BIBLIOGRAPHY CALASIAO, TATCHIN B. APRIL 2009....
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CALASIAO, TATCHIN B. APRIL 2009. Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan,
Benguet. Benguet State University, La Trinidad, Benguet.
Adviser: Lita Molitas-Colting, PhD.
ABSTRACT
The study was conducted at Poblacion Kibungan, Benguet from November 2008
to January 2009 to observe and document the beekeepers practices by working with the
beekeepers.
The following activities were conducted with the beekeepers: food supporting,
brood supporting, adding of frames, reducing of frames, splitting of colonies and
harvesting honey. A total of nine sealed honey combs yielded ranging from 1.0 to 2.5 kg
or an average of 1.75 kg per frame was harvested. One colony was splitted into two
colonies and only three frames were added to each of the splitted colonies. The colonies
were generally healthy.
Beekeeping requires hands-on training to learn the techniques of experienced
beekeepers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………...… i
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………... i
Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………… ii
INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….. 1
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Beekeeping…………………………………………………………………. 2
Bee Pollination……………………………………………………………... 2
Beekeeping Management of Mother Colonies……………………………… 2
Bee Pests and Diseases……………………………………………………… 3
Dividing Colonies…………………………………………………………... 3
Checking Colonies………………………………………………………….. 4
Equalizing Colony Strength………………………………………………... 4
MATERIALS AND METHODS…………………………………………………… 5
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Before the Start of the Study……………………………………………….. 7
Activities Before Honey Harvesting………………………………………... 7
Activities During Honey Harvesting……………………………..………….. 9
Activities After Honey Harvest………………………………………….…. 13
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION……………………... 16
LITERATURE CITED……………………………………………………………... 17
APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………….…… 18
ii
1
INTRODUCTION
Beekeeping is the ability to manage honeybee colonies in such a way to obtain
large adult populations to coincide with the major nectar flow of a given area and utilize
this population to the best advantage for collecting nectar and/or pollinating crops
(Gruszka, 1998).In addition, honey bees are highly valued for their products and services
they provide. Their products such as honey, is a good source of carbohydrates, minerals,
protein, amino acids and vitamins. Other bee products are used as ingredients in food,
drink, and cosmetics. Medicinal properties can be derived from bee venom to cure
arthritis and honey with lemon to cure asthma and cough. The most important
contribution of honey bees is the pollination of crops and maintenance of biodiversity.
Benguet is a suitable place for beekeeping favored by its climate and various
vegetations. Along the road at Poblacion Kibungan, Benguet are mostly chayote
plantations. Other areas are planted with coffee; near the houses are bananas, citrus,
guavas, avocados and other fruit bearing trees. Most of its untilled lands are covered with
perennial weeds and sunflowers making the area a good site for beekeeping.
Benguet beekeepers have different practices. Since the introduction of
Apis
mellifera Linn. at Poblacion Kibungan, Benguet, no study was made to document the
practices of the beekeepers.
This study provides beekeepers, researchers and students additional information
concerning beekeeping practices. The study was conducted to observe and document the
beekeepers practices by working with the beekeepers.
The study was conducted at Hillside, Poblacion, Kibungan, Benguet from
November 2008 to January 2009.
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Beekeeping
Beekeeping is like farming or like any entrepreneurial activities. The prospective
beekeeper must have the interest to raise honeybees and is not allergic to bee stings
(Colting and Ligat, 2007).He should have some knowledge or idea of the life and habits
of bees (Asuncion, 1977).
Finklestein (1999) as cited by Galasa (2007) states in his introductory page in the
Apiculture internet page: “logically then there is no “proper” way to keep bees, no “
right” way to manage for honey production, or to rear queens. The best we can do as
good beekeepers and as good neighbors is to share our techniques, knowledge, and
experience, basing them upon a rigorous foundation in insect biology.
Bee Pollination
Wind pollinates most of the staple foods while vegetables and fruits are dependent
or benefited by insect pollination. Among the insects, the honey bees are noted to be the
most efficient pollinators. Unlike other insects, honeybees visit only one kind of flower
per foraging trip and pollen grains get attached to and or dislodge from their fine hairy
body as they transfer from one flower to another. Most of the honeybee species can be
mass-reared in artificial diets so that the desired adult population can be attained in the
time for flowering of the crop to be pollinated. They can be reared in movable wooden
hives that allows the beekeeper to bring them to places where they are needed (Molitas-
Colting, 2006).
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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Beekeeping Management of Mother Colonies
According to EFRAT (N.D.) the main problem in selection and improving
breeding stock is the difficulty in keeping a queen in a colony forever. When the queen
becomes old, she reduces her egg laying and decreases the amount of pheromones. The
bees want to supersede her by supersede queen cells and it can destroy efforts in many
years. It was further recommended that the beekeeper must reduce the normal rate of egg
laying to keep mother queens for a long period of time. This can be done by placing her
in a small hive box or in a full brood chamber where the queen will lay only on 2-3
combs divided by two vertical queen excluders.
Bee Pests and Diseases
Molitas-Colting (2002) reported that Filipino beekeepers are aware of the
presence of parasites and predators and they adopted some management practices abroad,
as well as management measures which are considered traditional. To earn maximum
profit from beekeeping industry a strict follow up plan of recommended preventive
measures and treatment procedures for the diseases and pests of honeybees should be
done to minimize the losses (Karnatak and Rathour, 2004).
Dividing Colonies
Morse (1985) as cited by Kitongan (2006) suggested that when making a simple
colony division, it is necessary that each unit has eggs or day old larvae from which they
may raise a new queen. There should be sufficient bees to keep the brood in the hive
warm. It is also advisable to give each colony sufficient food to sustain it while the new
queen is raised.
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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Checking Colonies
The beekeeper must asses each colony, determine its needs and apply the
appropriate management. At the same time, note the general condition of the apiary
including the duration of spring flow and likelihood of dearth periods. While checking
the brood chambers, cull any broken or misshapen combs or combs with large areas of
drone comb and replace with good quality worker combs. Culled combs containing
developing brood may be marked and placed on the outside edges of the second brood
chamber, or the third box, to allow the brood to hatch out. These frames can be removed
when the honey is extracted and melted down or destroyed. Bottom boards, frames and
hive covers should be repaired or replaced when broken or rotting (Gruszka, 1998).
Equalizing Colony Strength
Gruszka (1998) added that to boost the strength of a weaker colony, one or two
frames of capped brood are taken from a stronger colony. It is important to shake the bees
off and check the frames for disease before they are installed. The transfer of open brood
is not recommended, as is merely demands more works to the weaker colony. Close
brood will cause colony to expand rapidly and offer more bees to help expand the brood
nest. The frames can be moved with adhering bees if the recipient hive has too few bees
to cover the brood adequately.
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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MATERIALS AND METHODS
The materials that were used were honey bee colonies, smoker, hive tool, saw
dust, match, two frame hand driven extractor, kitchen knife, pail, mesh cloth, basin,
digital camera, ball pen and notebook.
Apiary Site
ELAMFLA apiary is located at Hillside, Poblacion, Kibungan, Benguet. The four
colonies in standard hive were used in the study. The observation was every Saturday
starting from November 2008 to January 2009.
Data Gathered
1. Before the start of the study
a. Condition of the colonies at the start of the study
b. Problems of the beekeepers
2. Activities before honey harvest
a. Food supporting
b. Adding frames
c. Splitting
3. Activities during honey harvest
a. Selecting frames to be harvested
b. Extraction
c. Number of harvested frames per colony
4. Activities after honey harvest
a. Number of frames added per colony
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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b. Brood supporting
c. Reducing frames
c. Condition of colonies
5. Photo documents
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Before the Start of the Study
Condition of the colony at the start of the study. There were four colonies in
standard hive. Colony 1 was twelve framers, colony 2 was nine framers, colony 3 was
eight framers and colony 4 was seven framers. It was located the beekeepers backyard
facing South- East. The colonies were going into honey flow as indicated by the light
yellow extended combs along the top bars in most of the frames.
Problems of the beekeepers. The beekeepers claimed that there was incidence of
decrease in the number of bees. The possible causes mentioned in the questioner were
pests such as mites, bee louse, wax moth, ants, cockroach, and wasp; bee poisoning,
negligence, inclement weather, failing or old queen, and swarming.
Activities Before Honey Harvesting
Food supporting. Food frames were taken from strong and disease-free colony.
The frames were shaken to dislodge adhering bees and placed in the recipient hives. This
was done in the 2nd week of November to support colonies with inadequate food and
avoid the use of sugar syrup to avoid adulteration of honey since feeding of sugar syrup
should cease two weeks before the honey flow.
Adding frames. Frames with wax foundation were added (Figure 1) during honey
flow to avoid honey or pollen bound especially if all frames are filled and bees are
crowded.
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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Figure 1. The colony set up and the adding of frame
Splitting. A queenless colony was splitted into two colonies. A grafted queen
cell was introduced in both colonies. All queen cells were removed to ensure that the
emerging queen was the introduced grafted queen. After a day, the colonies were
checked if the queen emerged. Splitting was done to expand the number of colonies
(Figure 2).
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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Figure 2. Transferring the splitted colony in standard hive
Activities During Honey Harvesting
Selecting frames to be harvested. Honey was harvested in January 10 (Figure 3).
Sealed combs were shaken to dislodge the adhering bees and brought to the extracting
area. Unsealed honey frames were left in the hive for further processing.
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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Figure 3. Selecting honey frames to be harvested
Extraction. Sealed combs were uncapped with the use of kitchen knife (Figure 4).
The uncapped combs were placed inside a two-frame hand driven extractor. The honey
was extracted from the comb by centrifugal force. A mesh cloth was used to strain the
honey from foreign objects (Figure 5). Extracted frames were returned to the hive for the
bees to clean and feed on the excess frames were returned to the hive for the bees to clean
and feed on the excess honey.
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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Number of harvested frames per colony. The number of harvested frames per
colony is shown in Table 1. The highest number of honey frames harvested was in
colony 1 with three frames, followed by colony 2 and 4 with two frames, and colony 3
and 5 with only one frame. Number of harvested frames decreased due to cold
temperature at about 14 º C and below in the moth of December until January.
Table 1. The number of harvested frames per colony
COLONY NUMBER
OF
FRAMES
1 3
2
2
3
1
4
2
5 1
TOTAL
9
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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Figure 4. Uncapping the honey frames
Figure 5. Straining the extracted honey
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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Activities After Honey Harvest
Brood
supporting. Capped brood frames were taken from a strong colony and
disease-free colony (Figure 6). The frames were shaken to dislodge adhering bees and
placed in the recipient hives. Brood supporting was done to support weaker colonies.
Reducing
frames. Honey frames that has less stored honey were uncapped and
scrapped (Figure 7) with the use of hive tool. The frames were placed after the feeder
box (Figure 8) in order that the house bees will transfer the honey to the inner frames.
The purpose of reducing frames is to keep the hive warm due to low temperature at about
14 º C and below.
Figure 6. Brood supporting activities for weaker colonies
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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Figure 7. Uncapped and scrapped honey frames that has less stored honey
Feeder Box
Figure 8. The uncapped and scrapped frames placed after the feeder box
(Top view of a honeybee colony in standard hive)
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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Number of frames added per colony. The number of frames added per colony
from spitting is shown in Table 2. Only one colony was spitted due to lack of queen.
Three frames each were added to the splitted colonies which is colony 3 and 5. No frames
were added to colony 1, 2 and 4.
Condition of colonies. All the colonies were healthy, free from disease,
defenseless and has plenty of food stored. The colonies are queenright, three old queens
and two new queens. The queens’ rate of egg laying increased after the main honey flow
and egg laying is normal. Different stages of brood are present. Colony 1 was ten
framers; colony 2 and 3 was seven framers, colony 4 was eight framers and colony 5 was
six framers.
Table 2. Number of frames added per colony
COLONY NUMBER
OF
FRAMES
1 0
2
0
3
3
4
0
5
3
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Summary
The study was conducted at Poblacion Kibungan, Benguet from November 2008
to January 2009 to observe and document the beekeepers practices by working with the
beekeepers.
The following activities were conducted with the beekeepers: food supporting,
brood supporting, adding of frames, reducing of frames, splitting of colonies and
harvesting honey. A total of nine sealed honey combs yielded ranging from 1.0 to 2.5 kg
or an average of 1.75 kg per frame was harvested. One colony was splitted into two
colonies and only three frames were added to each of the splitted colonies. The colonies
were generally healthy.
Conclusion
Beekeeping requires hands-on training to learn the techniques of experienced
beekeepers.
Recommendation
Attending seminars and trainings in beekeeping is recommended to learn more
techniques.
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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LITERATURE CITED
ASUNCION JR. R. G. 1977. How to Raise Honeybees and Produce Honey. 1308P.
Guevara, Sta Cruz, Manila: Saint Mary’s Publishing. P. 23.
EFRAT, E. (N.D.). The Colony Life: Social Behavior in Honeybees. Ministry of
Agriculture Extension Service, Foreign Training Department. State of Israel. P. 5.
GALASA, E. O. 2007. Management of
Apis mellifera Linn. as backyard enterprise in
Tublay, Benguet. BS Thesis. BSU, La Trinidad, Benguet. P.4.
GRUSZKA, J. (Ed). 1998. Beekeeping in Western Canada. Edmonton, Alberta:
Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. Canada. Pp. 52,-53.
KARNATAK, D. C. and S. RATHOUR. 2004. Bee pests and diseases – a major
hindrance in apiculture. The 9th Asian Apicultural Association (AAA)
Conference, November 1-4, 2008, Hangzhou, China. P. 87.
KITONGAN, J. P. 2006. Suitability of improvised cell cups using local materials in
queen rearing. MS Thesis. MPSPC, Bontoc, Mountain Province. P. 20.
MOLITAS-COLTING, L. 2002. Abstract of studies on honeybees and related fields in
the
Philippines. Department of Entomology, Benguet State University. La
Trinidad, Benguet. P.60.
MOLITAS-COLTING, L. 2006. Bee Pollination in the Cordillera. PARRFI
Professional Chair Papers (1992-2006). Philippine Agricultural and Resources
Research Foundation, Inc. Los Banos, Laguna. P.173.
MOLITAS-COLTING L. and B. S. LIGAT, 2007. Beekeeping for Beginners.
Department of Entomology. BSU, La Trinidad, Benguet. P. 12. (leaflet).
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
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APPINDEX A
Survey Questioner
Name ______________________________
Address ____________________________
Number of Colonies___________________
What are the problems that you have encountered that caused decrease in the number of
bees?
_____ 1.PESTS AND DISEASES
a. What are the pests that you have encountered?
_____ mites
_____ bee louse
_____ wax moth
_____ ants
_____ cockroach
_____ birds
_____ Others (specify) ____________________________________________
b. What are the diseases that you have encountered?
_____ American Foulbrood
_____ European Foulbrood
_____ Sack Brood
_____ Chalk Brood
_____ Nosema Disease
_____ Others (specify) ____________________________________________
_____ 2.BEE POISONING
_____ 3.NEGLIGENCE
_____ 4.INCLEMENT WEATHER
_____5.FAILING QUEEN OR OLD QUEEN
_____6.SWARMING
_____7.OTHERS (specify) _________________________________________________
Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan, Benguet / Tatchin B. Calasiao. 2009
Document Outline
- Practicum on Beekeeping at Kibungan,Benguet
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- ABSTRACT
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- INTRODUCTION
- REVIEW OF LITERATURE
- Beekeeping
- Bee Pollination
- Beekeeping Management of Mother Colonies
- Bee Pests and Diseases
- Dividing Colonies
- Checking Colonies
- Equalizing Colony Strength
- MATERIALS AND METHODS
- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
- Before the Start of the Study
- Activities Before Honey Harvesting
- Activities During Honey Harvesting
- Activities After Honey Harvest
- SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
- LITERATURE CITED
- APPENDICES