BEEKEEPING AND DEVELOPMENT
USING NEWSPRINT IN BEEKEEPING Newsprint sheets are a useful commodity in my beekeeping enterprise.
29PRACTICAL EEKEEPING
Ne
am a self-employed beekeeper managing about eighty colonies for honey, wax and pollen. also generate revenue from queens and nuclei and have been in the business for eight years.
2.
Newsprint sheets are made from aluminium and are inexpensive, light-weight, durable and easily manipulated. Used or damaged sheets are purchased from either of our two daily newspapers for about US$0.17. Used sheets may require cleaning with gasoline or kerosene to remove the ink, depending on what they will be used for. A regular detergent should then be applied to remove the gasoline or kerosene. |
Hive cvers. previously used galvanised sheets. Newsprint sheets are less expensive, easier to work with and lighter, they also do not corrode: an important factor as live close to the sea.
Hive repairs. Particularly useful for sealing
3.
Division board feeders. For use with super or brood frames. The feeder holds about one litre of syrup. See description below.
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Weed control. Sheets are placed below the hive or hive stand.
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For making water or oil troughs. These are useful where colonies need protection from insects. Two sheets should be used together for reinforcement. use them to contain both parallel bar stands and individual hive stands by placing concrete blocks in the troughs to support the bars or hive. The troughs are constructed using the same guidelines for making the division board feeder, and should be 7.5-10.0 cm larger than the block, forming a moat when filled with water or oil. |
use newsprints sheets as follows: 1.
by Gladstone Solomon
damaged or rotten hive parts, especially where colonies need to be made bee-tight for transport.
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SHEETS
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4 1/2" {11 cm}
FIGA
4
(10 cm) 26" (66 em}
FIGB
Making a division board feeder using a 5% in (13.7 cm) super frame and a newsprint sheet 1.
=
a
cleaned newsprint sheet to size 9 x 26 66 cm).
in (23 x 2.
Place a frame lengthways on the sheet so that the bottom bar is 4 in (10 cm) and the end bar is 4'/2in (11.5 cm) from the of sides the sheet (Figure A).
3.
Fold the sheet against the length of the frame (Figure B).
sheet on to the end bar on both sides of the frame. Use four regular frame nails, placing each nail '/2 in (1.3 cm) from the top of the folded sheet.
4. Nail the
5. FIG D
Cut
FIG E
Fold the remainder of the sheet up against the end bar, seam the sheet at the sides of the end bar to form triangles — be careful to avoid the sheet being torn at the corners. Torn sheets may be repaired by using duct tape (Figure C).
6. Fold triangles against adjacent sides of the frame (Figure C and D). 7.
Fold the projecting corner of each triangle over the side of the sheet (Figure E).
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR am a regular reader of your Newsletter and find it so useful in information that do not wish to loose even a single issue but my difficulty is the availability of exchange for sending the subscription. However, hope to obtain foreign exchange early next month when applications are considered. |
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In India traditional medicines are widely used and the practising Vaids and Hakeems {doctors of indigenous systems) strongly recommend the use of Indian Forest Honey over apiary honey. They maintain that forest honey is produced by ‘Big Bees’ Apis dorsata in
FOUR
the interior of the forest where there is an abundance of natural medicinal herbs available. As bees collect their nectar from the blossoms, the honey produced contains traces of tincture of medicinal herbs and is high in medical value. There is no chance of contamination with chemical spraying of crops and also no artificial feeding.
Are the Indian Vaids and Hakeems correct in their views? G S Saberwal, New Delhi, India
