Beekeeping

I

Introduction

Beekeeping, also apiculture, management of colonies of bees for the production of honey and other hive products and for the pollination of crops. Beekeeping usually refers to the husbandry of the European honey bee, but it may also refer to management of other species of social bees, such as the Indian honey bee, the dwarf honey bee, or stingless bees. Groups of hives are called apiaries, and a beekeeper may also be called an apiarist or apiculturist.

An ancient and widespread profession, beekeeping is believed to have originated in the Middle East. The early Egyptians kept bees and traded for honey and beeswax along the East African coast several thousand years ago. Until 1851, beekeepers harvested honey and beeswax by killing the colonies inhabiting the hives. In that year the American apiarist Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth discovered the principle of “bee space”: Bees leave spaces of about 0.6 cm (about 0.23 in) between wax combs. In artificial hives, if this space is left between adjacent comb frames and between the end frames and the walls of the hive, each comb will remain unattached to neighboring combs. Langstroth’s discovery made it possible to remove individual frames from a beehive and to harvest honey and wax without destroying the colony. It also became possible to control disease and to maintain a larger number of colonies.

Beekeepers worldwide earn their living from the sale of the honey and beeswax their hives produce, but the most important contribution of bees to the economy and the environment is their pollination of fruits, vegetables, and pasturage. In some countries, beekeepers are paid for their pollination services.

II

Beekeeping Methods and Equipment

Apiaries require an ample supply of nectar and pollen and are usually kept where nectar-producing plants such as clover or eucalyptus are abundant. Some beekeepers have migratory apiaries and transport their bees to suitable forage. Apiaries may consist of from 1 to 200 hives, depending on the means of the beekeeper and the flower resources available. Commercial beekeepers who make their entire living from bees often keep hundreds or thousands of hives.

---

---

Most North American beekeepers have standardized their equipment, using boxes (called supers) that hold ten wood-bound comb frames. The standard hive is called the Langstroth hive, and its dimensions are those described by its inventor in 1851. Present-day apiculturists believe that the honey bee is an adaptable animal that can survive under a variety of situations and conditions.

Insecticides kill and weaken thousands of colonies each year. Beekeepers who rent their colonies for pollination also expect some loss of bees that drink from contaminated pools. Honey itself is generally free from insecticides, because when a food source becomes contaminated, the colony is killed or weakened, and so the bees cannot produce a surplus for harvest. Other problems facing beekeepers include parasitic mites (see Parasite; Africanized honey bees); bacterial, fungal, and viral diseases; and loss of forage due to habitat destruction by humans. Some of these factors, alone or most likely in combination, may be able to cause a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder, in which there is almost an entire absence of adult bees. The queen bee and juvenile bees may be present in the hive, but the number of adult worker bees is insufficient to maintain the colony.

The United States experienced its worst case of Colony Collapse Disorder beginning in 2006. About 23 percent of the nation’s estimated 2.5 million commercial bee colonies were affected, reporting an average of 45 percent of bees wiped out. By 2007 losses of from 50 to 90 percent of colonies were being recorded among commercial U.S. bee operations. In September 2007 a team of researchers proposed a possible association between the disorder and the Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), which was found in affected hives the team studied. IAPV was first seen in Israel in 2004. The virus had not been detected in the United States before and may have been introduced through bees imported from Australia beginning in 2004.

III

Economics

At the beginning of the 21st century, prior to the advent of the Colony Collapse Disorder in 2006, the United States produced about 78 million kg (171 million pounds) of honey. The states of North Dakota, California, Florida, Minnesota, Montana, Idaho, and New York led the nation in honey production. Average commercial production was 31 kg (68 lb) of honey per colony, and 9 to 18 kg (20 to 40 lb) of beeswax for every ton of honey harvested.

Commercial beehives were responsible for pollinating one-third of the nation’s agricultural crops, particularly apple, peach, pear, and cherry orchards. The almond tree crop in California was almost entirely dependent on bee pollination.

China, the United States, Argentina, Turkey, Ukraine, Mexico, and Russia are the world's leading honey-producing countries. The leading exporters are China, Argentina, Mexico, and Germany. The leading importers are Germany, the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom.