Introducing Bee Keeping
A Guide to Intending Bee Farmers for the Production of Natural Honey
Contents
1. Bees
2. Boxes with frames
3. Bait – Capturing the bees
4. Material for harvesting
This article is designed to help anybody to gain a step-by-step understanding of what the bee keeping project teaches and to enable anybody to become a bee keeper. It will help anybody to have a clear view of how using bees produces natural honey.
BEES It is obvious that bees are the handiwork of God. There are four types:
1. Red bees
2. Black bees
3. White bees
4. Tiny bees that stay out of holes but under the rain all the year round.
They are all busy bees that feed themselves. Wherever they fly, they never miss the hive when coming back.
BOXES Each box has ten frames inside for them to make honeycombs. The combs line up in the frames; then it is called a hive.
BAIT Before bees form the hive, the keeper must capture the bees using attraction perfume, called bait, to let them in. The bait is many attraction ingredients with taste and odour.
HARVESTING Materials for harvesting are:
1. Overall wear to protect the body from stings
2. Veil with cap to cover the face
3. Rain boot
4. Hand gloves
5. Half tool (a metal instrument for opening the box)
6. Smoker (a smoke box) with bellows to fumigate the hive and keep the warring bees off the harvester
7. 1 metre of white cloth to cover the box after smoking to prevent bees from escaping during this danger period
8. Brush and ½" plywood to separate bad combs from good ones for honey.
I make it plain to anybody who has an interest in becoming a bee keeper to fortify themselves with the above listed harvesting materials to avoid getting stung. Though bee stings are very uncomfortable, the result of a good harvest of pure honey is the prize. Bee culture is a lucrative hobby but only people with determination succeed. The Department of Agriculture has a section that gives vital information and demonstrations for intending bee farmers. In a good library, more facts can be obtained from literature under the heading “APICULTURE”.
Bro Friday E Enyiogu (Ikwueke Oboro, Nigeria)
