count how many squares covered the comb. This number multiplied by four gives the area in cm?. A very interesting measurement is the “comb centrecomb centre’ distance, that is the distance between the mid-ribs of two combs hanging side by side (see Newsletter 12). This measurement determines the width for topbars. The difference between the comb centre distance and comb thickness will give the bee-space. Using these measurements an appropriate frame width and corresponding bee-space can be calculated. Bearing in mind that propolis and odd scraps of wax tend to increase the distance between frames, it is better to make the bee-space a little narrower, say 1 mm, than in the natural nest. Honeycombs are usually thicker than brood combs. Usually brood combs are in the middle of the nest while the outermost combs may be solely honey combs. Remember this when measuring “comb centre-comb centre” distance. measured the comb thickness with vernier callipers. To calculate the comb centre distance the measurement between the two most distance combs was recorded. This measurement was divided by the number of combs minus one. For example; if the distance form the mid-rib of comb 1 to the mid-rib of comb 7 was measured, the distance was divided by six. Cell diameter should be measured between two parallel cell walls. used vernier callipers to measure 10 to 20 cells, to arrive at a mean value for each wax comb. If you are interested in the worker brood cell diameter, take care not to measure drone brood cells or honey storing cells, both of which are usually larger. |
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Constraints Seasonal variations will affect the results of such a study. In some parts of the world honeybees are migratory. Sometimes you can find hardly any bees and those you can find are living in very good nesting places. In another season there are colonies everywhere, nesting in every more or less suitable place. The study season will also affect the amount of brood and storage that the bees have. If the main goal is to gather general information about the honeybees for example in one region, all kinds of existing environments have to be surveyed. This is important to prevent inappropriate beekeeping practices being recommended. Be careful that colonies studied are really representative of colonies in the area. It is always easier to find and examine colonies near the ground than those nesting higher in the tree canopy. It is also easier to examine a weak and calm colony than a strong and furious one, but this will lead to false results!
it is impossible to examine every colony. In Hindu areas old banyan trees (Ficus bengalensis) are considered to be holy and colonies in such trees are thus out of reach. Snakes are another problem to consider: these have twice disturbed my work by being very near my hands. So do be careful! Where worked, and think in most parts of the world, every tree has an owner and the tree could represent a large amount of wealth for the owner. discovered that it was very important to ask for help from locally well-known assistants to get permission to cut into a tree. In spite of all the difficulties involved, hope that people will start studying the natural nesting sites of their local bees to arrive at a better understanding of how hives should be designed to best suit the bees. However please do not cut trees down, unless it is absolutely necessary, and do not kill the bees. Place them in a hive instead. |
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12
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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