Introduction to Bee Keeping Techniques and Common Types of Pests

Bee keeping also requires attention to the harm caused by pests. Bee pests include bee species, bee lice flies, and wax moths that damage the wax of brood combs. Bee enemies include toads, spiders, and hornets. Let's take a look below.

Toads: Toads mostly appear in summer, mostly in mountainous areas. Toads hide below the beehives, and come out at night to feed at the hive entrance on bees crowded outside that have not returned to the nest, causing relatively large damage to bee numbers.

Spiders: Common spider species include the golden orb-weaver (Nephila maculata) and others that spin webs to wait for bees, causing little damage to bee numbers. Cockroaches will enter the beehive to feed on honey or debris, but they do little harm to bees, only disturbing the colony.

Ants: Ants will enter the beehive to feed on honey, and are more numerous in mountainous areas.

Slugs: In humid areas, snails and slugs will crawl onto the beehives. They only disturb the colony and do no harm, but they can be taken as an indicator of excessive humidity, and the colony must be relocated.

Lizards: Lizards are quite common in preying on bees at apiaries in this province, with the tree-climbing lizard being the most common, but this has not received attention.

Birds: There are many birds that prey on bees, and there are also bee-eaters that specialize in eating bees, causing serious damage in certain areas.