A perspective on urban beekeeping with Apis cerana F. in Bengaluru, Karnataka with special reference to bee flora and hive suitability

Urban beekeeping is nowadays attracting immense popularity. Many people in large cities are installing hives on the rooftops. A significant drawback for beekeeping in urban areas of India is limited bee flora which may lead to poor honey yield and performance. As more people take to urban beekeeping, the competition for resources between honey bee colonies increases. Since the space covered by vegetation in the city remains relatively constant, each honey bee colony ends with less honey production per year. It slows the growth of individual urban honey bee colonies and affects the foraging potential of the honey bee colonies. Thus, urban beekeeping could be made effective by providing sufficient bee forage in surrounding beekeeping areas and by the selection of hives suitable for urban areas. Therefore, the present work was undertaken to study the diversity of nectariferous and polleniferous honey bee flora found in the major cosmopolitan city of India: Bengaluru. We recorded 58 major bee floras grown in the Bengaluru urban to make beekeeping activities throughout the year. In addition, hives with different frame numbers (5, 6 and 8) were evaluated for their performance in 3 different locations. Results clearly showed that hives with six frames are equally good compared to the conventional eight frame hive. Therefore, hives with six frames are more suitable for urban beekeeping, which would be efficient by reducing energy requirements in activities like comb construction of the colony. Appropriate hive selection was an important factor for successful beekeeping, especially in urban areas of Bengaluru.