The basic rule in honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) rearing is to work with qualified queens. Quality queen means strong and healthy colonies. Honey bee colonies are a social community, each managed by a single queen bee. The queen bee is the only female that produces eggs in the colony under normal conditions, and the quality and healthy queen is important for the continuity of the colony. Many factors affect the quality of the queen bee, such as the rearing colony, the age of the transferred larva and the transfer medium, the season, cell emergence weight, spermatheca charged, the characteristics of the starter and finisher hives. In this paper, the issues to be considered in raising a quality queen are emphasized.

This study during the spring of 2014, effects of plant extract and oil mixture obtained from various plants added to the syrup given to the forces equalized bee on physiological characteristics of the colonies were examined. Bee colonies (10 colonies in each group) were randomly divided into two groups. When the first group feed syrup and plant extract oil mixture, at the same rate with feed syrup only test group to control group (1/1 sucrose-water) was applied. According to the research results, the plant extract-oil mixture was not effective on the number of frames and hive weight. The mixture although numerically increased the amount of brood rearing area, this effect was not statistically significant. However, provided statistically significant increase in honey production. We concluded that, while the plant extract-oil mixture tested is not effective in brood production, is effective on honey production.

Honey bees are a very important species in terms of economy, agriculture, and environment. In recent years, there has been a significant reduction in honey bee colonies in some parts of the world. Honeybee losses are not an unusual event, but there has been a significant reduction in honey bee colonies in many countries around the world. Due to the different social behaviors of honey bees, it is difficult to identify the main factors causing colony losses. According to the latest research, colony losses are mainly caused by parasites, diseases, bee keeping practices, and bee management including reproduction, changes in climatic conditions, agricultural practices and pesticide use, pesticides, nutrition, and beekeeping practices. In this review, the structure of prebiotic, probiotic, climate change, and vitollegen, which causes colony losses, is emphasized, and the potential solutions of these factors that will shed light on colony losses in honey bees from a different point of view are emphasized. In addition, bibliometric analysis was performed using the SCOPUS database to emphasize the importance of probiotic microorganisms and vitellogen.

Günümüzde bal arılarında dil çıkartma (PER) ve iğne çıkartma (SER) refleksleri gözlemlenerek koşullu şartlandırma araştırmaları yapılmaktadır. Araştırmalar sonucu narkotik maddeler, patlayıcılar, hastalıklar ve manyetik alanlar gibi olguların tespitinde bal arılarının biyo-sensör olarak şartlandırılarak kullanılabileceği gösterilmiştir. Bal arıları ile yapılan koşullu şartlandırma çalışmalarında doygun atmosfer spreyi ve dokunma yöntemleri dil çıkartma refleksi (PER) tespitinde yoğun olarak kullanılmaktadır. Bal arılarının farklı ırk ve ekotipleri ile yapılan bu çalışmada; doygun atmosfer spreyi ile şartlandırma yöntemi için, şartlandırma kabini içerisindeki işçi arılara aromatik bitki özütü içeren 50 cc atmosferik koku; yaklaşık 3 saniye içerisinde 5 cm mesafeden baş hizasına enjekte edilerek tanıtılmış ve arkasından 1/1 şeker-su (w/w) karışımı şurup ile ödüllendirilmişlerdir. Dokunma ile şartlandırma denemesinde ise yağlı aromatik bitki özütüne daldırılan ahşap kürdan işçi arıların antenlerine dokundurularak arkasından 1/1 şeker-su (w/w) karışımı şurup ile ödüllendirilmişlerdir. 15 dakika ara ile üç kez tekrar edilerek koşullu şartlandırılan bal arılarının şartlanma sonrası hatırlama oranları dil çıkartma refleksi (PER) davranışı gözlemlenerek şartlanma gösterip göstermedikleri tespit edilmiştir. Araştırmada kullanılan bal arısı ırk ve ekotiplerinin her iki yöntemle de şartlandıkları gözlemlenmiştir. Bal arılarının koşullu şartlanma uygulaması sonrası hatırlamada; dokunma uygulamasının doygun atmosfer spreyi uygulamasına göre daha fazla şartlanma ve hatırlanma oranına sahip olduğu tespit edilmiştir.

Honey is a natural substance produced by honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) from the nectar of blossoms or from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which honeybees collect, transform and combine with specific substances of their own, store and leave in the honey comb to ripen and mature. Besides being of carbohydrate-rich food, honey has been used as a functional food for its potential health benefits. To explain how different kinds of carbohydrate-rich foods directly affect blood sugar, the researchers developed the concept of the “glycemic index” (GI) that ranks carbohydrates on a scale based on how quickly and how much they raise blood sugar levels after eating. The diet should include adequate and healthy balance of nutrients, and according to many health professionals the concept of GI provides a useful means of selecting the most appropriate carbohydrate containing foods for the maintenance of health and the treatment of several disease states. There have been some studies on determining the GI of honey. Further more, we need to determine the GI of various honey types with different botanical and geografical origin. Researches on the issue will serve to bring awareness in the public consciousness.

In recent years, there have been unexplained colony losses around the world. Due to the decrease in honey bee colonies, many studies have been carried out to investigate potential causes. One of the main causes of losses is also insecticides. Insecticides used against harmful insects in agricultural fields affect not only harmful ones but also beneficial insects such as honey bees directly or indirectly. Honey bee losses are more common, especially where insecticides are used, and the immune systems of bees exposed to insecticides in these areas weaken; foraging behavior, the ability to smell and learn is impaired. In addition, it leaves residues in bee products such as honey, wax, pollen and bee bread. Effective and sustainable solutions are sought worldwide in order to cope with these losses that pose a major ecological threat. This review aims to reveal the current situation by examining the effects of insecticides on honey bee behavior and physiology.

Gezginci arıcılık; koloni verimliliğinin artırılmasında önemli bir uygulama olmakla birlikte son zamanlarda kolonilerin nakliyesinde için işçi bulmak önemli bir sorun haline gelmeye başlamıştır. Arı taşımacılığının genellikle iller arasında ve gece saatlerinde yapılması zorunluluğu, ayrıca arı sokması problemleri nedeniyle çalıştıracak eleman bulunamaması sorununu da beraberinde getirmiştir. Gezginci arıcılıkta taşımacılığın iller arasında yapılması yanında, kolonileri hem yüklerken hem de indirirken ayrı işçilik giderleri gerektirmesi de işletme giderlerini artıran bir diğer faktördür. Bunun sonucu olarak da arıların taşınmasında işçi bulmak hem güç olmakta hem de işçilik maliyetlerinin yüksek olması nedeniyle gezginci arıcılık ekonomik olmaktan uzaklaşmaktadır. Sürekli artan yakıt fiyatlarıyla birlikte nakliye giderlerinin de artması gezginci arıcılığı olumsuz etkileyen bir diğer olumsuzluktur. Arı yükleme ve indirmede yaşanan bu problemlerden dolayı bir arıcı konakladığı yerden memnun olmasa da kolonilerinin yerini hızlıca değiştirememekte ve sezonu verimsiz bir şekilde geçirmek zorunda kalmaktadır.

Bu araştırma, ülkemizde tarımı yaygınlık kazanan yağlık kolza (Brassica napus L.,) bitkisinin Samsun İli koşullarında, çiçeklenme fenolojisi, çiçek sayısı, nektar ve polen potansiyelinin belirlenmesi amacıyla 2011 ve 2012 yıllarında yürütülmüştür. Araştırmanın birinci yılında (2011), kolza bitkisinin 44 gün süre ile çiçekte kaldığı, bitkide 2.694 adet/da çiçek bulunduğu, günlük toplam 1,89 kg/da nektar salgıladığı ve 1330 kg/da polen ürettiği belirlenmiştir. Araştırmanın ikinci yılında (2012), kolza bitkisinin 39 gün süre ile çiçekte kaldığı, bitkide 701 adet/da çiçek bulunduğu, günlük toplam 0,38 kg/da nektar salgıladığı ve 331,57 kg/da polen ürettiği ortaya konmuştur. Kolza bitkisinin Samsun koşullarında yapılan iki yıllık sonuçlarına göre ortalama 41,5 gün çiçekte kaldığı, günlük nektar üretiminin 0,23 mg/çiçek/gün, nektar kuru madde düzeyinin %20,25 ve polen üretiminin 0,48 mg/çiçek/gün olduğu saptanmıştır. Samsun İlinde kolza bitkisinin, erken ilkbahar döneminde, çevrede bulunan birçok bitkinin çiçeklenmesinden önce çiçeklendiği ve başta bal arıları (Apis mellifera L.) olmak üzere pek çok tozlayıcı böceğe, nektar ve polen sağladığı belirlenmiştir. Kolza bitkisinin arıcılık açısından ekiminin yaygınlaştırılarak erken ilkbahar döneminde, bal arıları ve diğer tozlayıcı böcekler açısından elverişli bir besin kaynağı olabileceği ortaya konmuştur.

This study was conducted to determine the better hygienic behaviour determination method that is used in controlling against bee diseases and pests. Total forty honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera anatoliaca) were used and they were randomly divided into two groups (each group consists of twenty colonies) in first year. Liquid nitrogen method was used in the first group' colonies and pin-killing (needling process) method was used in the second group’ colonies to determine the effectiveness of methods for hygienic behaviour. Average clearance rate was found as 66.25% and 78.10% in the first (Liquid nitrogen application) and the second (pin-killing) groups respectively. In the second year, forty colonies were divided into five equal groups and each group consisted eight colonies. The first group consisted of 9 frames bees in standard langstroot hive (10 frame capacity), the second group consisted of 5 frames bees in standard langstroot hive (10 frame capacity), the third group consisted of 5 frames bees in ruşet hive (5 frame capacity), the forth group’s consisted of 3 frames bees in ruşet hive (5 frame capacity) and the fifty group consisted of queen mating hive. The pin-killing (needling process) method, tested in first year, was used for all groups to determine the effectiveness of colony population and the size of hive. Average clearance rates of the first, second, third, forth and fifth groups were 70.54%, 58.38%, 70.63%, 54.96% and 58.21% respectively. The colonies that belonged to the pin-killing (needling) group showed a higher cleaning behaviour rate than the other colonies. The density of bees in hive had an important effect on the clearance rate of colonies. The colonies of group 1 and group 3, which had the more density of bees in per unit area, had the higher clearance rate than the other groups.

Path analysis is determinate that relationships among variables by using correlation coefficient, partial correlation coefficient and path coefficient. In this study, direct and indirect effects of honey yield between brood rearing area, flight activity, pollen collection, nectar collection and cleaning power were examined with these coefficients. Data which taken from C.U. Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science, Beekeeping Business were used. In the end of this research, the effect of brood rearing area on honey yield was found significant. In the colonies, brood rearing area has the highest direct effect of honey yield. Nectar collection has the highest indirect effect.