Effective Methods of Beekeeping

Beekeeping (or apiculture, from Latin: apis "bee") is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives by humans. A beekeeper (or apiarist) keeps bees in order to collect their honey and other products that the hive produces (including beeswax, propolis, pollen and royal jelly), to pollinate crops or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers. A location where bees are kept is called an apiary or "bee yard". Depictions of humans collecting honey from wild bees dates to 15,000 years ago; efforts to domesticate them are shown in Egyptian art around 4,500 years ago. Simple hives and smoke were used and honey was stored in jars, some of which were found in the tombs of pharaohs such as Tutankhamun. It wasn't until the 18th century that European understanding of the colonies and biology of bees allowed the construction of the moveable comb hive so that honey could be harvested without destroying the entire colony. There are more than 20,000 species of wild bees. Many species are solitary (e.g., mason bees, leafcutter bees (Megachilidae), carpenter bees and other ground-nesting bees). Many others rear their young in burrows and small colonies (e.g., bumblebees and stingless bees). Some honey bees are wild e.g. the little honeybee (Apis florea), giant honeybee (Apis dorsata) and rock bee (Apis laboriosa). Methods of beekeeping involves Traditional beekeeping which uses a fixed comb hive, Modern beekeeping which uses a adjustable hive as well as Natural beekeeping.