The tale of 100 beehives
On the evening of the 1st of March, the first batch of 60 buzzing beehives were delivered to our HQ at Ekuthuleni. In partnership with the Black Mambas Anti-Poaching Unit, the boxes were carefully placed on our repurposed steel stands.
Two weeks later, the last 40 beehives were delivered to complete our 100-beehive apiary – no small feat for our small team of eager beekeepers. Soon after delivery, we initiated artificial feeding to strengthen the colonies as the onset of winter meant less natural nectar and pollen for our hard-working, winged ladies. To make the feeding less labour intensive, we devised an easy feeding mechanism – we made cement bowls to house artificial pollen for the bees.
Thanks to the generosity of the Hoedspruit community who donated plenty of empty wine bottles, we used feeding ramps connected to the bottles, which are inserted into the hive to ensure the bees also get a sugar-water mix for additional sustenance.
Apis mellifera scutellate (African honey bee) is a natural-migratory species so you can expect to find some colonies absconding despite our best efforts to settle them with plenty of energy-giving-food while there is a dearth of blossoms over winter.
On the evening of the 1st of March, the first batch of 60 buzzing beehives were delivered to our HQ at Ekuthuleni. In partnership with The Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit, the boxes were carefully placed on our repurposed steel stands. Two weeks later, the last 40 beehives were delivered to complete our 100-beehive apiary – no small feat for our small team of eager beekeepers. Soon after delivery, we initiated artificial feeding to strengthen the colonies as the onset of winter meant less natural nectar and pollen for our hard-working, winged ladies. To make the feeding less labour intensive, we devised an easy feeding mechanism – we made cement bowls to house artificial pollen for the bees.
Thanks to the generosity of the Hoedspruit community who donated plenty of empty wine bottles, we used feeding ramps connected to the bottles, which are inserted into the hive to ensure the bees also get a sugar-water mix for additional sustenance.
Apis mellifera scutellate (African honey bee) is a natural-migratory species so you can expect to find some colonies absconding despite our best efforts to settle them with plenty of energy-giving-food while there is a dearth of blossoms over winter
The rewards are always sweeter once you overcome the challenges. Nothing can be truer when it comes to working with bees while you wait in anticipation for the first summer rains to bring relief to all. Other than the challenges of feeding in winter, the baboons and honey badgers have been keeping us on our toes.
Although we built the stands to be honey badger proof – 1.5m off the ground to be exact, we have been reminded never to take nature for granted. While we commend these ferocious animals for their determination in getting to our hives, finding destroyed combs and being outwitted by a badger, is a real blow.
Thankfully we’ve been able to strap all of our boxes to the stands, preventing any further raiding. We have made peace with the baboons sneaking in and stealing sugar water from the bottle as well.
With our apiary fully established, we set-off on a two-day beekeeping course with Inge Lotter, a renowned beekeeper in the Lowveld. The first day entailed covering the basic theory of beekeeping, while day two focused on practical learning, honey harvesting and wax processing.
The in-depth training has allowed us to transfer the knowledge to those helping us with the bees. In preparation for the coming summer months we also ensured that we have a sizable honey harvesting room with quick access to drop off beehive supers that will be dripping with honey, ready to be spun from the combs in the frames. We can’t wait to paint our bee harvesting room with some inspirational quotes and colours. Watch this space for more! With our gardens steadily growing and the summer months holding the promise of trapping wild colonies with the onset of the nectar flow to replace any loses, the future looks bright for the bees, the plants that will need to be pollinated and the people that are all part of what we are trying to achieve.
Thank you
A big thank you to the Tanglewood Foundation, Rufford Foundation and Lion Share for their generous support which has enabled us to make this project a success. Furthermore, without the passion and hard work of The Black Mambas and our team on the ground (Jody Visser, Valerious Mushayi and Fresh Mharadze), our bees would not be thriving nor could our long-term vision of a transfer of knowledge into an identified corridor in southern Mozambique be realised. Lastly, an appreciation for the hundreds of hard-working ladies who are not only making our vision a reality, but continuously amazes us with their matriarchal structure and biology.
Who would have thought that working towards elephant conservation would lead us to learning so much more about African honey bees.
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A really worthwhile project! Despite the hazards, you seem to be making progress now. Good luck.