What is Beekeeping?
Beekeeping or Apiculture is the process of maintaining of Bee colonies or hives so that Honey or other commercial products can be harvested from them.
Apiculture is also practiced as a part of agriculture all over India for many years. This is because, maintaining a beehive does not require a huge amount of money or labor. It does not even require a fertile land. Plus it gives many benefits to farmers as many plants and crops depends on bees for pollination. Honey and other products of a bee farm like Beeswax, Royal Jelly, Bee Venom are of commercial value and can provide additional income to farmers.
Queen Bee, Drone Bees, Worker Bees
Queen is the fertile female of the bee colony. Her main role is to lay eggs for her hive. A queen can lay up to 1000 to 1500 eggs in a day depending upon food availability.
Drone bees are the males of the hive and are responsible for mating with queen. After their mating session with queen, drone bee dies. Drone bees are generally heavy or bulky as compare to queen or worker bees.
Worker bees are the most numerous members of the hive. Under normal conditions, they are not capable of producing eggs. The success of the honey bee farm depends on the number of the Worker bees.
How to start a bee farm?
A little training can go a long way and you can acquire the basic training from your local bee keeping authorities or from Government organizations like National Bee Board under the Agriculture Department and Central Bee Research Training Institute provides training to farmers in apiculture. You can also gain hands on experience by working with already bee keeping farmers.
The best time to start a bee farm is during summer as blooming in flowers are there for sufficient nectar and pollen. You should always procure a bee colony from a reliable source.
Criteria for a Bee Farm in Urban and Agricultural areas:
1.Nectar and Pollen producing plants should be near to the colony in abundance. A radius of 3-8 kilometers should be a safe bet.
2.A clean source of water is of vital importance. Water is needed for diluting honey by bees and also for regulating the temperature of the Hive.
3.It should be far away from areas with high pesticides or insects. Pesticides or insecticides should not be heavily used near a bee hive.
4.During summer, colonies should be kept in shaded areas, protecting them from direct sunlight. In winters, hives can be exposed to partial sunlight.
Equipment’s needed for a Bee Farm:
1.Gloves made of soft leather or canvas cloth are used to protect hands from bee sting
2.Bee Veil is used to protect the face and neck from stings.
3.Hive tool is used to help move apart the hive frames inside the bee colony.
4.A container provided for honeybees to make a nest for themselves.
The other factor that needed consideration is Beekeeping methods. As for beekeeping methods there are mainly two categories
1.Traditional methods like Clay pots, Wall Hives, Tree trunks.
2.Modern methods with equipment’s like Hive frame, Super chamber, Floor board, Queen Excluder.
After determining which method you should go for, you can easily take training from local bee farmers, govt. bodies as mentioned above or work with already beekeeping farmers and learn the methods.
Bee Enemies : Pests and Diseases
Mites like V. jacobsoni and Tropilaelaps clarae are the most serious pest of bees. Wax moth, wasps, birds are other dangers to your bee hives
Chalkbroad caused by fungus, Sac brood, American and European foul brood diseases. These are most common diseases that affect bee colonies.
Profit and loan availability for the business:
Honey is the main product that can be sold commercially by the Beekeeper to clients, companies or individuals to gain profits. The demand of raw and pure honey is rising in the country. If you have some contacts and resources, you can put the honey in a bottle and sell it under your brand or you can sell this bottled and organic honey yourself to grocery stores, restaurants and other food companies. As you may already know the demand and cost of anything organic are going up and up. Other products from which you can gain more profits are Royal jelly, Bee venom, Bee wax and pollen.
If you do not have sufficient capital to start your business, then govt. is providing help by giving loans through nationalized banks. You can easily get loans for 2 to 5 lakhs as this industry falls under SSI category.
Read More Articles: Why to Opt for Bee-Keeping ?
