Beekeeping with stingless bees: a new type of hive

Beekeeping with stingless bees:a new type of hiveMlnrruusJ Sommet;en

Stingless bees, like the honey bees of the genus Apis, live with manyindividuals in a nest where honey and pollen are stored. Althoughthe amounts of honey are generally smaller than in the nests ofhoney bees, people have used stingless bee honey for manycenturies. Comparatively little attention has been given to thesebees in beekeeping development programmes. lt is now realizedthat stingless bees are important resources for the production of aspecial type of honey and other prcducts. A limiting factor in theproduction of stingless bee honey is the way in which domesticatedcolonies are housed. Because of the specific biology and thefu ndamental ly different nest arch itectu re, the tech nologydevefoped for apiculture with A. mellifera and A. cerono does notapply to stingless beekeeping.

What are stingless beestStingless bees (Apidae, Mellponinae) occurin all tropical regions of the world wherethey are abundant in species and numbers;hundreds of species have been described.Egg-laying queens are much larger than theworkers and distinct forms of division oflabour and task specialization occur amongthe members of stingless bee colonies.Whereas honey bees are progressive provi-sioners, stingless bees have a system ofmass-provisioning their brood cells. Duringshort periods, a restricted number of beesdeposit the food in the cell, after which thequeen lays an egg on top of the food. In allthe stingless bee species, this system is char-acterized by a well-defined cycle: periods ofcell-building behaviour alternate with shorubouts of intensive cell-provisioning behav-iour. Variations in this process are discussedelsewhere'.

8ee World 80(2): 70-79 (1999)

There is a large size variation within theMeliponinae. For instance, Melipono fuligi-noso, the largest stingless bee, is more than13 mm long, whereas a dwarf species likeTrigonisco duckel measures only about 2 mm.The size of the colonies varies from a fewhundred individuals in some Meliponaspecies to densely populated nests with tensof thousands bees in species of the genusTrigono. Because of their biodiversity andtheir great abundance in tropical forests,these bees are important for pollination intaopical ecosystems4.

Nest architecture ofstingless beesThe nests of stingless bees are more elabo-rate and complex than those of Apis mellf-ero. Nests of most species are built withinprotective cavities such as hollow trees orin the ground. Few species build their nests

@IBRA

in exposed posit ions. The main bui lding

material is cerumen, a mixture of beeswax

and plant resins. Extensive use is also made

of batumen, a mixture of mud, plant resins,

animal faeces etc. Pure plant resin is also

commonly used and is collected in consid-erable quantities. The narrow nest entranceof Melipono and other genera allows the

nest to be defended by one or only a fewguards positioned in the mouth of the

entrance tube which is often rather elabo-rate.

Within the nest the brood chamber is

always clearly separated from the area of

food storage. In principle, there are two cell

types: brood cells and storage pots (fig. 1).

Storage pots are in most species several

times larger than the brood cells, and Potscontaining honey are generally intermixedwith those that contain pollen. However,pots with honey are sometimes grouped at

the periphery of the storage compartment,whereas pollen pots may be found near the

brood chamber.

71

Most species arrange their brood cells insingle-layered horizontal combs. The pile ofhorizontal combs is surrounded by a seriesof sheets of cerumen. This involucrum sep-arates the brood chamber from the storagecompartment. Brood cells in a clusterarrangement are not surrounded by aninvolucrum. This allows them to fit intoirregularly shaped cavities. Species withintermediate arrangements of brood cells,e.g. irregular combs, are also found.

MeliponicultureBefore early settlers introduced the Euro-pean honey bee to the Americas, stinSlessbees were the only colony-forming andhoney-storing bees in the neotropics. Stin-gless bees are particularly diverse and abun-

dant in tropical America, where their status

as insect pollinators is dominanto.

Because stingless bees are so abundant,honey and other products of these bees

have been used intensively by Indian groups

FlG. l. Detaif of honey pot into which bees discharge nectari Melipona beecheii. Note the size ofthe Pot.

72

from South and Central America. Anthro-pological information is available about tra-ditions relating to the domestication of stin-gless bees by meso-American Indians(partlcularly the Maya). Meliponiculture wasvery important in this part of the world andinteresting management procedures aredescribed. South American Indians, e.g. inthe Amazonian forest, also made importantuse of stingless bees. Ti^aditionally, stinglessbees are kept in hollow logs transferreddirecdy.from the forest. In some regions,particularly in the Yucatan peninsula, Mexi-co, logs are neatly cut and widened beforea colony is transferred (fig. 2).

Recently, meliponiculture has again startedto receive attention in Central Americaafter a period of decline. One of the reasonsfor this renewed interest is the spread ofAfricanized honey bees'. As an interestingcomplementary form of small-scale bee-keeping, local traditional meliponiculture iscurrently being studied and improved.

FlG. 2, Mexico: Maya Indians with stack oftraditional hives ofMefi:pono beecheii in Yucatan,Mexico.

FfG.3' Costa Rica: pots filled with honey and pollen are removed frcm a hive of Melipona beecheii.Thehoney is squeezed frcm the Pots, after which the building material and the pollen are thrown away.

73

Honey harvestHoney is frequently collected from natural

colonies in the forest (honey hunting). This

often leads to the destruction of the nests,

and often to that of the tree as well. During

the harvest, the honey is squeezed out of

the storage pots. Since pots with pollen are

often also found in the honey storage area'

a considerable amount of pollen generally

gets lost during harvest and the emPtiednest material is thrown away (fig. 3). The

nest cavity in a log-hive is sometimes diffi-

cult to reach as the log has only narrow

openings at each end (fig. 4). Part of the

brood may be destroyed when the honey is

taken out, and colonies can suffer badly as a

result of the harvest. Suction devices have

been developed that are used to extract

honey from pots in the log hives, withoutdamaging the pots, and leaving the brood

and pollen stores untouched.

Natural enemies ofstingless beesA major pest for stingless bees is the phoridfly (Pseudohypocero sp.) which can feed onstored pollen and on brood. Flies that havebeen able to invade the nest prefer to laytheir very numerous eggs on the pollen indamaged pots. The maggots can rapidlydestroy the complete nest. Stinsless bee-keepers need to seal parts ofthe hive, otherthan the main entrance, with mud to keepout these files.

Prospects fordevelopmentThe development of tradit ional meliponi-culture provides new opportunities for peo-ple in rural areas, women in particular, andit can improve the economics of manyhouseholds. Many people who have optedout of beekeeping because of the highly

FlG,4, Guatemala: log with nest of Mefipono

beecheii suspended from a roof. After the stoPPer

is removed from the hive the honey Pots are

clearly visible.

defensive behaviour of Africanized honey

bees may be persuaded to take up melipon-

iculture, particularly if floral resources are

abundant.

lmproved and rationalized management ofdomesticated colonies, based on the biolo-gy of the bees, is necessary to increasehoney production, although the amount ofhoney produced by stingless bees will always

be much less than the amount produced byhoney bees. lt should be possible to improvemany aspects of traditional meliponiculture,e.g. the housing of colonies, multiplicationand harvest procedures. Furthermore, theantibiotic activity of stingless bee honeys'may lead to the use of these honeys in med-icinal products. Certainly stinSless beehoney, with its delicate taste, does fit verywell in the present development of niche(export) markets for speciality honeys.

74

In Costa Rica, local people are keenly inter-ested in participating in meliponiculturetraining programmes which have been setup by the Universidad Nacional and the Min-istry/ of Agriculture in co-operation with theBee Research Department of Utrecht Uni-versity. lt is important that the local peoplewho want to take up meliponiculture aregiven reliable information about the devel-opment of individual bees, the productionof queens and drones, colony reproductioncycles, nest construction and foragingbehaviour.

In addition to these perspectives for ruraldevelopment, two other applications of stin-gless bees should be mentioned. The factthat this diverse group of colonyJiving beescan be used for pollination in agro-ecosys-tems is very likely to encourage meliponi-culture. Modern agriculture requires the useof various specific pollinators, e.g. in green-house crops. At present experiments in thisfield are being carried out in several coun-tries. Because stingless bees rank as veryimportant indigenous pollinators ofneotropical and other tropical forests, theyshould be included more often in pro-grammes for the conservation and manage-ment of natural resources.

Hives in current use andtheir limitationsSince the architecture of stingless bee nestsis fundamentally different from that of Apisnests, a 'rational'

hive for housing these beeshas to be very different from the esablishedhoney bee hives. Several types of hives forstingless bees have been described. The'Nogueiro-Neto'

hive is well known. Prof.Paulo Nogueira-Neto started his long seriesof publications about stingless bee biologyand about-his type of stingless beehive 50years ago.". The essential feature of theNogueira-Neto hive is that the food potsare constructed in a shallow tray that

ensures that the bees construct only onelayer of pots in this chamber. More spacecan be provided by stacking additional traysneatly on top of each other. The hive allowsfor the unobstructed vertical developmentof the brood chamber. Upward space forthe growth ofthe brood nest is created bythe fact that each of the stacked trays,except the bottom one, lacks part of thedrawer-floor. The principle of shallow draw-ers for pot construction has been adaptedby other designers of stingless bee hives.Van Veen and coworkers recommended theuse of a box with a tight-sealing lid for hous-ing Melipona beecheii.

Up to now the published types of sringlessbee hives that adapt the Nogueira-Netoshallow-tray principle have the disadvantagethat they are composed of many loose parts(shallow trays stacked verrically) thar haveto be removed when the hive is opened forharvesting honey and for inspection. Whenthese hives are opened (i.e. the trays areremoved) for honey extraction the broodnest is exposed and the involucrum is oftendamaged in the process. The removal of thetrays, whose walls surround the whole hiveas in the Nogueira-Neto hive, generallydamages the protective sealing of a relative-ly large part of the hive. lt is difficult for thebees to seal so many cracks quickly, and thisallows phorid flies to invade the hive. Insome Nogueira-Neto-type hives, whichhave a deep section containing the broodwith honey supers placed above it, thebrood nest is not involved at all during har-vesting, and a suction device can be used toharvest honey from the pots very rapidlycausing minimal trouble to the colony.

The UTOB hiveThe 'Utrecht University - Tobago Hive'(UTOB hive), developed in Tobago byUtrecht University, was designed to satisfythe following major criteria:

75

A

2.5

2.5

broodcnamDer

FlG. 5. Diagm of UTOB hive. A. UTOB hive, assembled with two compartments (brcod chamber andhoney chamber) resting on a wooden bottom tray that is surrounded by a rim (2 cm high). The twochambers fit tightly into the rim of the bottom tny. The hive entrance for the bees is on the side awayfrcm the brood nest.

B. UTOB hive with brcod chamber and honey chamber in position on the basal tray and with lids fromthe chambere removed. The connecting walls sepanting brood chmber and honey chamber have anopening that allows the bees to pass unhindered between the chambere. Only this small opening to thebrood chamber is exposed when the honey chamber is removed.

C. Exploded diagram of the UTOB hive.

76

TABLE 1. Measurements ofUTOB hive for /Vlelipona fovoso on

Tobago. (All internalmeasurements in centimetres.)

Length Width Height

Broodchamber 1 1.00 13.00 13.00

Honeychamber 40.00 13.00 7.00

O The hive should allow honey to be har-vested effectively without damage to ordestruction of pollen pots which are gen-erally constructed intermixed with thehoney pots. This criterion leads to a hivewith the Nogueira-Neto hive tray princi-ple for the honey chamber.

O lt should be possible to remove and sub-sequently open the honey chamber with-out exposing the brood nest and withminimal removal of hive parts. Honeyshould therefore be extracted by open-ing only a part of the hive. The hive con-struction should facilitate the quick andeasy removal and replacement of thehoney chamber.

O The brood chamber should be a separateunit, which can be opened for inspection,but should not need much manipulationwhen the colony is developing well.

O The brood chamber should be just bigenough to satisry a good-sized brood nestand only a few storage pots. The size ofthe brood chamber should force the beesto construct all other pots in the adjoin-ing honey chamber.

O The connection between the honeychamber and the brood chamber shouldbe such that the honey chamber can bedisconnected easily. Removal and replace-ment should cause a minimum of damage

and cracks in order to prevent invasionby phorid flies.

The UTOB hive meets the above criteriaand consists of two main parts (fig. 5 a,b,c):a brood chamber and a single honey cham-ber. These are resting on a wooden bottomtray that is surrounded by a rim. The twochambers fit tightly into the rim of the bot-tom tray. The brood chamber is highenough and broad enough for the completedevelopment of a good-sized brood nest.The wall that separates the brood chamberfrom the honey chamber when both areplaced on the tray has an opening thatallows the bees to pass unhindered frombrood chamber to honey chamber. Theopening is relatively small, so that when the

FlG. 6. Tobago: Honey chmber of UTOB hive caneasily be taken off. Honey is dained frcm pots inhoney chamber after the honey pots have beenpunctured at the top. Pollen pots can remain inposition.

honey chamber is taken away from the tray,

to be opened for honey extraction, only a

small opening is made in the brood cham-

ber.

The honey chamber is shal low but highenough to allow for the construction of a

layer of pots one-and-a-half pots high. This

will generally result in a monolayer of pots.

Sometimes, when more pots are packed

into the honey chamber, pots can be built at

different levels, but not completely on toP

of each other. This means that all pots can

be opened individually without the need of

cutting Pots away.

Honey can be harvested quickly by opening

the top of the pots with a pointed knife.

Draining honey from the honey pots is now

very easy and a fast procedure because of

the low viscosity of this honey (fig. 6). Poa

that contain pollen are opened only to

check their contents and can remain in posi-

tion.

77

The flat honey chamber has a long rectan-gular shape and when in position on the tray,is tightly pressed against the brood cham-ber. The hive entrance is on the side awayfrom the brood nest (fig. 7). From our stud-ies on division of labour: we know that for-aging bees rarely perform any other nestduties, so it is economic for foragers andnest bees in the hive to have their own com-partments. In this way, foragers do not have

to traverse large parts of the nest whendepositing collected food in storage pots or

when transferring food to nest mates.

The UTOB hive has been tested for morethan three years on the island of Tobago (fig.

8). The size of the UTOB hives used wereadapted to house Melipona favoso, a rela-tively small stingless bee with small colonies.The size of a hive for this species living inthese local condit ions is indicated in theillustrations. lt should be stressed thatbecause the different species of stinglessbees vary in body size, they need hives that

FlG. 7. Tobago: Both compartments ofthe UTOB hive are open. Brood nest is well developed in the

brcod chamber and pots full of honey and pollen are arnnged in the honey chamben

78

FlG. 8. Tobago: installation of UTOB hive.

are adapted to their specific needs. Even forthe same species, it may be necessary tovary the size of brood chamber or honeychamber slightly so that it corresponds tothe usual size of e.g. the brood nest, in aspecific area. This means that developing theright size of UTOB hive for a certain speciesof stingless bee in a certain area has to bebased on local experience with the bees.More information on stingless beekeeping isto be found regularly in the Pegone newslet-ter which is published by the bee researchdepartment of Utrecht Universitys.

ConclusionsThe design of the UTOB hive allows forquick and efficient harvesting. lt is veryimportant that the honey storage compart-ment can be removed, opened and replacedwithout disturbing the brood nest and thathoney can be collected without destroyingor removing the honey pots. The pollenpots remain undamaged in their original

position. The removal of the honey cham-ber is easy and leads only to minimal open-ing of the brood chamber. This leads to min-imum disturbance in the brood nest andgreatly reduces the risk of an invasion byphorid flies.

Acknowledgements

This new hive is the result of a long period of collabomtionbetween members of a team working with stingless bees.In particular Luc de Bruijn, Utrechg hx made an importantand nluable contribution to the dselooment of this hire.

Johan nn Veen and HenryArce, PRAM/CINAT UniversidadNacional, Costa Rica, have co-operated for many years inapplied research on stingless bees and in the managementof hives. The results of PMM/CINAT have been essentialfor our underetanding ofthe biologr of stingless bees, theirdomestication and relationships with pests. Fundamentalresearch of importance for this work is currently beingundertaken by Koos Biesmeijer and Judith Slm. FransMeeuwsen has suoervised various Dutch and internationalstudents studying stingless bees in the tropics and at UtrechtUniversity. Gladstone Solomon, president of the TobagoApicultuml Society and many other beekeepers on theisland of Tobago have contributed to this work and havemade the field studies posslble. In particular I should like tothank Jerry Keens Dumas, Chief Technical Officer ofAgriculture, THA, and Edson George of Bon Accod, bothworking on Tobago. On the island of Trinidad we receivedwluable supportfrcm Harryperead Ramsamooj, Rico Clarc,and many other friendly and experienced beekeepers.

ReferencesL BRUUN, LLM DE; SOMMEUER MJ (1997)The

composition and properties of honeys ofstingless bees (Melipona). ln Sommeijeri M J etoL (eds) Perspectrves for honey produa)on in thetropics. NECTAR; Utrecht" The Netherlands;pp 14G168.

2. NOUGUEIRA-NETO, P (1970) A criosdo deobelhos rndigenos sem ferrdo. Editora Ch6carase Quintais; Brazil; 365 pp (2a edition).

3. NOUGUEIM-NETO, P (1997) Vida e aiogoo deobelhas indlgenos sem ferdo. EdigioNogueirapis; Brazil; 446 pp.

4. ROUBf K, D W (1989) kology ond noturol historyoftropicol bees. Cambridge University Press;Cambridge, UK; 514 pp.

5. SOMMEUER, yl ) (1994) Recommendations forthe manipulation of stingless bee colonies.Pegone Autumn 1994: 9-10.

6. SOMMEUER, M J; VEEN, J W vnru; ARCE, H(1990) Beekeeping with stingless bees(Apidae, Meliponinae) in the Central

79

American Region, an alternatire for the killerbee? Al-Sarrce 1 8: 23-24.

SOMMEUER, M J; BRUIN, L L M DE (1994)Intranidal feeding, trophallaxis and sociality instingless bees. ln Hunt, J; Nalepa, C (eds)Nourishment and omlution in insect societies.WesMew Press; pp 39t+18.

VEEN, J W vrN; ARCE ARCE, H G SOMMEUER,M J (1993) Maneio racional de la abeia sinaguii6n Melipono beecheii (Apidae:Meliponinae). I Como transfeiir la colonia deun tronco hueco a una caia" ln Veen, J W van;Arce Arce, H G (eds) PersPectvds poto unoobiculturd sostenible, Memorias del ll Congr.Nac. de Apicultura, lmprenta UNA San Jos6,Costa Rica; pp 4l-45.