Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Wherever bees can live, beekeeping is practised and has been for thousands of years.
The western honey-bee was introduced to many areas of the world as the discovery
of new lands gathered pace. The USA, South America, Australia, Canada and New
Zealand didn't have
Apis mellifera
until colonization began, and these useful insects
were taken there by the colonists. Wherever they went, the bees spread and became an
indispensable addition to local agricultural operations.
Hives and other equipment - along with management methods - vary from the very
advanced to the incredibly primitive, even within countries. Spain, for example, has
advanced beekeeping operations that can compete with any in the world, but it also has
some of the most primitive, with beekeepers using old cork hives with cross sticks in
them for the bees to hang their combs on. Many beekeepers use the Layens hive, which
is truly awful (I tried a couple of them) and, while they are easy to close and load up, the
bees inside them are hot and crowded and swarm like crazy.
In Central America, prior to European honey arriving with the Spanish, the local
'honey' bee was the stingless melipona bee. These were kept in tubular log hives, gourds
or cylindrical pot hives and were regarded as the messengers of the gods by the Mayan
Indians. Special religious ceremonies were conducted at various times of the year, and
the Mayan Honey God presided over everything. These bees were a source of great
wealth, and the honey from them was used as a trading commodity. Each hive would
produce only some 2 kg (4 lb) per year of honey, and so many hives had to be kept to
ensure a good and plentiful harvest. The arrival of the more efficient
Apis mellifera
almost caused the abandonment of stingless beekeeping, but recently there have been
concerted efforts to devise more efficient hives for these bees and to encourage their use,
not least because their honey may well hold a host of medical secrets.
These bees also have ways of conducting their nest mates to food sources. They leave
odour trails, and scientists have found that some of these bees use abbreviated odour
trails to prevent competitors from following them. Stingless beekeeping is now a hobby
practice in Australia and, hopefully, it will grow in tropical areas. There is really no end
