The Zimbabwean Gardener Issue 10 Spring 2014 | Page 17

The Zimbabwean Gardener
Once a new colony is established, it can produce up to 30kgs
of honey a year if professionally managed, or between 10
– 15kgs for amateur bee keepers. When a colony swarms
into your garage, or verandah eve, contact a professional
beekeeper immediately for advice. Eliminating the colony is
unnecessarily destructive.
Art and Science
Beekeeping is both an ART and a SCIENCE. It requires great
skill in handling and understanding bees as well as intricate
knowledge of natural processes and cycles. It is a highly
rewarding activity, even as a small scale DIY project in your
backyard. It is necessary to have a relatively big plot or at
least a large area on the plot that is mainly undisturbed –
ideally protected by hedging, partly shady area and not next
to a main road, animals or habitation (30 metres is a safe
distance). Commotion from pets and strong scents such
as from dipping dogs or repainting can trigger aggressive
behaviour so keep these activities separate or to a minimum.
There are two types of hive used, the Kenyan Top Bar hive,
which is recommended for novices as it is easy to use and
cheaper to set up, and the Frame hives. Frame hives are
used worldwide on a commercial level, despite being more
popular, they are more expensive to set up and more difficult
to manage than the Kenyan Top Bar hive.
Setting up a few hives in a quiet corner of your property will
firstly provide you with steady supply of honey or money. Of
great importance to the environment, it will see that all fruits
and vegetables within a 2.5km radius are fully pollinated
meaning bigger better quality produce especially from
strawberries, guavas, apples, mangoes and pears. Pollination
of agricultural crops and most indigenous trees and flowers
is carried out up to 80% by honey bees. The rest is done by
bumble bees and stingless bees such as the Mopani bee or
Trigona. It therefore goes without saying that bees play a key
role in maintaining eco-systemic integrity. By the same token,
promoting genetic diversity of the population by having
more hives secures their long term health and protection as
a species.
Properties of Liquid Gold

“Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best,” and then he
had to stop and think. Because although eating
honey was a very good thing to do, there was a
moment just before you began to eat it which was
better than when you were, but he didn’t know
what it was called.” A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

The Queen Bee.

Aside from the pure natural sweetness of honey to soften
the palate, this liquid gold contains vitamins, minerals,
anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. A pure carbohydrate,
it contains no fat or cholesterol. In addition, honey offers
incredible antiseptic, antioxidant and cleansing properties
for our body and health, valuable beauty and skin care,
and amazing healing properties as an overall home remedy
(source http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/). Apparent
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