Bees for Development Journal 132 September 2019
Hello friends! Beekeeper not bee remover! Mrugank Divekar, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Photos © Mrugank Divekar
Honey bees are friends to me although for many people they are insects that sting, and so they keep a distance. I try to convince people that only when bees detect a threat to their colony and as a defence mechanism will they sting. Yet it is considered better to drive them off and some people will go to the extent of using pest control and mercilessly kill them. People contact ‘bee removers’ to get rid of the bees using fire and smoke. Afterwards the honey is harvested, and these people cheekily ask for a share because the colony was in their house! I am not a pest controller or a bee remover, I am a beekeeper and cannot contemplate killing or driving away bees.
1. The Apis florea colony
Colony call A friend called to say there was a colony on the terrace of his flat – it was big and on the seventh floor, I thought it must be Apis dorsata. I went to his house: the colony was of medium size and the bees were small – they were Apis florea (1). It was a relief because Apis dorsata are more defensive and in larger numbers than Apis florea.
2. Holding the Apis florea colony with my bamboo stick 8
