Introduction to Beekeeping

Bee keeping,

is the science & the art of keeping bees, to obtain bee honey & other by products or for the purpose of pollination

Bee keeping,

• Provide valuable food, especially to rural populations
• Provide remunerative employment
• Earn much needed foreign exchange
• Require no large investment
• Contribute to pollination and thus crop production
• Require practically no space on the farm
• History of Beekeeping
• Hunting of bee honey from the jungle was practiced before earliest written history
• In the era of Pharaohs, Egyptians kept bees in tree logs and straw baskets

• By moving colonies up & down along the Nile river banks, they originated the “Migratory Bee Keeping”

• Shepard’s introduced bee keeping to Europe

• When Europeans colonized America they brought the honey bee with them

Inventions

• American beekeeper, Lorenzo Lansgstroth discovered the “Bee Space” in 1851

• He made “Hive Box” with movable frames

• Johannes Mehring invented ‘Bee Comb foundation sheet’- (1857, Germany )

• In 1870, Mosses Quinby of New York State developed the first ‘Bellows type Smoker’

• In 1885, ‘Honey extractor’ was invented by Von Hruschka of Austria.
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Benefits of Bee keeping

• Bee honey
• Bees wax
• Pollination
• Bee pollen
• Royal Jelly- Nutritional food produced by worker bees for larvae
• Apitherapy

Which helps in treating,

• Bronchitis
• Asthma
• Allergies
• Chronic lung diseases
• Susceptibility to infections
• Weakened immune system
• Respiratory tract infections
• Chronic headaches, migraines
• Stress, Depression
• Bee venom

Bee keeping Equipment

• Bee box
• Smoker
• Bee vail
• Honey extractor
• Swarm Catcher
• Protective cloths

Market & Demand

• 60 mt of bee honey produced annually in Sri Lanka (bee boxes + from jungle)
• 30-50 mt bee honey imported annually
• Huge demand for bee colonies
• Huge demand for bee keeping equipment
• Huge demand for bees’ wax

Potential for Bee Keeping in Sri Lanka

• Bee keeping can be operated all over the island
• Scarcity of bee honey in the local market
• Housewives, teenagers and elders can participate in bee keeping
• As a self-employment
• Source of extra income
• As a medicine & a nutritious food source

Special Thanks to : All the staff memebers at Bindunuwewa bee keeping unit, Bandarawela, Sri Lanka