Apis mellifera adansonii in the uplands of West Cameroon

Three years working on projects in the West and North West Provinces of Cameroon allowed me to become well acquainted with Apis mellifera adansonii, the ‘Adansonii’ bee of the High-Uplands of Cameroon. Covered originally by forest up to 3000 m, the rich volcanic soil and good rains allows cultivation of beans, coffee, com and maize. The grassland savannah is favourable for beekeeping with numerous trees.

CHARACTER OF THE BEE

Apis mellifera adansonii is small. Its weight is 85 mg. The cell diameters are 4.7 mm and there are 1,040 cells in a dm². The bees’ colouration is not uniform. Most colonies are hybrids of yellow and black although around the volcanic mountains of Manengouba and Bamboutos you can still find black colonies. The black variety is generally less aggressive but absconds readily. This variety also has a better capacity for regulating the inner hive temperature when the weather is cold.

Often criticised for its defensiveness and small honey crops, Apis mellifera adansonii is very active and quick to react, either when looking for nectar, or to stop gathering. It is fast when leaving the hive and begins work half an hour before sunrise to collect the nectar produced during the cool hours of the night.

A hive moved 5-10 m during the night is not a problem for this bee: after foraging it will come back to the original hive place, circle a few times and then join the hive in its new position. This important ‘drift’ explains why local beekeepers always place hives 3-4 m apart.

MANAGEMENT

Visiting a colony is usually easy enough if you use white, cool smoke made with either dry grass, ferns, dried leaves from palm or banana trees, or maize. Three minutes after smoking the hive entrance you can work at the hive for about five minutes. If you need longer you will have to again smoke abundantly whilst ensuring that the colony does not leave the hive and cluster on the nearest tree (this is especially important with the black variety of the bee). If the colony does leave, you will need another hive with new brood to catch it again. If the colony does not leave you will encounter one of the greatest problems of working with these bees - when most of the colony will form groups under and outside the hive (although their defensiveness will have disappeared entirely). After half an hour the colony will re-enter their home.

There are two periods that are favourable for swarming and/or absconding: the beginning of the dry season (November/December) when many trees are in blossom, and at its end (March/April) when there are bush fires and a dearth of food. During the swarming period accidents can occur. If children discover a swarm they will often throw stones at it. Before long they are under attack, hundreds of stings pour down upon them often causing their death (bees provoke more deaths in Africa than snakes, despite the latter being very numerous.)

Traditional baits used by the beekeepers attracts swarms include: very sweet palm-wine, sugar-cane juice, palm oil mixed with salt, cassava paste or flour, or fever-grass rubbed inside the catcher box.

Beeswax boiled with fever-grass is the most efficient. You often see bees following a beekeeper carrying a baited catcher box: most often by the next day the box will be occupied. A problem is that all baiting materials are very attractive to other insects, especially ants.

The cleaning instinct is highly developed in Apis mellifera adansonii. Hive floors are clean all year around. A dead bee under or in front of the hive is taken away immediately. One or two bees are continuously flying around the hive looking for anything abnormal. Many scents like sweat, and stings left in clothes make them defensive.

During queen rearing when the queen cells are sealed, several bees start laying eggs and many will be kept after the birth of the queen. It is important to have open brood inside the hive when a queen leaves for her mating flight to prevent the colony from following her.

POOR SWIMMERS

Apis mellifera adansonii is fragile; in a small queen cage many bees die after a short time making it difficult to keep a queen alive out of the hive. Although they can resist rain when flying many bees are killed by big storms when they are thrown into water puddles and drown. Feeders used for giving them syrup must have a small liquid surface (these bees are not good swimmers!)

Diseases and parasites are scarce. Tests we ran with Apistan and Apivar to detect Varroa proved negative. A Braula species is present but does not cause damage.

Wax moths are abundant and can cause a weak colony to abscond. In every hive you can find 10-20 of the small black beetles Aethina tumida hiding between the frames and the frame-cover. At the opening of the hive the beetles run on the combs where the bees try to catch them to pull them out. The beetles often escape because of their flat shape and smooth chitin. As Apis mellifera adansonii cleans the hive so well, the numerous eggs laid by the beetles are destroyed. If a comb is broken and falls to the bottom of the hive the beetles slip underneath and lay thousands of eggs that develop into small larvae rushing to the honey and pollen and creating a disagreeable smell that ends in the bees absconding.

BEEKEEPING

In Cameroon beekeeping is an ancient activity that has changed much during the last 30 years under the influence of missionaries and NGOs. Traditionally hives were made from raffia palms with two openings to facilitate the harvest, without disturbing the brood. The top-bar hive was introduced ten years ago.

The research group in the West Province tested many existing models of hives with supers. Finally they adopted two models: the body may be either a Langstroth or a top-bar hive, both with 10 bars of 22 mm width, each with a space of 10 mm. The two models offer a surface of 70,000 cells for queen laying (a good queen needs about 48,000). A Dadant super with nine frames tops this brood box. All the bars or frames are 47.5 cm long. The hive boxes are 50.5 cm long by 40 cm wide, as timber boards here are 3 cm thick.

These two types of hives allow three or four crops of honey a year from a good colony: that is about 30 kg. It is not true that in tropical climates flowers are numerous all year round.

Filling a super takes two or three months except in the savannah. In the West Province the human population is so high that the staple crops of maize and beans occupy all land. The principal trees giving nectar are avocado, banana, coffee and mango, but at 0900 hours, when the sun is shining they stop producing nectar. Even pollen is missing outside the flowering periods of maize and palm-trees. Instead, bees gather pollen from bamboos and grasses, or during some parts of the year they collect flours of cassava, maize and rice in the markets.

Most beekeepers use bars with small strips of wax along the whole length. The Apis mellifera adansonii bee prefers to build combs with its own wax instead of wax foundation sheets, which have the embossed pattern of 800 cells instead of 1000 as needed. Two beekeepers are now making extractors from plastic barrels with a metal frame. Embossed wax and smokers are made in Bafoussam.

In Cameroon, beekeepers are organised in Common Initiative Groups that give them legal exitance and the possibility of obtaining funds from Embassies or international NGO's. Many local association's work for beekeeping development. In the North West Province, NOWEBA has more than 2,500 members, giving them training, collecting their honey and supplying packaging and marketing. We wish them success and a long life for the good of Cameroonian beekeeping.