₦airaland Forum

No one must be trusted, in securing your apiary. The following steps should be considered for adequate security.
1. Let your beehives be visible from afar.
2.Be careful in telling others the exact location of your apiary.
3. Fence the apiary with sticks, bamboos or wire mesh. Apart from thieves, stray herds can also vandalize in an attempt to escape bee stings.
4. Keep your protective gears and smoker in a secret place. You can't trust anyone.
5. Inform nearby farmers about your setup. Plead with them to keep an eye on your hives from afar and update you on any invaders. You won't be there regularly like them. Engage other informants without their consent.
6. Let the hives be close to each other. 3-5 metre spacing is enough. In case of invasion of one colony, guard bees from close colony will possibly attack the culprit.
7. Hang one or more beehives on trees in a discreet place in the apiary, especially at the entrance or pathway. This can cause an attack on the culprit by surprise.
8. Place fetish looking items in a visible location in the apiary. You are a magician to ignorant ones, seeing these items will scare them more.
9. Be careful in giving details on harvesting activities performed in your apiary to anyone.
10. Employ a security personel, if you are a commercial beekeeper but don't trust him too.

The Security Threats in the Apiary
As Nigerians, we are aware of rising insecurity in the nooks and crannies of the country. Theft is common in most apiaries due to high value of the liquid gold. This is a major reason for not investing in beekeeping by many. Some affected apiarists have abandoned the business, thereby posing a great challenge in the industry. Despite the fact that bees have defence mechanism against intruders, they can't win man. We made it possible to manage them, but thieves does not care about the colony. Instead, they destroy the colony and damage the hive in an attempt to steal, in most cases, honey. This results to loss in the colony and the beekeeper investment. Theft is common during the harvest season. This is aftermath of rainy season.

If you are a beekeeper, you will always feel concerned about flowering crops in your area right?

The swarming season is ongoing, stop procrastinating amd make a move. I can assist in leasing or purchasing a land conducive for beekeeping in ogbomoso north area. I can also help you to acquire beekeeping equipments. Call or send a direct messsage to my whatsapp no: 09053639950

As the swarming season commences, i urge the willing apiarists to make a move. I can assist in leasing or purchasing a land conducive for beekeeping in ogbomoso north area. I can also help you to acquire beekeeping equipments. Call or send a direct messsage to my whatsapp no: 09053639950

As Dry Season Begins
Bees will resume foraging activities as some plants blossoms. There wil be increase in colony population and honey will be stored. The apiarist should observe the dominant blosssom in the apiary area and expect honey to be ripe at least two weeks from blossom boom. Honey ripening period depends on the nectar source and climate. Highly humid area causes late ripening and vice versa. The apiarist should inspect the hive not only to check for honey storage, but also queen cells build up because swarming will be imminent when there is prolong storage of honey and when the colony population is high.
Therefore, early honey harvesting and colony splitting is important to prevent swarming.

Our society is so shortsighted that when you tell others about your plan, they will ask of the profit. If it's not hundreds of thousands or above, then you have not impress them. It's impossible to have a largesse from a little within a short period. Do not mind these people, they will discourage you and you will remain poor like them if you do. Just make a move and know what you are doing. There will be challenges and mistakes. In your wisdom, persevere.

Greenarrow01:
Boss
Pls how much are those agriculture lands around those villages there

contact me via call or whatsapp 09053639950

zanshi:
How i wish you are in Abeokuta

Problem is getting land for my second hive all the villages heads are just using one to catch cruise and there isnt enough beekeepers willing to teach or help troubleshoot with any random issues that may arise.

I believe every land is sizeable. You can place below 20 hives on a plot. This depends on the availability of forage. I am lagos based without knowing anyone in ogbomosho except the agent who linked me to the land owner. You must be dogged if you are passionate about beekeeping. Contact me if you have questions.

Thanks

quadraheem:
Interesting

This is a section of our apiary in ogbomosho. I started from somewhere. You can also start yours without delay.
Intending beekeepers should start strategising to acquire beekeeping materials while the next swarming season is approaching, starting from early october. I can assist in leasing or purchasing a land conducive for beekeeping in ogbomoso north area. I can also help you to acquire beekeeping equipments. Call or send a direct messsage to my whatsapp no: 09053639950

This September:Most plants will start blossoming from mid month. Apiarists should be aware of enough forage supply to the colony. Few weeks from blossom, the population of the colony will increase and honey will be capped. As dry season commences in the north, we don't expect too much rain at the month end in the south. Climatic condition is very crucial to the colony survival. My prediction will be wrong if the apiarist feeds his colony in the dearth period and plant different blossom season.
Intending beekeepers should start strategising to acquire beekeeping materials while the next swarming season is approaching, starting from early october. I can assist in leasing or purchasing a land conducive for beekeeping in ogbomoso north area. I can also help you to acquire beekeeping equipments. Call or send a direct messsage to my whatsapp no: 09053639950

Stop procrastinating! Willing beekeepers should start strategising to acquire beekeeping materials while the next swarming season is approaching, starting from early october. I can assist in leasing or purchasing a land conducive for beekeeping in ogbomoso north area. I can also help you to acquire beekeeping equipments. Call or send a direct messsage to my whatsapp no: 09053639950

Intending beekeepers should start strategising to acquire beekeeping materials while the next swarming season is approaching, starting from early october. I can assist in leasing or purchasing a land conducive for beekeeping in ogbomoso north area. I can also help you to acquire beekeeping equipments. Call or send a direct messsage to my whatsapp no: 09053639950

Nigeria would have been far greater only if we love each other

FreeIgbos:
Yorubas are funny people, they like mocking others but if you expose them they will call their ethnocentric mod to delete it. I created this informative them but he rushed and deleted it.

Igbos and Yorubas are unarguably two of Nigeria's most globally recognized ethnic groups. They've excelled in many areas of human endeavors and locally, they tend to have divergent opinion in their worldviews which has been variously misinterpreted. However, this thread will lay bare the structural differences which many either do not know, sugar coat or outrightly deny for sundry reasons.

1. Igbos are natural democrats with a liberal worldview while Yorubas are heirachial and abhor democratic tendencies: This is one of the reasons why the two groups often clash rhetorically and accuse each other for being hateful and antagonistic. Yorubas have a culture stymied in "bambiala" reverence to fellow man while Igbos on the other hand believe that all men were born equal and one can become whatever they want if they work hard. This is at the core of what makes a character like Tinubu to thrive and assume a god status among Yorubas. But similar characters in Igboland will be derided. People like Rochas and Orji Uzor Kalu would have succeeded just like Tinubu if they were Yorubas in assuming a god status and similarly Tinubu wouldn't have succeeded in pocketing Lagos since 1999 if Lagos was an Igbo state. Igbos would have sent him packing after his statutory 8 years as governor!

Before Tinubu, we also had other Yorubas who were elevated to god status such as Awolowo and Abiola. During their lifetime, these same people were literally worshipped by Yorubas and it's not neccesarily because they sacrificed or did wonders for their people rather it was the bambiala culture that caused it. Igbos also had great leaders that sacrificed or did exceptionally well for them such as Michael Okpara, Ojukwu and Sam Mbakwe but they were only respected and never worshipped. Even when Ojukwu returned from exile to contest for elective positions in governance, he wasn't voted for out of principle! Sam Mbakwe, Ojukwu and Michael Okpara all retired to live out their old ages in peace but if they were in the West, just like Awolowo did, the bambiala culture will not only enable him to primitively accumulate wealth but will also make it easy for him to continue to call the shots till they die.

Igbos don't hate Tinubu as Yorubas wrongly believe rather they hate what he represents! Igbos have attacked Rochas and Orji Uzor Kalu more than they have attacked Tinubu. It amounts to idiotic reasoning to want Igbos not to criticize Tinubu when they form a significant percentage of the population in Lagos and pays tax yet same Tinubu is kneeling on the necks of everyone in Lagos by institutionalizing corruption in that state.

2. Igbos have a more principled worldview while Yorubas are fairweather in nature: Igbos are ready to swim and sink with whoever they align with but Yorubas will jump ship the moment they see you're sinking and I will give you examples. Ojukwu, GEJ, Nnamdi Kanu will suffice here. During the war, Igbos stood with Ojukwu even when they were blockaded and were being starved or bombed to death! Igbos stood with GEJ even when he came under scathing criticisms till the day he stepped down! Igbos have massively supported Nnamdi Kanu through thick and thin! The Igbos are reliable allies who stand by their word but Yorubas will change course when things get out of hand, and that's what they term "sophistication". Awolowo was quoted as saying, if Igbos should leave Nigeria, Yorubas will leave too. Earlier, same Awolowo called Nigeria a mere geographical expression. In essence, he never believed in the country. However, when Ojukwu took the initiative and presented an opportunity for Awolowo to have his dream Oduduwa republic, he chickened out and decided to stay neutral and watch which side will have the upper hand so he can team up with them. If Biafra had an upper hand, Awolowo would have teamed up with Ojukwu!

3. Igbos Hate Injustice/Oppression And They Always Voice Out But Yorubas Will Rather Suffer In Silence Just To Be Politically Correct: when you oppress Igbos, either as an Igbo man or outsider, they will wail, complain, vilify, criticize and do whatever they can to show their displeasure. In essence, they don't suffer fools gladly. Igbos don't hate Fulanis more than Yorubas or others in Nigeria but while others are willing to be closet haters just to avoid antagonising them, Igbos don't mind saying it with a microphone. Igbos never hated or verbally attacked Umaru Musa Yaradua (a core Fulani man) when he was president simply because they believed he was a good man. Now that's a food for thought!

4. Igbos Don't Mind Washing Their Dirty Linens In Public If That Would Bring Change But Yorubas Will Rather Allow Keep Mum To Avoid Embarrassment: When the Orji's allowed Aba to rot, with bad roads and filth everywhere. Igbos didn't try to hide it to avoid embarrassment instead they began a campaign of exposing the rot in Aba. In Facebook, nairaland, Twitter etc, we were assaulted with disgusting pictures of terrible looking roads which others didn't waste to start mocking us with. However, the onslaught against the state government started paying dividends now go to those roads now, particularly Ngwa/School road, P.H road, Eziukwu etc that used to be an eyesore and you won't believe how neat they are now. The governor must had sleepless nights with all those attacks he faced! Now, let's draw a parallel again. Aba is to Abia State what Sango/Ota is to Ogun State. Today, Sango/Ota has some of the worst roads you can think of in Nigeria, if not the world but Yorubas will rather keep calm, suffer silently and even attack anyone that tries to expose the rot in that town. Even within the almighty Lagos too, there are lots of terrible roads and disgusting environment but anyone trying to expose it will come under attack by Yorubas who either don't want to be embarrassed or because they feel no one should question their leader.

Should Nigeria divide today, I can bet you that Oduduwa will have sit tight rulers that will make the likes of Paul Biya and Mugabe green envy while Igbos will practice a very vibrant democracy with no room for sit tight rulers.

Processing the Beeswax
Beeswax can be obtained from honeycomb by melting. A much valuable beeswax is from a clean and white comb. If you are using frame hives, there will be a need to reuse the honeycomb which makes it darker as it gets older. Hence, processing this honeycomb gives a brown to dark brown beeswax which are less valuable, compare to white beeswax. Brown or dark brown beeswax is best use as swarm bait due to the strong odour it offers. It is best to process honeycomb that was honey store or empty one and not brood combs for easier processing. Beeswax can be simply processed by the following .
(1) Wash the combs in a clean water, probably twice or more.
(2) Transfer the combs to a clean boiling water and avoid over flows. The water does not need to be too much but must be enough to surround the combs.
(3) As the combs melts shortly, stir the mixture until there is complete melting. Avoid excessive heat and drops of beeswax on the heat source since beeswax is combustible.
(4) Remove the mixture vessel from heat and allow it to cool. The melted combs floats on water and solidifies as it cools. This is the beeswax.
(5) The floating and hard beeswax can be removed and transferred to moulds where it can be remelted and form the desired shape.

Processing The Honey
Take the combs to the honey press and press out the honey. The honey should be strained using a strainer to separate comb crumbs, bees, larva etc. There must be cleanliness through out the process to avoid contaminating the honey. Some honey become watery when exposed to air for a long time while others get thicker. This is caused by the forage bees feeds on. Therefore, honey should be stored in air tight vessel. The compressed honey comb is no longer needed in the hive but can be processed to produce beeswax.

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.

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.

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.

Oyo state

zanshi:
Where is your location?

Oyo state

zanshi:
Where is your location?

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Noted

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

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.

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.

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.