Bees for Development Journal 105
URBAN BEEKEEPING IN BAHIR DAR Janet Lowore, Bees for Development, 1 Agincourt Street, Monmouth NP25 3DZ, UK Keywords: Africa, Andassa Livestock Research, Bees for Development Ethiopia, calabash hive, local style hive, mother colony, top-bar hive
Roof top beekeeping is now a regular sight in London
PHOTOS © BARNABY SHAW, BEE URBAN
Beekeeping has long been considered a rural craft, however in recent years beekeeping in urban areas has become much more common. In London (UK) there may be as many as 3,200 apiaries1 with rooftop beekeeping becoming a popular feature on several of London’s landmark buildings. Steve Benbow, author of The Urban Beekeeper, talks of the “nectar paradise offered by the city woodland”2 and reports crops of honey so heavy that he had to buy more hive boxes mid-season to accommodate the honey flow. The following story from Bahir Dar in Ethiopia shows that urban beekeeping is not confined to industrialised countries. Sandwiched between a busy main road in Bahir Dar and Lake Tana is a strip of land about 40 m wide owned by beekeeper Mr Bayligne - the gate to the apiary can be seen just behind Mr Bayligne on the right of the picture below. On this tiny patch of land, which also supports trees for fruit, timber and bee forage, Mr Bayligne maintains 10 local style hives, one top-bar hive and one small calabash hive (shown bottom-left). The calabash hive is deliberately maintained as a mother colony to produce swarms for multiplication. Mr Bayligne listens to the colony and when he hears a young queen piping, he will stay in the apiary waiting for the swarm that he knows will soon emerge.
Since January 2012 he has acquired five new swarms from this colony which he had pre-selected for its preferred traits.
PHOTOS © BfD
From one recent harvest the top-bar hive yielded 49 kg of honey: this is due to its comparative large size. The hive is empty now as he was advised to try a frame hive by a government extension
The entrance to Mr Bayligne’s apiary beside Lake Tana
Mr Bayligne with his top-bar hive
Mr Bayligne has local style, top-bar hives and a calabash hive maintained as a mother colony to produce swarms
Mr Bayligne’s local style hives in his field shelter 12
