search for cells containing pollen to feed
upon before engaging in hive activities, they also learn to beg for
pre-digested food from older bees. They extend their proboscis and
receive the food by trophallaxis (mouth to mouth). They rest for a
short while because it takes a few hours for their shell to tan and
harden before they do their hive duties. The hormone bursicon is
involved in the hardening of the bee cuticle.

Cleaning and Feeding

Worker bees initially do hive work such as cleaning the hive,
particularily cells in the brood area (for the queen to lay eggs).
When their hypopharyngeal glands develop, they become nurse
bees and start feeding larvae with royal jelly or a mixture of nectar
and pollen. They may feed the queen bee too.

Food Processing
After cleaning and feeding, workers perform nectar ripening and
pollen storing. Bees returning from foraging regurgitate and pass
the nectar contained in their honey sac to food-processing bees, for
further ripening and transformation into honey.
Nectar is subjected to two processes:
Physical water evaporation
Biochemical sugar digestion
The evaporation process reduces the water content of nectar while
the sugar digestion causes the breakdown of complex sugars into
simple sugars by means of digestive enzymes.

Producing honey
Active evaporation the food processing bee regurgitates her
honey stomach content and blow bubbles with the nectar, to expose
it to the dry and warm environment which causes it to evaporate.
She sucks it back into her honey stomach and repeats the process.
Invertase is mixed with the nectar in the stomach to break down
sucrose into simple sugars, fructose and glucose. The bee repeats
this process several times and then deposits it into an empty cell.
Passive evaporation moisture reduction continues as worker
bees fan warm and dry currents in the nectar in the open cells.
Eventually cells containing fully ripened honey (less than 20%
water) are covered with a wax capping.
Food processing bees might fan and ventilate at the hive entrance
to get more air into the hive. Other food processing bees pack the
pollen stored in cells by pressing it with theirs heads and cover it
with a film of honey to prevent fermentation.
 Building
At about 12 to 15 days after emergence, the wax glands of workers
develop and they might help build comb and cap the honey and
brood cells. Bees manipulate and shape wax scales using their legs
and mandibles before placing them where needed. Bees consume a
lot of honey while secreting wax (8kg to 1kg of wax).

Undertaking
A small percentage of workers get rid of dead bees by dropping
them outside the hive.

Foraging Behviour
Bees forage from about 3 weeks after emergence go until they die
(about 1-2 weeks after their first forage). They collect water, pollen
(source of protein and fat), nectar (source of carbs) and propolis
(resins from plants and caulking material).

Colony Needs and Division of Labour

All activities in the hive can continue for several days without the
queen. The queen is not a ruler or dictator however. Bees act
without awareness of the consequences of their behavior. They
respond to stimuli in their immediate environment with stereotyped
behaviours because theyre programmed to do so.
Honey bee behavior results from a complex interaction of 1) stimuli,
2)genetic predisposition 3)physiological development and
4)hormone regulation which influeneces the likelihood and
frequency with which a honey bee performs each task.
Internal stimuli include pheromone odours (produced by the queen,
workers or larvae), visual cues (ie. seeing a returning forager
perform a dance), changes in temperature in the brood nest, empty
cells etc.
External stimuli include those associated to food availability in the
field (the visual or odour stimuli from flowers) to climate conditions.
Behaviour can change as a result of previous experience.

Bees can perceive stimuli by patrolling inside the hive or by

scouting outside the hive. They spend more than 30% of the time
patrolling to try and perceive colony needs.
Because a queen lays eggs that are fertilized by sperm cells from all
of the males shes mated with, a family of bees is composed by
 subfamilies or patrilines of half sisters, each of which is fathered by
a different drone.
The physiology of workers changes with age, which increases or
decreases the likelihood that a bee will perform a task based on
what gland they secrete from.
Hormones are also involved in control of age polyethism as nest
bees have low levels of juvenile hormones where foragers have
higher levels.
Bees have different probabilities to reacting to stimuli because they
vary in the sensitivity to stimuli. This is the premise behind what
bees do what, as some bees respond more or less to certain stimuli.

The Bee Nest

The Colony and the Nest

Bees build parallel vertical combs hanging down from the top of
the nest. They build combs out of wax to rear brood and store food.
Each comb consists of an array of hexagonal cells that have a
horizontal orientation and are slightly angled upwards to keep the
honey from pouring out.
Bees build 3 types of cells:
1. worker cells to rear workers and store nectar and pollen
2. drone cells to rear drones and store food
3. queen cells peanut-shaped cells that hang from the comb
edges to rear queens
The brood is reared in the centre of the combs that are located in the
middle part of the nest where the temperature is about 35 degrees.
Food reserves are stored in the periphery of the brood.

Seasonality and Life in the Hive

Seasonal Colony Cycle

Honey bees have to collect and store food reserves during the summer
to survive the winter and reproduce in the spring.

Winter
Honey bees cluster together inside the hive to maintain their body heat
when the external temperature drops below 13 C. Bees constantly
move between the interior and the exterior of the cluster to generate
heat. They produce heat by contracting their thorax muscles (they
shiver). The temperature of the cluster varies between 20 and 30 C.
Late in winter, queens resume egg laying and the workers rear brood.
They need to raise the brood temperature to 34-35 C so it consumes a
lot of stored resources of honey and pollen. The population size
reaches its lowest point as older bees die during the winter.

Spring
As brood rearing increases and new bees start to emerge the
population grows rapidly. Particularily between late march and early
june because pollen and nectar become rapidly available in the field.
This rapid growth might result in the colony swarming in late spring
early summer. The colony will only swarm if a replacement queen is
reared.

Summer
Population peaks in early summer, when the nectar flow also reaches
its maximum. Bees forage and gather large amounts of pollen and
nectar and store them in combs as food reserves for the winter. Nectar
is transformed into honey. The bee population starts to decline by
august as the queen reduces the rate of egg laying and less brood is
reared.

Fall
Brood rearing is dramatically reduced and the adult bee population
continues to decline. Drones are expelled from the conoly by worker
bees as food resources dwindle (its a waste to feed them at this time
of the year as they are useless).Newly emerged bees do not have
much nest work to do and start building up fat reserves to survive the
winter.

Food Resources
On average a honey bee colony consumes 20-30 kg of pollen and 60-
80 kg of honey per year. Bees have to make about 1 million trips to the
flowers to collect the pollen needed in a year and about 4 million trips
to collect the nectar required to produce 80kg of honey.

The Dance Language

Initial Location of Food Sources

Scout bees finds a food source and fills her honey stomach and/or
pollen baskets.
Scout bees return to the hive flies in a direct line memorizing
landmarks.
Scout bees performs a specialized communication behavior on the
vertical comb: repeated pattern of body movements called dances.

Types of Dances
The round dance
Bee runs around in narrow circles on the comb for less than 1
minute. Nearby bees follow the dancer and touch her with their
antennae to perceive odurs. Sometimes they will get samples of
nectar and fly around the hive until they find the source.

The Wagtail Dance

The bee runs in a narrow semicircle then turns sharply and
moves in a straight line makes another semicircle the other way,
then moves in a straight line over their initial path. During the
straight line portion, the bee wiggles its abdomen vigorously.
They also make a low frequency sound with their wings to
communicate distance information.
Information Conveyed 1) distance (<80m the distance is
shown by the speed and time to complete one circuit of the
dance). The faser the dance the closer the source.
2) source
3)quality
4)quantity
5) direction (communicated by the straight run portion, they use
the compass position of the sun as their reference point for
direction)
Interpretation If the source is located towards the sun they will
run upwards up the comb and if the source is opposite the sun
they will run run down the comb. If its to the right or left of the
sun they run in that direction with the proper angles.
Regulation Number of foragers dancing increases with more
sources or decreases with less which in turn affects the number
of recruited bees

Orientaion and Navigation of Foragers

Bees use landmarks and position of the sun for foraging.

Bees know the movement of the sun due to their own biological
clock and change their dance angle based on the sun
movements.
When theres clouds they detect UV light from the sun and use
the plane of polarized light

The Dance Language Controversy

 Bees estimate distance by optical flow (speed and amount) of
visual information passing their eyes during the flight of the food
source. The higher the optic flow, the longer the time taken by
the bees to complete each circuit during their dance.
They also use odour components to find food sources.x

Unit 4

Working Outside the Hive

After 3 weeks after emergence, workers become field bees that
forage for nectar, pollen, water and propolis. Foraging
accelerates their aging process due to increased activity levels.

How flowering plants attract bees

Plants attract bees to be pollenated by the bees. The most
important clues are scent and colour because bees use smell and
sight to find flowers. Visual clues are better for long distance
sighting while scent is better for short distance. Bees learn to
recognize and to forage on a particular flower, and become
specialized in the collection of nectar and pollen from it.

How Bees Find Flowers

Foraging Stratagies and Flower Constancy (faithfulness)

Foraging bees find flowers usually in one of two ways:
1. scouting flying in a succession of wider circles around the
hive or flying without a defined pattern trying to find flowers.
2. Being recruited by a dancing bee
After bees are recruited by the dancing forager, they collect food
and on their way back they learn and fix landmarks to be able to
go back again to the same location without having to be
recruited again.
They tend to concentrate their gathering activities to a close
proximity
They also only forage on a single flower species per trip, known
as flower constancy (or fidelity). This allows them to become
more efficient and spend less energy when collecting food.
They tend to move among flowers of different plants of the same
species rather than foraging on every flower within a plant. This
ensures that a bee carries pollen from one plant to another which
allows fro cross pollination.
Colony needs play a major role in foraging stratagies.
Nectar Foraging
Nectar is a sweet liquid secreted in the nectaries of plants to
attract pollinators. Mostly they are located within plants but
some have the nectaries outside.
The most important factors attracting bees to nectaries are the
sugar and the degree of sugar concentration. The sugar
concentration of nectar may be from 5-80%, although most
plants are 25-50% the rest is mostly water.
The major sugars in nectar are sucrose, glucose and fructose.
The first two are more attractive than fructose.
Nectar also contain small amounts of minerals, proteins, volatile
oils etc.
To collect nectar, the bee extends and inserts her proboscis into
a flower nectary. In most cases a forager has to visit several
flowers to fill their stomach.
Bees return to the hive and do a dance to pass their nectar and
either return to the same foraging place or get information about
a new place to forage.

Pollen Foraging
Pollen contains the male reproductive cells (gametes) of
flowering plants, as well as nutrients for these cells.
Pollen is produced in flower organs called anthers, which are
supported by filaments.
Polinating insects transfer pollen grains from male to female
organs located on the same or another flower.
Flowers are designed so the insects must come in contact with
the pollen before reaching the nectaries.
This ensures that pollen grains are carried in the bees hairs so
when they go to other flowers, they might deliver the pollen to
the stigmas (pollen receptacles that lead to the flowers ovaries
and eggs).
Pollen is more available from early in the morning to early
afternoon, thus the percentage of foragers is more in the
morning than the afternoon.
Honey bees crawl on the anthers to dislodge pollen with their
tongues and mandibles and to collect it with their body hairs.
Body hairs have a positive charge and pollen has a negative
charge so they stick.
Using the brushes on their legs, bees comb the pollen grains
onto their baskets.
 When a pollen forager returns to the hive, they may perform a
wag tail dance or go to the cells in the brood area to unload the
pollen pellets.
Then a food processing bee pushes them to the bottom of the
cell with their head, while adding honey and saliva.
Stored pollen undergoes chemical changes to make it more
edible for bees.

Water Collection
Water is used to cool down the hive on hot days and dilute honey
for feeding purposes. They transport water in their honey
stomachs and collect it from the different sources, including dew,
lakes, ponds etc.

Propolis Collection
Propolis (bee glue) is a resin collected by the bees from the buds
of plants or trees.
Plants produce resins that contain antimicrobial properties to
defend themselves from infectiong.
They use it as a cement to seal crack, close openings or cover
surfaces. They smear combs with it which reduces microbial
growth and sanitizes the hive. Sometimes they also use it to
encase objects that are too large for bees to remove (mice).

Robbing Behaviour
Type of foraging
During nectar dearth when few or no flwowrs are available, bees
will rob other colonies of the honey.
Scout bees locate weak or disturbed colonies and return to the
hive to recuit others with a dance.
Guard bees try to defend the hive but often fail as the number of
robbers exceeds the hive.

Natural Queen Rearing and Mating Behaviour

Reproduction at the Individual Level

Drones and Queens They are produced during the spring at a
higher level for males than females. The colony usually only has
about 10 queens and only 1-4 of them will mate.
Queens her function is to lay eggs and produce queen
substances pheromones that prevent the rearing of new queens
as well as the development of the worker ovaries.
 Under certain circumstances such as the sudden loss of a quenn,
during swarming, or if the queen does not produce sufficient
eggs a new queen queen is reared by the worker bees.
The main factor that leads to the construction of a queen cell, is
the lack of pheromones from the queen herself. She produces
less pheromones and so workers decide to make a new one.
When a new queen emerges they search for other new queens
that could have emerged to kill them. So they hunt out other
queens and sitng them to death.

The Sec Life of Honey Bees

Congregation Areas this is where the matings between
queens and drones occur.
They have been found over valleys, forests, fields, roads etc.
there is no pattern.
The same sites are used year after year even though all drones
die in the summer.
Newly emerged drones and queens find the same sites without
being guided
Mating Flights Drones start flying when they become sexually
mature. They locate congregation areas several kilometers away
form the hive and wait for the queens to arrive.
When the queen arrives at the congregation area she secretes a
queen substance to attract the drones and they begin to chase
her until one is able to mount and inseminate her.
The drone grasps the queens abdomen with its six legs inserts
his endophallus (penis) into the vagina of the queen. The drones
penis everts in an explosive ejaculation of semen after which he
paralyzes and falls back off the queen. He dies hours later due to
the rupture of his genitals.
Another drone can then mate with the queen, this can happen
several times in one flight.

Semen Storage
The volume of semen ejaculated into the queen exceeds what
she will store in her spermatheca.
The ejaculated semen reaches the queens lateral oviducts and
when she reaches the hive she contracts her abdomen to
squeeze the semen into her vagina.
The semen is stopped from flowing out by the vagina fold (a
valve like structure), which directs the semen into the
spermathecal duct and then into the spermatheca where it is
mixed. Then the excess semen is discarded out of the vagina.
Types of Eggs
Mated queens lay two types of eggs, fertilized and unfertilized.
The queen lays fertilized eggs in smaller cells (worker and
emergency queen) and unfertilized eggs into larger cells (drone
cells).
When fertilized eggs are laid, the queen opens her spermathecal
duct to encounter and fertilize an egg in the queens vagina.

Unit 5

Swarming

The natural division of one colony into 2 or more, when resources

are abundant.
A queen, with workers and drones, leave the colony to start a
new one.
This is important for the continued existence of honey bees.
In temperate climates, swarming season is during mid to late
spring or early summer.
In tropical climates, it is during the dry season.

Factors that favour swarming

When populations increase and the brood nest becomes
congested and the distribution of queen substance is reduced.
Workers receiving insufficient queen substance will rear queen
cells and eventually swarm.
If the colony becomes too hot.
Presence of an old queen

Signs of Swarming
Workers reduce foraging activities
Bees accumulate at the hive entrance (forming a beard)
Presence of queen cells in the brood nest

Swarm Departure
The queen will reduce egg laying and eat less to lose weight so
she can fly with the swarm.
Workers will load up on honey for preserves.
Some bees will perform zig zag dances and push the queen to
the entrance.
 The first (primary) swarm containing drones and about half the
workers with the old queen leave and fly in circles in the air
eventually settle on a nearby tree metres from the hive.
Scouts fly away to find a permanent location for the hive

Nest Selection
Old bees scout for a new hive before they leave the colony
They look for cavities in hollow tress, rock fissures or open
spaces between walls.
It is thought that they inspect the cavitys volume.
Scouts return and do dances to convey which site is the best for
a hive
They release a pheromone to attract their nestmates to the new
hive.

Absconding

Sometimes all adult bees leave the hive, this is known as

absconding
The bees cluster and scout bees find a suitable place to build a
nest.
May be caused by hunger, frequent disturbance of the nest,
attacked by predators or manipulated by a beekeeper
Africanized bees are more likely to ascond

Genetics With the Cell

Cells contain organelles that allow them to individually maintain

all their physiological and metabolic processes and functions.
Female honeybees have 16 pairs of chromosomes (32 total)
DNA contains a sugar (deoxyribose), a phosphate and
nitrogenous base (nucleotide).
AT GC go together
The homologous pair of a particular gene is called an allele,
which is located on the same position (locus) of the alternative
homologous chromosome.
The black eye gene is dominant over the white eye gene in
honeybees.
When 2 genes are either both dominant or recessive, its known
as homozygous.
When there is 1 of each it is called heterozygous

Sex Determination
Sex determination in bees involves a gene with multiple alleles
that is located at the X locus
Loci may have only 2 alleles but the X loci has more than 15,
although only one is expressed in males (since they are haploid)
and two are expressed in females at any one time.

Two sex alleles

If a queen of ab mates with a male of a this would
result in the queen laying unfertilized eggs of a or b
with equal proportions laying aa or ab. Homozygous
bees are males and workers eat them as soon as they
hatch. Only the heterozygous bees develop into females.
When a population of bees has only 2 sex alleles 50% of
them are eaten.
a b
a aa ab
a B
 Five Sex Alleles
If a queen of ab mates with 4 drones each with a
different genotype a, b, c, d, e. These crosses would
make haploid a or b as well as equal proportions of
diploid aa ba ac bc ad bd ae be. The
homozygous bees are males and get eaten by workers.
This produces stronger populations as less bees get eaten.

Therefore, brood pattern and population have a direct

relationship between the number of sex alleles.
The more dornes the queen mates with, the higher the
probability of more sex alleles and the better chances of
uniform brood patterns

Mating System and Fertilization of Eggs

After a queen emerges, she spends a few days inside her hive
and makes one or more mating flights later on.
The queen mates with up to 40 drones (in 1-5 mating flights) and
a portion of semen from all the drones she mates with is stored
in the spermatheca inside her abdomen. The spermatheca mixes
the sperm with the eggs.
 Since the sperm is mixed inside the queen, colonies are made of
groups of subfamilies of half sister workers.

Genetic Relationships
Because the queen lays eggs that are fertilized by sperm cells
from all of the males she mated with, a family is composed by
subfamilies of half sisters each with a different father who mated
with the queen.
In honeybees, two workers from the same subfamily (same dad)
are related by 75% of their genes rather than 50% like in
humans. 25% from the mother, 50% from the dad.
The workers of a subfamily share all of their genes coming from
the father because sperm cells from drones are identical.
They only share half from the mother because chromosomes
recombine when ovules are formed.
Workers of the same subfamily are called super sisters because
of the high genetic relationship, whereas workers of different
subfamilies are called half sisters because they only share 25%
of genes with the mother
The major implications of high genetic relationship among
workers within the same subfamily are:
1. The high relationship of super sisters predispose for social
behavior because workers gain more (in terms of passing their
genes onto the next generation) by caring for their super sister
rather than their own offspring.
Workers will even feed their super sisters more than their half
sisters.
2. Workers of different subfamilies tend to specialize in different
tasks. One subfamily of bees may be better suited fro defence
whereas others are better at foraging. Workers of different
subfamilies vary in response thresholds for stimuli. Workers
with higher stimulus to things respond faster to the stimuli.

Unit 6

Races and Strains of Honey Bees

Race means subspecies, whereas strain is a bee genotype

within a subspecies

Origin of Honey Bees

Most species are in southern Asia which suggests Asian origin,

but genomic study points to African origin.
Races (subspecies) of Honey Bees

Races are genetically distinct populations of bees that interbreed

with the same species.
Bees of different subspecies can mate and produce offspring,
even when they have diversified and acquired particular distinct
traits, the degree of change is not enough to separate them from
other subspecies or races.
Honeybee races are also called ecotypes or geographic races
because they have evolved in geographic isolation in different
climates and regions of the world. They have adapted to their
environments and developed traits through natural selection.
There are more than 40 subspecies of A. mellifera but only 4
common to north America (German, Carniolan, Caucasian and
Italian).
There is considerable interbreeding among bees
German Bees
Apis mellifera mellifera, is a black bee that originated in northern
Europe and was the first honey bee introduced to north America.
Good honey producers and overwinter well
Disadvantages include their high defenciveness and
susceptibility to diseases

Carniolan Bees
Apis mellifera carnica, is a grey bee that originated in the
Balkans.
Their gentle, good overwintering ability, efficient use of food
resources, resistant to disease, and have rapid spring population
growth.
Disadvantagesinclude high tendancy to swarm.

Caucasian Bees

Apis mellifera caucasia is a dark bee with grey body hairs that
originated in the Russian Caucasus and near the black sea.
Calm on the comb, overwinter well and are efficient in the use of
food reserves.
Disadvantages are their robbing behavior tendency and their
excessive use of propolis

Italian Bees
 Apis mellifera ligustica is a yellow-brown bee with black stripes
that originate in Southern Italy.
Good honey production, resistance to diseases, acceptable
temper, low swarming and good overwinter ability.
Disadvantages include their inefficient use of food reserves, and
tendency to rob other colonies

Strains of Honey Bees

Strains are closely related families of bees from a particular race.

Artificially bred to fix certain traits in the population (ie hygienic
behavior which provides resistance to diseases)

Hybrid Bees

Made from crossing bee races or bee strains to take advantage of

heterosis or hybrid vigour.
Hybrids perform better than their parents
Its difficult to continuously produce hybrids of1 first generation
which are required to sustain the expression of heterotic effects.

Unit 7: Beekeeping: Whats Needed?

Management and Protective Equipment

Equipment include, a smoker and a hive tool, and some

protection against bee stings.
Smokers pacify bees. They are filled with different types of fuels
or woodshavings.
The hive tool is made of steel and is used to separate the
different parts of the hive because bees glue them with propolis.
This tool is needed to assess the condition of the hive in terms of
food reserves, population, absence of bee disease, presence of
queen etc.

The Hives
All hives in North America are based on the Langstroth
th hive, which is composed of boxes with frames designed to
allow almost 1cm of bee space between combs.
Parts include (from bottom to top):
Bottom board (base), brood chamber (with frames and
foundation), queen excluder, supers (with frames and
foundation), inner cover and outer cover.
 The brood chamber is used to rear brood and store food, whereas
the supers are meant to store the honey for the beekeeper to
harvest.
The queen excluder, is a screen that restrains the queen to the
lower box, so she doesnt lays eggs in the honey combs in supers.
Workers can pass through the queen excluder but queens are too
big.
The foundation is a plastic or beeswax sheet with worker-size
hexagonal cells engraved on both sides of it, and serves to guide
for the bees to draw comb
Brood chambers and supers hold between 8-10 frames
containing foundation or drawn comb.
The inner and outer covers provide insulation and protection
form the environment to the colony.

The Bees

The bees can acquired from a bee supply dealer or can be

captured (ie swarms)
Bees can be purchased in units called packages, nucleus colonies
or established colonies
Package bees consist of a queen and about 2-3 lbs of bees in a
screened cage. They are shaken into a hive previously installed
to receive the bees.
A nucleus colony is a small colony of bees held in a
transportation box which includes a queen and 3-5 frames
covered with bees and containing brood and honey. This is the
most popular way to purchase.
Established colonies are full colonies with 9-10 frames with bees
and brood. They are the most expensive but require less labour
to develop.

The Apiary

An apiary is a group of colonies in a location

The main considerations in selecting a location to establish an apiary
include:
The site is away from animals and humans
Good air circulation and drainage
Close to flowering plants and extracting facilities
Away from pesticides and with exposure to morning sun
Wind protection and vehicle accessibility
Hive Installation within the apiary
Hives should be placed on stands behind fences or natural
barriers. Uneven placement of hives and use of landmarks and
different hive colours help bees find their hive when returning
from foraging trips
If you want an urban apiary you must provide water sites for the
bees and prevent swarming

Unit 8: Managing the Bees

Colony Inspection and Manipulations

Colonies are inspected to verify that they are in good condition or
to correct problems.
It is best to inspect colonies during warm sunny days because
most of the bees will be out foraging.
It is also easier to manage bees during a nectar flow than in
times of dearth.

Opening a Hive
Puff smoke into the hive entrance then wait a few seconds then
take the top off the hive.
Pry up the inner cover and fill hive with more smoke
A brood chamber is composed of 1 or 2 boxes, start examining
the lower box and free the propolis sealed frames before
removing them using the hive tool
Remove a frame near the outside. These frames usually contain
honey. Leave this frame outside the hive during inspections to
provide space to inspect other frames in the hive.

Reading the Frames

Once a frame is removed from the hive, inspect it while holding it
above the open hive.
Several frames are removed for inspection
You should observe the sealed brood with no signs of disease,
honey and pollen reserves, presence of queen cells, which could
indicate the queen is missing, queen supersedure or swarming.
You need to make sure there is a queen but you dont need to
actually see the queen, eggs is enough.
Everything might be alright with the hive, or it may need to be
fed, get medication or even require a queen to be introduced.
Spring Management

Early Spring
The first thing to do in early spring is to clean up and store
equipment from colonies lost during summer.
Try and determine the reasons for colony loss
The most critical problem would be if they died of American
Foulbrood disease. If so, the equipment has to be destroyed
because the disease is very contagious and difficult to control.
Ensure colonies have enough food and are rearing brood.
If colonies are short of honey stores and it is too cold, you can
transfer frames kept under storage. Only transfer frames of
honey and pollen you are sure are disease free
The first inspection of colonies should be brief and on a warm
day above 15 C when bees are flying, usually in early April in
Canada
The main goal of early spring management is to expand the
brood nest.
Weak colonies can be stimulated to grow by providing sugar
syrup to them
Sugar syrup stimulated the queen to lay eggs and increase brood
rearing.
The syrup should be provided directly above the bee cluster
using a feeder
Another way of expanding colonies is to expand the brood area.
This can be done by reversing hive bodies

Queens respond by increasing egg laying.

Mid Spring

Inspections continue to verify colony growth. However, colony

growth can lead to swarming and thus, swarm prevention is a
critical management by mid spring
 To prevent colonies from swarming, provide plenty of drawn
comb in the brood chamber for the queen to lay eggs and
destroy queen cells if observed.
Add supers to reduce congestion in the brood nest.
Requeening colonies reduce the likelihood of colony swarming
Mid spring is the time to split strong colonies in order to make up
loss.

Late Spring

The main goal of all spring management is to reach nectar flow

with the max population of bees in a colony to gather a good
honey crop
You want to create space for the bees and add supers if needed
Add supers when newly white combs on top of the bars of the
upper super is observed

Bee stings and Allergic Reaction

Bee stings cause several reactions that are in 3 groups: normal,

allergic, toxic.
A normal sting reaction causes pain, inflammation and itching.
Swelling itching may last two or more days and can be reduced
with ice, vinegar or baking soda. Antihistamines also help.
An allergic reaction causes itching and hives especially in the
face and neck. Difficulty breathing and dizziness also. Theres two
types of allergic reactions, a large local reaction and a
systemic reaction. The systemic is more severe but is
uncommon and requires an epipen. A large local reaction is less
life threatening and can be treated with antihistamines.
A toxic reaction has the affects of an allergic reaction but
occurs when people are stung hundreds of times in a short
period and receives more venom than the body can metabolize.
This is usually caused by the Africanized bee.
It usually takes 800 stings to kill a human
Unit 9: Honey Production and Pre-Winter Management

Honey from the flowers to the table

Honey is a viscous sugar solution made from plant nectar.
It contains sinple sugars (glucose and fructose) that do not
require additional digestion.
It also contains proteins (including enzymes), vitamins, minerals
and water

Nectar
Nectar is a light unsaturated sugar solution produced by
flowering plants that contains complex carbs (mainly sucrose).
It is collected and processed by bees to transform it into honey.

Honey Production
Surplus honey crop in a hive is caused from an abundance of
nectar producing plants, suitable weather for honey production
and populated colonies.
Nectar Collection
Bees collect nectar from flowers and transport it (in their
honey crop) to the hive.
In the hive, returning foragers regurgitate the nectar and
pass it to food processing bees that turn it into honey.
Conversion of Nectar into Honey
Bees add invertase (sucrose) to nectar. This breaks down
the bond between the two sugar molecules that compose
sucrose (glucose and fructose)
They evaporate water by regurgitating and exposing nectar
to warm air.
They also use passive evaporation, bees store the ripening
nectar (unripe honey) in comb cells and circulate warm air to
evaporate water.
Once honey is ripe, it is sealed in comb cells with wax
cappings.
Ripe honey is <20% water

Pre-flow management
Nectar flow is the period when flowers are producing enough
nectar for the bees to collect it, transform it and store it as
honey
 o Checking for queen cells (and destroying them) between
brood boxes until the nectar flow starts
o Supering: supers are added to the hive as needed. New
wax on top of the frames tell you when to add more
supers. Supers are placed on top of the brood chamber
when foundation is used in the supers to stimulate bees to
draw comb, then they are placed on top of the other
supers.

The Honey Harvest: Honey is ready for removal when it is ripe or 75-
80% of combs are capped.
Bee removal: bees must be removed in order to harvest the
supers
Physical Methods:
1. use a brush to remove bees from each frame
2. bee escape, which is installed in the hole of an inner cover.
Then the inner cover is placed on top of the brood chamber
and below the supers the bees abandon the supers and move
into the brood chamber. The bees can move from the supers
to the brood chamber but not back.
3. Bee blower
Chemical Methods:
1. use repellants on a fume board. The board is placed on top of
the supers and drive the bees away and into the brood
chamber.
Supers are removed and transported to a honey house for
extraction. Supers are stacked in a warm room to reduce
viscosity of the honey and facilitate its extraction from the combs

The Honey Extraction Process

Steps:
1. Uncapping: can be done with forks, knives or uncapping tools
2. Extracting (combs are centrifuged to extract the honey from
the interior of the cells): an extraction machine uses
centrifuge to force the honey out of the cells. Theres the
tangential extractor in which one of the combs sides faces
the extractors wall and then flipped to extract the other side.
The Radial extractors accommodate frames with the top bar
of the frames facing the extracotrs walls.
Extracted combs are sent back to the apiaries and stores in
cold rooms until they are needed for next season.
The capping spinner removes excess honey from wax
cappings.
3. Cleaning the honey (honey settles in tanks for days)
Bottling Honey
Settled honey still contains impurities that need to be removed
before bottling.
Stored honey crystallizes or granulates (hardens). So the honey
must be in a warm liquid state in order to be filtered.
Prolonged heating of the honey can destroy enzymes and darken
the honey.

Kinds of Honey
Honey can be sold as liquid, granulated, chunk and comb honey.

Composition of Honey
Moisture 17% (Good honey should not have more than 18% moisture)
Fructose 38%
Glucose 30%
Sucrose 1.3%
"Maltose" 7% (calculated as total reducing disaccharides)
Higher sugars 1.4%
Gluconic acid 0.43% (other acids, such as formic, are in smaller
quantity)
pH 3.91 (similar to vinegar!)

Honey also contains enzymes, vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc

Honey Attributes

Aroma, flavour and colour depend on nectar source.

Honey can be developed into 7 different colours (water

white, extra white, white, extra light amber, light amber,
amber and dark amber.

Physical and Chemical Properties of Colonies

 Viscosity is affected by heat and moisture.

Density >1.45

Hygrocopicity (ability to absorb moisture from the air) is

due to d-fructose

Granulation is due to glucose (dextrose) as it is unstable

in liquids and precipitates into crystals. Moisture and heat
stop granulation.

Antibacterial properties are due to:

o Acidity (pH = 3-5)

o Hydrogen peroxide

o Low moisture and hygroscopic environment

Classification of Honeys by Floral Source of Properties

Honey can be classified by floral source (a microscopic

analyses of its pollen grains is used to determine the
plant species from which the nectar was collected).

Munaka honey is obtained from the flowers of the munaka

bush in new Zealand. This honey is highly antibacterial
and used for acid reflux, heartburn, gastritis, ulcers, sore
throats, colds, fever, acne.

Tupelo honey takes long to crystalize and is sold with a

chunk of honey comb inside a jar that is filled with liquid
honey.
Uses of Honey

Honey can be used to sweeten all types of food instead of

using sucrose or it can be used as a medicine.

Pre-fall Management

The two main management activities that should be

performed right after the honey harvest are requeening
and treating colonies for diseases and parasitic mites.
Requeening is done only in colonies with failing queens or
that lose their queens during the season. It must be done
early enough during mid summer to give time for the
colony to accept the queen and also for her to produce a
generation of winter bees. Treating colonies for diseases
and mite control has to be done before the winter
generation of bees is produced. In northern climates this
means august or at the latest the first week of
September.

Fall Management

Fall management helps ensure successful overwintering

which translates into productive bee colonies the
following spring. The main objective of fall management
is to ensure that colonies have adequate populations and
food stores for overwintering and are healthy. These
duties include:

o Inspecting for queen presence

o Determining varroa mite levels

o Inspecting for signs of brood diseases

o Assessing the size of bee populations

o Assessing food sources

 Finding eggs is an indication that the colony is queen-
right. If its queenless it is better to combine it with a
strong colony.

If American foulbrood disease is present, its better to

eliminate the colony.

The newspaper combining method is the simplest way to

combine two colonies. Place a newspaper sheet between
the brood chambers of the colonies to be united. If the
honey stores are insufficient, the colonies should be fed
sugar syrup.

If the colonies are housed in two brood chambers the

queen excluder should be removed before winter the
prevent workers from moving to the upper box, leaving
the queen in the lower box. Isolated queens will freeze
quickly.

Unit 10: Other Products and Benefits from Bees

Beeswax

Hyrdocarbon secretion of bees abdominal glands.

Used as a building material in the hive

Its obtained by melting cappings in a mold. When the

cappings cool, the wax floats and can be removed. The
lower part contains honey.

Its used for comb foundation, candles, cosmetics,

polishes, dental wax, varnish.

Pollen

Male reproductive cell of flowering plants.

 Bees use it as nutrients for brood and newly emerged
adult bees.

Pollen is collected with traps placed at the bottom of the

hives. These traps have hardware cloths on them to
scrape the pollen off bees legs.

Once collected from the cloths, pollen is collected and

used for dietary supplements for humans and animals.

Propolis

A sticky and resinous gum gathered by bees from trees

and shrubs.

Used as sealing, caulking and preserving material in the

hive.

Can be used to reduce the hive entrance.

Obtained by scraping hive parts (frames and boxes) or by

using special inserts with slots or holes that mimic cracks.
They are placed between the upper super and the inner
cover of a hive, and bees will fill the insert spaces with
propolis. The inserts are frozen and the propolis can be
easily removed removed.

Can be used to varnish and polish wood.

Used to be used to treat wounds, burns, ulcers,

bronchontis.

Its used as an additive to toothpaste, mouthwashes,

creams etc.

Royal Jelly

Creamy-white viscous secretion from the head glands of

young workers.
 Nurse bees feed the queen and young larvae with royal
jelly

It contains sugars, proteins, fatty acids and vitamins

Colonies used to produce royal jelly are queen-less and

are frequently supplied with capped brood to maintain
them strong and with lots of young workers.

Larva obtained from a queen-right colony are grafted and

transferred into artificial queen cells that are attached to
a frame. The frame containing the cells is introduced into
a queen-less colony. 3 days later the larva are discarded
and the royal jelly is collected.

Used as a dietary supplement, sold in capsules.

Used in cosmetics

Bee Venom

Bees secrete venom when they sting intruders.

Can be obtained with electrical grids. After receiving an

electric shock bees sting and release their venom, which
dires at the bottom of the hive to be collected.

Used to desensitize people from allergic reactions

It used to be used to treat arthritis.

Pollination of Crops

Pollination is the transfer of pollen grains (containing

sperm cells) from anthers (male organs) to stigmas
(female organs) of flowers in the angiosperms (flowering
plants).
 After being deposited on the stigma of a flower, a pollen
tube grows from a pollen grain and travels down the
style, resulting in fertilization of ovules contained in the
carpel of flowers.

Types of Pollination

Self pollination is the transfer of pollen to flowers of the

same plants or to flowers a different variety, whereas
cross pollination is the transfer of pollen to flowers of a
different variety (apples). Flowers can only be male or
female reproductive organs (monosexual) or can have
both male and female organs (hermaphrodites) such as
apples, citrus, peaches and pears.

Pollinating Agents

Pollination can be abiotic or biotic.

Abiotic is done by non-living means (air and water)

Biotic is done with living organsims.

Entomophily refers to the pollination performed by

insects where zoophily refers to pollination performed by
vertebrate animals.

Bees as Pollinators

Bees have hairs adapted to transport pollen grains with

baskets on their hind legs to carry pollen pellets.

Canada has over 800 bee species most live in Ontario.

Honey Bees as Pollinators

Honey bees are responsible for more than 25% of the

food derived from crops in the western world.
 Bees are not the best pollinators for rate but are the most
important.

Managing Bee Colonies for Pollination

The main goal is to rent strong colonies to renters as

this supplies plenty of foragers

Colonies rented for apples or almonds need to be

stimulated early in the season by feeding them with
sugar syrup or supplemental protein.

Pollination Shortage and Pollinators Decline

Modern agriculture practices have led to the

establishment of monocultures, which demand greater
concentrations of pollinators at bloom time, while at the
same time, negatively impacted pollinators resulting in
their decline.

Pollinator populations are declining due to pesticides,

dieases, removal of nesting sites and food sources etc.

Insufficient pollination increases the vulnerability of some

plant species near extinction

CCD is likely caused from a combination of viruses,

parasites, diseases from transportation, single-source
diets, inclement weather and pesticides.

Stresses colonies have reduced abilities to ward off

diseases and pests.

Unit 11 Diseases and Parasites

Brood Diseases

American Foulbrood (AFB) an infectious and highly contagious

diseased that causes old larvae and pupae to decay. The MOST
serious disease of bees.

Causes: caused by Paenibacillus larvae, a spore forming, gram +

bacterium. Spores are very resistant and remain for several
decades.

Transmission: spreads by robbing and drifting behaviour of

bees. Beekeepers can spread it by sharing cmobs between
colonies and feeding contaminated honey and pollen

Development: The disease is latent on the combs and becomes

apparent as the colony starts building up in population. The
queen lays eggs and the nurse bees infect the larvae with food
containing contaminated spores. The bacterium is absorbed into
the blood resulting in septicaemia (bacterium multiplying and
releasing toxins) causing death.

Symptoms: scattered brood, rotten brood, sunken cappings with

greasy appearance and may be perforated. Affected larvae are
upright in their cell and change morphology and colour. The
become smaller and change colour from white to yellow, light
brown, brown and dark brown depending on how low the larvae
has been dead.

Diagnosis: using a toothpick test (aka ropy test). A toothpick is

introduced into a cell showing signs of AFB. If there is a thread
like projection on the toothpick when its removed longer than 1
inch then there is AFB.

Control: prevention with Oxytet-25 or Oxysol 62.5 mixed with

powdered sugar in the spring and fall. The mixture is spread over
the top of the bars or brood chambers. Tylosin is an antibiotic for
prevention. Prevention must be stopped 4 weeks before honey
flow to prevent contamination of honey. Queens from hygienic
stock produce resistant bees

In Ontario, colonies that have AFB are burned.

 European Foulbrood (EFB) infectious and highly contagious
disease that causes YOUNG larvae and pupa to decay.

Causes: melissococcus plutonius, a bacterium that does not

form spores. It survives in comb walls and initiates infection
when the larvae are debilitated.

Transmission: similar to AFB

Devleopment: similar to AFB but gets worse when colonies get

moved.

Symptoms: scattered brood pattern, but the affected larva are

coiled within the cell. Changes in morphology and colour similar
to AFB. Smells like vinegar. The scale can be easily removed from
the cell after drying.

Diagnosis: the toothpick test is negative. Can be determined in

the lab.

Control: Similar treatments as AFB. The colonies dont have to

be burned because theres no spores and so it can be killed with
antibiotics.

Chalkbrood infectious and contagious fungal disease that

causes young larvae and pupae to harden and die.

Causes: The fungus ascosphaera apis. The severity depends on

the number of infected larvae. The fungus reproduces when
mycelia (threadlike structures that pierce tissues of infected
larvae) of opposite sex overlap. Then spores are formed, that
may be on the walls for 15 years or more.

Transmission: similar to AFB

Development: a larva becomes infected when 3-4 days old. The

bacteria develops in the hindgut. Mycelia develops, pierce larval
tissues and mummify the larva
 Predisposing factors: stress related disease. Cold
temperatures, weak colonies, moisture, poor ventilation and
antibiotics abuse.

Symptoms: brood mummified with chalk like substance.

Sometimes dark in colour due presence of spores.

Diagnosis: mummified brood. Mummies rattle if you shake the

comb. Microscopic spores can be seen with molecular
techniques.

Control: provide colonies with young queen and combs

containing healthy brood and prevent predisposing factors (raise
hives up and tilt forward to reduce moisture, place colonies
where they will not be cold, open hive entrance for air flow, stop
using antibiotics)

Sacbrood: infectious and contagious disease that causes larvae

to die inside molted skin (that creates a sac). Not considered
serious.

Causes: RNA virus (morator aceatalus)

Transmission: Similar to AFB

Development: larvae aquire the virus because infected queens

lay infected eggs or are infected when they eat. Larva die within
a sec (skin) because they cant molt their skin. They die before
pupation.

Symptoms: Observed in open and capped cells contained within

a sac (skin). The head is hardened and ark and die with upright
head.

Control: Provide colony with combs containing healthy brood.

Use hygienic queens

Adult Bee Diseases

 The main adult bee diseases include nosema disease, deformed
wing disease, paralysis and other virosis.

The diseases are hard to classify as bees often dont show

symptoms or the symptoms are common to many other
diseases.

Nosema

An infectious disease of the digestive tract caused by unicellular

fungi. Considered the most common and serious of adult bee
dieseases affecting colony development and productivity.

Infected queens are superseded, leading to weak colonies.

Causes: fungi nosema apis or caranae. Nosema spores are

resistant to disinfectants and are viable for more than a year.

Development: Young bees use theirs tongues to clean combs

soiled with feces for the queen to lay eggs. The spores germinate
in the midgut of the bee and the growing form of the parasite
penetrates epithelial cells where it multiplies, destroying them.
May also be found in the ovaries of queens. Infected workers are
unable to digest and absorve nutrients and thus live shorter lives
resulting in slow colony development.

Symptoms: dwindling and crawling bees. Bees with dark

hairless thoraxes, presence of feces at the entrance.

Diagnosis: Microscopic exam of the bee abdomen. Spores are

counted to determine infection level.

Control: Disinfecting combs with acetic acid or gamma

radiation. Colonies get fed sugar syrup or antibiotics.
Deformed Wing Disease

Infectious viral disease, considered the most damaging of viral

diseases because infected bees have smaller bodies, deformed
wings and live shorter lives. May cause colony collapse.

Causes: Deformed wing virus

Development: infected horizontally through the wounds caused

by varroa and tracheal mites. DWD can also be vertically
transmitted.

Symptoms: small discoloured bees with deformed or absent

wings

Diagnosis: by immunological or molecular tests

Control: requeening affected colonies and controlling varroa

mite infestations.

Paralysis

May be caused by many viruses. Viral infections affect the

nervous system and kill them in days. Not considered a major
problem because not many are infected at once.

Causes: chronic bee paralysis virus (CBOPV), acute bee

paralysis virus (ABPV), Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) and
Kashmir bee virus (KBV).

Development: infected with contaminated food or through the

wounds caused by varroa and tracheal mites. Can be transmitted
by the queen through eggs.
 Symptoms: trembling bees with open wings, crawling at the
hive, showing dark hairless bodies. Sometimes affected bees are
attacked by workers trying to remove them.

Diagnosis: immunological or molecular tests

Control: requeening and controlling mite infestations

Parasitic Mites

Introduction

Mites are 8 legged arthropods found in hives but very rarely

harm the bees.

Varroa and tracheal mites are the worst ones and contribute to
hive loss.

80% of winter colony deaths in Ontario are from varroa mites.

Parasitic mites are relatively new to honey bees which is why

they are so deadly.

Varroa Mite

Considered the main health problem for honey bee colonies.

They attack brood and adult bees affecting colony productivity

and survival.

Results in blood loss, weight loss, suppression of immune

responses, transmission of viral disease and shorter life span.

Transmission: spread by swarms, robbing and drifting bees as

well as comb exchanges between colonies. Queens and workers
carry mites.

Life Cycle: adult varroa females reproduce in worker and drone

brood cells. They like drone brood because the capping period is
longer allowing them to produce offspring. In worker brood, a
female enters a cell and immerses into the larva food
underneath the larva to avoid being detected by nurse bees.
 After the capping, the mites feed off the broods hemolymph and
lays eggs. Adult male and females mate in the cell and the male
dies in the cell but the female leave when the bees emerge.

Symptoms: bees emerge smaller, deformed, and sometimes

wingless. Varroa infestations are associated with the parasitic
mite syndrome as they transmit viral and bacterial diseases to
bees (DMV, AFB etc.). untreated colonies rarely survive the
winter.

Diagnosis: 1) ether-roll assay, place 300-600 bees into a jar and

then spray the bees with ether fluid, if present the mites are
dislodged from the bees and get stuck to the jars walls to be
counted. 2) sticky boards placed at the bottom boards of the
hives to monitor mite fall. The number of mites that fall is
correlated with the level of colony infestation.

Control: Formic acid, thymol or menthol crystals applied on the

top bars of the brood chamber. Breeding programs can develop
resistant bees (buckfast and Russian bees).

Unit 12: Pests and Pesticides

Wax Moths

The most damaging invertebrate pests known to affect

honey bees. They can reduce drawn comb to webbing
and debris.

Types: Greater and smaller wax moths are two types

that damage the comb. The most common is Galleria
melonella. The moth larva feed on wax, honey and
pollen. They prey on weak colonies that cant get rid of
them.

Life cycle: adults mate outside the hive and females

return to the hive to lay eggs on combs. They spin
silken threads and pupate on wooden frames and
boxes. The cycle is complete in 1-6 months depending
on the time of year and location.
 Control: The best control is to keep colonies strong so
they can defend themselves. Empty equipment must be
stored at freezing temperatures during winter to kill the
moths. CO2 also kills the moths. Some chemicals can
be used to control the moths but they are not available
in Canada.

Small Hive Beetle (SHB)

Native of southern Africa, and causes damage to

colonies in the warmer stats of the US. Adults mate
inside hives and females lay eggs in crevices or combs.
Larvae feed on honey and pollen and eventually crawl
out of the hive and pupate in the soil in front of the hive
entrance. Adults emerge and return to hives. The larvae
damage comb and the honey of affected colonies
ferments and spills in the hive as a consequence of
beetle defecation, its odour causes bees to ascond.
Stored honey is also spoiled.

Control measures include coumaphos strips applied to

the bottom boards of hives to kill larvae as they exit the
hive to pupate. Drenches on the ground of the hive
entrances also help to kill pupae. The most effective
measures against SHB are keeping the colonies strong
and clean honey extracting house.

Other Insect Pests

Ants: ants steal honey, pollen and dead bees from

hives. To control them you keep strong colonies and
palce hives on stands coated with disel or mounted in
containers filled with burnt motor oil.

Wasps: species such as yellow jackets steal honey and

feed on dead adult bees. Some wasps are carnivorous
 and may attack and kill bees like the giant hornet
Vespa mandarinia or the Vespa velutina. A strong
colony with entrance reducers is the best defence.

Flies: The bee louse is a wingless fly that lives on the

body of bees and is harmless to them. It feeds on tiny
amounts on nectar from the mouths of bees. The
zombie fly deposits eggs into the body of an adult
honey bee and their larvae devour the bee from the
inside.

Mammals

Mice damage combs and wooden parts of hives when

nesting inside them during winter. Entrance reducer
and strong colonies are the best defence.

Skunks scratch on the hive entrance to attract bees to

the outside to eat them. Boards with nails on the
ground prevent this.

Bears can be very damaging. They tear hives apart to

eat the honey. Electric fences can control this.

Types of Pesticides

Pesticides are grouped based on the insect they kill.

Insecticides (insects), herbicides (weeds) etc. they are
also classified according to their chemical structure ie
organophosphates. Most pesticides are safe for honey
bees but a small portion of htem may cause some
degree of damage to them, mostly insecticide. They are
nerve toxins that interfere with the transmission of
nerve impulses.

Pesticide Safety
 How hazardous a pesticide is depends on the toxicity of
the pesticide as well as the intensity of exposure to the
pesticide. A hazard is a product of toxicity and intensity
of exposure. A pesticide can be highly toxic but without
exposure is not hazardous to bees. But a low toxicity
pesticide can be hazardous with high exposure.

Pesticides Used in Apiculture

Miticides (used to control mites) can contaminate honey

and wax and released at sub-lethal doses with the hive
for long periods of time. Sub-lethal doses of miticides
may impair learning of the bees.

Pesticides That May Harm Bees

Selective herbicides are used in agricultural systems to

kill specific weeds while leaving crop plants relatively
unharmed. Their toxicity to honey bees is minimal but
some can harm bees if they depend on these weeds.

Neonicotinoid insecticides are used for seed and soil

treatment but may also be directly applied to plant
foliage. They are water soluble pesticides to be taken
up by the plants to protect them from insects. They are
not good for non-target insects like bees and are
therefore banned in Canada.

Poisoning Symptoms

The most obvious sign of pesticide poisoning is the

presence of a large number of dead bees on the ground
in the apiary. Other symptoms is the sudden loss of bee
populations in hives. Moribund bees crawl on the
ground trembling, while other show symptoms of
paralysis and lack of coordination in their movements.
They may also have their tongues out and regurgitate
their stomach contents.
Prevention of Pesticide Poisoning

The most effective action is educating the beekeepers

and farmer. Farmers should follow pesticide rules and
use low toxicity for bees. Avoid applying pesticides
during bloom. Beekeepers should wait 2 to 3 days after
application of hazardous pesticides before moving
colonies near treated crops.