The Bicol Region is the birthplace of meliponiculture in the Philippines using the native stingless bee species, Tetragonula biroi Friese. Mr. Rodolfo Palconitin of Guinobatan, Albay, started the traditional method of stingless beekeeping using indigenous material, the coconut shell, which he called bao tech or coconut shell technology. It is a form of natural hive duplication wherein coconut shell halves are gradually mounted on top of each other as the colony grows. In this technology, hive product harvesting and colony splitting are done when the stingless bees have filled up the coconut shell halves. Inspired by the visit to the University of Los Baños (UPLB) Bee Program in 2010, the Grajo's Farm started using bao technology with several experimental hives upon return to home.
TopIntroduction
The Bicol Region is the birthplace of meliponiculture in the Philippines using the native stingless bee species, Tetragonula biroi Friese Belina-Aldemita et al. (2019) of Abante (2020), started the traditional method of stingless beekeeping using indigenous material – the coconut shell, which he called Bao Tech or Coconut shell technology (Fig. 1). It is a form of natural hive duplication wherein coconut shell halves are gradually mounted on top of each other as the colony grows. In this technology, hive product harvesting and colony splitting are done when the stingless bees have filled up the coconut shell halves. Inspired by the visit to the University of Los Baños (Baroga-Barbecho & Cervancia, 2019), Grajo’s Farm started using Bao Technology with several experimental hives upon return home. Cervancia (2018), former Director of the UPLB Bee.
Figure 1. Traditional method of stingless beekeeping using coconut shells.
Figure 2.
Traditional method of stingless beekeeping using coconut shells.
The program encouraged them to raise stingless bees instead of Apis mellifera. At the beginning of their stingless beekeeping journey, it was very challenging due to a lack of technical knowledge, mentor, and dependence on bee hunters for feral colony supply. Some of the feral colonies bought were damaged, while others were drowned in honey, resulting in robbing and infestation. This incident has led to the colony collapse of their stingless bees. But these trials did not discourage them from continuing but motivated them more instead.
Three years later, they came across the name of Dr. Giorgio Venturieri while doing online research on meliponiculture, specifically hive design. Dr. Venturieri was a senior research scientist of Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuria (EMBRAPA) or the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation who spent his sabbatical years in Australia (Fig. 3). He shared his expertise and greatly influenced Grajo’s Farm to embrace the concept of vertical hive design. He later migrated to Australia and upgraded his design to suit Australian stingless bee species and is currently the business owner of Nativo Bees (Venturieri, 2008).
Figure 3. Source: Dr. Giorgio Venturieri TopVertical Hive Design
The vertical hive was designed by Angolan Professor Virgílio de Portugal (de Araújo Filho, 1957)and (Goff, 1976) (Fig. 4). The concept of this square hive box model is based on the natural hive pattern on hollow trees. The chambers are limited into two: a lower chamber for brood combs and food storage on the top, usually called “melgueiras”. On the bottom left corner is the inlet of air and on the left top is the outlet. The entrance is found on the right corner passing through a tube-like structure and leading to the brood chamber also called the “gallery” (1).
Figure 4. The hive design by Portugal - Araujo showing a brood chamber on the base and a food storage on top.