D3086: Comparative observation of honey production behavior of worker bees (Apis mellifera) in Langstroth hives raised with and without a queen excluder

Beekeeping is an important agricultural activity due to its contribution in the economic development. In modern beekeeping, a technical option to improve colony productivity by using a queen excluder to prevent the queen bee from climbing up the raised hives. In Haiti, the use of the queen excluder is totally neglected, which impacts negatively the productivity of the bees. The aim of this study was to evaluate the behavior of worker bees in terms of honey production. The experiment was set up at the Miel M. bee farm (SSMMP) Haiti, under 2 treatments (hives managed with and without queen excluders) and 2 repetitions per treatment with adult A. mellifera in Langstroth hives (460 mm X 370 mm) with 5 initial frames (420 mm X 200 mm), with at least 30,000 adult of bees per colony. Production management was estimated every 5 days over a 60-day period. All bee colonies showed progress from the 5th and 6th evaluations. In colonies without queen excluder, the nectar reserve gradually increased, reaching 47% and 10.25 kg of honey production. However, with the queen excluder, the nectar reserve initially increased to a lesser extent but dropped after the ninth evaluation, reaching 39.7% and 8.65 kg of honey. Although there were no significant statistical differences between treatments (p=0.684 for nectar reserve and p=0.838 for honey production), colonies with the queen showed better performance, reflected in higher honey yields. Monitoring of the nectar curve before using the queen excluder can be suggested to achieve greater honey production.