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!