BEEKEEPING & DEVELOPMENT 49
SUCCESSFUL HARVESTING FROM TOP-BAR HIVES by Rose Shaushi and Steven Liseki, Nijiro Wildlife Research Centre, Tanzania
Niiro Wildlife Research Centre carried out experiments to determine how best to harvest honeycombs from top-bar hives. Honey is often contaminated by the beekeeper during the process of harvesting. This reduces its value as a food product. Careless harvesting also results in disturbance of the honeybee colony such that many bees die or the colony absconds. Many traditional harvesting methods are good, for example using a selection of herbs to produce smoke, and employing skilful techniques when lowering hives to the ground. Careful methods improve the standard of bee products harvested.
The best time of day to harvest After many trials we learnt that the best time of the day to harvest is in the evening before dusk; during this time all the bees are back in their hive and calm.
Harvesting a top-bar hive top-bar hive bees place honey at the back of the hive, far from the entrance, so you must first smoke the bees at the entrance (Figure 1). The bees will begin eating honey and after two minutes you can open up the top cover and smoke the bees from the other end. The bees In a
will now move towards the entrance, and you can comfortably start harvesting from the back
of the hive. It is important to smoke bees on their combs to
move them away, rather than shaking the combs. Shaking causes comb to break off from the top-bar. The small number of bees remaining on the combs after smoking can be brushed away using a special bee brush, or a bunch of clean leaves or feathers. [t is much
better that you brush the bees so that they fall inside the hive rather than falling on the ground.
Selection of combs to be harvested The combs which are suitable to be harvested are those which contain sealed honey over more than half of the comb. The combs should not contain brood and should have little or no pollen. Any other combs are not good for harvesting and should not be disturbed (Figure 2).
After the bees have been brushed away from the comb, move a little distance away from the hive to a bucket covered with a clean white
1. Smoke the colony for two minutes before opening the hive. Note that the beekeepers are standing to the side of the entrance.
Figure
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A Bees for Development publication
