From page 20
BEEKEEPING
a fenced area of 15m
abscond. Therefore always
crop off the honey at least
once per annum.
K Cropping off too much
honey. Beware of the fault of
removing too much honey at
one cropping time. Often at
the November robbing time
there can be two fully
capped supers of honey on a
strong swarm and not much
honey in the outer frames of
the brood chamber. The time
lapse before the mid January
flow starts is too long and the
swarm dies of starvation or
simply absconds, leaving
dead and undeveloped
brood behind. Leave the one
full super and add a second
super below this super and
the brood chamber.
K Management of super
chambers. The super is the
honey storage area where
honey is stored for the
beekeeper. Never remove
honey from the brood when
honey is in short supply to
the consumer. Let the
consumer go hungry, your
bees are at stake.
In the early Spring as the
weather warms the honey
flow commences and the
bees need space to shift that
brood compacted honey and
to store the sudden new
incoming nectar, therefore
provide them with one super
chamber. Add the second
super when the real warm
summer weather sets in and
the frequent cold spells are a
thing of the past.
K Onset of cold winter
weather. At the end of the
honey flow crop off the
honey at the onset of colder
nights. Reduce the hive down
to a brood chamber only and
make sure that there are at
least four full brood frames of
honey in the brood chamber.
In the case of strong swarms
one needs to leave the super
that should contain at least
six frames of honey.
K Working through the
apiary. In the case where an
apiary of 20 hives or so are in
diameter, always work from
the furthest hive from the
exit, towards the gate. Do not
start at the nearest hive and
have to pass that hive to
reach the further hives from
the exit. You will have
disturbed that hive and the
bees will create an angry
atmosphere and arouse the
other swarms before you
come to work on them.
Word soon gets around that
someone is about the apiary
and the bees could declare
war on the intruder.
K Keep clean. Do not leave
pieces of honeycomb lying
about in the grass around the
hives. This sets up a robbing
situation among the hives
and the strong hives will
attack the weaker hives and
rob them out. Always work as
clean as absolutely possible.
K Loving tender care for
your bees. One must be
mindful that bees are
livestock of a most extraordi-
nary nature in that they work
to their own schedule to
produce honey and provide
a pollination service for the
survival of mankind free of
charge.
The beekeeper fills the chain
of events by providing them
with suitable accommodation
and space for them to fulfill
their tasks.
Therefore the care of these
creatures, when they are
harnessed by the beekeeper
in beehives is his responsibil-
ity to nature and to provide
them at all times with tender
loving care.
Article by Peter Clark,
chairman of the Eastern
Highveld Beekeepers
Association and author of
Tales of an African Beekeeper.
Call 011 362-2904
21
www.sasmallholder.co.za