International Journal of Animal Science, Husbandry and Livestock Production ISSN: 2141-5191 Vol. 6(2),pp. 292-297, March, 2020. © Advanced Scholars Journals

Review paper

Review on Bee hive Inspection Trend and Honey Harvesting Practice: Ethiopia

Merhun Lamaro Lango

Wolaita Sodo University Department of Animal and Range Sciences, Dawuro Tarcha, Ethiopia

Email address: [email protected]

Accepted 16 March, 2020.

Abstract 

This review was conducted with the objective of putting updated recent information on bee colony inspection trends, purpose of hive inspection, honey harvesting seasons and honey harvesting frequency in Ethiopia. In beehive management (follow up, checking against enemy, cleaning the environment, supplying additional feeding, watering and honey harvesting) bee keepers had experience to different degrees. Beekeepers inspect their bee colony for different purposes i.e. to prevent the loss of honey product due to pest attack, to check if the hive was occupied with bees or not, to prevent against bee enemies, for confirmation of hive occupation by bees and to check the bees’ existence, to clean the areas around the box beehives and to put ash under the hives to avoid small ant and ant like insects from climbing the box beehives to follow up the progress of the bee colonies problems, examine the condition of brood, check food store, attachment of top-bar with the wall of hives, honey ripe, pests and predators attack and look for sign of diseases. Beekeepers mostly practice external hive inspection to different degrees. Majority of beekeepers in different districts/zones of Ethiopia visit their bees daily while some of them visit their bees at every 2 to 5 days.  Internal hive inspection is almost not practiced by most of the farmers due to the difficulty of fixed comb of the traditional hives for internal inspection.  Unlike traditional bee hives, transitional and modern bee hives have movable combs so that the beekeepers easily can open their hives and inspect bee colonies.

 Key words: Bee Colony, Beekeepers, Ethiopia, Hive, Honey