Effects of temperature and relative humidity on colonization of bees hives within Futa community

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of temperature and relative humidity on colonization of honey bee hives within FUTA community. An initial reconnaissance survey was carried out prior to the commencement of the study; the coordinates of all the locations were taken and recorded with a GPS. Three different locations were used for this study, and three artificial beehives were constructed and placed at these three locations within the FUTA community. The study lasted for fifteen weeks. The climatic conditions of these three locations were measured each week, i.e. temperatures and relative humidity. Variations in these climatic factors were observed throughout the fifteen weeks of this study. The beehive located behind the Quarantine section of Prof. T.A Afolayan Wildlife Park) had the maximum temperature of 31.4 ⁰c and low relative humidity of 76.9%, while the beehive located at Animal Production and Health Teaching and Research Farm had a minimum temperature of 28.0⁰c and maximum relative humidity of 80.5% after fifteen weeks. At the 6th week, 8th and 9th week respectively the beehives were all noticed to have been colonized respectively. There was significant difference between the the mean of temperature of the three different locations. This study shows that the modern/artificial beehive under a good climatic condition and management is a sustainable way of high honey production, bees tends to thrive under relatively high temperature and relatively low humidity.