Propolis mixture production and foragers daily activity of stingless bee Tetragonula sp. In bamboo and box hives

The objectives of present study were to determine the foragers exit activity, propolis weight, and propolis mixture production from honey pots and bee bread pots of stingless bee Tetragonula sp. from different beehives. In this study was used 30 colonies of Tetragonula sp. obtained from bamboo hives and divided into 2 groups (each 15 colonies) consisted of box hives with size 40 x 20 x 15 cm and bamboo hives with diameter was 8 cm and length was 50 cm. The colonies were transferred from natural hives to box and bamboo hives were done at night consisted of a queen bee, workers, drones, and brood cells. The variables were measured consisted of the exit activity of foragers, propolis weight, and propolis mixture production from stingless bee Tetragonula sp. Afterwards, all the colonies were meliponiculture for thirty days. The present results showed that the exit activity of foragers, propolis weight, and propolis mixture production from honey pots and bee bread pots (big, medium, small, and total production) from stingless bee Tetragonula sp. was higher in box hives than in bamboo hives (p<0.01). © 2021 Fundacion CIPAV. All rights reserved.