February 10th, 2011 
admin 
Beekeeping or apiculture is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect honey and beeswax, 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”.
OVERVIEW
At some point humans began to domesticate wild bees in artificial hives made from hollow logs, wooden boxes, pottery vessels, and woven straw baskets or “skeps”.Beekeeping, or apiculture, is concerned with the practical management of the social species of honey bees, which live in large colonies of up to 100,000 individuals.
Collecting honey from wild bee colonies is one of the most ancient human activities and is still practiced by aboriginal societies in parts of Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. Some of the earliest evidence of gathering honey from wild colonies is from rock paintings, dating to around 13,000 BCE. Gathering honey from wild bee colonies is usually done by subduing the bees with smoke and breaking open the tree or rocks where the colony is located, often resulting in the physical destruction of the nest location.
Castes of Bees
- Workers - Reproductively underdeveloped females that do all the work of the colony.
- Queen – A fully fertile female specialized for producing eggs. When a queen dies or is lost, workers select a few young worker larvae and feed them a special food called “royal jelly.” These special larvae develop into queens.
- Drones – Male bees.
PRODUCTS FROM HONEY BEE
Honey from honey bee is the major product.
Other hive products are pollen, royal jelly and propolis, which are also used for nutritional and medicinal purposes, and wax which is used in candlemaking, cosmetics, wood polish and for modeling.
Propolis is a wax-like resinous substance.
Royal jelly is a type of bee secretion that aids in the development of immature or young bees.
THE ENTERPRISES
The enterprise is based on the conversion of nectar of flowers into honey by the honeybees. The worker honeybee collect the nectar from the flowers over a period of time and convert it into edible honey. The honeybees store the final product in the combs of the hive. The conversion of nectar into honey by the honeybees is by a biological process. The harvesting of honey from the forest has been in practice since long and huge profits from this enterprise promoted rearing bees in the farms. In the recent past this practise has been adopted gradually by rural communities while diversifying their agricultural practises.
MARKET POTENTIAL
The products of be keeping are honey and wax. These are the sources of income from local market and can be marketed from the local haat to a big market. Honey has been used extensively by the pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies as an ingredient of medicines and cosmetic. Most of the medicines of ayurveda are honey based. Honey is also used as an astringent. Even at an household level ,honey is consumed daily due to its medicinal properties as has been recommended in the traditional medicinal system. It is also considered beneficial for diabetic patients. Wax is another product from this enterprise which has a flourishing rural market due to its different uses.
Production of honey from farmlands can be a secondary activity for farmers as it requires less time as compared with other activities and can be carried out by women and children in a house.
Beekeeping Income Sources
Yet Pakistan is not able to export honey and its product on large scale because it is not self sufficient in this field.Depending on the part of the country and other environmental factors, a typical colony of bees can produce 80 to 120 pounds of surplus (harvestable) honey and 10 to 18 pounds of pollen in an average year. Besides selling honey and other bee products — such as beeswax, pollen, royal jelly, propolis, bee venom, or queens — beekeepers can also provide pollination services (hive rentals) to farmers and orchardists.
On a more modest scale, keeping just a few hives can generate some income, especially with creative retailing of honey, honeycomb, wax, and pollen. In addition, a bee colony can provide valuable pollination on the producer’s own farm.
Small-scale beekeepers often ask how they should determine a price for their honey. Prices around the country vary. However, these reports reflect the price of honey that is being produced by large-scale beekeepers and do not indicate what small beekeepers should charge for their honey. The best sources of local price information will probably be other local beekeepers. And some consumers are willing to pay more for value-added products — such as flavored honeys, honey wine, honey beer (mead), and packaged honey gifts — than for plain honey.
Following preparations are required for starting beekeeping
-
Hive:it is the first important part for apiculture.it is the house of bee.
- Smoker : It is the second important piece of equipment. This can be made from a small tin .We use the smoker to protect ourselves from bee stings and to control the bees.
- Cloth: to protect our eyes and nose from stings at the time of work near the apiary.
- Knife: It is used to loosen the top bars and to cut of the honey bars.
- Feather:To sweep the bees from the comb.
-
Queen Excluder:
- Match box:
HONEYBEE RESEARCH INSTITUTE (PARC)
Honeybee Research Institute (HBRI) has practically promoted beekeeping with Apis mellifera in the country. Several attempts were made for introduction of A. mellifera by various scientists from 1927 to 1976 but without any success. However, after 16 unsuccessful attempts, PARC took this challenging job and during 1977 imported some honeybee A. mellifera colonies as package bees from Australia. Out of these some were multiplied at research stations and few were given to progressive beekeepers associated with indigenous honeybee at that time. In this way PARC was succeeded in introducing this species and traditional beekeeping switched to beekeeping A. mellifera in Langstroth modern beehives and most of the beekeepers are now getting optimum results.
HBRI has practically promoted beekeeping with Apis mellifera in terms of colony management, queen breeding, honey extraction techniques, reduction in post-harvest losses, nutrition, pests and diseases and pollination of entomophilous crops, improving skills of beekeepers, wax recycling for wax foundation sheets through training to agricultural extension staff, beekeepers, universities, research institutes and technical training institutes. At present scenario, there are 350,000 colonies of this species and honey production increased tremendously. However, carrying capacity of floral source has potential of 10 times. This is the success story of PARC for the establishment of this species in the country.
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nice article
My cell No is :03424036218
AoA.
I am planning to start honey bee farming, kindly give me the contact details of vedors provide the honey bee and related equipement for farming.
Looking for your kind support.
Best Regards
M. Asif Comboh
0300 4432866
We will be approaching you thanks for your query
Dear Asif Camboh,
your query has been forwarded to Honey Bee Vendor. You will contacted soon.
Thank for your interest in Honey Bee farming.
Your comments and suggestions will be welcomed on http://www.MadeByPakistan.com to improve this information portal.
Regards,
Admin Made By Pakistan
Dear Sir,
I want to start honey bee keeping in Lahore-Pakistan kindly do let me know from where i can get information and honey bees and their hives and equipments. kindly do let me know so that i could start work in it. i am also interested to study honey bees.
Thanks,
Mian Zafar
Dear Mian Zafar Sb,
Lease send us your contact number. We will contact you with the appropriate information.
Regards,
Admin http://www.madebypakistan.com
I am interested in bee keeping,but I don,t know where I get related things n proper information’s.can u guide me.
Can you please inform us from which city you are and where you want to start beekeeping business. Also inform us about the climate of your area.
Sr. I am a graduate of punjab university Lahore.I want to start Beekeeping Business in my village Add: Kot baba ujagar singh P/O kot majhi khan Tehsile Pattoki District Kasur Punjab.
My Email Add is :vwireless70@yahoo.com .
Sr.Please guide me in this matter, I Will be very thankful to you.
Aoa. Like others i am also interested in starting bee honey siness. i can start this in lahore as well as peshawar. kindly provide me information regarding the minimum capacity to start on a commercial basis alongwith its cost. waiting for the reply
Hi,
I am interested in beekeeping. I am from Haripur Hazara and my Mobile No. is 0313 5065135.
Please contact.
Thanks
I want to start bee keeping in Lahore and Gujrat. The climate at both places is hot during summers with temperature upto 43 centigrade and mildly cold during winters with minimum temperature to a minimum of 7 centigrade. The average rainfall per year is 300mm per year.
I need information for bee farming my cell no is 03134777900
Dear Sir,
I want to start honey bee keeping in Rahim Yar Kahn and Ahmed pur east-Pakistan kindly do let me know from where i can get information and honey bees and their hives and equipments. kindly guide me about honey bee kinds like(itlian, amricain) which is the best kind for business.
Thanks,
Qaisar Shaheen
+923006703884
Dear Sirs
I would also like obtain info for starting bee keeping on my farm in Jhleum . Plz forward info to my email. Many thanks for your help.
Article is very informative and to the point.
Dear Sir,
I want to start honey bee keeping in Multan-Pakistan kindly do let me know from where i can get information and honey bees and their hives and equipments. kindly do let me know so that i could start work .
Mr . M. Asif Comboh also said that i am not contacted by any person from your side if possible place contact number of a person from your side so that interested entities can contact with them via voice call
Thanks,
Muhammad Ejjaz Hussain
Dear Ijaz Hussain,
Thanks for contacting us. you will be answered soon. Our concerned person is out of station this time. He is PHD in the apiculture entomology. We will provide you the complete information.
Thanks,
Admin http://www.madebypakistan.com
Dear Ejaz, If you are looking to start bee keeping business, we can help. We provide training and business setup guidelines for those interested in Bee keeping in Pakistan. Also there are some government institutions supposed to help bee keepers , unfortunately there turn their back when people approach.
You can contact me trough http://www.sabeelhoney.com
Ahmad
AoA
I am resident of Gulshan-e-Ravi Lahore and i want to purchase healthy honey bees.Please provide me with details about purchase process. My contact no is 0345-4742102
dear sir
iam engineer in dubai &want to come to pakistan permanantly &start bees for ming .i belong to peshawar (near agricultury university) i want to know
1 – fromwhere i will get bees &there equipments
2 – how i will do marketting because iam planning on large scale
thanks
engineer hussain dubai uae
I am loking to import a sidr honey in natural condition not les than 1000kg yearly if you have let me hear from you pleas thanks
mohammed amir
DEAR ALL,
Serious people who are really interested to start honey bee farming on commercial scale. I would like to tell them that bee keeping is not just buying a bee hive. Unless and untill you are properly trained for bee keeping and are willing to travell almost 7 to 8 months along with your bee farm to various parts of the country, which spreads from FORT ABBAS SINDH, AND BHAWAL NAGAR PUNJAB UP TO KARAK IN KPK, then dont think about this business.
But if you are serious, then i would be more then happy to help you in all the fields.
Please feel free to contact me on the under mentioned e mail
ellahis1960@gmail.com
With best regards
aslam aly kum!
i m junaid here. i need more details about beekeeping and equipments. moreover tell me some one where i can get video tutorials about beekeeping. contact me at hsearnathome@gmail.com
lets make our pakistan strong by doing our bit.
thanx
Finally a smart blogger-man…I love how you’re thinking…and writing!
AOA sir. i am waqas from bahawalnagar. I am interested in opening a bee farm on our agricultural land. please guide me regarding the cost and feasibility of the whole project.
I wish to practice apiculture. Kindly send me necessary information in this regard.
I am planning to start honey bee farming, kindly give me the contact details of vendors in islamabad from where i can get information about honey bees and their hives and equipments.
thanks
Saad
0313 8888666
Aoa. I am Suleman from Nowshera Cantt – Khyber KPK. I am interested to start bee keeping business.
Would you please provide me complete details about it’s training and establishing.
Thanks And Regards,
Mohammed Suleman Shah
Cell : 0334-345-9001
Dear brother,
I was quite interested in the bee faarming buisness and infact started it with the help of a PVT Coy named MEEZAN ORGANIC. I started with over 30 hives and had a written cotract with above mentioned company. unfortunately the said company was too slow and instead of providing me with over 30 hives in 2 weeks they took 1.5 months and almost 1/4 of them were empty, whereas I had paid the money in advance. Later on seeing their improfessionalism I decided to quit working with them, finished the contract and returned the hives.I am located at OKARA and want to start this farm seriously. Plz do let me know some body or company who are serious and professional enough to start a buisness with. My cell phone is 03038420000.
AoA
like other i also intrusted to start honey bee keeping plz provide me purchasing detail my farm situated near hyderabad
thanks
bashir a shah
03009372487
AOA sir.
I am Arsalan from Khanpur District Rahim yar khan Punjab. I am interested in opening bee farm in small area. Can you give proper guidance. How to buy Honey bee farm and it food and how to sell Honey ..
Thanking in Anticipation.
Best Regards,
Arsalan.
Asalam Walakum Pakistan
I appreciated your effort for honey bee I live Karachi and you know that mostly karachi people do’t do farming / agriculture / farming etc activity but my think is change i am interested in honey farming tell is it possible in karachi city environment, so tell from where i should contact for all things / guide line
Thank you,
03456190443 Shoaib
I need information how to start and maintain honey bee keeping at home base smol scal and what kind of plants,equpment needs for it. I am living in Karachi.
please reply on muj13@hotmail.com or contact 0333-2143850.
I want to start honey bee keeping in Karachi-Pakistan home base kindly do let me know from where i can get complite information,videos and honey bees and their hives and equipments. kindly do let me know so that i could start work.
please mail muj13@hotmail.com
Aslam o Alikum
I am interested in bee keeping where from i can get bees and there hives
i have one acar land in Karachi at northern by pass
thanks
hi sir i am jam Ayaz from ShujaAbad and i am interested in bee farming. plz sir help me to open my bee farm . please guide me regarding the cost and feasibility of the whole project.
i am an entomologist if u want to open your own business of bee keeping here i am leaving my contact number. i am living in Rawalpindi Pakistan.
contact me if you really interested
0336-5093174
sir g hm ny meezan oirganic company ky through box rkhy lakin vo sb frad tha ap k policy kia hy plkz inform me abt ur policy
I belong to Hyderabad & interested in starting beekeeping, need details about it (feasibility, etc). I have my agriculture land in the vicinity of Tando Allahyar, any financial institution which may finance for large or on medium scale. Moreover like to know where I can get tutorials about beekeeping.
Dear Sir,
I want to start honey bee keeping in Lahore-Pakistan kindly do let me know from where i can get information and honey bees and their hives and equipments. kindly do let me know so that i could start work in it. i am also interested to produce honey .
Thanks,
dear sir,
i have start bee keeping from last six month, now its growing up, i hv started from 40 colonies and then get 60 more, now i developed more 25 boxes by own self,
dear sir
i have not technically supported by any organization but i consult with local formers,
now sir i wana develop my form but i do not have any idea to develop it and to market abt production, so plz tell me where i can sale it at commercial bases,
thanking you & looking forwarded
Eng. Tahir Waqar
0345-8555325
AA,
Quite an interesting website. I want to start beekeeping at my mango farm in Tando Allahyar. Please let me from where I can get the necessary details. Apparently there are some beehives on some trees which have bees larger in size than the usual, and they attack people if you go past the trees.
Thanks & best regards,
0315 2023366
Dear Sir,
Hope you are doing Great! Nature has rewarded us many gifts and honey is including in top list. Please help me to know how to start this business from Scratch as I am interested to get involved in Export with vision to promote the slogan of MADE IN PAKISTAN.
I may also be seeking your help to find the countries which are potential buyers of Honey.
I need complete viability and feasibility if available to start this busienss.
For further query please revert.
Asim Hadayat
03018493245
Dear Sir,
I want to start honey bee keeping in sanghar sindh kindly do let me know from where i can get information and honey bees and their hives and equipments. kindly do let me know so that i could start work .
cell 0342 2070820
i am residing in Rahim Yar Khan . i want to start bee keeping. from where can i have equipments , bees and training. please provide complete information.
salam i want to start honey bee farming how to start the beekeeping farm what are the requirements .
my contact number :0336-4508759
Dear Sir
I am planning to start honey bee farming, kindly give me the contact details of vedors provide the honey bee and related equipement for farming.
Looking for your kind support.
Best Regards
Asad Manzoor
03333365660
Salam sir
main pakistan me kuwar hun umeed hai tum be kuwar hoge
main lahnat bejto hun tumari is departent per tum log srif logo
ko bewakuf bnane k sewa karte kya ho kud b sodro aoro ko be
sodarne ka moka do abhi bi waqt hai . main umeed karta hun tum
mere mashware par hamal karoge . thanks.
Dear Sir,
I want to start honey bee keeping at Rasul college, Mandi Baha-ud-Din,Pakistan kindly do let me know from where i can get training , honey bees, their hives and necessary equipment. kindly do let me know so that i could start work in it.
Thanks,
Aurangzeb Khan