“Apiculture is the practice of bee-keeping for the production of various products such as honey, bee’s wax, etc. Honey is a highly nutritious food source and is used as an indigenous system of medicines. It is useful in the treatment of many disorders such as cold, flu, and dysentery. Other commercial products obtained from honey bees include bee’s wax and bee pollen. Bee’s wax is used for making cosmetics, polishes, and is even used in several medicinal preparations. Therefore, to meet the increasing demand of honey, we have started practicing bee-keeping on a large scale at Shri Raj Farms.“

Honey bees are vegetarians. Nectar and pollen collected from flowering plants are the entrees on their dinner plates. Bees harvest the nectar and convert the sugary liquid to honey, the insects’ primary source of carbohydrates. Honey provides the bees with the energy for flight, colony maintenance, and general daily activities.

Pollen, often called “bee bread,” is the bees’ main source of protein. Pollen also provides the bees with fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins. The protein in pollen is necessary for hive growth and young bee development.

In a single day, one worker bee makes 12 or more trips from the hive, visiting several thousand flowers. On these foraging trips, the bee can travel as far as two to five miles from the hive. Although honey bees collect pollen from a variety of flowers, a bee limits itself to one plant species per trip, gathering one kind of pollen.

(a) The main product of bee keeping is honey which is highly nutritious . It replaces the use of sugar in many industries.

(b) Honey is used as a part of many indigenous drugs as it has medicinal properties.

(c) Another product called beeswax is also produced which is used in the cosmetic and polish industry.

(d) Honey bees are chief pollinating agents so help in improving the plant yield.