Tropical Beekeeping

The majority of bee colonies spend at least part of the year in the extreme South of the United States. Also, most queen and worker bees are produced in this region then shipped throughout the country.

Honey flows in tropical areas tend to be unpredictable, geographically patchy, and involve more plant species.

Tropical bees consistently show greater numbers and higher proportions of workers foraging for pollen.

Tropical workers also spend less time inspecting flowers and switch flowers more readily.

Evidently, intense group foraging is not as successful in tropical regions where floral pollen is patchily distributed.

Everything from worker behavior to colony growth and reproduction happens at a much faster pace in tropical bees.

Tropical bees have shorter developmental times than temperate bees. They are 10% smaller and 30% lighter.

Individuals seem to work harder and die younger. Workers show average life spans of only 12 to 18 days during the dry season.

Difficulty in preventing tropical colonies from swarming is the single most important management problem facing beekeepers working these bees.

Tropical colonies put their energy into reproduction, and require less stimulation to swarm than temperate bees.

The prime swarm leaves shortly after the first queen cell is sealed. The first virgin queen emerges about a week later, and leaves with an afterswarm.

The workers continue to permit virgin queens to emerge and leave, one at a time, with afterswarms, until the worker population is depleted.

An average of 30% of tropical colonies abandon their apiaries each year.

Seasonal absconding results from a scarcity of nectar or pollen, primarily during the wet season.

Absconding swarms do not scout for nest sites, but typically travel for undetermined distances before settling at an interim clustering site.

Feedings do not prevent absconding.

Tropical bees are more defensive because they experience a higher risk of predation than their temperate counterparts.

The threshold for stinging in individual bees is considerably lower for tropical bees.

Tropical bees are particularly sensitive to alarm odors, and produce a greater amount of alarm odor than do temperate bees.

Our understanding of the marvelous adaptations of tropical bees gives us the benefit of foresight, flexibility, and cooperation.

Apiary sites should be chosen carefully. Colonies benefit from being spaced apart.

Nests are not limited by cavity size, but by the preference of the bees. Smaller quantities of honey may be removed more frequently from such colonies.

The likelihood of multiple swarming events can be reduced by performing preventative splits, and culling excessive queen cells.