Buzzing News Vol. 7

A week in the life of Babylonstoren’s VIP garden workers, by our resident beekeeper and entomologist, Arné Stander.  

Overview  

Another few weeks with hot days exceeding 35°C and strong, gusty southeastern winds at times. 

A swarm of bees was discovered in a bin on the farm. This bin is below the Babylonstoren hill, on the morning farm walk route. 

On inspection, I saw the bees entering and exiting from a corner at the bottom of the bin. Several foraging bees were returning with pollen, which was a clear indication that they had not moved in too recently. 

I was very curious about the size of the swarm and the structure of the combs. I removed the lid and saw quite a lot of bees but no comb. On removing the frame of the lid, I found a comb in one corner. 

I had to remove the inner bin to look at the combs, which I did very carefully so as not to harm the comb. Luckily, the combs were all intact and the size was quite impressive. 

The brood was visible. I removed the combs gently to collect those containing brood. I used string to tie the cut-off combs to empty brood frames, which I placed inside a hive.

In total, three frames with brood were placed inside the hive. I then had to find the queen. I used the smoker and puffed gently into the outer bin, forcing the bees out. I spotted the queen, stopped the smoker and gently lifted the queen. I placed her in front of the hive and she crawled inside.

I closed the lid and waited for the bees to enter. With the queen inside, the worker bees started going into the hive. The rest of the combs were removed and the whole bin was reassembled. 

I took the hive off the farm and will take it to the Soetdoring apiary in two weeks. 

The following day we had a fire on Klein Babylonstoren, just above the eucalyptus apiary. The wind blew the fire straight towards the hives. By the time I arrived, my colleague, Morné Olivier, was already on the scene and had started moving the hives to safety. We loaded them onto a vehicle and moved them to Rietvlei Farm.

Fortunately, not a single hive was lost to the fire. I am grateful for the immediate help with the hives. Overall, it was wonderful to see farm workers, neighbours and fire fighters on the scene, working together to contain the fire. It was a great team effort. If I had not relocated the hives, we would probably have lost all the swarms, as illustrated by the next photo. 

With veld fires we don’t really think about the number of hives that are in danger or those that are lost to raging fires. With the hives relocated, I felt sorry for the returning field bees. It will take at least two weeks for the hives to recover with new field bees. It is a small price to pay seeing that they are all safe. I will monitor the hives and eventually return them to their apiary. The smell of ash is pungent and not ideal for bees.  

BUZZ WORDS 

Super - Any hive body, usually a smaller box, used for the storage of honey which the beekeeper intends to harvest. Normally it is placed above the brood chamber(s). Supers are typically medium or shallow-sized boxes. 

Apiary - Colonies, hives, and other equipment assembled in one location for beekeeping operations. 

Beehive - An artificial cavity for a bee colony to live in, usually a box or boxes with movable frames. 

Brood - Immature bees that are still inside their cells. Brood can be in the form of eggs, larvae, or pupae of different ages. 

Capped honey – When bees cover their honey with wax, much like putting a lid on it.  

Nuc – A nuc, or nucleus colony, is a small honeybee colony created from larger colonies, packages, or captured swarms. 

Bee bread – Also known as bee pollen or ambrosia, is a ball or pellet of field-gathered flower pollen packed by worker honeybees and used as the primary food source for the hive. It consists of simple sugars, protein, minerals and vitamins, fatty acids, and a small percentage of other components. 

Queen - A female bee with a fully developed reproductive system. Larger and longer than a worker bee.