Letters to the Editor

If you want to comment on anything you have read in the Newsletter then write to Dr Nicola Bradbear at the address given below

Some questions and comments on the ‘Maputo Hive’ (p.5) and the ‘Barrel Hive’ (p.9) in Newsletter 6.

‘Maputo Hive’

African honeybees are notorious for rapid development of colonies and for their strong swarming impulse. I wonder how a colony in such a narrow space could be happy and profitable?

We are aiming at the development and extension of adequate beekeeping techniques and methods in rural areas. Should we therefore not try by all means to concentrate on the cheapest or freely usable materials? If we follow this way we may encourage beekeepers to become more self-sufficient and self-confident.

‘Barrel Hive’

This type of top-bar hive seems to work successfully under moderate climatical conditions. However, it seems to be problematic to transfer the findings to tropical countries. During the late seventies we had some very frustrating experiences with barrel hives in the Kalahari of Botswana, apparently due to insulation and internal climatic problems. Colonies absconded regularly, even after coating the hive with cow dung/clay layers or sacking material, and also after it was made possible to drain condensed water through holes in the hive bottom. Later I learnt that similar trials with barrels and plastic troughs in Kenya’s Ngong area failed too, because of insulation difficulties. On the other hand we had very encouraging results with interim cardboard box hives (this goes well with the findings by Professor Ademilson Espencer Egea Soares, Newsletter 6, p.3!). This led to the development of the more durable ‘Tshwaragano’ Hive: two cardboard boxes tied together, and then coated with layers of cow dung/clay mixture. To create an even more durable and cheap top-bar hive a Motswana beekeeper developed the ‘Noah’s Hive’, a rectangular, long basket of straight sticks tied together with wire, and then coated with a cow/dung/clay layer.

erratum.... erratum.... etratum....erratum.... erratum.... etratum....

Newsletter No.6, March 1985, page 6, column 2. Item 3 should have read: Carry the hive away towards a different direction not in the same flight-runway and place it on a temporary platform erected about forty metres away from the nearest hive in the apiary;

S. Adjare