Subject: Bee Course Date 23rd October

Beekeeping
always golden
 
Welcome to news 

We went to one of our apiary sites in Mpumalanga last week for a stay over visit. The farmer there had told us that all of the beehives we put out beginning of September were now full and we needed more to catch swarms.
I took up another 10 catch boxes / nuc boxes with me to take advantage of the big bee season we are experiencing this year. On arrival on Monday evening I started beekeeping work by transferring the full bee hives on the shed roof back into the farm itself. Then a hearty dinner followed with the farmer discussing all manner of topics before hitting the pillow.
The next morning I placed the 10 catch boxes around the farm. I left an hour later. By 17h30 the farmer called to tell me that one of the catch boxes was already full by noon.
Experts's advice
If you had honey bee colonies that came through the winter then it would be recommended that you inspect your colonies with the aim of harvesting honey. 
New swarms are still busy working hard to establish their colony and so their focus is more on building brood comb than making honey comb. Let them carry on as nature intended perhaps with some feeding to fast track the process.
The rough estimate per frame that bees will take to draw comb is as follows: 1 frame = 1 week. Only once a new honey bee colony has built on 8-9 brood frames should you place a super chamber onto the brood chamber.  

Inspect for Queen cells
Established honey bee colonies are likely to be splitting as hive space becomes scarce.
When a heavy nectar flow is on and a colony is squeezed for space, the instinct is to split the colony by sending a virgin queen bee out of the hive with a few thousand worker bees.
If you inspect your colonies keep an eye out for queen cells with the purpose of splitting. You can make use of these queen cells as discussed in the Honeybee Colony Creator Mini Report....
Or come on the next Easy Buzzing Bee Course on the 23rd October for R650pp.
Beekeeping Business Solutions
   

We are searching for apiary sites within 40Km radius of Centurion.

Sites should ideally provide ample bee friendly plants for source of nectar and pollen.  

Sites should be able to keep 10 hives minimum.

 

We supply bee hives, bee suits, bee smokers and other beekeeping equipment.

Contact us for a quote or email your order through.  

 

Some of our bee supplies and tools have now increased in price. Although times have been tough we have done our utmost to keep pricing increases low.  

The main areas of increase have been the bee hives, bee suits and beekeeping South Africa book.  

 
 
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Beekeeping
Phone:
082 359 8787 
Fax:
08650 33 0 55