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.