BEEKEEPING
&
DEVELOPMENT
33
THE TOP-BAR BASKET HIVE The Danish Beekeepers’ Organisation is working with The Gambia Beekeepers’ Co-operative in a three year training project sponsored by the Danish Government/DANIDA.
HERTI
The export baskets we use are made from the leaves of rhun-palms Their diameter is about 70 cm, the depth about 50 cm Exact measurements are not important, but for honey production the volume needs to be about 60 litres First we provide each basket with four solid sticks for hanging and transporting, then the baskets are plastered inside with wet cow dung After drying in the sun for three days, the hives are smoked upside down over cow dung burning In a hole
UMP
Ole Hertz
MAKE A TOP-BAR BASKET HIVE
in the ground all PH
by
The Gambia top-bar basket hive
People have been interested to start beekeeping projects in their villages Unfortunately, the cost of beekeeping clothing and timber for wooden top-bar hives 1s often too high typically in The Gambia and Senegal the annual cash income of a household ts obtained from growing about 1400 kg of groundnuts, sold for around 130 (UK) Lack of money stops people getting started, although in fact no money 1s necessary
As an experiment in starting sustainable beekeeping without money, and without bringing strange equipment in from outside, we went to six village garden projects in the western part of The Gambia, to see if we could find a solution
EQUIPMENT Sam Manga with a smoker, holes and burning cow dung
a tin can with
The traditional way of beekeeping with basket and log hives is no answer in the long run, because it usually means that bees are killed and all the combs spoiled during honey harvest This 1s like a farmer who kills the cow to get the milk
An entrance, no bigger than two or three finger widths, 1s easily cut into the basket with a knife The top-bars are made of bamboo, any sticks from the bush, or the ribs of palm leaves Each stick should be longer than the width of the basket but exactly 33 mm wide a The Gambia this is the same width as a match box The greatest problem in making the hives is in finding suitable sticks, and cutting them to the nght width The correct width of topbars 1s very important to ensure that bees build only one comb from each top-bar For bees in The Gambia this width 1s 33 mm, but it
will depend upon the bees you are using On the underside of each top-bar we place a ‘string’ of beeswax, formed by rolling beeswax between hands To secure the wax to the topbar, the stick is warmed by a fire some of the wax melts and gives a stronger smell to attract swarms The wax underneath the top-bars guides the bees in building their combs without it they would build the new combs in the same direction as the combs in the nest
that the swarm has left
Finally the hives are rubbed with aromatic leaves to give a good odour to attract bees The
Basket fives with cow dung inside
drying for three days
beautiful baskets of all sizes in use everywhere, and most people are able to make them from palm leaves or grass So It came to my mind that we could combine the designs of the Greek top-bar hive and the Kenya top-bar hive with the baskets used for exporting mango and citrus fruits to Senegal
Together with Mr Sam Manga, one of the very skilled local beekeeping trainers, and women and men from the village, we made protective hats and veils from mosquito net, pleces of cloth and flexible sticks Boots were made from old sacks and gloves from old working gloves Smokers were made from tin cans as described in Bernhard and Renate Clauss’s books from Zambia
EIGHT
Nee eee
Making wood hives needs timber, a plane and a saw, and the skill to use them These are not available in most villages However there are
Smoking the hives using cow dung and herbs
ABees for Development publication
