Relating hygienic behaviour with the age of comb and colony strength of hived East African lowland honey bees, Apis mellifera scutellata Lepeletier, 1836 (Hymenoptera Apidae)

Hygienic behaviour in honey bees is known for associating with parasite and disease resistance but the mechanisms influencing this behaviour are not well known. We studied the hygienic relationship between the age of combs and colony strength of East African lowland honey bees Apis mellifera scutellata Lepeletier, 1836 (Hymenoptera Apidae) in Top-bar hives (n = 24) selected from an apiary located in an African tropical rainforest. The findings indicated that over 24 hours, there was no interaction between hygienic behaviour and colony strength (P=0.9707). Hygienic behaviour was also independent of the age of the honeycomb (P=0.9859). There was a non-significant difference in the number of cells cleaned, for both Young and Old combs; and between two levels of colony strength (Strong Vs Weak) during the day, with that number getting closer after 24 hours. There was an efficient rate of hygienic response during the night than during daytime when strong colonies cleaned 32.35% of debris while the weak colonies did 20.55%; but at night, the cleaning rate rose to 65.85% in strong and 73.9% among the weak colonies. Overnight, weak and new colonies cleaned >96% of the cells attributable to the presence of a big population of worker bees at night, and minimal colony activities notably foraging activity at that time. Whereas hygienic behaviour was not directed towards colony strength and age of the combs in 24 hours, there is a need for maintaining strong colonies. Since the rate of cell cleaning was higher at night than during the day, colony operations and hive disturbances should be done at night as opposed to daytime.