 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beekeeping In Moro Moro |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
2.We remove the honeycombs before removing the bees themselves, and will place the combs in a portable cardboard hive. |
|
|
|
|
|
1. This hive of hybridized African/European bees was located in the earth under a large rock. With plenty of smoke from the smoker, and after some excavation along one side of the rock, the hive is finally exposed, revealing the dim outlines of the honeycombs inside. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3. When the bees are also placed in this temporary hive later on, they will calm quickly in the darkness and in the familiar surroundings of their own honeycomb and capped brood (immature bees). |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
4.Here we are tying the honeycomb to a wooden frame with yarn or string: this anchors the wax to the wood and provides a foundation from which the bees will continue to build comb, firmly attaching the wax to the frame. The bees will also remove the yarn themselves or, if not, we will remove it during a future visit. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5. Here we used plenty of smoke to get the bees to leave the area of the old hive and group together outside it. We use leafy twigs, gloves, or anything else handy to scoop up the swarming bees and place them in the hive. If the new hive is placed near where the bees are gathering, the familiar smells of their own honeycomb and the presence of other bees from their hive will usually cause many of them to head there themselves. We take special care to look for the hive's queen. If she is for some reason left behind, it is likely that the remaining bees will not stay in their new hive but will leave it, searching for her or attempting to return to their old hive site. A queenless hive also has no way of producing new bees, as only the queen can lay the fertilized eggs that will hatch into new, female, worker bees. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
6. Now that all the honeycomb has been cut out and attached to the frames, we begin to collect the bees themselves. |
|
|
|
|
|
Experimenting With An Adobe Hive |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
7.In this instance, we moved the cardboard beehive to the site of the hive that will be the bee's new home: an adobe hive. Beehives are typically made of wood, but for local farmers in the Moro Moro area, wood can be hard to come by. This farmer had the idea to use adobe to make this hive bodies, thus cutting down on the amount of wood he would have to buy or find. MCC helped him get the measurements right, and he built the box itself. He we are placing the wooden frames with their attached bees and honey comb into the new hive. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
8.Now that all the frames have been removed, we literally dump the rest of the bees still clinging to the box into the new hive. We then take the box a considerable distance away to keep the bees from trying to return. With nearly all the bees inside, we will quickly close the hive with its wooden lid and wait to see if the bees that remain outside are able to find the hive's entrance. Frequently we have to keep and eye on a new hive for several days, as the bees may attempt to leave, forming a swarm outside the hive that must be returned to the hive before it escapes. In this particular hive, the bees have not yet attempted to leave, and seem to have settled down to work in their new setting. If this particular hive proves to be a success, we will advocate its use to other farmers in the area for whom wood is difficult to come by. |
|