Best practices for colony management: a neglected aspect for improving honey bee colony health and productivity in Africa

Managed honey bee colony losses and causes during the active beekeeping season 2022/2023 in nine Sub-Saharan African countries

“…Absconding, a non-reproductive form of swarming where all adult colony members including the queen vacate the hive, was also identified as a cause of colony losses during the active beekeeping season in South Africa [20]. It is worth noting that absconding is considered as a pronounced behaviour of the African honey bee subspecies in response to stress caused by various disturbances [23,63,64], but subspecies’ tendency to abscond varies [29]. Besides the honey bee genetics [66], several factors can induce absconding, including pests and predation, human manipulation and limited resources [63,66].…”

“…These include the wax moth [67,68], the small hive beetle [70], the large hive beetle [71] and ants [28,71]. Of note, attack of a hive by the large hive beetles was widespread in the Coastal region of Kenya, where an exceptionally high infestation rate of the large hive beetle, with over 400 individuals per hive, has recently been documented [29,70]. On the other hand, ant predation was predominantly observed in Rwanda, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Amhara and Oromia regions of Ethiopia, and the Southern and Northern regions of Benin.…”

“…Typically, they do not select for traits such as low absconding/swarming or defensiveness, despite these behaviours being more pronounced in African subspecies compared to their European counterparts [23,31]. The adoption of routine apiary management practices such as hive inspection, requeening, pest control, and provision of water and/or supplementary feeding is minimal among African beekeepers [20,29]. Additionally, a lack of education and experience in good colony management and harvesting techniques tailored to the hive types used can exacerbate the absconding rate and/or colony mortality [27,29].…”

“…The adoption of routine apiary management practices such as hive inspection, requeening, pest control, and provision of water and/or supplementary feeding is minimal among African beekeepers [20,29]. Additionally, a lack of education and experience in good colony management and harvesting techniques tailored to the hive types used can exacerbate the absconding rate and/or colony mortality [27,29]. Furthermore, minor apicultural pests such as wax moths, large hive beetles and ants reportedly cause up to 50% loss of managed honey bee colonies in certain parts of Africa [29,32].…”

“…Additionally, a lack of education and experience in good colony management and harvesting techniques tailored to the hive types used can exacerbate the absconding rate and/or colony mortality [27,29]. Furthermore, minor apicultural pests such as wax moths, large hive beetles and ants reportedly cause up to 50% loss of managed honey bee colonies in certain parts of Africa [29,32]. Meanwhile, the impact of the ectoparasitic Varroa mite and its associated viruses is poorly documented in most African countries, and their significance in causing colony losses in the apicultural industry remains poorly studied.…”