ZOOTECHNICAL Beekeeping Management, Arraiz
ZOOTECHNICAL Beekeeping Management
Honey bees have been extensively studied in their biology, ecology, anatomy, morphology, physiology, behavior and general beekeeping, and there is a vast literature on each of these aspects. However, the issues concerning honey bees in their condition as farm animals have not been dealt with rigorous zootechnical criteria.
This book presents methods, models and systems related to how to gather, transcribe and organize in a systematic, methodological and orderly way, the information that comes from the biological behavior of honey bee colonies, expressed as beekeeping parameters, for their analysis, evaluation and control, to apply the techniques and/or methods of the general beekeeping management in the breeding of bees for production purposes.
Pablo Montesinos Arraiz, veterinarian, studied Biology and Entomology at the University of Kansas, USA (United States of America). He was an Associate Researcher at the USDA, ARS Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Now a day, He is a retired professor from the Universidad Centro Occidental Lisandro Alvarado, UCLA, Venezuela. At this University, where he obtained his veterinary degree, was a professor of Apiculture and chief of the Apiculture Station, there he dedicated to teach, research and production. Currently he resides in Zaragoza, España, where he teaches Apiculture courses, gives talks and conferences.
VIEW Contents
- Chapter 1
- Zootechnical beekeeping management
- Principles of the zootechnical beekeeping management
- Patterns of the brood nest
- Chapter 2
- Method to estimate the number of frames with eggs, open brood, sealed brood and bees in the brood chamber at the time of the inspection of a hive
- Chapter 3
- Methods of zootechnical evaluation of the queens
- Method to determine the phenotype of the queens
- Method to evaluate the reproductive performance of the queens
- Methods of zootechnical evaluation of the queens
- Chapter 4
- Model of analysis, evaluation and control of the honey bees for production purposes
- Chapter 5
- Beekeeping coding system
- Method of hives inspection
- Beekeeping registers system
- Chapter 6
- System of beekeeping indicators
- Chapter 7
- Animal welfare in beekeeping
- Chapter 8
- Traditional beekeeping
VIEW Book Review
Reviewed by Ann Chilcott (Scottish Expert Beemaster) and author of THE BEELISTENER
Zootechnical Beekeeping Management involves the domestication, breeding, and improvement of animals. This publication is about utilising honey bees for their products and breeding the best possible stock for production and profitability. The author is veterinarian Pablo Montesinos Arraiz and retired Professor of Apiculture, and Director of the Apiculture Station of the Universidad Lisandro Alvarado, UCLA Barquisimeto, Venezuela. The described methods, models, and systems have all been tested and used successfully at this educational centre.
There are eight chapters with useful references at the end of each one.
Arraiz lists important parameters for assessing breeder queens including zootechnical behavioural, general zootechnical, beekeeping production, and reproduction criteria. The parameters are coded using mnemonics such as HRH meaning honey receiver hive. It would have been useful to have had a removable page with these abbreviations listed for easy reference throughout the following text.
Readers who find flow charts, tables, schematic diagrams, and mind maps useful may enjoy the organisation of the information presented, but others may find them challenging and difficult to follow with ease. There are however, fifty photographs to aid a hive inspection to estimate the number of frames with eggs, open brood, sealed brood, and bees in the brood chamber at the time of assessment in the process of evaluating a good queen. To aid queen evaluation further, there are fifteen photographs showing queens of all shapes, sizes, and colours.
The chapter that resonates with me is on animal welfare in beekeeping, and Arraiz quotes from the World Health Organisation for Animal Health, but he laments that it has not included honey bees as livestock under their guidelines.
Beekeepers involved with commercial beekeeping and queen breeding may find Zootechnical Beekeeping Management an interesting and informative read.
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