Beekeeping Techniques and Honeyb Bee Breeding

Lectures:
1) Honey bee anatomy and morphology (1 hour)
2) The castes: queen bee, worker bee and drone. The social physiology. Communication among honey bee (2 hours).
3) Genetics of honeybee: taxonomy, breeds, sexual chromosomes, haploidy and diploidy, relationships among honeybees in a colony (2 hours)
4) Honeybee selection: traits, mating stations, genetic improvement (2 hours)
5) The frame hives. The beekeeping equipment. Location and arrangement of an apiary. (1 hour)
6) Beekeeping techniques:
- Hive inspection and the evaluation of colonies
- The visits in autumn and winter
- The swarming, supersedure,
- Harvesting honey
- Queen rearing (3 hours)
7) Characteristics and production techniques of bee products (2 hours)
8) Parasites and diseases of bees (2 hours)
9) Legislation (1 hour)

Practical activities:
Hive inspection in the apiary of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Lodi (8 hours)
Visit to a harvesting laboratory and to an apiary for queen honeybee raising (8 hours)