Beekeeping Pests in Uganda

Common Pests in Wampiti - Nakasongola

Small waxmoth

Damage caused by large wax moth

Mouse

Mammals, reptiles, and birds: There are a wide variety of pests and predators (besides infectious microorganisms) known to attack adult honeybees, bee brood in all stages, materials stored in the hive and even the hive itself. Some of these organisms may simply use the hive as a place to live or as a shelter for their own young; but some may cause harm by feeding on honey, pollen, brood remains or beeswax. Almost all hives are attacked by the pests but the severity of the pest attack varies from hive to hive and from apiary to apiary. We have found that traditional log hives are less attacked by the wax moth and black ants compared to top bar hives. 

Below is a discussion of pests which affect bees, specifically in WBA communities.

Blank ants

Black ants are one number one honeybee pests causing economic losses to beekeepers. They suck out the honey and kill the pupae and eggs. They are too small to be stopped by beehive guards and in many cases make the bees leave the hive. They nest on top bars between the bars and the cover or in one corner inside the hive. Their pupa messes up honey during harvesting therefore the beekeeper should be careful which working.

Small brown and black beetles

Large beetle

The large hive beetle (Oplostomus fuligineus) (20mm long) and the small hive beetle (Aethina tumida) are common pests. They cause damage to combs and setup fermentation of stored honey. Both types of hive beetles eat pollen and honey, but the Oplostomus species also eats brood. Bees can be seen trying to remove Aethina but its hard slippery carapale makes it impossible to grasp. Aethina lays eggs on occupied combs and in cracks and crevices. 

Large waxmoth

The greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) and the lesser wax moth (Achroia grisella) are opportunistic pests and will quickly lay eggs on older, abandoned honey combs where a weak colony is in residence. Both types of wax moths are generally found wherever there are honey bees and particularly in warm conditions. In the wild, the wax moth plays a part in completely destroying old, useless combs and bees will eventually reoccupy the clean nesting site and build new combs. Bees in a strong colony are able to remove small wax moth larvae from the hive. Strong colonies are therefore the best defense against infestation of wax moth. When the moths do succeed in gaining entry to a beehive they lay their eggs on the combs and in cracks in the hive body. The wax moth larvae burrow their way through the wax leaving trails of silken tunnels and black fecal droppings. Their preferred food is found in old brood combs where they eat the pupae cases in the brood cells. The growing larvae become more voracious until the comb is destroyed and all the remains are a mass of silken webbing and feces. The mature larvae of the both wax moth cause great damage to wooden bars and hive bodies. They curve out depressions in the wood, settle into the depressions and spin their final cocoons. The hive bodies and bars become weak which makes them weak and useless. These bars are difficult to clean! 

Birds feed on the bees especially those that forage for nectar. These birds strategically position themselves near the hives and capture the bees that are flying out or into the hive. This greatly reduces the population of the bees in the hives, resulting in reduction of production in the hives.   But this is not so much a big problem compared to black ants and termites in Nakasongola since some bee-eater species are becoming extinct. 

Top bar hive damaged by termites

The termites feed on the equipment used in beekeeping especially those made out of wood, for example the beehives. The termites do not eat the honey or the bees themselves, but they are agents of bio-degradation of wood since many of the beehives are made typically of wood. Hives placed on the ground or bee equipment left lying on the ground or stacked directly on the ground may be subject to termite infestation. Termites destroy the bodies of the hive, and build piles of soil in the hive which inconveniences the bees and eventually abscond. The hive may also collapse and drop to the ground after being eaten by the termites.

Colonisation of hives

What stops bees from colonizing a new bee hive?

In Wampiti, beekeeping practice relies on natural settings where people hang the hives in the branches of trees and the bees come by themselves to colonize them. In many parts of Nakasongola, beekeepers are still depending on natural swarms to obtain new colonies. But the competition is becoming high therefore good players win.

Mouse

Beekeepers have to set their hives in ways which would easily attract swarms to colonize quickly. However many hives don’t get colonized because of the following:
Mice nest in empty hives and inhibit new colonies from taking the hive. Mice nest in unused corners of the hive especially when the colony is weak. Mice are seen to nest between the cover and the bars of top bar hive. Mice nests are a mess in the hive which makes it unfavorable for the bees to colonize it.
Spiders build webs which trap scout bees. Therefore the scouts are unable to go back to deliver messages to the swarm about the findings. The hive also looks wired with webs and untidy for colonization.

Black ants

Crazy ants/ Black ants mess up the hive with piles of dirt which makes the hive unpleasant for new colonies. Usually black ants nest in the cracks of hives even when there are bees.
Snakes sometimes take up residence in hives before bees colonize them but this is temporary and not very common compared to black ants, spiders and mice.
Wood from certain tree species produces an odor which irritates the bees. Therefore the beekeeper should take caution of the source of the wood before constructing the hive. If the wood stinks when it gets wet the bees aren’t attracted to it.

Location of the hive is also important. If a hive is installed in a direct sun shine area, the bees will not take it since the bees don’t like hot temperatures in the hive. A hive in a damp location may not get colonized because of the wetness which couldn’t be regulated by the bees.
However all the above can be dealt with to achieve a successful natural colonization of hives when these guidelines are taken into account.

Regular supervision of hives is very important to stop the infestation of mice, spiders, ants, and snakes. Clean the hive regularly. Choose a conductive location with a good shade.
Smoke the hive before installing it with good scents which attract bees. Rub the hive bodies with good scents such as lemon grass.

Rub propolis or beeswax on the bars to bait bees. I don’t recommend using honey since this attracts ants.
Install hives during swarming seasons.

A beehive installed high in the tree branches

Temporarily install the hive raised above in the branches of trees and lower it when it gets colonized. Scout bees and bees want to live high; therefore they are more attracted to raised hives.
Choose woods which never give odor when wet. There are known tree species which provide wood which bees like.
Keep the beeyard clean.

It's all about the BEES!

In this report, I will talk about the beehives I inspected while in Uganda. The most-asked question I get about the bees in Africa is if they are Africanized. Well, as far as I can tell, the bees in Africa are 100% AFRICAN. I Instead of the terrible killers of propaganda, I found these bees to be as pleasant to work as my own (which happen to be Africanized.) Since it was just before the rainy season when the bees were at their least defensive, it should have been no surprise.

The way to approach African(ized) bees is with caution, and Isaac used several tricks that I knew and one I had not explored. These include:

• Smoke every hive in the beeyard before beginning any individual hive inspections. This helps make the bees in all the hives concentrate on defending their own hive.

•       Whenever possible, remove the hive from its stand to another location before inspecting. (You then have less field bees in the hive while you are examining it.)

•             Remove the upper lid WITH CAUTION because snakes could be under it (coming from a place which has no snakes, this was a little hard to remember.) They have never encountered a snake in a beehive box in Wampiti; but in other parts of Uganda, especially in Arua, they always claim that they find them, so we took caution as well.
•       Smoke is your friend with African(ized) bees. Do not be afraid to use it, even on yourself, because once the bees are angry they are not going to calm down easily, if at all.

In addition to being pleasantly surprised with gentle bees, I found lots of innovative Ugandan Beekeepers. Along with the standard Log and Kenyan Top Bar (KTB) Hives, I found variations including one KTB made of glass and ‘log’ hives made of woven vines and covered with mud in the style of local human housing!

As is always the case when two or more beekeepers meet, lots of stores were exchanged and each person took new ideas from the meeting. I was reminded that many people are not aware which flowers produce pollen and nectar for honeybees (even beekeepers!) By just observing bees in the environment we can learn which plants are important to them, and what times of the day the flower is producing food (pollen and nectar.)

Many people asked me the same question:  “Why don’t my empty beehives get filled anymore?” My thoughts about this are:

      1.  There are so many places where the large trees have been cut down, mainly for firewood. Trees are an important source of pollen and nectar for bees as well as providing hollow places for bee hives. Without large trees, bees have limited choices for their home and food. Consider a plan for planting trees and teaching people to replant one or more when they cut a tree. Fruit trees such as mango, jackfruit and orange give food for bees and people, while other trees such as Acacia will feed the bees and grow to provide firewood or charcoal. As always, local varieties of trees are best.

   2. Many of the palm trees that are traditionally used for bee logs are also being cut down without replacement trees being planted. This is another contributing reason for less bees in the area.

Right now, the solution to getting more bees is to make them from your own hives. This procedure is outlined in a separate blog and this trip helped supply members with smokers and bee jackets so they will be able to try this and have more success.

Due to lack of protective clothing, there have not been a lot of hive inspections for the Wampiti Beekeepers. I hope this will change now that members have more protective clothing. They will be able to observe their bees working in the hive and have a better understanding of their bees. They will become less fearful and discover another side of bees (besides honey makers): How beautiful a hatching bee is, the smell of honey ripening in a hive, bees festooning to make new honeycomb, a queen piping as she hunts for her rivals. 

From the Caribbean to Uganda

My trip to Uganda was so extraordinary; it’s hard to figure out how to convey it all. I definitely want to begin with thanking all the people who helped make this trip possible. Your donations of time, money, merchandise and good will helped make us successful beyond expectations. And in Uganda, people (sometimes strangers) also contributed their time, vehicle, merchandise and good will. I could write an entire blog about the world community that came together to make this trip possible! 

So what did this mean for the Wampiti Beekeepers? I took suitcases full of items that were donated and bought; including silicone candle molds and wicking, beekeeping books, beekeeping video and presentations on DVD, and materials relevant to beekeeping. We used funds to have smokers made by a metal worker and bee jackets made by a tailor. These items were Made in Uganda and what a win-win situation: the price for each was slightly less than average market price and we employed local people to make the items, helping the local economy.

A brief rainstorm greeted my first meeting with the Wampiti Beekeepers Association, and we met in a local school room. The members were able to taste honey from the USA and Caribbean and compare the flavors. This helped make members more aware that their own honey can be just as varied in taste and there was a discussion of what makes honey taste different. Silicone candle molds from the USA were opened and examined, and we talked about increasing income by making candles and where the candles could be marketed.  A block of wax was presented to the group by Kyeyune Stephen for the purpose of making candles as gifts to the people who donated towards the trip.

We left the school room for the cooking fire where the beeswax was melted over an open fire. It is dangerous to work with beeswax and an open fire but this group is aware of how flammable beeswax is. I also melt my beeswax over an open (propane) fire and never leave it alone in case of fire.

I think the most fun we had was when we made our candles. We learned the importance of having clean beeswax when making a candle, because the impurities settle in the candle and the result is not beautiful or very marketable. We also discovered several reasons why it is important to allow candles to cool completely before taking out of the mold! Members also learned how to make dipped candles, which do not require a mold. We made small candles as a sample and it was discussed how to make a frame for larger candles or to attach weights to dip individual pairs. Madam Norah brought her soap mold for us to examine and we set a date for the next meeting, when we planned to make soap and lotion. 

The meeting ended with a group picture.

 

Thank you to the Wampiti Beekeepers Association for hosting me with such friendliness. I visited several members’ beeyards and was invited into manyhomes during my visit, experiencing a lot of Ugandan Culture. I will continue to expand this report in the coming weeks and talk about the rest of my visit.

Common beekeeping questions

When do bees produce honey?

When do I harvest honey?

How many times do I harvest honey in a year?

All the above questions are commonly asked by people who want to join beekeeping after getting excited by the trainings or news they get from beekeepers.

Well from my point of understanding, all the questions mean one thing or I summarise them into one statement and this is: A beekeeping calendar.

With the beekeeping calendar, the following are considered:-

1.      Climate

2.      Colony population and strength

3.      Floral blossoms

Climate the general weather conditions usually found in a particular place ie dry or wet [rainy season or drought]. Therefore during the wet weather, there is rainfall which brings water to provide nourishment to plants which grow and produce flowers. And during the dry weather condition, all the plants are affected and usually there is no growth and no flowers but not to all plants though.

So this element is very important to consider when you are keeping bees.

Colony population is the total number of bees available in a single hive. Usually a strong bee hive should contain roughly 50,000 bees and on average depending on the size of the beehive since a bigger hive contains more bees and a small hive contains less bees.

Therefore the more bees available in a beehive ensure a big accomplishment of activities in the hive which include collecting nectar to produce honey.

So during the nectar flow, more bees will store more honey and lesser bees will store less honey and the less honey will almost be for the new born babies leaving the beekeeper with nothing to harvest! But a strong and big colony will collect a lot of nectar and store a lot of honey enough for the babies that will hatch and surplus for the beekeeper to harvest.

The last thing to note here is the condition of the hive. Bees with a lot of troubles from pests, leaking hive and diseases could not perform to your expectations!

Blossom. When a tree or plant blossoms, it produces flowers before producing fruits which can be eaten by man and this is what bees need to collect nectar which they store to produce honey. Therefore bees collect nectar from flowers; “where there are no flowers, there is no nectar and no honey in the end”. During the flowering stage, bees visit the flowers everyday to collect nectar to store in the comb cells which turns into honey after a series of processes. Normally honey is available towards the end of flowering or two weeks after flowering season (well capped honey).

Want honey? Wait for flowers to provide nectar for your bees to process honey for you.

 

Calendar

Since we have seen the elements to bring together to understand a bee-keeping calendar, now let us make one.

A calendar is made up of 12months.

 

Month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

June

July

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

Climate

dry

dry

dry/wet

wet

wet

wet

dry

Dry/wet

wet

wet

wet

Dry

Blossom

No/yes

no

no

yes

yes

No/yes

no

no

no

yes

yes

no

Activity

Food/ nectar

food

Build -up

Build-up

Collect nectar

food

food

Build-up

Build-up

Collect nectar

food

food

Honey

no

Yes/no

No/yes

no

no

yes

yes

No/yes

no

Yes/no

yes

no

Key:

A. Climate

Dry – no rainfall at all

Wet – there is rain

No/yes – Rainfall starts

B. Blossom [flowers which provide nectar and pollen to bees]

Yes - means the flowers are available

No - means there are no flowers

Yes/no - means there could be some flowers or not depending on the climate and availability of some plants like coffee, mangoes which flower during the dry seasons.

C. Activity [the bees are involved in]

1. Food – bees collect food from fields for themselves. They don’t store it since it is not enough and remember there are few or no flowers.

2. Collecting nectar

During this period, bees are collecting a lot of nectar to store and produce honey. And this is due to a lot of blossom in the fields and nourished plants by rainfall. Usually when there is enough nectar for bees to collect, the queens also lay a lot of eggs to produce more bees which sometimes leads to “swarming” when the population becomes too big to fit in the existing nest.

3. Build – up. During this period, the queen lays a lot of eggs to rear new bees to replace the lost number during the long dry period and also to produce more workforces.

D. Honey

No – No honey

Yes – There is honey

Yes/no – could be some honey depending on the blossom and climate ie coffee flowers could be available to provide some nectar.

Summary

Bees do their activities depending on the weather condition. When there is no enough nectar in the fields (dry period) the queen stop laying eggs to produce new bees. So when rain start, after a couple of weeks; plants are nourished, crops are grown and eventually they start to blossom and the bees will begin visiting the flowers to collect pollen and nectar. At this stage, the queen will start to lay eggs to produce more bees to restore the declined population and workforce and this phase is normally called the build-up phase.

Hey!! Know we are honey thieves because the bees store honey as their food to eat during drought and feed their new born babies. So keep inspecting your bees to see when they have honey and if you find enough for the bees and you then you walk with it.