Want to start beekeeping?

Please read this before you start.

 Many people who want to start beekeeping always look towards obtaining honey first.  Beekeeping is the practice of looking after bees in order to achieve pollination, or to obtain honey and other products of the hive. Some people even breed bees for sale to others. Of course bees know how to take care of themselves and will give honey at the end of the season, but in order to get the most honey there are some factors which are important to note.

Before you install your first hive, you must consider the following:

1.       Location of the apiary

-          Source of nectar

Bees need nectar from flowers to produce store. A lot of flowers with nectar ensure more honey to be produced by bees. Fruit trees are good sources of nectar for bees. Farm crops which benefit from bees include cucumbers, melons and eggplant.

-          Distance from the public

Bees don’t want a noisy environment and too much noise may trigger the bees to sting. Therefore consider keeping bees at some distance from the public places. Or maybe install hives on top of a building.

-          Accessibility

Your bees should be accessible because you must visit them at any point for supervision or during honey harvesting.

-          Temperature

Bees like a regulated temperature. A shady place with a good breeze is ideal. Colonies in hives installed in swamps face a challenge of dampness in their hive.  Colonies installed in direct sun may find a problem of too much heat which could cause wax and propolis to melt.

-          Neighborhood

Before establishing an apiary, in an area with a neighboring homestead, it is wise to consult them before establishing the apiary. Bees can attack them one day or the bees can go to their water points and inconvenience them. The children should be warned never to play with the bees. You may consider putting a fence around your bees.

-          Local council laws

What does the local council laws in the area you want to establish your apiary say about beekeeping? Does it allow beekeeping in the area?

2.       Time available

-          Bees require your time to inspect them for diseases and pests. To align the combs in case they are building them wrongly. To see if the queen is present and active (laying eggs.) This is easily done once every 4-6 weeks, depending on what the conditions are (honey flow, drought, etc.)

3.       Source knowledge

-          Beekeepers in the locality

See if there are other beekeepers in the area you wish to start beekeeping. Experienced and successful beekeepers will let you visit and you will get guidance, knowledge and skills. Talk to them and make them your friends because you will need them in the due course. Make sure you share your progress with these beekeepers for more advice and guidance.

-          Attend beekeeping trainings and seminars

Attend beekeeping trainings to acquire more knowledge and such ideas and experience.

-          Join  beekeeping clubs and associations

This helps you to get access to various beekeepers, talk to them, and share a lot. As a member, you can access free services available in the club such as equipments (honey extractor).

-          Use the Internet

There are chat rooms, forums, videos and more that you can access.

4.       Obtain the required equipments

-          Smoker

-          Bee suit

-          Hive tool

-          Bucket (airtight)

5.       Consider getting a friend involved

-          Gives confidence while working with bees

-          Helps on carrying equipments or a hive

-          Helps on pumping the smoker

Now you are truly ready to get a hive! Good Luck!

Am I a Beekeeper?

WHO IS A BEEKEEPER?

Someone who owns beehives?

Someone who harvests honey from hives?

Someone who can aggressively work hives?

Someone who attends to bees?

The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees in beehives such as boxes, logs, calabash, woven, pots etc. Honey bees are not domesticated and the beekeeper does not control the creatures. The beekeeper owns the hives and dictates the locations. The bees are free to forage or leave (abscond) as they desire. Bees usually return to the beekeeper's hive as the hive presents a clean, dark, sheltered home. And if anything such as a leakage in a hive and the bees can’t close it, they may live the hive.

A beekeeper takes good care of his bees by; inspecting them for pests and diseases, making sure the nest does not leak, keeping the bee yard clean, supplying bees with water, securing the forage plants, maintaining the hygiene of hives and harvest honey at the right time and leave enough for the bees.

Of course there are beekeepers that wear heavy protective suits and work bees aggressively; I don’t wish to call them beekeepers: they are bee-killers!

Classifications of beekeepers

1.      Hobby Beekeepers

These beekeepers have an interest in ecology and nature as their main attraction and honey come as a by-product of the hobby. Hobby beekeepers keep a quite few beehives ranging from 1 to 10 hives. Hobby beekeepers don’t attend to their bees so often. Most beekeepers are hobby beekeepers!

2.      Sideline Beekeepers

Are beekeepers who wish to make profits from keeping bees while relying on another source of income while dedicating enough time to beekeeping. Usually operate several hives as many as 200 colonies.

3.      Commercial beekeepers

These beekeepers control hundreds to thousands of colonies of bees. Worldwide, commercial beekeepers number about 5% of the individuals with bees but produce about 60% of the world's honey crop. They employ trained beekeepers to take of the colonies.

Beekeepers' Rules

DOS AND DON’TS OF A BEEKEEPER

1.      Never go and work the bees while it is raining.

2.      Never open the hive when it is hot. Bees are calmer in the evening than during the midday. And there are few bees in the hive during morning hours since many bees leave for foraging.

3.      Never hit hive bodies. You can work bees with ease when doing every step gently without hurrying and then leave the hive without some bees noticing your presence.

4.      Never shake the hive. It irritates the bees!

5.      Never apply a lot of smoke. Beekeepers take note; too much smoke stains honey making it smelly, lowers its quality and unfavorable for consumption. And “bee” careful with the fuel to use in a smoker because some fuels such as cow dung, mango leaves and plastic materials have a strong odor and stains so quickly.

6.      Never open a fight with bees; crashing and killing them. Fighting bees is really dangerous because the bees’ temper become worse and they can end up attacking everything which comes their way. And in the end a lot of bees die leaving the colony very weak!

7.      Never leave a bee hive open for a long period of time. Bees prefer a dark place to live and they maintain a balanced temperature in their nest, so when you leave the hive open, they get difficulties in maintaining the warmth they require in the nest. Also the colony is likely to get external attackers such as robber bees, and predators.

8.      Never starve bees. When the bees attack you, blame yourself for the mistake but not the bees. Never sentence your bees to punishments for attacking you or failing to store enough honey for you to harvest.

9.      Never open a hive several times in the same day. Bees work through the whole day and any second of minute bees are leaving and coming in the hive! And every time you open a hive, you cause an inconvenience and disorganization in to the bees

10.  Never run in a straight line when attacked by bees; run in a zigzag pattern. When you run in a straight line, the bees can easily follow you. Go around the available vegetation or surroundings and go at least 50metres away from the scene.

Earth without Bees!

Can man live comfortably without bees?

Who are bees?

Bees are social insects; hardworking, committed and obedient to their queen. Bees are responsible for pollination of thousands of different flowers in the world. Bees guarantee transfer of pollen from anther to stigma due to their hairy body (which attracts pollen) and several visits to a single flower in just one day.

Bees make food for man. Bees produce honey from nectar which they collect from various flowers and process and store in combs where man harvest when ready.

Are bees pests?

NO. Bees are not pests because they don’t destroy crops nor feed on animals.

 Apart from bees what other pollinating insects are available in the world?

There are very many insects which pollinate flowers and the commonly identified ones are butterflies, wasps, beetles, feral bees, flower flies, moths, sweat bees, carpenter bees, bumble bees, etc

Are bees more effective in pollinating than other insects?

Bees make excellent pollinators because most of their life is spent collecting pollen, a source of protein that they feed to their developing offspring. When a bee lands on a flower, the hairs all over the bees’ body attract pollen grains through electrostatic forces. Stiff hairs on their legs enable them to groom the pollen into specialized brushes or pockets on their legs or body, and then carry it back to their nest. Individual bees tend to focus on one kind of flower at a time, which means it is more likely that pollen is transferred from anther to stigma in one flower as well as will be transferred to another flower of the same species by a particular bee. Many plants require this kind of pollen distribution, known as cross-pollination, in order to produce viable seeds.

Therefore bees are more effective pollinators than other insects because one bee visits hundreds of flowers in one day. Since bees can store the pollen and nectar for future processing and use, it enables them to collect the resources throughout the day yet other insects visit flowers with only one objective; feeding and when they get satisfied, they stop visiting. Instead go into the shade and relax until the hunger for food resumes! This limits the number of flowers they visit in one day unlike the bees which are limited by time.

Why bees are disappearing?

• Insecticides are primarily broad spectrum and are therefore deadly to bees. Herbicide use also can remove many of the flowers that bees need for food. Most of the pesticides kill bees like they do to other insects which are regarded as pests. Most herbicides also irritate the bees which stop them from foraging the sprayed field and above of all the weeds die with flowers that would benefit the bees.
• Urbanization has led to destruction of anthills (caves) and trees (cavities) where the wild bees would nest. Charcoal burning which primarily involves cutting down trees has reduced the places where wild bees would nest and forage.
• Declining number of beekeepers is also responsible for the declining number of bees worldwide.
• Diseases and pests which attack bees also causes high death tolls and in the end reducing the number of bees.  Since January (2007), there have been a number of reports in the media about the mysterious disappearance of large numbers of honey bees called colony collapse disorder in North America.
• Lack of sensitization to local people by ministry of agriculture about the importance of bees in our environment.

Will other pollinators be effective after bees are extinct?

Increased use of pesticides on crops has killed and affected a lot of insects (pollinators). This has reduced the number of insects rendering them ineffective for pollination. Since most pesticides are broad spectrum; so it kills the pests including other insects which come into contact with the pesticide.

Like discussed earlier, apart from bees family, other insects visit flowers with only one objective; food. And when they get satisfied, they stop visiting flowers instead take rest until they want food again. This limits the number of flowers they would visit in a day. And so many flowers are left unattended (not pollinated).

Bees have hairs all over the body that attract pollen grains through electrostatic forces. Stiff hairs on their legs enable them to groom the pollen into specialized brushes or pockets on their legs or body, and then carry it back to their nest. This gives bees an edge whereby they can easily rub and transfer pollen accordingly and also transfer it to the next flower which allows cross pollination to effectively take place.

Changes in land use have resulted in a patchy distribution of food, nesting resources and breeding sites for the insects hence reducing their number.

What can we do to save the bees and maybe other pollinators?

1.       Stop using insecticides

2.       Plant Bee-friendly plants

3.       Create natural habitat gardens

4.       Find out more about bees

5.       Support your local beekeepers

6.       Make you own 'Wild bee' house

7.       Become a beekeeper

8.       Sign petitions banning pesticides

9.       Encourage your local authority to do more to help bees

Bees Save Trees

Objectives achieved
WBA was founded with a core objective of uniting beekeepers to share information openly concerning beekeeping and other issues. The second core objective was to use beekeeping as a tool to stop massive tree cutting for charcoal by local people.

Before the establishment of WBA, every beekeeper was on his own way; problems and successes in the bee yards were not shared. For example when one harvests honey (at night) and you visit that home the following day (would see bees buzzing around the home in search for the honey), the family would deny the presence of honey in the house though the buzzing bees would signal its presence.
When members joined WBA, that issue was addressed. Members were encouraged to share information with others; for example if one finds honey in his or her hive, he or she should immediately call and let others know and ask them to check for honey in their hives too. Members now visit other member’s apiaries for sourcing more knowledge and skills.

Teamwork is also realized; members now days invite fellow members to go and help them in case need arise. Non-WBA members have also started being open by telling what is happening in their apiaries and visiting WBA members for knowledge. Before, beekeepers had myths such as when a non-family member goes into the bee yard, the bees don’t produce honey.

Bees have played a big role in protecting trees from being cut down by people for charcoal burning. Most beehives are installed under trees; therefore they protect the trees where they are including the surrounding areas in almost a radius of 60metres. Members are also securing trees in favour of bees in the sense that the bees need nectar from flowers produced by trees. This is realized through a campaign known as “save a tree for my bees”.

Good honey markets have been obtained by the beekeepers. Unlike before where every beekeeper would negotiate in the market individually and this led to many beekeepers being cheated. Today when a WBA member lands a good market, he or she immediately alerts the fellow members. This has helped lot of beekeepers from being cheated by honey traders. Before a kilogram of honey was bought at $1 sometimes less but now it sells at $2-$3 per kilogram.

No more visiting beehives at night. Big thanks to friends from overseas who helped us to learn how to manipulate bees during day time. Members know smokers and know why they need them; and so the bees are just turned into flies!

Female beekeepers are actively involved. The traditional/ cultural chains were broken by WBA! Women are more actively committed than men. Before, culture and norms were not allowing women to keep bees because men believed that women are cursed and so their hives can’t produce honey and so they were not allowed to keep bees!

Thanks to everyone who has made everything possible and achievable by WBA.
Bees are now our pets!

Plantain Nectar is real

Witnessed nectar in plantain flowers
Once upon a time when I was still young (6 to 12 years), I would with my young brothers run to suck nectar from the plantain flowers before the birds (hummingbirds –), and bees eat it. This was very common during the school holidays when we had a lot of free time throughout the day.

The plantain flowers contain sweet substances (a size of a drop in every flower) which are sweet like honey. The bees and birds collect this substance every time ie they keep visiting every flower throughout the day. We would find a lot of nectar between 9am and 11am in the morning.

Therefore for us to find nectar, we should be available by 9am and again more flowers open petals at around 4pm and we should be available before the birds eat everything. The flowers open up at around 7:30 in the morning and more flowers open at around 2pm. The juice becomes sweet after 2 hours.
The competition between us and the bees was stiff in that even when the flowers fall on the ground, the bees come and suck them from there. We would sometimes get stung by the bees when not careful!

It is very unfortunate that many plantain plantations were destroyed by a virus called Banana Wilt which destroys the whole plant including the fruit. The researchers suggested that the virus was transmitted by bees when they visit one flower and then to another and the knives used by people during pruning or cutting off excess leaves.

Today the bees are no longer collecting a lot of nectar from plantain flowers because many farmers are cutting the flowers right away after the productive clusters as advised by the ministry of agriculture.

Our friend Toni sucked and tested juice from the plantain flower and she liked it. I think she could become a nice plantain juice hunter-
I have got a lot of beekeeping stories to share but I need a lot of time to meditate.

Let me know when you need them--- keep buzzing--- friends.

Propolis Producing Hives - Log hives

Propolis producing hives!
Hives are known to produce honey, wax, propolis, pollen, royal jelly and bee venom.

But some items are produced according to the set up of the hive and the required equipments specifically designed to harvest pollen, royal jelly and bee venom. All bee hives are expected to produce all the mentioned products but some hives are more competent than others. For example langstroth hives are good for harvesting pollen when you have the traps / collectors than Kenyan topbar hives.

Therefore log hives are more productive when it comes to propolis than other types of hives.

Propolis is glue bees collect from trees buds, sap flowers, resins and use it to seal the unwanted openings, resize the entrances, cover dead bodies of insects or mice in the hive, and inhibits fungal and bacterial growth.

So, log hives are capable of producing more propolis than other types of hives with only one simple trick. Log hives have wide openings at both ends and these openings are covered with anything which fits and doesn’t produce oduor such as worn saucepans, and iron sheets, some beekeepers make covers using banana fibres and blocks of soil.

So when you remove the cover and don’t take it back within a few days, the bees in just a few days will build a sheet of propolis to cover the entrance and leave few small holes as the entrances. Note: this trick is effective during rainy season.  Don’t try this during the dry season; the bees may abscond.
So if one wants more propolis, he/she should cut out the sheet and store it. The bees will build a new one until you remove it and install the cover back.

Mr. Lubowa a known beekeeper in Wampiti recently told me that he harvested 5kilograms of propolis from only 30hives in two rounds! He went ahead to say that bees seal the entrance faster during the busy days of bringing in nectar than days when they have no serious activity especially in drought.

When bees have brood and nectar (honey), they seal the entrance faster. The hive must be strong enough to build such a wide piece of propolis. I have witnessed weak hives falling to build a propolis sheet wide enough to cover the whole entrance. I have also ever seen a strong hive failing to close the entrance entirely with propolis! Therefore I can’t tell what exactly triggers the bees to build a big sheet to cover the entrance.

Beekeepers, Bees are hardworking creatures, please respect them!

WBA Today

Wampiti Beekeepers' Association (WBA) was initiated in 2010 with only 30members with a common goal of modernizing beekeeping i.e. from traditional practice to modern system. A lot has happened such as learning how to use a smoker, wear protective gears, working bees during daytime, stop throwing brood combs out of the hives and many others. WBA is legally registered by the Local government of Nakasongola District.

Wampiti Beekeepers Association has over 80 members from different parts of Nakasongola and this is the smallest fraction of beekeepers in Nakasongola District. WBA benefits over 500 people in addition to 80 direct beneficiaries. The indirect beneficiaries include; family members of WBA members, friends of the WBA members and honey traders.

Most members are above 40 years of age and have families they take care of. Women are more active and focused compared to men. Youths are fewer compared to number of men and women in WBA.

Currently, the total number of hives possessed by WBA members is over 1300 hives where 90% are log hives.

Team work and comradeship was achieved; members now talk and share freely about the happening in their apiaries without hiding anything which wasn’t possible before.

Many beekeepers have established organized bee yards unlike before where hives were randomly installed all over the large piece of land.

Members have learnt how to look for better markets and this has enabled them to benefit from beekeeping as an economic activity.

Tree-cutting for charcoal burning went down as result of securing trees for flowers (nectar) and others installed hives under the trees.

Beekeepers make some money in beekeeping when they sell honey and they keep enough honey for their family too.

Current challenges
1.Limited  nectar sources
Beekeeping is facing a challenge today particularly in Nakasongola due to limited bee forage plants which is caused by charcoal burning. Most people in Nakasongola depend on tree cutting to produce charcoal which they sale to earn money.

WBA has embarked on protecting and planting bee forage plants to restore the forest and forage base to support beekeeping. Orange and mango are considered to be vital plants since they would provide flowers for bee foraging while when the fruits are ready, can be sold for cash hence eradicating poverty.

Luckily, many beekeepers have begun to plant trees and protecting young trees from being cut down for charcoal in favor of bees. Unfortunately most local tree species take 10 to 15 years to reach flowering stage and yet these are the best nectar producing trees. Therefore some of the members are old right now but it is a good investment for their sons and grandchildren who will benefit from them sometime in the future. And these plants are the best charcoal producing trees.

Charcoal burning became a serious activity in Nakasongola in early 1990s until today but this has left many places with no trees. This is due to lack of sensitization by the government to the local people.

Nakasongola was once a hardwood producing area unlike today where it is known for best quality charcoal and this is also fading way because the trees are getting less.

2.Honey extracting machine
The honey extracting method of squeezing honey into filtering clothes as commonly used by members is not favored by traders and many of them use it as a tool for letting down the quality of honey and this forces many members to sell their honey in combs and in the end they lose the bonus income from beeswax! Many beekeepers don’t keep the hygiene standards required during squeezing and filtering of honey.
Therefore WBA members don’t have modern equipment such as a honey press to help them.

Vote of Thanks
WBA take this opportunity to thank once again everyone especially overseas friends who have helped its members to move from primitive and unproductive beekeeping system into a modern beekeeping world which is more convenient and productive. Thank you very much for donating equipments, skills and knowledge and time. WBA members are no longer bee-killers but professional beekeepers; they no longer go into bees during late dark hours, but go into bees during day time hours to inspect beehives.

More Info
Swarms decreased by 80% and wild bees reduced by 90% since wild habitants were destroyed (big trees cut) and most termite hills are poisoned while killing termites. Therefore the rate of colonization is low since there are no enough swarms. This is also due to the fact that people are now managing well their hives whereby bees are not allowed to abscond and some beekeepers don’t allow bees to swarm claiming that the colonies become weak when bees swarm.

Beekeepers are still appreciating the productivity of log hives over topbar hives and the rate of colonization is high in log hives than top bar hives and this has influenced many beekeepers to continue using log hives though employing modern skills.

Many thanks to Toni’s visit in 2015, members have started using bees wax to produce lotion. Toni taught members how to make candles, soap and lotion during her visit to Wampiti Beekeepers Association. Members before had no value for the beewax and this is the hive product which was thrown away plus propolis but now everybody knows the importance of all hive products.

Future prospects.
1.  Accessing the best markets for honey, propolis and beeswax. Currently, members are trying to find ways of selling honey at a higher price than the traders (middlemen) buy though the current price is also better than the previous prices.

2.  Producing beneficial products from honey, beeswax and propolis. Members have started on producing body lotion with contains beeswax, honey and propolis. Meanwhile the market is still competitive especially from known lotion producers both local and imported.

3.  Replanting forests in areas where trees have been cleared as a result of charcoal burning. This would involve securing the indigenous trees though they take long to reach maturity.

4.  Sensitizing non-members about the importance of keeping bees and securing trees.

5.  Make Nakasongola the best honey producing district in Uganda.

Log hives (traditional) versus modern hives (top bars and frame hives)

In a nutshell, beekeeping started with honey hunting and then moved to log, woven, pot, calabash, and box hives. All these different hives have one thing in common, the combs are permanently fixed on the bodies of the hives and that’s why they are referred to as fixed comb hives.

Well as modern innovations came up with ideas for the purposes of convenience during manipulation, moveable comb hives were introduced and these types of hives include frame, and topbar hives. Therefore these are classified as moveable comb hives simply because, one comb can easily be moved out and in without destroying anything unlike in the fixed comb type where when a comb is moved out of the hive, it can’t be moved back in!

Many beekeepers in WBA use both top bar hives and log hives. Despite of the assumed productivity of top bar hives, members are complaining about the following common problems found in top bar hives:-
-Take long to get colonized naturally
-Low production in comparison with hive size
-Swarm so often
-Abscond so easily
-Easily affected by wax moth and ants
-Rats move in (especially between the bars and the cover or eat one corner from the top to move inside the hive)

Yet the above mentioned challenges are very rear to find in log hives. Therefore the above challenges are just opposite when it comes to log hives.

Leaving the above challenges aside, members complain about the production so much whereby 80% of the members say they harvest only once a year from a top bar hive yet they can harvest two to three times a year from a log hive. The amount of honey obtained from a topbar hive is lower than the amount of honey obtained from a log hive.

Well, the log hives have drawbacks too such as:-
-Inspections are not accurate since combs can’t be observed well.
-Colonies can’t be split to obtain new hives!
-Log hive producing trees are no longer easy to obtain

Against all odds, members have come up with ideas of making rectangular boxes with fixed sides to emulate the log hives. This has attracted the attention of many beekeepers because the bees easily colonise them and behave the same way they do in the log hives. And they are cheap to make compared to topbar hives.

Many reasons have been put across as to why bees are not performing well in top bar hives in Nakasongola areas to every beekeeper’s expectations and these reasons include:
-The size of the standardized dimensions is too large in top bar hives
-Bees are cultured and costumed to live in log hives
-Bees find it convenient to move end to end on long combs
-Bees work easily by building long combs ie end to end than many combs that cut across
-African bees enjoy small nests
-Natural and race reasons

Therefore beekeeping in Wampiti especially in WBA members and non-members is taking a reverse direction to utilize the productivity of log hives over modern hives while employing modern skills and equipment while working the bees.

Stages Of Beekeeping

Beekilling, Behaving and Beekeeping

Folks know that everyone with a box with bees inside is a beekeeper! I would say NO unless that person practices the right principles of beekeeping.

Yes, here in Wampiti, we followed the three stages of beekeeping in their proper order though it causes a big damage to the ecology.
People begun as honey hunters who would go and break open the nests of bees in search for honey and this practice involved a lot of colonies getting destroyed.
They didn’t realize that keeping bees in boxes or logs was more comfortable and convenient than going into the jungle hunting them. Therefore this stage is known as the beekilling stage because it involved killing bees. This must have taken very many years until 1990’s when I also happened to be a culprit. The trick involved in honey hunting was simple but very dangerous to the environment; open the nest apart, harvest everything (clear the nest without leaving combs in), burn the nest when bees attacks aggressively or disappoints you with no or very little honey. Usually honey hunters would start wild fires during the dry season when they leave fire burning in the destroyed bee nests!

When people realized that they can hang logs (calabash, woven or pots) between the branches of trees, would help them have honey in just a close by environment, they took up the idea, hung logs [hives] and swarms colonized them. Here we see people have bees in their own hives but have no idea or skills on how to manage the bees though they knew that the bees store honey and when time come people should harvest that honey against all cost.
People had only one skill; if the bees are more aggressive you burn them. Harvesting time was the only time the hive owner would go to the hive and this must be done at night when it is dark. A flame torch must be handy otherwise no job to do at the hive! Therefore this stage was behaving stage. People were just keeping bees without any managerial skills.
Beehives could only be visited during harvesting and this means beehives were checked only 3 times a year! Brood couldn’t be left in a hive by the owner claiming that when you remove brood combs from the hive, the bees could resort to storing honey. This weakened colonies and left many hives weak. People associated this to pruning of fruit trees! At this stage, people in Wampiti had no knowledge about protective gears and smokers!

After having bees for several years, volunteers came in and taught members how to manage bees and how to keep bees for profitable honey production. Now this stage is called the beekeeping stage. This stage involves all modern practices such as using frames and bars, inspecting bees for pests and diseases, providing good sites, providing bees with water and many others.
This stage also includes colony multiplication practices as well as queen rearing. During this stage, fewer bees are destroyed or killed unlike beekilling and beehaving stages where bees are killed so often during harvesting. Protective gears and smokers are used to ease manipulations.

Like in any enterprise, seeking knowledge is very important. Please join beekeeping clubs and associations, visit other beekeepers and attend seminars to acquire more skills and knowledge in beekeeping.
Above all; bees are the best teachers!

Today, there are very few wild bees since there are very few big trees which would accommodate bees; there are no more honey hunting practices!

And above of all there is no honey stealing anymore.

Our beekeeping history is full of fun>>

Avoid contaminating honey

How to avoid honey contamination

Bees collect nectar from various flowers and use it to create honey, during this process enzymes are added and the water content is reduced to 20% and below. They store the honey in cells of honeycomb and seal these cells with beeswax when honey is ripe. Honey which has been sealed is clean, pure and of perfect quality. The low water content of ripe honey enables it to be stored for long periods without going bad.

The color and taste of the honey depend on the types of plants on which the bees have foraged.

A beekeeper who wants to sell honey into a high value market must harvest honey without reducing its quality. Bits of wax, propolis, brood, dead bees, and dirt contaminate honey.

If the water content is too high it will ferment. Honey is hygroscopic and that means it readily absorbs water. Care needs to be taken to ensure that the exposure of honey to moisture is minimized by packaging it in airtight containers after harvesting.

Too much smoke stains honey and a beekeeper should be very careful while choosing the fuel to use in the smoker. Items such as plastic, cow dung, and mango leaves give off smoke with a bad odor!

Good quality honey is:
-ripe honey from capped honeycomb
-free from scraps of wax or any other contaminants
-processed using clean equipment
-stored in a clean and dry environment

Therefore a beekeeper should do the following to avoid contaminating the honey:
-Use less smoke while harvesting to avoid staining honey.
-Never use materials which give a smelly smoke.
-Don’t mix brood combs with honey combs
-Cover honey in airtight bucket to avoid ants and dust from contaminating and avoid the honey absorbing additional moisture from the environment
-During harvesting maintain hygiene standards – clean hands and use clean buckets, knives.
Avoid crushing bees; always brush off bees from combs before adding them into the bucket
-Keep your apiary clean always to avoid contamination like weed seeds and leaves from mixing with honey during harvesting.

Harvesting honey from fixed comb hives

Honey from fixed comb hives (log hives)

Equipment for harvesting fixed comb hives usually consists of a container in which to carry away the honey and a means of making smoke to subdue the bees (like a bundle of sticks and grass [this is now replaced by smokers now days]). Wait until the flame is extinguished before gently blowing smoke into the hive.

Most local style tropical African hives are cylindrical and can be harvested without the beekeeper needing any protective clothing. As the beekeeper blows smoke into one end of the hive, the bees move down to the other end and the combs at the first end can be removed with relatively little disturbance to the bees. If the beekeeper finds the brood at the opened end, they will have to close that end and open the other end instead.

Beekeepers sometimes use too much smoke, and even fire, to harvest from fixed comb hives. This can destroy a large proportion of the colony and drastically reduce the quality of honey. The aim should be always to preserve the colony. Do not disturb the brood nest anymore than necessary.

Note: Honey is the bees’ food. Only take surplus honey and leave the rest for them. Never harvest in the rain: this would cause great stress for the honey bee colony and increase the water content of the honey.

Only One Knife

Do you wonder what it was like to live in Uganda for 5 weeks with 2 different families? I will tell you of my experience, and please remember that Uganda is a big place and so is Africa; my experience is not representative of an entire country or continent.

Boda-bodas parked in Kampala

I stayed in Mukono for most of my time in Uganda, and this is an eastern suburb of Kampala and on the road to Kenya.  The road is paved wide enough for 2 cars and there is a dirt shoulder wide enough for another 1 ½ cars on either side. The road between the airport (Entebe) and Kampala and between Kampala and Mukono is very busy at certain times and I experienced all kinds of traffic. My hosts were very courteous (and courageous) drivers and I witnessed (and was in) taxi vans passing traffic on the shoulder of the road and taxi motorcycles (called boda-bodas) freely wove between stopped vehicles. Walking street vendors sold things like car accessories, drinks, snacks, newspapers, and toilet paper as they walked between vehicles stopped in traffic!

I saw people walking everywhere I went in Uganda and I would guess that this is the most often used mode of transport, although taxi vans and cars have routes on the major roads and the fee for long distance transport seem to be reasonable.

The other place I stayed was in Nakasongola and this was a more rural location where I observed the most varied conditions of living.

Many of you will be surprised to learn that I have a culinary background and 2 things that my first Chefs used to say echoed in my head during this trip. The first was, “Get used to your chef knife because it may be the only knife you have in the kitchen.”

Cooking on a charcoal stove

 Well this turned out to be true in Uganda on more than one occasion. And the same kitchen knife was also used as a hive tool! There were no cutting boards, and the general way of cutting was to hold food in one hand and cut it with the other. I observed one lady shaving cabbage as thin as a machine could and doing it quite quickly.  That brought to mind the other saying I remembered, “Only pilots work in the air.” Well, this is obviously not true as these folks know how to use the tools and work spaces they have to get the job done.

Our food storage area in Nakasongola,
along with the 'emergency' kerosene stove

Most of the cooking was done outdoors with charcoal and having a charcoal stove is the best way to get the most efficient heat. Not everyone can afford charcoal (or a stove); some people cut down trees, use scavenged wood or other burnable items for their fire. Farming is done with water that falls from the sky in the wet season and I did not observe a lot of collection of rainfall for household or farming use. I read an agricultural article in the local paper discussing the ways for farmers to collect and store water because rainfall is not falling as abundantly as it used to. People (mostly children) pump their water from the nearest well into 3-5 gallon containers and carry them home when they do not have access to any other water. There is piped water in quite a few places, but also many places still do not have electricity or a close water source.

Bricks after they have been fired

Many houses are made of bricks, and the bricks are made from the local soil. Wood is expensive, although I did observe tree farms. Some brick houses are finished with stucco, and most have a galvanized roof. There are also houses made of mud, and these mostly have the traditional grass roof. Traditional houses of wood, mud and thatch are quite durable and last 8-9 years.

I saw solar panels for sale and in use. If you don’t have electricity, you can pay a fee and a person will charge your cell phone, lap top or other electronic device. Our house in Nakasongola was about ¼ mile from the electricity line and this is what we did. 

Mud hut with grass roof

In remote areas, these places had solar panels as their electricity source. And some residences had panels too: It makes you look twice when you see a solar panel on top of a mud and grass hut!

I found beauty everywhere, and was fortunate to go to several local and National tourist spots. I will leave you with a few pictures from Ssezibwa  Falls, which is in Mukono and the first place I went for a short hike and relaxing afternoon. 

Next time I will describe more places and show you more pictures of life in Uganda. There are so many things I experienced, I am excited to share them with you!

Dry Season - Hive Management

Hive management during the dry season

Uganda has two rain seasons and two dry seasons in a year. The first dry season start in late December to late March and again from late June to early September. The rain seasons are March to June and September to early December. These seasons suits Nakasongola very well and it is known as a dry area compared to other areas in central Uganda. It is also known as a cattle corridor due to presence of cattle keepers on a small scale and they keep local breeds which take long to mature and produce very little milk (1/2 litre a day).

During the dry season, the entire bush will dry completely. Before the government passed a law against random burning of bushes by community members, people used to set fires on the bush especially the hunters. The whole of Nakasongola would burn in 2 weeks and leave the ground bare. This could kill a lot of living things including small animals, insects and on rear occasions people.  But since 1998, bush burning became minimal and there are parts which have never been burnt again since then.

Hives are installed under tree shades to avoid heat from the sun from burning wax and inconveniencing the bees, and when the trees shade off the leaves during the dry season, the beekeepers cover hives with dry grass.

This is what happens during the dry season;

The worst dry season is December to March. The weather is too hot during day and the sun shines from morning to evening without stopping since the sky is always clear – no clouds until in the last few weeks before the rains start usually in April.

Bees cannot find enough flowers apart from flowers on banana plants and mango trees plus a very few wild plants that flower a few weeks before rainfall begins. Therefore during this time of the year, bees go into shops to collect cassava and soya flour. Bees also collect water from sunrise upto sunset and the working hours are extended too; bees begin moving at around 5:50am (during the dry season, the morning brightness starts early) and stop flying at around 7:45pm.

During the dry season, many trees drop their leaves and weeds die. Many water ponds dry up and swamps dry out too.

The beekeeper will never open his or her hives since they are vulnerable to absconding and in the real sense the bees never have honey and brood during the dry season therefore any slight disturbance to the bees, they just abscond.

Beekeepers provide water and cassava flour to their bees on a daily basis until the end of the season.

Beekeepers don’t provide sugar syrup to their bees and to your surprise, bees never abscond unless disturbed.

A lot of bees are seen at the entrances of the beehives during the dry season compared to rain season.

The bush near hives is cleared to avoid wild fires from burning the hives in case it breaks up.

However during the rainy season, the rate of absconding is higher compared to dry season because when the hive is leaking, the bees abandon it, when the hive location is damp, the bees leave it and I have never seen bees build in an open space such as on a branch of a tree like they would do in Europe or US. But they could nest in ground if they found a hole!

Beekeeping in Uganda is naturally managed. Therefore honey produced is organic!

Bees fly out of the hives everyday unless when rain falls during daytime and usually when it stops, and sun comes back, the bees resume flying until dark.

Installation of Hives

Distribution patterns of hives

Beekeeping in Wampiti is so much fun than anyway you think! Beekeeping is practiced on a free system where the local councils and the district authority are not bothered. Beekeeping is almost practiced in every home especially in Wampiti and neigbouring villages as well as other parts of Nakasongola.

Well, most people in Nakasongola villages have land which is between 2 acres to 50 acres, and surprisingly there is no serious farming activities on the big pieces of land. Trees are cut down [today people are cutting the fourth generation] for charcoal burning which is sold [still for very little money which doesn’t cover all their needs and can’t make them rich].

Others keep and graze cattle on their land on a free and open grazing system whereby cattle must walk around the bushes to graze during day time and they are locked in a confined place during night hours. During day (grazing hours) there is at least one person supervising grazing cattle – to stop them from going into farming areas.

When members have big land, they install their hives in w pattern which suits their needs. For example, a member with 20 acres of land, can use 2 or 3 acres for house, compound and growing crops ; and leave the rest of the land untouched and this is where he installs his beehives. The hives are spaced in a manner where one hive can be 50 – 100 metres away from the other. People believed that when hives are installed too close to each other, the bees can easily attack the owner during harvesting. People were also using hives to mark boundaries of their land. They also believed that when hives are installed randomly would reduce on competition over nectar. Log hives are commonly installed between branches of trees therefore it is not possible to find one tree with many branches which can hang many hives.

 Lastly since hives are installed under shades, people would install hives in different spots because of the presence of shades.

This kind of hive spacing has had a lot of challenges such as;

Cleaning the apiary is not easily done

Bush fires would easily burn the hives since most hives are surrounded by the bush

Control of black ants is impossible.

Grazing cows could easily walk into the beekeeping zone and this could trigger bees to sting and when cows are washed with acaricide would irritate bees and abscond.

Fortunately, when WBA started, members were taught the benefits of keeping bee hives in one spot; many beekeepers brought their hives closer to each other (in distances of 5-10metres away from each other). This has made fencing of apiaries possible with people who want. It also eased supervision as well as pest control such as termites and black ants which are not possible to control when the apiary is stretched out.

Establish Bee Forage

Bee Forage Plants
The Wampiti Beekeepers Association has over 80 members from different parts of Nakasongola and this is the smallest fraction of beekeepers in Nakasongola District. Most members are above 40 years of age and have families they take care of. Women are more active in the group and focused compared to men. Youths are fewer compared to the number of men and women in WBA.

Currently, the total number of hives possessed by WBA is over 1300 hives and 90% are log hives.
Beekeeping is facing a challenge today particularly in Nakasongola due to limited bee forage plants, some of which is caused by charcoal burning. Most people in Nakasongola depend on tree cutting to produce charcoal which they sell to earn money. Charcoal burning became a serious activity in Nakasongola in early 1990s but this has left many places with no trees. This is due to lack of sensitization by the government to the local people.

Nakasongola was once a hardwood producing area unlike today where it is known for best quality charcoal.
The change is very unfortunate because the best nectar producing plant, can take between 10 to 15 years before flowering stage. These plants are the best charcoal producing trees.
Beekeepers in Wampiti and other communities in Nakasongola were united by WBA to develop commercial beekeeping in order to increase on their income. This attracted many people and since a lot of skills and knowledge have been acquired over the past years, beekeeping became so serious that now the resources [nectar] have become insufficient.

Orange plants

A productive mango tree in Wampiti

A productive orange plant

Farming in Nakasongola is on a small scale therefore crops provide limited flowers; many families grow little and sometimes not enough for their family.

Last year 2015, the general assembly raised a concern on limited bee forage plants and the following solutions were proposed: Beekeepers should identify the bee forage plants which grow in their farm and protect the existing bee forage plants by fencing off the area where possible.

The above solutions were put into practice straight away by the beekeepers and friends who are non-members of WBA. Most beekeepers installed hives in the areas with bee foraging plants in order to save the trees from being cut down. Some beekeepers fenced off the areas.

A flowering moringa tree

Members are also growing local varieties of oranges and mangoes which are hard to bring up from seedlings and take long to reach flowering stages [between 7 to 9 years]. Orange and mango plants would benefit members twice since they provide nectar to bees and thereafter give fruits to growers who would sell it and earn more.


Beekeepers have also tried to plant trees such as Moringa which grow fast and reach flowering stage early.
The core objective of founding Wampiti Beekeepers Association was to release tree cutting pressure through creating income generating activities via beekeeping and installing hives in forests which acts as a buffer.

Amidst the campaign of establishing and maintaining bee forage plants, the following challenges have been encountered:
1. The best nectar producing plants take between 10 to 15 years before reaching flowering stage.
2. The local varieties of Mango and Orange plants also take between 5 to 7 years before they start flowering.
3. Improved and grafted varieties of orange and mango plants which reach flowering stage at 2 years are available at $3 each plant and members can’t afford it though the cost reduces when bought in bulk from the tree nurseries.

Therefore, more guidance and advice is needed to impact the establishment of bee forage plants to give smiles to bees and honey lovers.