Why Kenyan Top Bar Hives ( KTB): Beehives designs have continue to advance to give the best management practices and high yields. The old fixed comb hives have been abandoned by commercial beekeepers due to difficulties in management. This is why top bar hives and langstroth frame hives are common. Langstroth frame hives offers the best management practices because honey combs are supported by four sides in a rectangular frames. This enables the honey from it to be harvested by placing honey combs into the honey extractor which spins honey out without destroying the honey combs. Honey combs can then be refilled within days or weeks depending on the strength of colony and availability of forage. Some activities like queen rearing, feeding, supering (stacking of boxes), transportation and disease control can also be successfully achieved. The limitations to this is that, apart from being more expensive than KTB hives, the dimensions of frames are critical and local carpenters will not achieve this. Applicable sawing machines are also scarce as well.
KTB hives are cheap to construct and can be contracted to local carpenter because, no critical dimensions are needed except the top bars of width 32mm. They also get colonised easily and restive west african bees finds them comfortable. Beewsax yield is high as the destroyed honey combs are processed but less honey quantity. The bees need more time and resources in rebuilding combs before the next honey harvest. Another restriction is that bee colonies can't be efficiently controlled unlike langstroth frame hives.

If you are interested in beekeeping, you can call or send whatsapp message to my number 09053639950 Daniel. This is to assist you in acquiring beekeeping equipments and further guidance.

Variations of Honey Bees Behaviour With Climate
This is an important aspect to beekeepers and researchers. It is easy for an experienced beekeeper to determine the situation of the colony without inspecting the hive. As vegetation is a function of the climatic conditions in an area, the activities of the bee colony is a function of both climate and vegetation. The seasonal activities of bee colonies varies remarkably among local biotic communities in Nigeria. For instance, the rainforest vegetation in some states like osun, ondo, akwa ibom, benue, edo, cross river etc depicts their similar weather conditions and consequently, the bee colony seasonal activities. However, the months of june/july is a period of rainfall throughout the country. During this period most plants are busy springing up their greens and there is less forage available to bees. The colony depends on stored honey for survival. This is very significant in a mono-crop area. Swarming is also not pronounced. When dominant plants blossoms (flowers), The apiarist should be aware that there is abundant food supply, thereby increasing the population of bee colonies. Between the period of blossom drops and fruit setting, the colony will store enough honey ready for harvest and swarming is also emminent. There are some contradictions to these due to climate change. The beekeeper should be aware that swarming is a loss to his honey crop because the bees gorge a lot of honey which is needed to build combs in their new nest.
It is in the interest of a beginner to investigate these seasonal behaviours of honey bees by interacting with experienced beekeepers in the apiary locality rather than surfing the internet.

Nice thread

Earthstorms:
Nice thread

Thank you

honifome:
Thank you

Can you post the drawing and dimensions of the bee hive components?

I like to know the length, width and thickness of each component to see if I can build one by myself.

The kenyan top bar hive plan has been shown below. Dimensions can be adjusted to contain the number of top bars. The hive should not have more than 28 bars so that the bee colony can be managed efficiently. The hive cover is not shown. It is left for the carpenter to construct without plan.

honifome:
One of the lucrative aspects in agriculture is beekeeping because of its softlanding start up, improved crop production and high income generating potentials. Honey bees are insects that produces not just the liquid gold (honey), but also produces other valuable materials like bees wax, propolis, royal jelly, bee pollen and bee venom. Each of these are in demand in many industries. Bees wax is used in making polish, candles, hardeners in cosmetics etc. Royal jelly is a milky colored liquid, highly nutritious and quite expensive. Like royal jelly, bee pollen is also nutritious with high proteins. Bee venom is used in apitherapy and it is known to be effective in treating athritis. Propolis is commonly used as bait in bee hives and resinous glues. Honey has the highest demand among all the products of beekeeping due to its sweetening properties and medicinal use.
Honey bees are common pollinators of some crops because of their high foraging activities. They visit flowers to suck the nectar and collect pollen. This is not done simultaneously by a bee. During this process, they accidentally pollinate the flower by brushing some pollen grains to its stigma. This enable the fruit to emerge thereafter. In North America and Europe, bee keepers are usually contracted by farmers for pollination services and the farmers pays in return.

how do you get the starter bee and queen, explain where to get and how pls.
just like in poultry you can older day old chick

I believe this is ok

honifome:
Baiting the hive A beehive must be baited for it to be colonised. However, it is possible for bees to colonise a hive without baiting but it can take a long period. To bait the hive, the following steps must be taken
1) Clean the hive and ensure that it is free from organism that can arrest scout bees and there must be no petroleum coated substance in the internal walls of the hive
2) scrub the internal hive body with unrefined beeswax. The smell attracts scout bees who invites the swarm to their new home. Other attractants are lemon grass oil, fermented locust beans etc but beeswax odour last longer and it's the most efficient.
3) make sure that the hive is covered and the entrance is not too wide, the size of a match box is enough. It must be placed on a stand.
4) apply black engine oil at the base of the hive stand to prevent ants and spiders from accessing the hive. Spiders and ants can arrest and kill scout bees. The oil must not touch the hive because it is an insects repellant, remember that bees are insects too.
5) leave the place and make sure no one is present because African bees avoids human as much as possible.
The hive can be checked a week later, the flight of bees in and out of entrance confirms colonisation.
It is wrong to use honey to bait hives as it will attract ants and foraging bees will only come for it.
It is also important to know that the frequency of swarming varies with seasons. It is most frequent in early dry season - dry season - early wet season. It hardly occurs during harmattan and periods of high rainfall such as june - july in West Africa climate. I had experienced swarm capture the same day an hive was baited.

Handles should be installed on the two side boards for lifting

honifome:
The kenyan top bar hive plan has been shown below. Dimensions can be adjusted to contain the number of top bars. The hive should not have more than 28 bars so that the bee colony can be managed efficiently. The hive cover is not shown. It is left for the carpenter to construct without plan.

It's world bee day. Humans needs to behave like bees.

Why The Different Colours, Flavor and viscosity of Honey: Many prefers various physical appearance of honey and they often mistake them for quality. The type of floral source, water content and temperature determines these properties.
It should be noted that the chemical composition of any unadulterated honey is good for human health.
Below is an array of honey containers with different colors.

Honey and Adulteration
Due to its value, honey has continued to be adulterated to increase its volume. This is unfortunate because its chemical composition is not only altered, it also poses health risks. This is also affecting the market of original honey because they are relatively cheap. Adulterated honey has effects on the body like fake drugs. Imagine a patient applying honey to a wound due to its antimicrobial and healing effects without knowing it is fake. The wound would get worse and it is also open to infection, working against original honey function. A serious government should give capital punishment to fake drugs and honey producers to deter others.

If you are interested in beekeeping, you can call or send whatsapp message to my number 09053639950 Daniel. This is to assist you in acquiring beekeeping equipments and further guidance.

How To Know Original Honey
I have read alot about various methods of testing an original honey. I will explain why one can miss it.
Some believed droping a honey in a transparent glass of water without dispersing before reaching the bottom is a proof of original honey. This is not true because original honey is also soluble in water. The solubility also depends on the temperature of water. If the water is cold, the honey will not dissolve before it reaches bottom whether original or fake. If the water is warm, the honey will dissolve on its way to the bottom whether original or fake.
Hence this test should be discarded.

Many believes the viscosity or flow of honey determines its quality. This is not true because viscosity depends on the type of forage in the bee colony area and climatic conditions.
The best way to determine the quality of honey is through laboratory test.

What is happening in june?
This is a period of high rainfall. Trees will yield new leaves and blossoms will be less. Few workers will go on forage due to less blossoms and inclement weather. Drones will be absent in the hive. Bees will rely on their food store and the queen will lay few eggs. Swarms will not issue.

Call or whatsapp me on 09053639950 for further enquiries and procurement of beekeeping equipments.

Can u talk about marketing/getting buyers after production of honey

femora007:
Can u talk about marketing/getting buyers after production of honey

Noted

The most marketable beekeeping products in Nigeria is honey, followed by beeswax. Being a natural sugar and its medicinal value, original honey is in high demand and quite expensive. A litre can be sold for 3000 - 4000 naira depending on location and season. This makes beekeeping business lucrative. Sellers must be trusted in selling original honey. This will connect him to more consumers. After extracting the honey, it should be strained and packaged. One can also brand the product by giving it a unique name, logo, address, etc on a label with beautiful graphics. Ensure that the buyer is convinced on the quality of your product. This will enable him to request for more and recommend others to you if truly your product is genuine. Reach out to pharmacies, churches, mosques, supermarkets, etc. Distribute pamphlets, indicating products name, location, uses of honey, benefits of honey etc
Use the social media like facebook, whatsapp, instagram etc. to advertise your product too, they are rewarding tools. Note that the lower the price, the higher the quantity demanded. Also, too low a price would make the buyer suspicious on the quality of your product. Sell your honey in small sizes too, like 20ml, 25ml, 50ml etc to attract more buyers.

Call or whatsapp me Daniel, on 09053639950 for further enquiries and procurement of beekeeping equipments.

Honey bee colony pests and diseases
Honey bees like most animals are prone to pests and diseases. Pests in the bee colony are able to defend themselves against bee stings because of hard body coverings in the case of hive beetles, small body size (bees can't sting most animals smaller them) and group invasion in the case of ants. Weak colonies are mostly subdued during pest attack. Pests can force the bees to abscond the hive, creating loss to the apiarist. Ectoparasites like varroa mite, braula fly, tropilaelaps mite etc are also common. Ectoparasites sticks to the body of each bee, causing harm to them while pests exists among the bee colony. Pests destroys the comb, kills larva, steals and contaminate honey and forces bees to abscond if their activities become uncontrollable.
In tropical west africa, most diseases and ectoparasites are not common among the bee colonies. This is probably due to the fact that their causative organisms are associated with cold climate. Pests known in West Africa are preventable and can be controlled. They include small hive beetle, large hive beetle, soldier ants, rodents, birds, reptiles. The larger ones always meet their waterloo.

I think the best way to breed bees is to plant like hectares of wild flowers to support the rest they have to wander around to go get.

zanshi:
I think the best way to breed bees is to plant like hectares of wild flowers to support the rest they have to wander around to go get.

It is an effective way, but there must be good knowledge of the flowering seasons and whether such flower is bee friendly or not. This is a common practise in some developed countries. If the apiary area has enough forage for bees, this might not be necessary.

honifome:
It is an effective way, but there must be good knowledge of the flowering seasons and whether such flower is bee friendly or not. This is a common practise in some developed countries. If the apiary area has enough forage for bees, this might not be necessary.

Where is your location?

Oyo state

zanshi:



Where is your location?

Oyo state

zanshi:



Where is your location?

Knowing when to harvest
Honey can be extracted when it has been capped over by the bees on the comb. At this stage, the honey will have been ‘matured’ by the bees, sealed up and is ready to eat. The apiarist should note the differences between capped brood and capped honey. Capped brood has a thick cap and densely brown while capped honey has thin cap and light brown or white colour. Often, when you want to remove the honey, not all will have been sealed. I always use a rule of thumb here: if three quarters of the honey is sealed, I am happy to remove it from the hive. This is an important point. If you extract honey that has not been sealed, the water content will inevitably be too high, and the honey will ferment in storage and explode if sealed in a jar or tank. It will also taste foul if this happens. You must remove honey, therefore, only if the majority of it has been sealed over by the bees.

During my first inspection, i brought out a capped brood thinking it was a ripe honey comb. At the first bite i spat out crushed larva that tasted like flouride toothpaste.

Honey Harvesting
For top bar hives, the harvesting procedure is simple and demands cutting out the honey combs hanging down the bars.
*Take your harvesting materials like sharp knife, bucket with lid, bee brush. Don't dare visit the apiary without wearing overalls and active smoker in hand.
*Take out honey comb that is, at least 3/4 capped. Ensure you know the differences between brood comb and honey comb.
* Jerk the bar directly above the open space on the hive to remove bees and clear the remaining surface with bee brush.
* Cut the hanging honey comb with a sharp knife and let it drop directly inside the open bucket. Leave a strip of honey comb on the under side of the bar to guide reconstruction process.
* Avoid honey drops on the ground or other spots to avoid ants invasion. Ants can force bees to abscond.
* Cover the bucket completely to restrain disturbing bees and return the bar to the hive
*Repeat the procedure for other honey combs
* Leave 2 or 3 honey combs for the colony to feed on, else they will abscond. There is nothing wrong in leaving more but you need the honey crop.
Ensure to use smoker during the entire process to calm the bees. Bees are very aggressive when they have store of honey. Ignore the hovering bees and be gentle throughout.
Unlike top bar hives, Langstroth hives have honey combs supported all sides by rectangular frames. There is no need to cut out the combs. Frames are taken to honey extractor to spin out honey after cappings are removed with a special uncapping knife. These frames are then returned to the hive and are easily filled up with honey within a short period, since there is no destruction of combs. This offers a higher production of honey than top bar hives. Although, top bar hives provides a higher wax production since the destroyed combs can be processed to produce bees wax.