Apiculture (0+1)

Different Spices of Honey Bees

i. Rock bee, Apis dorsata F. (Fig. 2.1)
ii. Little bee, A. florea F. (Fig. 2.2)
iii. Asian bee, A. cerana F. (Fig. 2.3)
iv. European bee, A. mellifera L. (Fig. 2.4)




Characteristics of four well known species of honey bees:

	Apis dorsata	Apis florea	Apis cerana	Apis meelifera
Nesting	Open nesting. Builds single large comb (ca 1m2) attached to branches of trees or rocks etc.	Open nesting. Builds single small comb (ca size of palm of hand) fixed to branches of bushes.	Cavity nesting. Builds many parallel combs in cavities of tree trunks, hollows of rocks, poles and other covered places	Cavity nesting and similar in habits to Apis cerana and builds parallel combs.
Distribution in India	Found in plains as well as hills up to 1600 metres above sea level. Highly migratory.	Found in plains up to 300 metres above sea level. Highly migratory.	Found throughout India having 3 subspecies	Exotic bee to India. Introduced successfully in 1962. It has many subspecies (more than 23)throughout world
Size	Biggest honey bee (16-18mm)	Smallest Apis bee (9-10mm)	Medium size (14-15 mm)	Medium size (14-16 mm)
Swarming/ Absconding	Strong tendency	Strong tendency	Strong tendency	Only in African sub species
Temperament	Furious	Mild	Furious	Gentle except African sub species
Average honey yield per colony/year	40 kg (wild bees; cannot be domesticated)	500 g (wild bees; cannot be domesticated)	5 kg (Hive bees; can be domesticated)	15 kg Hive bees; can be domesticated)
Method of honey extraction	By squeezing (unhygienic)	By squeezing (unhygienic)	By centrifugal honey extractor from the hived bees (hygienic).	By centrifugal honey extractor from the hived bees (hygienic).
Number of cells/10cm comb (worker cells)	18-19	32-36	21-25	17-19