Beekeeping for non PP students (PP 201)
Jordan University of Science and Technology
Faculty of Agriculture
Department of Plant Production
Instructor: Prof. Dr. A. Al-Ghzawi
Beekeeping terminology
Apidology: The science of studying of honey bee.
Apiarist: The man who deals with bees
Apiary: A place where you keep several hives in one location
Hive: The box where you keep the colony of bees
Colony: Family of bees living together
Significance of beekeeping
A. From socio-economic point that:
1- It creates part- or full-time rural employment and
increase rural income,
2- Minimal investment and imported equipment are
required.
3- It has a complementary rather than competitive work.
4- Products of beekeeping are highly valued. Honey, pollen
grains , bee wax, royal jelly, propolis, bee venom,
workers of honey bees, queens and brood of honey
bees.
5- Stimulates community spirit and social contact and helps
rural people to become self- dependent.
B. Significance of beekeeping from health point of view
The products of honey beehive (honey, pollen, wax, royal jelly and
propolis) have nutritional and medical applications
C. Significance of beekeeping from environmental point of view
Honey and beeswax can be produced in semi-arid areas that are unsuitable for
any other agricultural use
The beekeeper does not need to own land in order to keep bees
It improves the ecology by increasing plant reproduction
Bees pollinate at least 80 percent of the food crops we rely on for sustenance,
resulting in increasing quantity and quality of the crops
Value of the bees in pollination exceeds by 10-20 times their value in the
production of honey and beeswax
Significance of Beekeeping
Beekeeping in the developing world (third word)
Most beekeepers in the developing countries are
hobbyists and beekeeping is generally considered a
minor industry.
Beekeeping helps raise the standard of living for the
members of the community.
Beekeeping
programs are encouraged by local
authorities in some countries to develop the local
communities via the introduction of beekeeping
packages within social security.
Beekeeping in developed countries (industrial world)
Beekeeping may generally considered a major economic
enterprise in which large capital is invested with a high
economic return
Beekeeping is much more important than the value of
the beeswax and honey produced annually, Because of
its
interrelationship
with
agriculture
and
the
dependency of fruits and vegetable growers on bees
pollination..
History of Beekeeping
We can divide the history of HB keeping into three
main periods:
1-Beekeeping up to 1500.
2- Beekeeping from 1500 to 1851.
3- Beekeeping from 1851 and after
Bee keeping up to 1500
tributed long before man appeared on the earth (15 millions ye
learned to collect honey by hunting from natural colonies in ho
ces (Honey hunting).
omestication of bees) dates back at least 4,000 ago
tiated when man learned how to take care and supervise the
nfined until the 16th century on the ancient world
f time HB were confined in the old world Asia Africa and Europ
de from several materials collected from the nature as mud, wo
available substance.
is still used now by many countries.
Beekeeping up to 1500
Pictures of humans collecting honey from nests of wild bees found in nature
such as cavities of trees and rocks, date to 15,000 years ago
Honey hunting
Materials used for construction of traditional beehives
Cut tree trunks (used in Great forest in Europe)
Jars made ​of pottery (used in the Middle East)
Cylindrical tube made of clay (used in Ancient Egypt)
Baskets made of straw (used by farming communities in Asia)
Hives made of cut tree trunks
Hives made of straw
Hives made of pottery
Beekeeping between 1500-1851
- Scientific and technical developments make it easier
to understand more about the biology and life cycle
of bees.
Franz Huber 1750: construct the first hive with one
frame
- The spread of honey bees to America and Australia.
Beekeeping from 1500 - 1851
This period was characterized by three major events including;
1. Discovery of fundamental facts about bees
Bee queen is female, her primary function is reproduction (egg-laying)
Worker bees are also female whose reproductive organs do not function and under
normal hive conditions do not lay eggs
Use a microscope and dissection to draw the morphology of honey bee and to
understand its internal biology (anatomy)
Queens are reared from eggs of young larvae that do not turn 3 days age
Process of wax production by worker bees was described
Honey bees were recognized to collect nectars and pollen grains from plants in the
field and to play a role in plant pollination
2. Developments of beekeeping techniques
There were many attempts to devise ways of
taking the honey from hives without killing the
bees
Several colonies were united together in a single
hive for overwintering
In large hives like those made of logs or cork, the
lower third of all combs was harvested using
knife, the reminder constituted as a permanent
brood nest
Use of hives made of wooden planks (boards),
and collateral hives had boxes at the side for
honey storage
Invention of hives with top bars and frames
Production of the first removable-comb hive to be
used on a commercial scale
3. Spread of honey bees over the world
Prior to 1500 there were no honey bees in the New World (Americas, Australia and
New Zealand)
Honey bee had accompanied man on his major migrations in each part of New
World
Note: First establishment of honey bees in New World
North America: in 1638
Australia: in 1822
New Zealand : in 1842
Beekeeping from 1851 and after
Beekeeping was settled all over the world
Development of modern Langstroth’s hives with movable frame that are currently
used widely in many regions of the word
Use of movable frames led to the invention of bee wax foundation by Mehring in
Germany in 1857, and ensured that the bees build regular comb in the frames
To extract the honey without destroying the comb, centrifugal honey extractor was
invented in Australia in 1865 by Hruschka
Perfection of the queen excluder in 1965 enabled the beekeeper to keep the queen
and the brood out of the honey chamber.
Karl von Fresh 1972 :
Got Nobel prize
Movable frames
Beewax foundation
Beekeeping development
in Jordan
o From the dawn of history till year 1976, old traditional bee hives with non
o The modern wooden langstroth’ bee hives with movable
frames were first introduced into Jordan in 1976 via “Orient
Project” sponsored by USA
o Modern beehive gradually replaced all traditional local bee
colonies
o Despite the increase in beekeeping recently, Jordan is still
importing large quantity of honey (3 times more than local
production)
Development of Beekeeping in Jordan
Year
1975
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
No. of Primitive hives
30000
5000
1500
1500
1000
1000
500
Modern hives
0
2000
17000
20000
30000
30000
30000
Average Prod. In ton
45
100
150
120
170
180
150
Consumption
200
400
450
550
600
600
600
Ratio P/C%
23
25
25
20
28
30
25