Gauteng Smallholder August 2015 | Page 26

From page 24 BEEKEEPING “Some swarms swarm off and lose most of their field force. We swop these swarms with other hives that have a strong field force to prevent them from swarming off. “Ten hives a day for ten days is about as much as one can do. “Our next three trips are to remove and extract approximately one ton of honey for processing and bottling at our home base and the last four night trips are to bring back the bees to the Highveld gum trees that will be flowering from October to January, when we will extract and process our second ton of honey. Next, the bees are moved to the Cosmos and soya bean fields by the end of January, yielding our third ton of honey before the end of April.” By Peter Clark, at 011 3622904, author of Tales of an African Beekeeper and member of Eastern Highveld beekeeper's Assoc, Secretary Mike Alter at 011 965-6040. 25 www.sasmallholder.co.za