Bees for development
JOURNAL
No 127
• HORIZONTAL HIVES • BEEKEEPING BENEFITS • MORE BEES & ELEPHANTS • CHALKBROOD • WAX FACTS
The Journal for sustainable beekeeping 1
June 2018
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
Dear friends
In May we organised a one-day Bee Festival here in Monmouth to celebrate World Bee Awareness Day - as far as we know, the only such event held in the UK. The very next day we were with our fabulous display at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show - this is a world-famous annual event in London, always attended on the first day by the Queen and her royal family. The Chelsea Flower Show is famous for the perfection of the exhibits, and we could not
Issue 127 June 2018 In this issue
page
Bees for Development Symposium.......................... 3 Sri Lankan elephants retreat from Asian honey bees........ 5 Notice Board ....................... 6 Control of Chalkbrood in Vietnam............................ 7 Benefits of beekeeping........ 9 Happiness is a Horizontal Hive.................. 13 Facts about wax: comb and foundation......... 16 Book Shelf.......................... 18 Look Ahead........................ 19 Bees for Development Journal Produced quarterly and sent to readers in over 130 countries Editor: Nicola Bradbear PhD Co-ordinator: Helen Jackson BSc Subscriptions cost £26 per year - see page 19 for ways to pay
have been there if not for the loyal family of E H Thorne Ltd, who organised this for us. Our display showed the powerful service that bees provide as they pollinate three quarters of the world’s food crops. We were delighted to be awarded a Silver Medal. And very happy to have the chance to tell thousands of people about the value of bees and beekeeping and to let them see simple, effective and beautiful bee hives from Africa and Asia. This month we have been delighted to welcome Dr Leo Sharashkin here to run courses on beekeeping in horizontal frame hives - you can read more about him and the beekeeping he practices in the Ozark forest of Missouri, USA, on pages 1315. This beekeeping can be described as natural, i.e. the bees are never fed on sugar, they are not subject to treatments with any chemicals, and the bees are allowed to live with little interference. Many readers of this Journal, perhaps the majority of
you, are beekeeping in this way: do get in touch and tell us about your bees and beekeeping - we love to hear from you! Here in the UK bees used to be kept in baskets known as skeps, though few British beekeepers nowadays know the skills to keep bees this way. However Chris Park is a great expert on all aspects of skep making and keeping bees in them - he visited us this week and we were delighted to host what may have been this century’s first course on skep beekeeping! Skep beekeepers had many skills that have almost been forgotten - though not entirely - Chris is a great exponent of the craft and a new generation of beekeepers are interested to learn about this simple and highly natural way to keep bees.
Nicola Bradbear Director, Bees for Development
Readers in developing countries may apply for a sponsored subscription. Apply online or see page 20. Bees for Development Works to assist beekeepers in developing countries. Bees for Development Trust gratefully acknowledge: Artemis Charitable Trust, Didymus Trust, E H Thorne (Beehives) Ltd, Ethiopiaid, Eva Crane Trust, Hub Cymru Africa, Millom Rotary Club, Neal’s Yard Remedies, Stroud Buzz Club, The Rotary Foundation, The Waterloo Foundation, Welsh Government, UK Aid Direct, Yasaeng Beekeeping Supplies and many other kind individuals and organisations. Copyright You are welcome to translate and/or reproduce items appearing in Bees for Development Journal as part of our Information Service. Permission is given on the understanding that the Journal and author(s) are acknowledged, our contact details are provided in full, and you send us a copy of the item or the website address where it is used.
Cover photo © Tim Heard
It has been a super busy spell at Bees for Development. In March we organised the Symposium at Reading University described opposite. It was a great chance to celebrate 25 years of promoting the value of beekeeping for rural livelihoods, and the tremendous increase we have witnessed in awareness of the value of bees and beekeeping. In the centre pages we give you a glimpse of some of our current work and describe how we endeavour to measure the impact of our achievements.
Cover picture Anna Featherstone of Honey Farm Dreaming, Australia, with her painted hive of stingless bees
Bees for development 1 Agincourt Street, Monmouth NP25 3DZ, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1600 714848 info@beesfordevelopment.org www.beesfordevelopment.org 2
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
Bees for Development’s Symposium on Research in Beekeeping and Sustainable Development Tom Timberlake, UK Collaborative on Development Sciences
Dr Nicola Bradbear described how much has changed since the last Symposium. Beekeeping has become an increasingly common component of development projects, and for good reason. The practice allows communities to diversify their income and livelihoods with very little financial investment or risk. By simply managing a colony of bees, a beekeeper can harvest abundant nectar resources from natural habitats and crops, reaping the rewards with minimal effort. The resulting products – honey and beeswax – are easy to store and transport and can fetch a high value, if marketed effectively. Farmers in the area can also gain a number of additional benefits from the enhanced pollination of their crops.
Eighteen years on from their last Symposium in 2000, in March the beekeeping and development community gathered from various corners of the world for Bees for Development’s Second International Symposium on Research in Beekeeping and Sustainable Development. This two-day event, organised in co-operation with the University of Reading’s Global Development Division, brought together business owners, development practitioners and researchers to discuss the role of beekeeping in sustainable development. Speakers from Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Ghana, India, Kenya, Uganda, and a range of UK institutions and organisations shared their research and practical experience from a wide range of projects around the world.
Through a series of presentations, workshop sessions and informal events such as honey tasting, many of these topics were shared and discussed. What are the best practices for beekeeping in development projects? How can products such as honey and beeswax be marketed to obtain the best value for developing communities? What role does beekeeping play in the pollination of smallholder farmers’ crops?
Photo © Bees for Development
Speakers and delegates at the Second International Symposium on Research in Beekeeping and Sustainable Development
3
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
Does beekeeping really offer a pathway out of poverty? Lessons from years of practical experience and action research in these topics were shared amongst the participants.
crop pollination projects across India. Tom Timberlake from the UK Collaborative on Development Sciences followed this up with an overview of how pollination in its broadest sense can contribute to international development. By understanding and managing pollination services, farmers in developing countries have the potential to substantially increase their crop yields and income, as well as safeguarding micronutrient supplies from foods such as fruits, nuts and vegetables. This has important implications for food security, poverty alleviation and global health. However, the limited pollination research across many developing regions limits our ability to understand and manage pollination. Tackling this geographic knowledge bias, addressing knowledge gaps and building capacity in this field may provide progress towards several important UN Sustainable Development Goals.
In a keynote speech, David Wainwright shared his experiences of 25 years of marketing African honey in the UK. In 1983, he began buying forest honey from local beekeepers in North West Zambia and selling to markets in the country. This soon expanded to a business which now imports hundreds of tonnes of organic honey to the UK each year. His business has provided income and livelihoods to countless rural communities across the region, as well as providing a strong incentive for conserving native forests. Income generated from beekeeping can also have several important economic spin-off effects, as both Janet Lowore from Bees for Development and Professor Adrian Wood from the University of Huddersfield explained. Their research has shown that extra money derived from beekeeping is often used to invest in new agricultural products or technologies, educate their children or expand an existing business, helping to lift people out of the ‘poverty trap’. In this sense, the development impacts may reach far beyond a bit of extra income.
One of the main aims of this Symposium was to bring together many collective years of experience and reach some consensus on best practice for beekeeping in development projects. A clear conclusion from these discussions was that frame hives, preferred by beekeepers in Europe and North America and used by many development NGOs, are simply not effective in sub-Saharan Africa. Aside from being expensive and complex to use, they are not appealing to endemic African honey bees. The localstyle log or basket hives, which have been used for generations and can be made at almost no cost from local materials, are far more effective.
We also learnt from Dr Kwame Aidoo of Bees for Development Ghana that keeping hives in cashew orchards can more than double nut yields in Benin and Ghana. When income from honey production was also taken into account, this translated into a two-three fold increase in a farmers’ annual income. Dhara Patel from Under the Mango Tree, India echoed these findings when talking about their successful beekeeping and
Summing up, it was agreed that in the past human development has often come at a high cost to the planet. We know that this will not be sustainable in the longer term. Already we are experiencing widespread environmental changes such as climate change, soil erosion, over-fishing and pollinator loss which are all likely to negatively impact upon communities in developing countries.
SPONSORED SUBSCRIBERS
It it is important that development and environmental outcomes are more closely aligned, ensuring their long-term sustainability. The topics discussed in this Symposium – beekeeping, pollination and ecological farming - are approaches which can unite these two important goals of international development and environmental protection.
When your sponsorship to receive Bees for Development Journal is due to expire you will receive an e-mail or letter from us. Be sure to complete and return it to us. REMEMBER if you change your contact details let us know.
A suggested output from the Symposium was to communicate this knowledge to the wider development community to prevent further waste of funds and failed beekeeping projects. There was also agreement that beekeeper training delivered by NGOs needs to be far more participatory, with longer-term follow-up support to unsure success.
If we cannot contact you, we cannot sponsor you!
Don’t forget to like Bees for Development on Facebook or to follow @BeesForDev on Twitter 4
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
Sri Lankan elephants retreat from the sound of Asian honey bees For the first time, researchers have shown that Asian elephants in Sri Lanka fear honey bees, much like their African counterparts.
Peradeniya (Sri Lanka) the team now hope that beehive deterrents, used so successfully to ward off African elephants from rural farm lands (see BfD Journal 125), can be applied to prevent Asian elephant populations from raiding crops.
Playbacks have been used for many years to explore the behavioural response of African honey bees to a suspected natural threat, but research, published in Current Biology, is the first time this technique has been used to record how Asian elephants react to the sound of bees.
Dr King said: “Asia has even higher levels of humanelephant conflict than Africa does, and Asian elephants are approximately ten times more endangered than African elephants. If we could apply the results from this research to develop effective community-based hive fence deterrent systems for rural Asian farmers living with elephants, we could have a significant impact on the survival of the Asian elephant species”.
The study, led by Dr Lucy King, a Research Associate with the Department of Zoology, Oxford University (UK) and Head of the Human-Elephant Co-existence Programme for Save the Elephants, showed that Asian elephants responded with alarm to the bee simulations. They also retreated significantly further away and vocalised more in response to the bee sounds compared to controls.
The study was performed in the Udawalawe National Park in Sri Lanka, which has an exceptionally large elephant population. “Udawalawe is a microcosm for the issues Asian elephants face, because it is encircled by agriculture and settlements. This study takes the first step in offering a new way to address the conflicts that arise as a result”, said Dr Shermin de Silva, Director of the Udawalawe Elephant Research Project.
In collaboration with elephant scientists from Cornell University (USA), Save the Elephants, Trunks and Leaves, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and University of
In partnership with the Sri Lankan Wildlife Conservation Society and Australia’s Newcastle
Photos © Zaineb Akbarally
Landscape, rice paddy, bee hive fence and farmer pleased with his honey and beeswax crop
5
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
University, a new work of ten trial hive fence projects are presently being tested to see if they can reduce human-elephant conflict for rural farms in central Sri Lanka.
farmers in the form of pollination services and a sustainable income from honey and wax products”. The initiative is already harvesting honey from the hives and four beekeeping workshops have taken place to boost beekeeping knowledge and honey processing skills. Further Asian hive fence collaborations are being formed with scientists in India, Nepal and Thailand.
“We have a wonderful community of willing farmers there who are helping us to understand if hive fences could work to reduce conflict in the intensely high human-elephant conflict zone”, said Dr King. “Although hive fences may not completely stop elephant crop raids, the honey bees provide other benefits to the
First published in American Bee Journal (March 2018)
Karunadasa family bounty of honeycomb
Bee hive fence donated by Kiss Me Organics
components that will build capacity for people living in WWF priority places in select countries in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. Organisations must meet all the eligibility criteria to be considered for a grant of up to US$7,500. See www.worldwildlife.org/ projects/conservation-workshop-grants
NOTICE BOARD VOLUNTEER SOUGHT Here at Liberty Development Foundation in Kasese, Uganda, we are looking for a volunteer to strengthen our beekeeping programme. If you are interested please contact our Director, Daniel Ngangasi via Bees for Development. CONGRATULATIONS B J Sherriff International on celebrating your 50 years of trading excellent beekeeping clothing! FUNDING OPPORTUNITY The Rome 1% Fund offers grants of up to US$ 5,000 (€4,500) for small-scale beekeeping projects, and is making a call for proposals from community groups in the following regions: the Caribbean, Latin America, and south-west Pacific. Applications can be made online at www.one-percent-fund.net FUNDING FROM FAO TeleFood Special Fund Beekeepers’ groups and associations may apply for project funding of up to US$10,000. Request documents should include a brief description of project objectives, proposed food production or income-generating activities, work plan, number of participants, detailed list of inputs with cost estimates and reporting arrangements. See www.fao.org TRAINING GRANT Conservation Workshop Grants fund organisations to train communities, stakeholders, park guards, and others on local and regional conservation issues. These grants support training workshops with hands-on learning
HOTSPOT Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot Call. Small grants (maximum US$10,000) in Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe – applications only accepted upon invitation. To discuss your project idea with one of our team members first write to cepf-eamrit@birdlife.org AWARD A professional development programme that strengthens the research and leadership skills of African women in agricultural science, empowering them to contribute more effectively to poverty alleviation and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. See www.awardfellowships.org AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL The oldest English language beekeeping publication in the world. See a digital copy and subscribe at www. americanbeejournal.com BEE CRAFT UK Beekeeping Journal for beginners and seasoned apiarists. View a digital copy and subscribe at www.bee-craft.com BEE CULTURE The magazine of American beekeeping. Today’s techniques. Tomorrow’s ideas. US$15 for a digital subscription. See www.BeeCulture.com 6
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
Control of Chalkbrood in Vietnam Nguyen Quang Tan Photos © Nguyen Quang Tan
Chalkbrood disease has been known for many years by beekeepers with Apis mellifera in Australia, Europe, USA, and many Asian countries. It is caused by the fungi Ascosphera apis and Ascosphera alvei. The disease occurs when the larvae ingest the fungal spores with their food. Once digested, the spores develop inside the larvae’s guts and absorb the nutrients. Ultimately, the larvae die of starvation and form white or grey, chalk-like ‘mummies’ which give the name of the disease. The fungi reproduce by spores which can survive for up to 15 years. Each mummy can create millions of spores which stick to the adult bees, combs, frames, hives and pollen. The chalkbrood mummies are easily visible in the cells. It is not unusual for worker bees to remove and deposit them on the hive floor or at the entrance of the hive. Only in recent years has the disease been seen in Vietnam. It causes significant damage to the beekeeping industry: colonies are weakening, honey yields decreasing and production costs rising. Chalkbrood in Vietnam We recorded the following epidemic characteristics of the disease in Vietnam: Infested honey bee species: There has been no recorded report of the disease in colonies of the Asian honey bee, Apis cerana.
The author checking a colony for symptoms of Chalkbrood
Condition of the infested colonies: The disease usually occurs in weak colonies of Apis mellifera with a lack of food and/or a scattered brood pattern.
pollen is commonly traded among Vietnamese beekeepers. Level of disease spread: Chalkbrood has spread more rapidly than diseases caused by the mites Varroa sp and Tropilaelaps clareae. However, it is spread more slowly than Sacbrood, a viral disease which broke out in our Apis mellifera colonies about ten years ago.
Age of the infested brood: The disease is mainly in the older larvae (4-6 days old) and prepupae (young sealed brood). Time of outbreaks: The disease usually happens and causes losses in the rainy season when the atmosphere is very humid.
Level of damage to beekeeping: This depends on the percentage of infested colonies and the situation of the diseased colonies, but in general Chalkbrood has caused severe economic losses for commercial Apis mellifera beekeepers.
Spread of disease: This can be from one colony to another, from one apiary to another, or from one region to another by foraging and robbing bees, and by beekeepers: bee transport, exchange of combs and/or other equipment. Noticeably, the disease can be spread quickly and far by bees fed by the beekeeper with dried pollen collected from diseased colonies - unluckily dried
Controlling Chalkbrood After some years suffering from the effects of this new disease, beekeepers have gained experience in its control, and the beekeeping industry in Vietnam is now recovering. Our experiences are: 7
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
• Keep bee colonies in good, healthy conditions: dense worker populations, strong queens and lots of food • Always keep the inside of hives dry – cover hives to prevent rain getting inside, and place the hives sloping forwards so that water will run out if it does get into the hives. Also keep the floor of the hive free of debris from cocoons, food and wax.
Treatment for Chalkbrood If there are only a few infested colonies occurring for the first time in the apiary, the beekeeper immediately destroys the newly diseased colonies - the bees and the frames are burned. Wooden hives can be used again if they are heat-treated with fire until the wood is burned brown to kill all the fungi. If the beekeeper cannot do as above, s/he treats as follows: • Make the diseased colony a mating colony: the queen is replaced with a queen cell. After the virgin queen comes out and then flies to mate, all the combs (with very little brood at this time) are taken out. At the same time, the diseased colony is moved to another hive. The hive from the diseased colony is placed in fire until the wood is burned brown. (The aim of boiling all the combs and placing the hive in flames is to kill all the fungi and their spores, so that we can harvest beeswax and the hive can be used again.) • The mating colony is provided with good brood and food comb from a healthy colony. When the new queen starts laying eggs, the colony usually recovers from Chalkbrood. • Spray the diseased colonies with a recommended vitamin C solution. This helps increase the tolerance of the colonies as well as to hold back fungal development.
A small scale Apis mellifera apiary
Apiary in a rambutan orchard
Nguyen Quang Tan has worked with bees since 1987. He was Lecturer and Researcher at the Bee Research Unit, Agro-Forestry University, Ho Chi Minh City for 20 years, and is now a Researcher with beekeeping communities in Vietnam
Working with beekeepers at their apiary
Brood infected with chalkbrood
Close-up of infected larvae 8
Chalkbrood ‘mummies’ on a hive floor
Photos Courtesy The Animal and Plant Health Agency, Crown Copyright
How to identify Chalkbrood
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
The Benefits of Beekeeping In 2018 Bees for Development is celebrating 25 years of explaining the value of beekeeping for development, and helping vulnerable communities in poor countries to utilise it towards achieving self-sufficiency. Beekeeping is beneficial in many ways though some of these benefits are hard to measure. Indeed, this is why beekeeping is so often overlooked. In this article we present an overview of some of Bees for Development’s recent work and reflect upon how we are measuring our achievements.
Bees for development
Janet Lowore and Nicola Bradbear
Cameroon Bees for Development has been working with Cameroon Gender and Environment Watch (CAMGEW) since 2016. CAMGEW, based in Oku in north west Cameroon, supports forest-based enterprise development, and especially beekeeping, near to Kilim-Ijim Forest. Their aim is to help local people build successful livelihoods and at the same time avoid forest loss. Recognising beekeepers’ need for good market access, CAMGEW decided to establish their own
Honey Shop in Bamenda, and to run the shop as a self-sustaining social enterprise.
Ethiopia Bees for Development Ethiopia (BfDE) was established in 2012 and works to help the most vulnerable people to start beekeeping. In March 2018 BfDE completed a threeyear Project helping the poorest people to benefit from the natural wealth provided by bees. To achieve the overall goal of reducing poverty in two districts of Amhara, BfDE
informed honey traders about how to maintain honey quality, trained government extension agents in beekeeping, helped landless youth establish micro-enterprises making top-bars and bee veils, and provided a comprehensive beekeeping training programme to over 800 people.
Ghana Here our work is focussed in the cashew-growing areas of the country. With our partner Bees for Development Ghana we
CAMGEW provide training in beeswax processing
Photos © CAMGEW
CAMEROON
9
Photos © CAMGEW
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
CAMEROON
The CAMGEW Honey Shop buys beeswax from individual bee farmers and accumulates it until it is a large enough volume to attract a buyer. Without this intermediate link in the chain, bee farmers would not be able to access the beeswax market and would lose the value of this important bee product
ETHIOPIA
Mulu Abeje started keeping bees in 2015. Like many people in Amhara he has no land of his own and must cultivate other people’s land to earn payment in the form of food. Using proceeds from selling honey he has purchased an ox, enabling him to cultivate without first having to find the money to hire an ox for ploughing 10
Photos © Bees for Development unless stated otherwise
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
ETHIOPIA
Imita Takele is a single mother of seven children. Her husband left her, and she has little means of support. Before she started beekeeping, she lived a hand-to-mouth existence often relying on money lenders to make ends meet. The first thing she did when she sold her honey harvest was to free herself from debt are enabling cashew growers to integrate honey bees with cashew nut growing, and in a related project we are helping to set-up beekeeping clubs in primary schools. Central to both these projects is the process of training and supporting a cohort of Master Beekeepers who spearhead beekeeping activities in the cashew area. Not all cashew growers want to become beekeepers, yet all want the benefit of bee pollination in their orchards. Master Beekeepers locate their own hives in cashew orchards belonging to other people, and agree to share the honey harvest in exchange.
Reflections on measuring achievements Cameroon
All our work is driven by our aim to reduce poverty and to enhance biodiversity. In Cameroon the overall goal is poverty reduction and forest conservation. With CAMGEW we have been measuring the number of people keeping bees, the quantities of honey and
beeswax traded, and the numbers of tree seedlings raised and planted. CAMGEW recognise that in addition to these recordings, it is essential to monitor also the establishment rate of planted trees and whether they survive and grow. To do this work the CAMGEW team conduct forest regeneration follow-up visits twice each month. They record also the incidence and impact of forest fires. Interestingly CAMGEW have noticed that fires are more likely to spread out of control on public holidays, when there are fewer people nearby, able and ready to extinguish accidental fires. In 2016, 825 ha of Oku Forest suffered a severe forest fire which resulted in the loss of 1,124 bee hives with bees, 624 empty bee hives and several thousand newly planted Prunus africana trees. Fortunately, no such damaging fires occurred in 2017 or 2018, which might be due to the increased vigilance by local people, especially beekeepers.
and sold, changes in overall household incomes and in food security status. This has been achieved by Annual Data Collection activities interviewing a sample number of beneficiaries each year. These interviews provide project participants with a chance to give feedback and say how our interventions could be improved or changed. We ask people how confident they are in skills such as hive making, housing swarms and harvesting honey. This is important because while it is standard to record the number of people who attend a training course, this is not a Project output. People must learn, and apply what they learn, before we can be sure the Project is achieving its aims. During indepth interviews new beekeepers tell us more about how they use the income they get from honey, and we are thinking of ways we can more systematically document these changes.
Ethiopia
Ghana
We have been measuring progress in gaining beekeeping skills, quantities of honey harvested 11
We are measuring progress by recording numbers of hives occupied, honey yields and sales,
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
GHANA
Michael Apoh has been supported by Bees for Development Ghana to become a full-time beekeeper near Techiman. He takes advantage of the long flowering season of the cashew trees and produces large volumes of cashew honey, pictured here. He helps cashew growers to set up hives in their orchards and to achieve increased cashew yields as a result of pollination by the honey bees and the increase in cashew harvest achieved through better pollination. We want to monitor the impact of this new and additional income on people’s lives and well-being. We are developing a Beekeeping Changes Lives App for this purpose, for use with a smartphone, and we will be developing some simple yet measurable indicators for changes in well-being. We know that people in Ghana often spend any additional income on children’s schooling and we will be looking at ways to quantify the link between beekeeping income and the ability of a family to cope with the financial burden of school books, uniforms, transport, college fees and accommodation.
This work is enabled by funding from Hub Cymru Africa, Neals Yard Remedies, Stroud Buzz Club, UK Aid Direct, Bees for Development Trust, and a large number of individuals and organisations. We gratefully acknowledge and thank all our wonderful donors.
GHANA
School children are also benefiting from the increasing honey economy in Ghana’s cashew area. Bees for Development Ghana is helping to set-up school beekeeping clubs for youngsters to learn this valuable skill and make some money at the same time. This is Harrison Twum, a 10-year-old beekeeper from Koase Beekeeping Club with an excellent honey crop 12
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
Happiness is a Horizontal Hive Dean Houghton Dr Leonid Sharashkin is a scholar and a scientist. Born in Russia, he received a master’s degree in natural resources from Indiana University as well as a doctorate in forestry from the University of Missouri. He is the author of world-renowned research in sustainable agriculture, with his studies cited in testimony to the US Congress and used in drafting forestry legislation in the European Union. So, you might be taken aback when Sharashkin – known in beekeeping circles as “Dr Leo”– starts quoting Winnie-the-Pooh. But when you think about it, Pooh Bear was quite the expert on “hunny”, spending the majority of his time wandering through the mystical Hundred-Acre Wood in search of the delicacy. Dr Leo has his own magical 80 acres of Ozark forestland that serves as a homestead for himself, his wife, Irina and their family: daughters Lada, Vereya, and Zaryana, and son Yarosvet. Dr Leo “retired” from his life as a researcher in 2008; the word is in quotes because his current workload keeps him as busy as a bee.
Leo Sharashkin, known as “Dr Leo,” keeps bees with a smile a step back in time. His apiary features six styles of horizontal hives, easy to build and low-maintenance structures that trace their origins to a French beekeeper, Georges de Layens, who introduced the idea in 1864. The natural approach to beekeeping is defined by what it is not: the bees are never fed on sugar, there is no changing of the size of the nest with brood boxes and supers, no use of drugs or chemicals of any kind, no queen excluders or re-queening. “Until about 100 years ago, all beekeepers used the natural approach,” Dr Leo says. “There had been no chemicals used for thousands of years as humans cared for their bees.”
Dr Leo depends entirely on bees to support his growing family: their Ozark homestead is devoted to natural beekeeping methods, housing bees in horizontal hives. The industrial style of beekeeping common in the USA calls for a vertical approach, stacking “supers” that may eventually contain 32 kg honey. “It is not good for your back, or for your joints,” Dr Leo points out. “And it is disruptive to the bees as it disturbs the integrity of their home.”
Dr Leo’s mentor in this approach is Fedor Lazutin, a noted Russian natural beekeeper and author of Keeping Bees with a Smile: a vision and practice of natural apiculture*. Fedor brought back the millennia-old tradition where the beekeeper’s primary tasks were limited to providing bees with an ideal habitat and
Dr Leo prefers a method of keeping bees that involves
Designed for the backyard beekeeper, horizontal hives are a friendly fit for honey bees and eliminate the need for heavy lifting during honey harvest
Honey bees enter the sturdy, well-insulated hive
13
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
Natural beekeeping involves a minimal amount of hive visits during the year
Horizontal hives allow for minimal disturbance of the hive, allowing bees to remain calm and easy to work with
harvesting surplus honey once a year.
tomatoes,” he asserts. “But that is not the experience that you hear people describe at beginner beekeeping classes. They buy equipment and protective clothing, order bee packages, install them in hives, treat against parasites and diseases, and feed the bees in the fall (autumn). Then the bees do not survive the first winter, so the cycle repeats itself.”
Lazutin taught a series of classes on natural beekeeping in the USA during a 2014 visit: “People had a hard time believing it could be so simple,” he says. “The ingrained stereotype paints beekeeping as a labour-intensive, day-in/day-out chore that is all but incompatible with any other activity. Beekeeping is portrayed as an extremely complex profession, one that requires years of training.”
Even the most experienced beekeepers sometimes just give up. There are only half as many bee colonies in the USA today as there were in 1940.
Dr Leo is determined to rewrite that image of beekeeping as a form of drudgery: “Following these methods, keeping bees can be simpler than growing
That is why Dr Leo believes a number of people are looking to rediscover a simpler form of beekeeping: “There are ways to avoid many of the chores and complexities we have been taught to take for granted,” he says. The hive design itself is a key: a Layens hive typically contains 20 large (33 x 41 cm) frames on one level; the number of frames can be fewer or greater depending on the local honey flow. The frame’s shape and large size promotes good wintering and strong spring buildup. Dr Leo says: “These horizontal hives keep all the frames at the same level, allowing the backyard beekeeper to add or remove frames with a minimal amount of disturbance to the bees, keeping them calm and easy to work with; as a bonus. There are never heavy supers to lift.” Horizontal hives are loaded with additional frames during the spring inspection, then opened in the autumn (fall) for honey harvest. That is a considerably different approach from today’s common advice to look in hives every two weeks. Dr Leo says that a prominent French beekeeper, Jean Hurpin, modifies some of his Layens hives to enable him to manage the bees with only one visit a year. “Harvesting honey becomes my sole task,” Hurpin says. Leo hosts workshops at his apiary in the Ozarks as well as other locations, sharing knowledge about natural beekeeping as well as hands-on woodworking tips on how to construct horizontal hives and swarm traps. He served as the English edition editor for Keeping bees with a smile as well as Layens’ Keeping bees in horizontal hives: a complete guide to apiculture*.
An Ozark forest is the setting for the apiary on the Sharashkin’s homestead 14
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
Those books can be ordered by visiting Dr Leo’s website www.HorizontalHive.com. A treasure trove of information about natural beekeeping, including free hive plans. Dr Leo and his family are devoted to earth-friendly living in the Ozark Mountains. He manages approximately 40 hives, all of which are composed of survivor stock obtained by catching wild swarms: “It really helps to start with local bees that are adapted to your local conditions. If you buy a package of bees commercially, they may do well during the summer months, but not fare well in winter.” Dr Leo says: “Our major nectar source is sumac. It produces an awesome honey with orangey flavour, lemon zest overtones, and a tingling wintergreen sensation to your tongue.” The homestead in the Ozarks is more than a place to keep bees and produce honey. It is a place for the Sharashkin family to develop their own roots. Dr Leo and Irina met in Moscow while attending a prestigious business school: they tried farming on a small acreage in Russia but found it too restrictive. The Ozarks, a place that Dr Leo became familiar with during his work at the University of Missouri, offered room to grow. He assisted in the homebirth of the children, and they are being home schooled in the Russian language, as a way to connect to their family origins. “We have adopted the Ozarks as our second home,” Dr Leo says. It is part of being in tune with nature. “De Layens wrote
The family decorate their horizontal hives with colourful scenes that we cannot improve beekeeping by going farther and farther away from the bee’s natural tendencies,” Dr Leo fully agrees! *also available from the Bees for Development webstore: https://shop.beesfd.org
Article and photos reprinted with permission of John Deere’s Homestead magazine. © 2018 Deere & Company. All worldwide rights reserved.
Since horizontal hives allow removal of one frame at a time, even 5-year old Zaryana can help with honey harvest
15
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
FACTS ABOUT WAX Part 2: Comb and foundation Dr Wolfgang Ritter Collecting wax from comb
Cleaning wax
Wax melts at around 65°C. Heating it too strongly or for too long darkens it and changes its chemical composition, in particular aromas get lost. Heating wax directly gives a high risk of over-heating. Therefore, wax must be extracted very carefully in the following way:
The melted wax contains impurities, which are removed initially by using a sieve or gauze strainer. In the refining process that follows, the wax is heated together with water in a heat resistant pot, to 75–80°C, and then left standing overnight to slowly cool down. For this purpose, the refining pot should be well isolated because the slower the wax cools down, the more impurities sink to the bottom of the pot. They can be easily removed from the bottom of the cold wax cake.
Solar wax extractor Melting wax using solar heat is a very cost-efficient procedure. However, capacity is limited, and the extraction only works if there is enough sunshine. In extreme heat, very hot temperatures can occur that will damage the wax. If the container does not close well bees can start robbing. The wax output is smaller than with other methods.
For candle making the wax can be bleached using different acids (citric, oxalic or sulphuric), or hydrogen peroxide. Acids such as hydrochloric acid damage the wax chemically. Bleached wax is not allowed for the production of foundation sheets to be used in frame hives.
Water bath
Foundation
Combs are plunged into boiling water. The water must be non-ferrous therefore using rainwater is recommended. The remnants, mainly originating from brood moulting, are skimmed from the surface. Afterwards, the wax can be filtered through a jute sack, canvas or something similar. It can also be squeezed out or centrifuged.
Since Johannes Mehring manufactured the first comb foundation in the 19th century, it has become indispensable for many beekeepers. Use of foundation Small solar wax extractors can be easily home-made. The box is covered by a glass pane or plastic double-webbed slab. The sun’s rays warm up the inner part of the box. At 65°C the wax starts to melt and drips into the pan below.
Steam wax extractor If you are using frame hives, the wax from the frame is melted in the upper part of the container by producing steam using electricity or gas. The remainder is strained out, and the wax is gathered in the lower part of the container. The containers are usually made of stainless steel to avoid any effect on wax quality by metals such as iron.
glass pane melting basin
Illustration © Wolfgang Ritter
dirt trap
Isolation
wax 16
Photos © Wolfgang R itter and Ute S chneider-Ritter
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
In larger solar wax extractors up to 12 honeycombs can be melted at the same time
Foundation mould: comb foundation is manufactured quickly by means of a water-cooled mould
saves the honey which would otherwise be needed for honeycomb production. Also, processes in the bee colony such as direction and size of combs can be influenced.
foundation is generally thinner and therefore more elastic than moulded foundation. This method is very expensive and is therefore mainly applied in largescale production.
Functions of foundation
From: Ritter,W. Good beekeeping practice Ulmer Stuttgart, Germany. In German
In natural combs the bees build up to 30% drone brood cells. With comb foundation bees are forced to produce worker cells only. Foundation does not only limit the construction of worker cells, they also define cell size. Most of the moulds and foundation rollers available on the market press comb foundations of a cell size suitable to European bee races (5.2 - 5.6 cm). Depending on the bee race and size of adult worker bees, cells of African and Asian bees show another mostly smaller diameter (see Table). Cells that are too big or too small may cause bee health problems, because of the severe interference in the colony’s life. Without the pre-settings of comb foundation, bees more often build irregular cells and drone combs said to foster their vitality and health. To construct cells in a regular order meets the desires of the beekeeper more than the bees’ requirements.
Size of worker cells of different bee races Honey bee race
Advantages and disadvantages of foundations Without doubt, comb foundation makes combs more stable. Combs can be turned more easily during inspection. In addition, these stabilised combs can be centrifuged at a higher speed increasing honey yield. But foundation only makes sense if the combs are used again. This provokes the accumulation of environmental toxins including pesticides and/or medical drugs (Varroacides) in wax thus diminishing its quality. Also, sublethal effects have an influence on the health of the bees. The necessity of storing combs outside the bee colony creates new problems for example wax moths and Small and Large Hive Beetle. Heat and content moisture in storage rooms also affects the quality of combs.
Distribution
Average size of worker cells (mm)
Apis mellifera carnica
Europe
5.5
Apis mellifera mellifera
Europe
5.4
Apis mellifera ligustica
Europe/America
5.3
“Africanized” honey bee
South America
5.0
Apis mellifera monticola
East Africa
5.0
Apis mellifera adansonii
West Africa
4.8
Apis mellifera scutellata
East Africa
4.8
Apis mellifera jemenitica
Chad, Oman, Yemen
4.7
Apis mellifera litorea
East Africa
4.6
Apis cerana
East Asia
4.2 (south) 4.8 (north) Published by F Ruttner, 1992
Manufacturing of foundation
Dr Wolfgang Ritter is from BEES for the World, which supports African beekeepers to produce top quality beeswax and sell it on the European market while promoting the African way of beekeeping, most favourable for bees, beekeepers and the environment. The income from sales will be refunded to support African beekeeping communities via training provided by Bees for Development.
Foundation is either moulded or rolled. Wax is poured directly into a comb mould made of metal or silicon. Water-cooled moulds accelerate the process. Rolling foundation offers a faster production method: flat wax sheets are rolled out and then hexagonal comb cell shapes are imprinted on to the sheets. Rolled 17
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
BOOKSHELF Beekeeping – from science to practice Russell H Vreeland and Diana Sammataro (eds) 2017 213 pages hardcover Many well-known bee scientists have contributed chapters to this new book with the aim of clearly explaining the fundamentals of bee science. Each author addresses four issues: What are the specific goals of these experiments? How should a non-scientist read the data generated? What are the key points relating to beekeepers’ goals? And how can the data and techniques discussed be applied by beekeepers? Topics include propolis, natural selection of honey bees against Varroa destructor, honey bee venom allergy in beekeepers, effects of pesticides on bees, small hive beetles, viruses and foulbrood. This book is densely packed and will be very useful for the many beekeepers who want to be scientifically wellinformed.
The bee – a natural history Noah Wilson-Rich 2018 223 pages, softcover A beautifully illustrated book with easy to read text. Seven chapters provide brief information on a very wide range of topics: evolution and development, anatomy and biology, society and behaviour, bees and humans including the patron saints of beekeeping and political symbolism, beekeeping, and finally a directory of bees and the challenges they face.
Turn this book into a beehive! Lynn Brunelle with illustrations by Anna-Maria Jung 2018 93 pages, softcover This is an entertaining and original book for children that provides 19 experiments and activities that explore the amazing world of bees. Cleverly, the book jacket transforms into a solitary bees’ ‘hotel’, with pages from the second half of the book designed to be rolled up into tubes to fill it. Other experiments include: smell like a bee, pop bottle beehive, and winging it. The book is informative too, explaining the different species of bees, how a honey bee colony works, pollination and other subjects explained and illustrated to captivate children.
New beekeeping in a long deep hive Robin Dartington 2017 (revised edition) 41 pages, soft cover Increasing numbers of new beekeepers are attracted to keep bees to provide them with a safe home and learn about them, and feel less motivated to seek any side-line income from them. Styles of deep, long hives provide ways to keep bees that are convenient, low cost and easier than conventional vertical frame hives. First published in 1985 this book describes a system using a long hive body and deep frames. The author explains that one hive made with a side observation panel showed him that the bees responded well to the shape of the cavity, and indeed this provides an excellent way to keep bees and permit them to live more naturally than in a vertical frame hive.
WAYS TO PAY
Secure order and payment at www.beesfordevelopment.org • Credit/Debit card: We need card number, name on card, valid from and expiry dates, card issue number (if given), security number on back of card. • Cheque/bank draft in GBP payable to Bees for Development •
18
Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
LOOK AHEAD AUSTRALIA
TANZANIA
3rd Australian Bee Congress 27–30 June 2018, Gold Coast, Queensland Further details www.australianbeecongress.com.au
BSc Beekeeping Science & Technology University of Dar es Salaam Further details www.coasft.udsm.ac.tz
BELGIUM
TURKEY
6th International Beekeeping & Pine Honey Congress 15–19 October 2018, Mugla Further details www.muglacongress.org/eng
8th EurBee Congress of Apidology 18–20 September 2018, Ghent Further details www.propolisconference2018.cim.bg
BULGARIA
Second Propolis Conference – Propolis in human and bee health 28–29 September 2018, Sofia Further details www.propolisconference2018.cim.bg
UGANDA
CANADA
UK
ETHIOPIA
BIBBA Conference 7–9 September 2018, Cirencester Further details www.bibba.com
9th Uganda National Honey Week 27 August – 1 September 2018, Kampala Further details www.tunadobees.org WBKA 75th Anniversary Conference 13–15 July 2018, Aberystwyth University Further details www.wbka.com
APIMONDIA: 46th International Apicultural Congress 8–12 September 2019, Montreal Further details www.apimondia2019mtl.com APIMONDIA Symposium The role of bees in food production 30 November – 4 December 2018, Addis Ababa Further details www.apisymposium2018.org
Scottish Beekeepers Association Autumn Convention 22–23 September 2018, Glasgow Further details www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk
FINLAND
SICAMM Conference (International Association for the Protection of the European Dark Bee) 12–18 July 2018, Mustiala Further details www.sicamm.org
87th National Honey Show 25–27 October 2018, Sandown Racecourse Further details www.honeyshow.co.uk
FRANCE
If you want notice of your conference, workshop or meeting to be included here and on our website, send details to Bees for Development.
9th International Meeting of Young Beekeepers 2–6 July 2018, Nérac Further details www.icyb.cz
Bees for Development Events
GERMANY
5th ApiBio Symposium 2018 Further details will appear here
Sustainable Beekeeping Course 8-9 September 2018 Ragman’s Lane Farm, GL17 9PA Strengthening Livelihoods Course 19 October 2018 Monmouth
IRELAND
Federation of Irish Beekeepers Conference 12–17 August 2018, Gormanston Further details www.irishbeekeeping.ie
KENYA
Certificate course Entrepreneurship in apiculture in East Africa Baraka Agricultural College, Molo Further details www.sustainableagri.org
Bees for Development
Beekeepers Safaris
NETHERLANDS
Learning from the bees 31 August – 2 September 2018, Dorn Further details www.naturalbeekeepingtrust.org/ conference
Beekeepers Safari to Ethiopia November 2018 Beekeepers Safari to Trinidad & Tobago 11-21 February 2019
NIGERIA
6th ApiExpo Africa 25–29 September 2018, Abuja Further details www.apiexpoafrica2018.org/
Further details www.beesfordevelopment.org 19
APIMONDIA International Apicultural Congress MONTRÉAL, 8-12 SEPTEMBER, 2019 QUÉBEC - CANADA
Beekeeping together within agriculture
www.apimondia2019.com
SUPPORT FOR TRAINING BfD Training Booklets and Training Cards are for use by beekeeper trainers in Africa Each booklet provides one day of training on one topic. The cards provide pictures and plans illustrating techniques discussed in the booklets. These are included in our Resource Boxes for training events and workshops. Projects and associations in developing countries are welcome to apply for a Sponsored Resource Box by filling out an application form on our website, or request the form by email. Projects in other areas can purchase Resource Boxes through our website store.
www.beesfordevelopment.org
SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE This Journal is available for resource-poor beekeepers, projects, schools and groups in developing countries Supported with funds raised by Bees for Development Trust Name................................................................................................. What is your involvement with bees and beekeeping? ......................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................... Organisation ..................................................................................... Postal address................................................................................... ......................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................... Country............................................................................................. E-mail address................................................................................... Date of application............................................................................. Additional copies of this form are available from our website Email journalrequest@beesfordevelopment.org Post to BfD Trust at the address below
Bees for Development, 1 Agincourt Street, Monmouth NP25 3DZ, UK Telephone +44 (0)1600 714848 info@beesfordevelopment.org www.beesfordevelopment.org © Bees for Development 2018 ISSN 1477-6588 Printed on environmentally friendly paper
