Top 10 questions about stingless bees

1) These bees really do not have stingers?

In fact, the sting of a bee sting that is nothing more than a kind of modified ovipositor apparatus, thus only females can sting.
Stingless bees do not get that name because of the absence of the sting, the stinger up there, but he is stunted, almost imperceptible and only seen with analysis of high precision magnifier. So do not sting.

2) It takes a special clothing (PPE) for the management of these bees?

The inability to ferroarem, the use of special clothing, on the contrary, as our region is very hot management can be done with the day same day clothes, shorts, shirt and a good pair of Hawaiian becomes necessary.
Anyway, stingless bees, mostly, are extremely docile, hardly develop some behavior of defensiveness.

3) Because who creates stingless bees beekeeper is not?

Beekeeper is a professional who keeps bees sting COM, ie, the Africanized bees, or also known with "Italian", this name comes from the scientific name assigned to this bee (apis melifera).
Who creates stingless bees is called meliponicultor this name, the same way as the first comes from the genus of stingless bees (melipona), just as an example the name of Jandaíra, stingless bee RN is melipona duke subntida .

4) These bees can be created at home?

Can be created, stingless bees are very docile and can be created easily in homes, I myself have seen these bees are created even in apartments.

5) It is difficult to create, it requires a lot of care with the bees?

Almost none, bees are extremely independent of our help, but it requires some care management, which can be done quickly every 15 days, or even monthly to small creations. Who want to create should know a little of their biology as well as knowing the correct handling techniques rational creation, which is not very difficult.



6) Why honey these bees is so expensive compared to the common honey?

The high price has several reasons: 1 honey production is very small. The same Jandaíra only produces on average 1 liter of honey per year, a very small amount compared bees sting, they can get up to 60 kg for the same period. 2 This honey is difficult to produce because the stingless bees are very selective in their search for nectar, so that your honey has a distinctive flavor. 3 Because of low production, the demand can not meet market demand, increasing the price. 4 The honey from stingless bees is special, tastes, color and smells completely different, who knows and experiences the first time is charmed with its flavor.


7) Is it true that honey has medicinal properties?

Yes, honey these bees was already used by sertanejos for the treatment of various infectious diseases, recently published a paper in UFRN that proved the healing capacity of honey bee Jandaíra in artificially induced wounds and infected rats.

8) What is the best stingless bee to be created?

There is not a better sort, each species is typical of a region and has better response to land in their place of origin, but some species have great adaptability to various regions and can be created with ease.

9) It is true that these bees leave their nests over time?

No, unfortunately there is a very common confusion that has generated this myth, many beekeepers, without proper knowledge of the biology of these bees, they end up thinking that bees leave the boxes (swarmed) in times of low food availability in nature.
Actually, stingless bees never leave their houses because, unlike the Italian bees, the queens of these bees can not fly when they are already fertilized, because these queens develop fisiogastria, or end up with your abdomen very dilated by the development of the ovaries.
Thus the bees never leave her mother, staying with her even in our darkest hours.
What happens very often and that generated this myth is the death of the Queen, and consequently the death of the whole swarm by hunger, lack of food causes the death of the colony without enough to keep the bees food end up perishing during periods of no bloom.
Most forget that bees produce honey in abundance for their consumption during periods of drought, as honey is harvested and there is no artificial feeding by meliponicultor to replace the natural, the colony suffering gathering in large quantity is ordered to death from lack of food during the months of food shortages. So the myth.

10) is easy to find these bees in nature?

No, in the past these bees were common, were easily found in nature, exist, several years ago in abundance.
However, due to the unruly behavior of man with our forests, their natural place, are the vast majority of species threatened with extinction.

The Jandaira is very rare and only found in the savanna regions, even though only one biome, continuous and increasing deforestation of this vegetation has brought terrible consequences, there are already places that this bee is not found naturally, a fact compounded by lack of monitoring in large real estate and businesses reliant on the exploitation and burning of fuelwood, such as ceramics enterprises.

If the rate of destruction continues it is likely that the Jandaíra, and many other stingless bees, they will only be found in the hands of a few beekeepers, activists and those who count myself fighting for the continuous preservation and dissemination of the wonderful harmony between men and stingless bees.