Effect of queen excluder placing on honey yield and honeybee colony performance in selected beekeeping areas of East Shewa and West Arsi zones of Oromia, Ethiopia

Honeybees in tropics are characterized by a strong propensity towards continuous brood rearing rather than storing honey. Such behavior lowers productivity and profitability of tropical bees. The possibility of maintaining a balance in resource allocation between brood rearing and honey storage is vital to assess. Study was conducted from July, 2020 through June, 2022 to examine the effect of inserting queen excluder on honeybee population expansion and honey productivity in three adminstrative districts that are typefyied by different agroecologies. A total of 30 honeybee colonies (eight is fitted with honeybee queen excluder at each study district totaling to 24 and 6 (six) left without queen excluder) were randomly assigned to treatments. Before an expected honey harvest season, the treatment honeybee colonies were assigned to four different honeybee queen excluder fitting r time intervals viz., 1^st week, 2^nd week, 3^rd week and 4th week of the honey flow month. Data on number of honey comb area, brood comb area, pollen comb area and worker comb area were collected during flowering seasons over a two-year period. The total brood comb area was not differ significantly between the treatments. However, three weeks before honey harvest time, there was a highly significant difference in the total brood population between the treatment and control groups. Honeybee colonies without queen excluders continued to rear brood, even during peak honey flow periods. The partial limiting of queen egg laying using queen excluders significantly reduced the total brood comb area compared to the control group at peak honey flow. The weekly total honey comb area was significantly different between the control and treatment groups. The honeybee colonies for which queen excluders were installed between the second and third weeks of the honey flow season had showed the highest number of honey comb areas.Installing queen excluders before the second or third weeks of the start of the honey flow is more practicable and economical.