Be it vegetables or fruits anything fresh is good for health. The same goes for honey as well. It is possible to extract the luscious nectar borne by the flowers, during the individual flowering season, fresh with all its nutrients. “All it requires is a training in beekeeping or apiculture which is very simple,” says Vasantha Kumar, an apiculturist. “It is imperative that there should be neem trees, drumstick trees, and gulmohar each at least 10 in number and a minimum of 20 coconut trees at a distance of one-and-a-half kilometre around to collect a good amount of honey. Flowers of coconut trees are very important for bees to thrive.”
He said that in Chennai, the flowering season for drumstick trees is almost perennial unlike villages. “It is because human population in cities is dense and the pheromones of human beings enhance pollination of plants and trees. Another major factor that facilitates beekeeping in this city is that sparrow population is scarce. Sparrows feed on honeybees. Fifty sparrows can destroy one bee colony. In villages, there are corn and sunflower fields for the sparrows to feed and it spares the bees,” he added.

REARING BEES

“Many fear that bees will sting. But the fact is that they sting only during winter and windy seasons as they find it difficult to find their forage. During summer, when trees and plants are fully blossomed they do not sting. During winter, sugar solution is given to bees. Or else creepers such as karisilankaniwhich flower with in a short period can be cultivated and the leaves of which are edible,” he said. Care should be taken to ensure that the queen bee is shifted to a different place at a distance of one kilometre; otherwise when the next queen bee is hatched, the mother queen bee will fly away along with which worker bees will also fly. An apiculturist will lose a colony,” he added.
There are about five species of bees that yield a
good amount of
honey. Apis Cerana
(also known as
Indian bees) is ideal for a domestic apiary. Apis Dorsata which are found in crevices of rocks andDammer Bees found in tree holes have medicinal properties. Another species Apis Mellifera (also known as Italian bees) is used by self help groups to extract honey and is therefore preferred by apiculturists to set up a large-scale apiary.

APIARIES

Vasantha Kumar has set up apiaries at Kottayam (Kerala) , Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), Tirunelveli and Chennai. He said that the quality of honey extracted from tropical places is better than those extracted from hilly and cold regions. “In Kerala, honey is mainly extracted from rubber trees and in Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts, nectar-borne plants are mainly sunflower and corn. Event the leaves of corn bear nectar,” he added. In the city he has built a clientele in
Thiruvanmiyur, Kolathur
and Chromepet.
During his domestic visits at
these places he collects honey from bee chambers which have been set up exclusively for this purpose. Apart from collecting honey from individual homes he also imparts special training in domestic beekeeping for those interested.
“Individuals will be trained in handling bees using a smoker, feed for bees, colony migration, and extraction of honey from the chambers,” he added. Self-help groups which wish to involve themselves in large-scale beekeeping can also undergo training from Vasant Kumar.
Similar sessions are handled by him in schools also. Some of the heath benefits of honey are purification of blood, enhancement of hemoglobin levels, improvement of immunity system, helps in digestion, a laxative, in treatment of ulcer, and it is good for heart.
The honey extracted from flowers and tender leaves of neem and drumstick flowers are therapeutic in nature.”
Vasantha Kumar delivers honey, bees, beekeeping appliances, at your doorstep. For honey, an order has to be placed before the season begins. He also visits house to extract honey.
Vasantha Kumar can be contacted at 9941868926.