Introduction of Honey Bees
Formally known as apiculture, beekeeping pertains to the culturing, caring and management of honey
bees to attain honey and other bee products.
Honey bees are small, highly organized, most fascinating and useful social insects (order
Hymenoptera, Genus Apis, family Apidae) on terrestrial ecosystem, living in colonies and comprising
thousands of female workers (10–15 mm in length), hundreds of male drones (15–17 mm in length) and a
queen (18–22 mm in length) respectively in a single colony, performing various reproductive and survival
obligations within and out of their hive. Their eusociality (structured colony with a queen, workers, and
multi-generational support), sophisticated communication (movement, odor, eye contact, vocal pattern),
and effective use of resources (sense to locate, collect, and store the nectar and pollen, use honey as energy
source etc.) are all factors in their evolutionary success. Pheromones are essential for communication in
almost every colony’s aspect regarding their colony organization, behaviors, reproduction process, and
defense system.
Honey bees are interacting with human being for millennia, with domestication since ancient Egypt,
go on through Greece and Rome, and developing into contemporary beekeeping methods (modern movable
colonies, precise colony monitoring, honey extraction and processing tools, bee breeding etc.) by the 16th
century to produce the honey and pollination of various crops through enhancing yield & quality,
influencing and maintaining biodiversity, and vital for food security. Aside from pollination, honey bees
produce useful products like honey – nectar-derived sugar substance, and beeswax – used to build hives;
both of these products have been utilized since ages in vital commercial products such as food, medicine
(due to the honey’s antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, and antiseptic properties,
candles etc.), honey – an essential food source for bees as well, propolis, royal jelly, bee pollen, and bee
venom.
Scientifically, they are primarily known for producing & storing the nectar derived sweat substance,
otherwise known as honey, and crop pollination. Originally instinctive to Europe, Asia, and Africa, honey
bees have been distributed around the globe (except Antarctica) largely due to human intervention and
environmental adaptability since each subspecies adapted to different environments (from tropical regions
to temperate zones). Nevertheless, honey bees are typically found in areas with plenteous flora (particularly
in the summer season), as these provide the nectar and pollen that bees need to survive and reproduce.
Honey bees’ biology is substantially specified, with workers proving age-related polytheism, where
duties transformed as they become older— starting right from nurse bee to forager bee to collect water,
nectar, pollen and propolis. Physiologically, they confine substantially specified digestive and metabolic
Apiculture Section
system designed for nectar administration and honey manufacturing. Their specialized hypopharyngeal and
mandibular glands release enzymes fundamental for transforming nectar into honey and yielding royal jelly
for young brood and queen bee sustenance. Furthermore, through thermoregulation workers trembling
thermogenesis and managing the colony’s optimal hive temperatures by fanning with their wings and
metabolic heat creation (in the summer and winter seasons respectively), safeguarding brood existence and
overall colony strength according to the various ecological conditions. These dynamic and constructive
adaptations influence the functions and competency of the honey bees.
Behaviorally, honey bees demonstrate intricate division of work and communication. The honey
bees perform waggle dance in order to assist the foragers to transmit knowledge regarding food sources’
position and space. Their foraging behavior, commanded by comprehensive communication processes such
as waggle dance, improves cross-pollination effectiveness, refining fruit and seed productivity. They show
extraordinary learning and memory capacities through visual innovations and olfactory signals for the
navigation. They also show the swarming behavior that is a natural colony duplication and expanding
progression, guaranteed genetic assortment and growth through establishment of additional colonies
particularly when the floral resources are plenteous.
