Introduction to Apiculture for Animal science

Wallaga University
Shambu Campus
Faculty of Agriculture
Department of Animal Science
Course: Apiculture (AnSc 421)
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1. Introduction
 Apiculture – is the science and art of raising honey bees
 The first bees appear in the fossil record in deposits before 40 million
years ago in the Eocene.
 At about 30 million years ago they developed social behavior and
structurally identical with modern bees.
 Probably they are originated in Tropical Africa and spread from South
Africa to Northern Europe and East into India and China.
 Distributed to the Americas with the first colonists and are now
distributed world-wide.
 The African honeybee which were known as western honeybee is
comprised of some 24 races or sub-species.
 sometimes referred to as ‘Killer bee’.
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 Bees collect pollen and nectar.
 Why?
 Pollen is the protein source needed for bee brood development while nectar is the carbohydrate source providing energy.
 Nectar is a sugar solution produced by flowers containing about 80% water and 20% sugars.
 Foraging bees store the nectar in the ‘honey sac’ where the enzyme invertase will change complex sugars into simple
sugars called mono-saccharides.
 Upon return to the hive, the foraging bee will disgorge the partially converted nectar solution and offer it to other bees.
 Housekeeping bees will complete the enzymatic conversion, further removing water until the honey solution contains
between 14 – 20% water.
 Honey is too dry for any microbes to live in. Honey is non-perishable and can be kept indefinitely in a cool, dry place.
 The flavor, aroma and color of honey is determined by the floral source.
 For example, buckwheat honey is almost black
 Unlike other bees, honeybees can communicate details about the location, quality and quantity of food sources.
 Honeybees maintain temperatures in the brood nest of between 30 and 34oC, even in the middle of winter.
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• The honeybee colony is comprised of one queen, thousands of worker bees and a few hundred male bees
called drones.
• A worker bee cannot reproduce; a queen bee cannot construct comb, collect food or even feed herself; and a
drone bee is able to accomplish only one task and that is to mate.
• All three castes of honey-bee that live in a colony of bees the queen, the worker and the drone therefore can
live only as part of a colony.
• A single honey-bee cannot live for very long on its own.
• Colony size varies according to season and condition of the colony.
• Several diseases including viruses, various microbes and mites can affect the honeybee.
• Honeybees are used in pollination and play a critical role in the production of many crops.
• In order to keep bees successfully, the beekeeper has to understand that organism: how and why it works and
what it needs for its survival.
• one can’t direct bees, but he can encourage them to work your way to a certain extent.
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Beekeeping
• Beekeeping can be a fascinating hobby, a profitable sideline, or a full-time
occupation.
• bees kept:
• for the delicious fresh honey they produce,
• for the benefits of their valuable services as pollinators, or
• simply for the enjoyment of learning more about one of nature’s
most interesting insects.
• Almost anyone can keep bees. Honey bees normally only sting to defend
themselves or their colony.
• Most beekeepers develop a tolerance for bee venom over time and have
reduced sensitivity to pain and swelling.
• However, because of beekeeping interrelationship with agriculture bees kept
for honey bee pollination, beekeeping is much more important than merely
the value of the beeswax and honey produced annually.
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1.3. Why
people
keep
honeybee
colonies?
• The highly industrious bees create a variety of
other fascinating substances, including propolis,
bee pollen and royal jelly.
• propolis from the sticky resin found on trees.
This substance is used to "caulk" cracks in
the hive to keep out wind and rain, make
entrances smaller, or attach comb to the side
of the hive.
• Royal jelly, the food used to nourish growing
future queens, also has powerful anti-bacterial
properties,
• bee pollen is one of the most complete foods
available, with a wide range of nutrients
including polyphenols, enzymes, beneficial fatty
acids, free amino acids, vitamin complexes,
chelated minerals and trace elements.
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1.3.1. Advantages of beekeeping
• Fresh honey tastes great,
• beneficial to those with allergies (medicinal value).
• Honey has anti-bacterial and anti-microbial properties (wound treatment),
especially for burns, and
• it has also been used as a skin and hair beautifier in recipes for face masks,
shampoos and bath oils among other things.
1.3.2. Relative advantages
• Bee keeping requires less time, money and infrastructure investments
• Honey and beeswax can be produced from an area of little agricultural value
• The Honey bee does not compete for resources with any other agricultural
enterprise.
• Beekeeping has positive ecological consequences.
• Bees play an important role in the pollination of many flowering plants, thus increasing the
yield of certain crops such as sunflower and various fruits.
• Honey is a delicious and highly nutritious food.
• Beekeeping can be initiated by individuals or groups
• The market potential for honey and wax is high
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2.1. Taxonomic classification of
honeybees
KINGDOM Animalia
PHYLUM Arthropoda
SUPERCLASS Hexapoda
CLASS Insecta
ORDER Hymenoptera
FAMILY Apidae
GENUS Apis
SPECIES Apis mellifera
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CHAPTER 2
BIOLOGY OF THE HONEYBEES

SCIENTIFIC NAMES
1. The scientific name of a species is a binomial; i.e. it consists of 2 words (genus &
a specific name).
2. When a subspecies is included, it is a trinomial (Apis mellifera scutellata).
3. These names are always printed in Italics.
4. Names of species and subspecies are sometimes followed by the name of
author, the person who described the species or subspecies.
Author’s name is not italicized.
5. A species referred to but not named is often designated by “sp.”, e.g., Apis sp.
More than one species may be designated by “spp.”, e.g., Apis spp
COMMON NAMES
1. Common names are vernacular names, and are therefore often less precise than
scientific names.
Some common names are used for more than one species, or genus.
One genus or species may have several common names.
2. Many animals do not have common names because they are rarely encountered.
3. Efforts have been made to standardize common names of insects.
4. Honey bee is written as two words.
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Species and Races of Honeybee
About 9 species of honeybees have been recognized
• These are:
• Apis andreniformis,
• Apis cerana,
• Apis cerana indica,
• Apis dorsata,
• Apis dorsata binghami,
• Apis florea,
• Apis laboriosa,
• Apis mellifera and
• Apis vechti.
• Among these, the following are the major honeybee species and are of world economic
importance: Apis cerana/indica, Apis dorsata, Apis florea and Apis mellifera.
• Race in honeybees is a result of natural selection and honeybees have been adapted to
different geographical areas of the world for many years without the interference of
mankind.
• In so doing, there has been an environmental effect on the anatomy and physiology of
honeybees leading to differentiation.
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2.2. Honeybee
races of
Ethiopian (A.
mellifera races).
• Five statistically separable morph clusters
occupying ecologically different areas in
Ethiopia.
• These are:
• Apis mellifera jemenitica in the northwest and
eastern arid and semi-arid lowlands;
• A.m. scutellata in the west, south and
southwest humid midlands;
• A.m. bandasii in the central moist highlands;
• A.m. monticola from the northern
mountainous highlands; and
• A.m. woyi-gambella in south western semi-
arid to sub-humid lowland parts of the
country (Amssalu et al., 2004).
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2.3. Anatomy and Physiology of the Honeybee
The body of honey bee is covered by a chitinous exo-skeleton, named integument.
Like other insects, the body of honey bee is
divided into 3 regions:
 Head
 Thorax
 Abdomen.
Honey bees are cold-blooded animals and lack automatic control of their body temperature.
They have only behavioral control of temperature, but nevertheless maintain the hive at 32 ± 0.6 oC
regardless of the outside temperature.
When too cold, bees contract their flight muscles repeatedly without moving their wings; this behavior
generates heat.
When too warm, bees pump their abdominal system to move more air through their spiracles and
trabeculae; this evaporates more water and cools the bee.
The quality of the nectar and the ambient temperature has connection
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Abdomen
Thorax
Head

 The head houses two compound eyes:
 used for distance vision
 orienting the bee's flight.
 Each eye consists of 3000 to 5000 visual processing units called
ommatidia.
 The eyes do not perceive shapes clearly but identify color well.
 A bee's compound eyes are receptive to ultraviolet light, but less
receptive to reds.
 Bees recognize blue, yellow, white & black.
 Simple eyes, called ocelli, are found near the front and top of the
head.
 Ocelli register intensity, wavelength, and duration of light.
 At dusk the ocelli estimate extent of approaching darkness,
causing the bees to return to their hives.
 Antenna receive and analyze highly volatile substances that are
responsible for odor and taste.
 It also perceive vibrations and movement of air, sounds,
temperature and humidity.
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ocelli

 The thorax includes the legs and the wings.
 At the end of each leg are structures called tarsi, which taste what they touch (detect quality
and concentration of different chemicals).
 The front pair of legs has a notch in its first terminal segment for cleaning antennae.
 The middle pair has spines on one side specialized for removal of masses of pollen brought
to the hive.
 The third (hindmost) pair of legs each possess a pollen basket (corbicula) in which the
pollen mass is kept during transportation from the flowers to the hive.
 The lower side of this pair of legs also possesses a row of stiff hairs, collectively called the
pollen comb.
 Wings of each bee species vary in their venation (vein) pattern.
 The slight differences in Apis mellifera wing venation can be useful in differentiating
between races.
 The fore wing is always larger than the hind wing.
 The front and hind wings are held together (coupled) by approximately 20 small hooks
located along the front margin of the hind wing.
 Bee wings can beat nearly 200 times per second.
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 The abdomen consists of seven visible segments.
 The first is much narrowed and makes up the petiole (waist) of the bee,
 The seventh segment of workers and queens includes the sting.
 The sting is a modified ovipositor, so it is found only in females.
 When pushed from the end of the abdomen, it locks into position at a right angle to the base.
 Muscular abdominal plates then push the stinger into the flesh.
 The sting has a scalpel sharp point, with two serrated retractable rods (lancets) on the sides.
 The venom bulb is positioned at the top of the sting.
 It continues to pump venom 30 to 60 seconds after breaking off from the abdomen of the
worker bee.
 Up to half of the venom consists of melittin, a chemical substance that causes pain, impacts
blood vessels, and damages tissues.
 In response, the body of the stung organism produces histamines, which cause localized
itching, redness and swelling.
• Additionally alarm pheromone is released at the time of the sting, stimulating further defensive
response in the workers.
• Each worker dies shortly after stinging her victim because the sting and part of the digestive tract
are left at the site of the stinging incident
Wax glands on the underside of worker abdomens secrete the wax that makes up the
honeycomb 15

CHAPTER 3
THE COLONY ORGANIZATION OF THE
HONEYBEES
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Colony
organization • Three members of the colony
Understanding honey bee colony is an
important part of beekeeping
- b/c it provides the foundation for colony
management.
• The more one understands about bee
behavior and colony organization, the
easier are bees to manage.
Normal Colony:
1 Queen
200 - 80,000 Workers
0 - 5000 Drones
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Worker Queen Drone

Adult
• The drone lives 1 to 2 seasons.
• Queen bees live 3 to 5 years.
• The worker lives 3 weeks.
Egg Larva Pupa Emerge/Adult
Queen 3 days 4-5 days 8 days 16 days
Worker 3 days 5-6 days 12-13 days 21 days
Drone 3 days 6-7 days 14 days 24 days
Life-cycle of bee
The development times for all
honey bees differ by caste

Queen
• Queen is the most important individual in the colony
• Responsible for normal functioning of hive
• Quality of the queen determines the value of a hive
Queen Development
• Develops from a fertilized egg or young female larva
• Queens are reared in special cells
- hang vertically and extended as larva grows
• Queen larvae are fed a diet of “Royal Jelly”
• Cell capped on day 5, larva spins cocoon
• Completes development and emerges after about 15 1/2 to
16 days after the egg was laid.
• Seeks out rivals and attacks cells or two queens may fight.
• Initiates mating flights at 5-6 days of age 19

• Reproduction - egg laying
• At an age 5-6 days (adult virgin) she leaves the hive and flies some distance to a drone
congregation area (DCA), where she mates with up to 20–30 drone bees but usually fewer.
• As soon as the queen has stored enough sperm in her sperm sac or spermatheca, she returns to
hive & starts life as queen bee of colony.
• She meets drones from many different colonies, thus helping to maintain genetic diversity and
preventing inbreeding.
• Production of pheromones (queen substance)
 Pheromones are chemical substances (or blends of substances) secreted by an animal to the outside that
affect the behavior or physiology of other animals of the same species
 maintain social order and allow workers to determine queen presence
 prevent worker ovary development
 prevent queen rearing
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Biological Role of the Queen

Workers
• Form bulk of the population
• Functionally sterile females
• Normally does not lay eggs
• If she does, they will be drone
• Perform all duties and labor for maintenance of the colony
• Develop from a fertilized egg laid by the queen
Labor Activities of Workers
• perform all duties and labor for maintenance of the colony, including:
- feeding, care of the young (nurse activities)
- comb building and nest construction
- protection of the colony
- maintenance of hive, internal environment
- collection and storage of food
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• Brood care:
workers provide all of the care and feeding of the larvae. Workers seal the cell with a wax cap before the
larva pupates.
• Nest construction:
workers build the comb which forms the internal structure of the hive. The comb is made from beeswax, a
natural wax secreted from glands on the abdomen of workers.
• Maintenance of the nest:
Bees are careful about nest hygiene; clean cells before reuse, and remove debris and dead bees.
• Workers are responsible for Environmental control.
They will fan at the entrance to circulate fresh air into the hive if carbon dioxide levels get too high or if
temperatures rise above acceptable levels.
• Guard Activities: workers serve as guards at the hive entrance to protect the nest from intruders. Guard bees
will attack and sting.
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• Collection, Handling and Storage of Food:
• Bees collect nectar and pollen from flowers as food. Nectar
is carried internally in the honey stomach. Pollen is picked
up by the special body hairs as a bee visits a flower.
 Honey Bees as Foragers and Pollinators
• Honey bees are efficient foragers and have a dance
language system to recruit other bees to profitable food
sources.
• The dance language allows bees to provide information on
the direction and distance of food sources to other hive
members.
• The dances are preformed on the comb in the hive.
• Nectar is converted into honey by workers in the hive.
• When the honey is ripe and the cells have been filled, the
workers cap the cells with a wax capping.
• Pollen is carried on the hind legs of the worker when foraging.
• Pollen is stored in cells and serves as the source of proteins, fats
and minerals.
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Social organization and the division of labor:
• The system is based on age and physiological
development; each worker performs in
succession the various labor tasks required for
the colony to function.
• A worker acts as her own informant, patrolling
the hive and responding to labor needs if she is
able.
Cleaning
Brood
care
Comb
building
Guarding
Foraging

Drones
• Males: larger than workers, large eyes, no sting
• Hatch from unfertilized eggs, reared in larger cells, longer development time (24
days)
• Only function - reproductive
• Reach sexual maturity at about 12 days of age and initiate mating flights
Drone Biology
• Drones not reared all year - only spring and summer
• Number of drones dependent on colony strength and condition
• Drones “kicked-out” in fall - “Fall Drone Massacre”
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• Virgin queens leave the hive to
mate, seeking males at drone
congregation areas.
• Mating occurs in flight.
• Drone congregation areas
remain stable over a period of
years.
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Mating of the Honey Bee

CHAPTER 4
 Honeybee behavior is a phenomenon that is exhibited by the honeybees in the course of their regular
activities in their colony.
 Some are dependent on external stimuli, whereas, others are genetically influenced.
 It is very important for a beekeeper to understand and utilize the bee behavior patterns for better Bee
management.
Fanning:
 In this process, to maintain the temperature in the hive, some worker bees fan their wings to circulate the
air inside the hive. Other worker bees fan from outside the hive entrance so as to allow fresh air into the
hive.
 Honey bees fan the hive to:
• create ventilation inside a busy hive
• evaporate water from nectar until it contains less than 18% water and can be safely stored forever as
honey both of the above
 At night, because the bees are fanning, whole yard smells of honey.
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HONEYBEE BEHAVIOR AND COMMUNICATION

Aggression
• A newly established colony almost always starts out gentle.
• As the colony grows in size and the season progresses, the bees become more protective of their
honey stores.
• Likewise, a growing colony means many more bees for you to deal with.
• Some gentle bees become aggressive despite our best efforts, and nobody is quite sure how or why.
• This will be due to the weather, the forage, no queen, queen’s pheromones not distributing well on a
large colony.
•
Bees become more aggressive for a number of different reasons.
• Incorrect use of the smoker
• laundering bee clothes & veil
• Previous stings on gloves & clothing
• Unclean garments
• To reduce the problem, we can smoke area of sting to disguise any alarm pheromone that may linger
on clothing or on your skin.
• So the Honey bees respond aggressively only if their hive is disturbed.
• But when disturbed they mount a vigorous defense – the all too familiar bee sting.
• If it is a constant problem the most efficient remedy is re-queening.
• This is not always possible, as there may not be a suitable spare local queen available.
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Absconding
• Honeybee colonies abscond when they fall under a critical weight of 3 kg in a
decreasing nectar flow. Empty combs trigger this condition.
• To prevent absconding harvesting should not fall below this critical weight.
• One or two full honey combs should be left at the side of the brood nest.
• If the colony stays above a weight of 10 kg at the lowest point, it will develop
faster in the next season; produce an early season honey and several swarms.
• Honey production and number of colonies, i.e. occupation of hives, will increase.
• They even keep their drones for a long time.
• Weather conditions like low air humidity in the dry season affect bee behavior &
flowering vegetation.
• The flowering collapses and the bees stay inside the hive.
• There is a zero nectar flow when relative humidity falls below 50%.
• Thriving of colonies is possible both in traditional hives and modern - movable
comb - hives.
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• However, if the hive can only be opened in a way that harvesting
means disturbance of the whole nest, including brood combs, then
absconding after harvesting is unavoidable.
• If a hive is full at the peak of the season, the weight of the colony in kg
is about half the volume in liters: a hive of 60 liters will contain a
colony of 30 kg.
• To prevention of absconding colonies should always be kept as big as
possible.
• Colonies should be harvested modestly, according to the expected
season after the harvesting, and smaller colonies should not be
harvested at all.
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Swarming
• The fast and effective passage of pheromones from the queen around the
colony is essential to colony stability.
• If the queen is ageing or has other problems and the strength of her
pheromones diminishes, or if the colony becomes so crowded that the
message takes longer to get around, then the workers may sense this and
start to build new queen cells in preparation for queen renewal.
• Unless the beekeeper acts decisively, this may lead to swarming, where the
old queen and up to half the workers and a few drones depart the colony
and start another one elsewhere while the workers in the original colony
raise a new queen.
• If a colony swarms it will be reduced in size and colony composition will
change.
• Thus where there was one colony there will now be two, with the new
young queen getting the best of the deal by retaining the existing nest,
stores and brood.
• To prevent swarming, colony which fill up the hive before the peak of the
season should be harvested before the peak season. 31

Swarm preparation
• The worker bees create queen cups throughout the
year.
• When the hive gets ready to swarm, the queen lays
eggs into the queen cups.
• New queens are raised and the hive may swarm as
soon as the queen cells are capped and before the
new virgin queens emerge from their queen cells.
• During the swarm preparation, scout bees find a
nearby location for the swarm to cluster.
• Scout bees are a smaller group of bees that hang
together and “scout” for a new place for the swarm
to move into.

Honeybees
communication
Round Dance
• Circular movement is believed to tell attending bees that there is nectar near to the hive and to go out and look
in the surrounding area.
• The significance of dance was really discovered by Professor Karl von Frisch in Germany in the 1960s. His books,
The Dancing Bees and Bees: Their Chemical Senses and Language, describe the experiments he used and they
are worth reading. How it changed things! Over the succeeding decades, however, von Frisch’s theories were
constantly challenged by scientists who believed that the bees found the food by flying downwind of the odour
plume and that all the returning forager imparted was the odour. What was questioned about the Frisch theory
was whether bees could decode the dance because scientists did not believe observing bees with such small
brains could actually follow the instructions.
• New tests carried out at Rothamsted in the UK, however, have shown that von Frisch was right all along. Radar
has helped to resolve this long-standing controversy, and the scientists found that the famous waggle dance
contains information about the where abouts of nectar, just as was originally proposed in the 1960s.
• Radar tracking effectively proved the bees do follow waggle-dance instructions. The scientists fixed radar
transponders to bees who had watched the waggle dance to track their route to the food source, and it was
found they flew straight there. To double check, bee recruits were taken to release sites 250 m (820 ft) away
from the hive. These bees flew to where the feeding site should have been had they not been displaced, showing
they were following the dance instructions accurately. The scientists found that this was very strong supporting
evidence for the von Frisch hypothesis because, in this case, there was no possibility the bees were following
regular routes or any odours the dancer might have left in the air.
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The ‘waggle dance’
• The ‘waggle dance’ has been studied by scientists for decades, and it is generally
believed to be the method by which bees tell one another of the location of food
and potential new nest sites.
• When waggle phase is complete, bee circles to one side and returns to the
starting point. This sequence is then often repeated over 100 times, with
direction of return phase circling alternating each time.
• The duration of the waggle phase is correlated to the distance of the food source
and the number of cycles performed is correlated to the size of the food supply.
• The further the foraging site, therefore, the longer the duration of the waggle,
and the bigger the food source the greater the number of dance cycles.
• The angle of the straight line from the vertical (vertical comb) is equal to the
angle between the food source and the sun upon departure from the hive, and
the vigour with which the waggle is performed is an indication of how much
food is present at the site.
• While carrying out this dance routine, the bee will often stop and give out small
samples of nectar to those attending the dance. The attending bees gather a
great deal of information from this dance, such as how far away the nectar is, the
direction of flight to take and the value of the source, and they also gain a taste
of the nectar, which can give them an odour cue.
• Bees are such efficient pollinators because, as forager bees, they can
communicate the source of food to each other.
• Immediately on setting up as a colony, scout bees are out looking for the nearest
and best sources of nectar and pollen.
• When they find these, they return to nest with samples and tell the other
foragers about the location and how to get there using a highly symbolic dance
language based on movement and sound. 34

CHAPTER 5
SELECTING BEEKEEPING SITE /APIARY SITE SELECTION
35

• Both beginners and established beekeepers should select each apiary site carefully.
• Throughout the foraging season, nectar and pollen sources must be within a short distance (roughly 1 mile)
of the hives.
• While bees can be kept virtually anywhere, large concentrations of floral sources (and populous colonies)
are needed to produce large honey crops.
• Bees also need a source of fresh water:
• For diluting honey,
• regulating hive temperature,
• liquefying crystallized honey, and
• raising brood.
• If a water supply is not available within 1⁄4 mile of the hives, providing a tank or pan of water with a
floating board or crushed rock for the bees to land on is better.
• Bees are less irritable and easier to handle when located in the open where they can get plenty of sunshine.
• Shade from trees retards the flight of workers and hinders finding the queen and seeing eggs within the
cells. A southern or easterly exposure gives colonies maximum sunshine throughout the day.
• The apiary is best situated near natural wind protection such as hills, buildings, or evergreens.
• Other requirements are dry ground and good air drainage.
• Avoid windy, exposed hilltops or sites near the bank of a river that might potentially flood.
• Avoid apiary locations in heavily shaded woods or in a damp bottom land since excess moisture and less
sunshine retard the flight of the bees and encourage development of such bee diseases as nosema and EFB.
36

• accessibility to the apiary site is important to visit it throughout the year in all kinds of
weather.
• Avoid locations where carrying equipment and heavy supers of honey any distance will be
necessary.
• Hives should be secluded from traffic, constant noise, and disturbance from animals and
children.
• To discourage vandalism, placing colonies near a dwelling or area frequently visited yet
screened from view if possible (a vegetative corral) is advisable.
• Safety from pesticide applications that can affect colonies directly or the bees’ forage is also
important.
• Beekeepers should acquaint with the pesticides commonly used in the area, and place
colonies away from fields or other areas that are routinely treated with pesticides.
• When selecting sites for outyards (apiary sites away from beekeeper’s residence), inquiries to
determine how many other beekeepers are operating in the area shall done.
• A location can easily become overstocked with bees, which results in a poor honey crop for
everyone.
• Beekeepers tend to neglect out-apiaries that are located too far from home.
• Increasing energy costs and efficient use of time should be included in each apiary site
decision.
37

Factors to be considered for determining an ideal site for beekeeping
1. Natural vegetation and field crops
• By carefully selecting the species possible to produce an environment attractive to
bees.
• Consider these points before selecting species on the basis of honey and pollen
yielding capacity:
• Multiple plantings of a range of species are more desirable than two or three plants of many
species.
• Choose a species that will grow well in your area. As an indication, have a good look around your
district and list species which are performing well. If planting species in an area where used for
pollinating crops, select species that have a flowering time different from that of the crops.
• Avoid selecting winter flowering species for the Tablelands. The temperature is often too low for
bees to work these sources efficiently. If they do, health problems in the bee colony may result.
• When planting near drains, sewers and buildings, consider whether the plantings may cause
damage in the future.
• Select salt tolerant species in areas where this is, or may be, a problem.
• Windbreaks should be planted three to four plants wide. Consider an extra one or two rows
chosen for honey and pollen production, and to increase the aesthetic appeal of the plantings.
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2. Fresh Water
• Water is essential for all forms of life, including bees.
• Water is used in the hive for cooling via evaporation as well as being a vital part of the
bee’s diet.
• As the temperature increases the number of water carriers also increases.
• The provision of water needs to be considered when placing hives as a natural source
may not be suitable (stock watering) or reliable (drought streams).
• If this basic requirement is overlooked or indeed disappears, bees can become a
nuisance at alternative water sources e.g. taps, hose fittings or stock watering points.
• Bees may die from the lack of available water so water should be provided by the
beekeeper.
• Ideally this should be as close as possible to the apiary, e.g. within 500 m.
• A public nuisance may also occur if bees utilising the provided water cross public
spaces such as footpaths.
• It is advisable to set up a watering facility before locating hives to the site.
• Clean water should be in the capillary form.
• Wet gravel or a sand bed is ideal but a large drum with foam floats can also be effective.
• The edges of ponds or water weeds are attractive.
39

3. Weather condition
• Weather is the key to maximum effectiveness of the pollinating force.
• Bees rarely fly when the temperature is below 55°F (12°C) or the wind is more than 15
to 20 miles per hour.
• The stronger the colony, the lower the temperature at which the bees may initiate flight.
• Strong colonies do little pollinating below 55°F (12°C); weak ones do little below 60°F
(15°C).
• Cool, cloudy weather and threatening storms greatly reduce bee flights.
• In poor weather, bees foraging at more distant locations will remain in the hive and only
those that have been foraging nearby will be active.
• Therefore, over an extended period of inclement weather, colonies may require greater
distribution to ensure adequate coverage.
• Poor weather conditions also affect plants.
• Spring frosts can kill fruit bloom, and temperatures of 40°F to 50°F (4°C to 10°C) retard
pollen germination and tube growth.
• Fertilization failure may result. If the weather is hot and dry or windy, stigmas may dry
out so that deposited pollen does not germinate. Pollen release may be hindered by
prolonged rains.
• However, effective pollination can take place with surprising rapidity in warm, clear
weather. 40

6. Bee Feeding and Flora of
Ethiopia
6.1. Honeybee nutrition and feeding
6.2. Honeybee flora of Ethiopia
41

CHAPTER 6
TYPES OF BEEKEEPING
42

6.1. Traditional bee-keeping
• This activity has been practiced for more than 5,000 years ago.
• It makes use of hives made from cheap local materials such as gourds, pots, grass, logs,
cow dung, mud and straw.
• All traditional hives are placed high in trees around dwellings in order to attract the bees
which are left alone for some time.
• After enough time has elapsed to build up honey stores the container is lowered and the
bees killed (usually by fire) and the hive products taken (inefficient system).
• Traditional beekeeping is:
Keeping bees in a fixed comb hives as in the forest type of beekeeping but with some sort of safeguarding
made for the bees.
Very common & widely practiced method of bee keeping in different parts of world and in all parts of
Ethiopia.
Advantages
• Its construction is very simple & constructed from locally available materials.
• It does not require modern bee keeping equipments, which is very expensive.
• It does not require skilled manpower and to prepare the hives.
Disadvantages
• Inconvenient to inspect and for internal feeding during the need for supplementary by the bee colonies.
• Very small in size hence leads to uncontrollable swarming
• No possibilities of supering
• No partition ship between brood chamber and honey chamber.
43

6.2. Transitional /Top Bar Hive /beekeeping
• Transitional (intermediate) bee keeping is one of the improved methods of
keeping bees using top bar hives.
• A Top bar hive is a bee hive, of any size or design in which bees build their
comb from top bars.
• Each hive carries specially designed 27-30 pieces of timber "Top Bars"
where honeybees attach their combs.
• The wax is also used in the place of certain scent plant used in traditional
hives to attract swarms of honeybees to the hive.
• When honeycombs are built on these bars: the whole comb can easily be
lifted out of the hive during harvesting.
• This enables the beekeeper to select the combs, which are ready for
harvesting, leaving those that have no honey.
• When removing honey from this hive, combs do not usually break and honey
bees and their broods are not destroyed.
This is the greatest advantage of transitional hive over the traditional one
44

How to Make a Moveable Comb Top Bar Beehive
A – gable end
B – side panel
C – entrance (no more than 8 mm
high)
D – floor (& optional landing
board no bigger than 2 cm)
E - top bar
F – roof
(all measurements are internal to
allow for variation in
thickness of construction
45
Top Bars are usually wedge-shaped. It is essential that
the top bars are exactly 3.2 cm wide:
END VIEW OF TOP BAR
3.2cm
SIDE VIEW OF TOP BAR
48 cm
44 cm

Advantages of Transitional /Top Bar Hive /beekeeping
• It can be opened easily and quickly.
• The bees are guided into building parallel combs by following line of top bars.
• The top bars are easily removable and this enables the beekeeper to work fast.
• The top bars are easily to construct than frames.
• The top bar hive is relatively in expensive to construct and simpler to build than a hive with
frames.
• The combs can be lifted from the hive, and then replaced, to allow beekeeper to examine the
condition of the colony.
• Honeycombs can be removed from the hive for harvesting without disturbing combs containing
broods. The colony is therefore will not be harmed and the bees can continue gathering.
• The hive can be suspended with wires/ ropes & to protect against predictors.
Disadvantages of Transitional /Top Bar Hive /beekeeping
• Top bar hives can be (relatively) more expensive than traditional hives made from local materials.
• Combs suspended from the top bars are more apt to break off than which are built with in frames.
This makes it difficult to transport colonies hive with vehicles especially on bad roads for long
distances.
• The honey harvested from top bar hive is less in quality than from the frame hives, as honey,
pollen and broods are filled on the same comb.
46

6.3. Improved (Modern) Bee keeping
• In this type of bee keeping different types of frame hives are used.
• Some of these frame hive being used in our country commonly were;
• Zander and
• Langstroth hive
• These hives differ in the number and size of frames that are used and thus the
overall dimensions of the hives.
• The standard Langstroth pattern hive accommodates 10 frames 44.8x23.2cm at
34.9mm center-to-center spacing.
• The desired spacing for our bees is obtained by reducing the spacing of the
frames from the standard 34.9mm to 31.8mm with this spacing the Langstroth
hive will take exactly 11 frames as opposed to the normal 10.
component modern frame hives ,
the bottom board,
the brood chamber (base hive,)
the super (honey chamber,)
the inner and outer cover.
• The brood chamber and Honey chamber (a super) are essentially the same, and
are frequently grouped as hive bodies.
47

Advantages of Modern beekeeping
• The honey produced is 15-20kg/hive averagely, with a range of 0-60kg/ hive
• The quality of honey is good, much better than the honey produced from
transitional and traditional bee keeping.
• This is because, Queen excluder, Centrifugal honey extractor / Honey strainer are
used
• This method of bee keeping helps (makes possible) swarming control by supering
the hives,
• Seasonal inspection
• It is possible (convenient) to make hive manipulation and search solution for the problems in
the hive (to bees)
• It is possible to undertake migratory bee keeping (moving bees from place to place):
- To search for available honey bees flowering plants
- For pollination of certain fruits and cultivated crops.
Disadvantages of modern beekeeping
• Relatively expensive.
• It requires skilled manpower to run the bee keeping and prepare the modern hives.
• The equipment needs very specific precaution.
48

Chapter 7
BEEKEEPING EQUIPMENTS
49

• The basic equipment of the beekeeping are:
• the hive and its components,
• protective gear,
• smoker and
• hive tool with handling material.
• A typical hive consists of a hive stand, a bottom board with entrance cleat/reducer, a series of boxes or
hive bodies with suspended frames containing foundation or comb, and inner and outer covers.
• The hive bodies that contain the brood nest may be separated from the honey supers with a queen
excluder.
• to being lightweight and easy to remove, these covers allow colonies to be stacked.
• Tight stacking is important in securing a load of hives on a truck.
50

The Hive
• The basic hive components are:
• The Hive stand
• Used to elevates the bottom board (floor) of the hive off the ground.
• A bottom board
• serve as the floor of the colony and as a takeoff and landing platform for foraging bees.
• “boxes” (brood and honey chamber)
• Foundation and removable frames
• Frames are the inside parts that hold the comb.
Foundation is the material provided to bees on which they will build their comb.
• Hive cover
Queen Excluder
• Queen excluders are used to isolate the queen from the honey supers
• It prevent the queen from laying eggs in honey cells.
• There are 3 types 1. Metal bound 2. Wood bound 3. Plastic 51

Protective Equipment
 Bee Suits
• A bee suit allows you to work around honey bees with minimal stings
 Bee Veils
• Bee veils protect the head and neck area from stings.
 Gloves
• Bee gloves protect the hand and forearm area.
• Smokers
• Smokers are used to “calm” bees while working colonies. •
• Hive Tool
• The most used piece of beekeeping equipment.
• Used to separate boxes, remove frames, scraping propolis, and for many other things.
• Bee brush:
• Brush used to remove bees from frames and other equipment.
• Queen cages:
• Used to hold queens temporarily or for the transportation of queens.
52

Honey Extraction
• Uncapping knife:
• Used to remove cappings from honey comb
• Capping scratcher:
• Used to remove cappings before extracting.
• Comb section cutter:
• Used to cut comb for packaging.
• Settling tanks:
Tanks used to store honey and allow debris to be removed from honey
once extracted.
53

8.1. Honey
• Honey is the sweet, viscous Juice usually collected in the largest quantities
from the beehive.
• It is found in cells of the honeybee comb.
• Matured (ripe) honey is usually found in sealed combs and can be kept
indefinitely;
• unsealed honey is not matured and therefore ferments shortly after it is
harvested.
• The insect collects nectar from flowers and then processes it in the hive and
packs it in comb cells.
55

Floral honey
• Honey production and colony development are directly related to floral sources in
the immediate area of apiary.
• Major nectar flows depend on a few plant species that yield nectar abundantly and
are readily available.
• Besides the two/three main annual sources, there should be a great variety of minor
plants yielding both pollen & nectar throughout the season to support the colonies
between the main flows.
• Large acreages of flowering plants are needed for bees to produce surplus honey.
• Planting crops just for their nectar and pollen yields is not usually economical. 56

Composition of floral honey
Sugars :- are the main ingredient in honey, which comprise almost 95% of honey's dry weight.
There are 2 monosaccharides: Fructose and Glucose.
• There is one more carbohydrate found in honey (Sucrose), is disaccharide & is made from
the combination of fructose & glucose.
• In addition, about 25 other sugars have been identified in honey.
Enzymes :- Honey comes by its yeast content naturally.
• Yeast can cause undesirable fermentation.
• In order to avoid this, honey should be harvested at a low humidity & should be stored in
air-tight vessels.
Minerals:- content varies. One of main minerals in honey is K. It's often about a third of the
total mineral content in Honey.
57

• Honey Acidity:- is quite low, but it does affect honey taste. primary acid source in honey is
gluconic acid.
• the acidity can vary depending on source of honey. In general, darker honey the less acidic.
• Proteins:- is not a large source of protein including a.a. chains. about 1% of total volume.
• Despite small volume a.a. & proteins are very important to honey.
• The protein enzymes glucose oxidase and catalase regulate prodn of H2O2 which is one of the
keys to honey antibacterial properties.
• The protein enzymes diastase and invertase and the amino acid proline are key criterion to
judging the quality and age of honey.
58

• Yeasts :- Sugar-tolerant yeasts occur naturally in honey which cause fermentation when honey
moisture levels exceed 17%.
• This develop on glucose & fructose of the honey, producing alcohol &Co2.
• The alcohol in the presence of oxygen is further broken down into acetic acid and water, giving
the honey a sour (vinegar) taste.
• The degree of spoilage or effect on flavor and quality depends on the length of time fermentation
is allowed to proceed before being stopped by heating.
• Storing honey below 50°F (10°C) or above 80°F (26°C) will prevent fermentation indefinitely.
59

• 5-Hydroxy-methyl furfuraldhyde (HMF)
• This tongue twister of a honey ingredient is a key in determining honey freshness and
overexposure to heat.
• It's a product of the breakdown of glucose and is not present in young or unheated honey.
• Some countries regulate the labels of "quality" or "virgin" honey by the amount of HMF found.
• Property of honey
• Aroma Compounds: Ever wonder what makes honey smell and where that smell comes
from? Well a substance called honey volatiles are the source! Often these volatiles come from
the plant the honey is sources from but occasionally the bees add them.
60

• Honey Removal and Processing
• When removing the honey crop during the summer, be sure to leave adequate stores for the bees
in case of a lack of a fall crop.
• A good rule is to leave a super full of honey with the bees at all times.
• Removing the fully capped supers before the honey flow has ceased is less likely to initiate
robbing behavior.
• Intense robbing may occur if you wait to remove all of the supers until after the flow is over.
• Also, removal of the spring and summer honey crop just before the start of the goldenrod flow
will allow you to keep the honeys separated by flavor.
61

• Honey Removal and Processing cont…
• Usually summer honeys are lighter and milder in flavor compared to the darker, richer flavored fall honeys.
• Fall honeys often crystallize very rapidly, which could create several problems at extraction time if you wait
to remove entire crop at once.
• Use smoke sparingly when removing combs and/or supers because of its effect on the flavor of the honey.
• When harvesting only a few combs/ supers of honey, shaking /brushing bees from the combs may be the
most practical method.
• Remove one frame at a time &, holding each tightly by the ends of top bar, give it one or more quick shakes
downward in air above open colony or within an open space of super to remove most of the bees.
62

• Honey Quality
• The quality of honey is affected by many different factors from the time it is removed from the colony until it
is sold for human consumption.
• Whether operation is small or large, producing a final packaged product of highest quality & attractive to
consumer is important.
• Honey is considered at peak quality just after sealed in comb by bees.
• Proper handling during extraction and processing can produce liquid honey with only a slight loss of quality.
• While some consumers want raw or unprocessed honey, most market outlets require honey with a long shelf
life. Thus, straining and some heating are advisable to delay granulation and prevent fermentation.
63

9. HONEY BEE DISEASES AND ENEMIES
9.1. Brood honeybee diseases
a. American foul brood (AFB)
• Diseases affect either the brood (serious) or the adult bees.
• It is bacterial disease and spread by drifting bees, robbing etc.
• Colonies that have AFB must be destroyed, bees must be killed and brood frames burnt.
• Woodwork other than the frames may be saved, depending on state or national laws, but
must usually be thoroughly sterilized.
• In many countries outbreaks of AFB must be reported to the appropriate authority, and it
is these who deal with the problem.

Damage
• AFB is caused by the spore-forming bacterium Paenibacillus larvae.
• Larvae three days old become infected by their ingesting spores present in their food.
Young larvae less than 24 hours old are, however, most susceptible and infected larvae
usually die after their cells are sealed.
• Identifying AFB
• In the early stages, comb have the pepper-pot appearance typical.
• instead of being pearly or creamy white, the larvae are discoloured.
• Later, the larvae dry out and become difficult to remove as a result of the pupal tongue
that project from some of the now scale-like larvae to centre of cell. when you smell
something different, suspect AFB.

b. European foulbrood (EFB)
• The causal agent of EFB is the bacterium, Melissococcus pluton, which infests the guts of
bee larvae.
• Bacterium is not spores forming, so at early stages, colony can be saved. This often
considered a ‘stress’ disease.
• Identifying EFB
• The larvae die of starvation because of the action of the bacteria.
• larvae adopt unnatural positions in the cells and are not coiled neatly.
• The later stages of disease produce a foul smell often worse than AFB
• Treating EFB
• The bacteriostat =oxytetracycline will prevent and cure the problem.

c. Bee eaters and other birds
• These delightful-looking birds can have an amazing effect on habits of bees.
• During day, many bees would fly at low level in a zigzag motion to protect them.
• Bee eaters can, effect on queen-rearing operations because they tend to prey on larger
bees. Which is a major problem when trying to mate queens.
• Other birds, such as herons, may attack a beehive’s woodwork in their efforts to get at the
bees, especially in the winter when there is little else around.

d. Chalk brood
• Caused by fungus, Ascosphaera apis, affects unsealed & sealed brood
• At extreme weather conditions affects larvae, usually around edges of brood, when
temperature is higher or lower or any kind Stress.
• Identifying chalk brood
• Initially, larvae are covered by a fluffy white fungal (mycelial) growth,
• The larvae are, at first, swollen inside their cells, but, later on, dry out to become hard,
white or grey/black, chalk-like mummies.
• Treating and preventing chalk brood
• Reduce stress through Management, Avoid opening hives in cold.
• Feed your colonies with sugar syrup, fresh, uncontaminated pollen.

e. Sac brood
• is a viral disease (Morator aetatulae) that doesn’t cause severe losses
• Adult bees detect and remove infected larvae very quickly.
• Therefore, by the time the beekeeper observes the symptoms, the disease may be too
severe for the adult worker population to handle.
• Nurse bees are suspected of transmitting the disease by carrying the virus from cell to cell.
The following are the signs of its infestation:
• If the cells are open, identification is easier.
• The larvae die in an upright position in cell, this is very noticeable.
• Treating of sac brood
• no antibiotic is effective

f. Stone brood
• is also a fungal disease. Aspergillus flavus and A. fumigatus. However, A. flavus is
considered, by far, the most important.
• Both larvae and pupae are susceptible. The disease causes mummification of infected
brood.
• Mummies are hard & solid, not sponge-like as in case of chalk brood.
• Brood infected by A. flavus become covered with a powdery green growth of fungal
spores.
• spores are found most abundantly near the head of affected brood.
• The bees remove the dead brood on their own and the colony normally recovers in a
short period of time.

9.2. Adult honeybee diseases
a. Nosema Disease
• Nosema apis is a unicellular parasite of the class of Microsporidia that is now considered
to be a fungus.
• It is a very widespread disease of honey-bees and, when the spores are eaten by adult
bees, they germinate and invade gut wall.
• they multiply and produce more spores that are passed out in waste.
• Identifying nosema
• No specific external symptoms of nosema
• If Study mid-gut tan coloured and wrinkly, it is healthy. If it is smooth and white, it
probably has nosema.

b. Acarine (tracheal mite)
• every colony death at the time whether caused by starvation or something else was
blamed on this new mite.
• The symptoms include crawling at hive’s entrance, crossed wings and other wing troubles.
• Identifying acarine
• Dissecting bee & microscopic examination of trachea is the only way. There are no visible
symptoms.
• Treating acarine
• Certain evaporative treatments, such as those using menthol or formic acid and which are
used for varroa control can be employed for the treatment of this mite, but it is best to
obtain expert advice.

C. Varroatosis destructor
• It is V. destructor that has caused so much trouble since it jumped from its natural host
• The topic of varroa and its effects on honey-bees is vast and one that we are only just
beginning to understand.
• Because this mite has had such an impact on the economy of beekeeping, therefore, I think
it is important that we have a look at it in some detail.
• When the mite first arrives in a country, by and large it takes all beekeepers by surprise.
• Most were hoping that it simply wouldn’t appear but, when it does, many beekeepers
suddenly become wax-moth keepers.

9.3. Honeybee Enemies
• Ants
• The presence of ants may indicate a weak colony/ colony with problems. Once established
in a colony, they are difficult to control.
• Wax moth caused by Galleria mellonella
• Wax moths perform a vital service to bees in the wild. They destroy diseased hives and so
help to prevent the spread of disease.
• Colonies with genetically weak components in their queens or drones
• Damage:- Grubs move through comb, eating honey, pollen & beeswa
• Protecting against wax moth
• only protection against wax moth is to keep colonies strong & healthy

Wax/Small hive beetle (Aethina tumida)
• Can eat brood, destroy comb and quickly end a colony’s life.
• Identifying small hive beetle
• adult is about one third size of a bee and seen readily, as their larvae.
• The beetles are initially reddish brown but mature to black. adults have two distinctive, club-shaped
antennae. When a hive is opened, adult can be seen running across combs to hide from the light.
• If infestation is heavy, adults may be seen on hive floors and under.
• Small, pearly white eggs, smaller than bee eggs, can be found in irregular masses in crevices or
brood combs.
• Treating of the small hive beetle
• The beetles hide in corrugations and the strip can then be removed.

9.4. Honeybee poisoning
• Bees can suffer serious effects from toxic chemicals in their env’ts.
• These include chemicals, such as insecticides and fertilizers, as well as a variety of naturally
occurring chemicals from plants, such as ethanol resulting from the fermentation of organic
material.
• Bee intoxication can result from exposure to ethanol from fermented nectar, ripe fruits, and
manmade and natural chemicals in the env’t.
• Classification
• Insecticide toxicity is generally measured using acute contact toxicity values LD50 – the
exposure level that causes 50% of the population exposed to die.

Effect of pesticides, Symptoms of Pesticide Poisoning
• A. Bee-poisoning symptoms
• Honeybees react differently to different pesticides, and most herbicides and fungicides are
less toxic to bees than are insecticides.
• To the beekeeper, the most obvious sign of pesticide poisoning is the presence of an
exceptional number of dead bees in front of the hives.
• assessing the extent of pesticide poisoning: 100 dead bees/ day is the colony's normal
death rate; 200-400 dead bees indicate a medium level of pesticide poisoning; 500-1000
dead bees indicate a low level of pesticide poisoning; over 1000 dead bees indicate a high
level of pesticide poisoning.

B. Relative toxicity of pesticide
• Most poisonings occur when these bee-toxic insecticides are applied to crops during the
blooming period. Poisoning of pollinators can also result from:
• Drift of pesticides onto adjoining crops or plants that are in bloom,
• Contamination of flowering ground cover plants when sprayed with pesticides,
• Pesticide residues, particles, or dusts being picked up by foraging pollinators and taken
back to the colony, and/or,
• Pollinators drinking or touching contaminated water sources or dew on recently treated
plants.

Bee kill rate per hive
• Bee killer can be Insecticides & Acaricides, Fungicides and Herbicide
• Relative Toxicity of Pesticides to the Common Honeybee
• Group 1 - Highly Toxic
• The application of these pesticides to foraging areas when bees are active may cause
severe damage. Beekeepers must know in advance when they are to be used and take
special precautions; moving colonies out of the area temporarily is perhaps the safest
approach.
• Group 2 - Moderately Toxic
• These products should not applied directly on fields when bees are actively foraging or

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