Harvesting honey from a stingless bee colony

OnWednesdaymorning,Sergiodecideditwastimetoharvesthoneyfromthestinglessbee(Meliponini)colonyhemaintains.BeforeIknewwhathewasdoing,thelidwasoffsoIdon’thaveashotofitbeforehand.Thecolonylivesinadilapidatedwoodenbox,sittingonastumpupagainstthebackofthehouse.Usingaspoon,hescrapedthehoney-bearingcellsawayfromthebroodchambers.Thebroodcombisthelighter-coloredportionofthenest.

Thisisaphotoofthelidofthebox.Youcanseethedifferenceinthecolorandtextureofthenestmaterial.Mostspeciesusecerumen,amixtureofwaxandplantresintoconstructtheirnests.
Stinglessbeesnotonlydon’thaveadefensivestinglikethewell-knownhoneybees,theseexhibitednodefensivebehavioratallduringtheprocessofscrapingoutthehoney.

BythetimeSergiowasdone,nearly3/4ofthemasshadbeenremovedfromthecolony.Thehoney-bearingportionwastakentoasinkandthehoneysqueezedfromthechambers,almostasyouwouldsqueezethejuicefromaclusterofgrapes.Astrainerwasusedtocatchanyloosematerialorbeesthathadbeeninadvertentlycaught.
Theremainingcerumenwasreturnedtothebeesafterthehoneyhadbeenextracted,justasonedoeswithhoneybees.Thisminimizestheimpacttothecolonybygivingthembackthematerialstheyusetoconstructbroodandhoneychambers.