A Study on Method Development in Hygienic Behaviour in Honeybee Colonies (Apis Mellifera L., 1758)

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the better hygienic behaviour determination method that is used in controlling against bee diseases and pests. Total forty honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera anatoliaca) were used and they were randomly divided into two groups (each group consists of twenty colonies) in first year. Liquid nitrogen method was used in the first group' colonies and pin-killing (needling process) method was used in the second group‘ colonies to determine the effectiveness of methods for hygienic behaviour. Average clearance rate was found as 66.25% and 78.10% in the first (Liquid nitrogen application) and the second (pin-killing) groups respectively. In the second year, forty colonies were divided into five equal groups and each group consisted eight colonies. The first group consisted of 9 frames bees in standard langstroot hive (10 frame capacity), the second group consisted of 5 frames bees in standard langstroot hive (10 frame capacity), the third group consisted of 5 frames bees in ruşet hive (5 frame capacity), the forth group‘s consisted of 3 frames bees in ruşet hive (5 frame capacity) and the fifty group consisted of queen mating hive. The pin-killing (needling process) method, tested in first year, was used for all groups to determine the effectiveness of colony population and the size of hive. Average clearance rates of the first, second, third, forth and fifth groups were 70.54%, 58.38%, 70.63%, 54.96% and 58.21% respectively. The colonies that belonged to the pin-killing (needling) group showed a higher cleaning behaviour rate than the other colonies. The density of bees in hive had an important effect on the clearance rate of colonies. The colonies of group 1 and group 3, which had the more density of bees in per unit area, had the higher clearance rate than the other groups.