WARNING

With the correct equipment and using best practices, beekeeping is a very safe and fulfilling undertaking. However, bees are still potentially dangerous insects—they are not tame. Improper handling of a bee colony poses a danger to the beekeeper, their neighbours, as well as nearby small animals. Beekeeping is an all-or-nothing activity. Do not take shortcuts. If you are unable to dedicate all of the time and care necessary to be a safe apiarist, please refrain from keeping or handling bees.

Introduction

This is a short summary of the basic principles of beekeeping. It deals with the biology of bees, as well as their behaviour and aspects of their care. It also details what you will need to start and run a small apiary (collection of beehives), including honey harvesting and basic processing. This is intended to be a beginner's guide, and not a comprehensive handbook for starting a commercial apiary.

The information presented here is derived primarily from Basic Beekeeping Manual 1 by Pam Gregory, along with several other works.

Bees and their Society

Bees are a fundamentally social species. In general, individuals, or even small groups of bees cannot survive on their own. To thrive, they rely on co-operation among the three ‘classes’ in their society: queen, drone, and worker. Although the jobs they do are all vital to the colony’s survival, the numbers in each class are not equal.

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Comparison of the three classes of bees in a hive.

© Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries; Republic of Uganda

Queen

Hatching period: 16 days
Life expectancy: 2-5 years
Each colony has only one active queen at a time. The queen’s main role is to lay the eggs which later become all the other members of the colony (drones and workers) or the founders of new colonies (queens). The queen mates with one or more drones once when she is young. Thereafter, she can lay up to 1000 eggs per day during certain parts of the season. These eggs are laid, one each, into cells in the specially shaped chambers of the brood comb. The queen also plays a role in the control of the colony, by emitting pheromones (scent chemicals) which harmonize the behaviour of other bees in the colony. Physically, the queen is the largest bee in the hive, but has a slender body and proportionally small wings.

Drones

Hatching period: 21 days
Life expectancy: Variable
A healthy hive contains several hundred drones. The drones are all male and their main role is reproduction. They mate with the queen so that she can produce the eggs to add new members to the hive. Drones die after mating with a queen. In periods of shortage, the drones may be expelled from the hive by workers. In appearance, drones are larger than workers but noticeably shorter and wider than the queen.

Workers

Hatching period: 24 days
Life expectancy: 15-38 days (summer), >140 days (winter)
The worker bee is the only type that routinely leaves the hive. The other types of honey bee generally only leave the hive in an emergency, when expelled, or when the queen decides it is time for all or part of colony to leave (swarm event).

The workers are all female, but they play no direct role in reproduction. Rather, as their name implies, they do all of the physical work required to build and maintain the hive. Their bodies are specially adapted for a variety of roles. There can be as many as 100 times more workers than drones in a colony—several tens of thousands.

The worker class has several very important jobs. The most obvious is to collect resources. Workers fly out of the hive and search for flowering plants, which produce pollen and sweet nectar to attract them. A worker flies from plant to plant gathering nectar and pollen before returning with it to the hive for processing. Other workers collect water, and propolis (also known as bee glue—a kind of resin) from trees, which is used for construction and repair in the hive.

In addition, worker bees have wax glands which produce the beeswax required to build various comb structures. Workers also produce pheromones. However, these are mainly for communication and identification amongst themselves.

Finally, worker bees provide security for the hive. They all have stings (with a small amount of venom*) that they deploy when they detect a threat to the hive. However, the worker can only sting once, and dies almost immediately after doing so. Thus, bees are often quite reluctant to sting, and will only do so if threatened. In addition, upon death, the worker releases alarm pheromones which mark the threat and signal other workers to the area to join in the attack.

*this venom is not dangerous to most humans, unless it is in very large quantities (thousands of simultaneous stings). However, some people have a severe allergy to bee venom. For them, a single sting can induce a life-threatening allergic reaction requiring immediate medical attention. This is the main reason why poor colony management poses a danger to people and animals nearby.

Safety

Caution: Hive operations (any activity within 5 metres of an active hive) must always be conducted while wearing full safety gear. The only people present should be those who are doing the work. Children and animals must be kept well away at all times.

Safety gear means:

• full body overalls

• boots/closed shoes

• gloves

• mesh hood

• smoker

Safety gear must be always be clean (to avoid the presence of alarm pheromones), and inspected for holes before use. The smoker is crucial safety gear because it keeps the bees docile and prevents a defensive response.

When handling bees, stick to cool times of the day. Opening in the evening gives the bees all night to settle down and recover before their next work day. Be gentle when opening the hive. The less disturbance you cause, the calmer the bees will be. Use plenty of smoke when handling the bees. Apply smoke at the entrance, and under the roof before opening fully. Do not suffocate the bees, with it, but make sure smoke reaches all parts of the hive. Once the hive is open, do not delay. Work quickly and carefully. Plan and visualise what you need to do before you approach the hive so that you know exactly what you need to do and are not delayed.

African honey bees are defensive, so the hive must be kept well secured and distant from passers by, animals and small children. The best way to do this is for the apiary to be fenced off, or kept in a ‘bee house’.

Bee handling DOs and DON’Ts

Hive Management

Hive placement is crucial to successful colony management. The hive must be near sources of water and food, and must be kept safe from predators and pests. There must be flowering plants and trees within a few hundred metres of the hive. Having flowering plants in the vicinity of the hive greatly enhances the attraction of the area to bees.

Worker bees can fly several kilometres to find food sources, but the longer it takes them to do so, the slower their rate of production because of the time it takes to commute that distance. Maximise the number of flowering plants in the immediate area to encourage faster honey production. Ensure that there is a source of clean water within 500 metres of the hive at all times. Place floating sticks or a large stone (to form an island) in the water source to make it easy for the bees to collect water without accidentally drowning themselves.

Clear the area immediately around the hive to prevent pests from being a nuisance to the colony, and coat the bottoms of stand legs with oil or grease to repel crawling insects. The legs can also be kept in containers with shallow puddles of oil to achieve the same effect.

It is also important to place the hive somewhere that it is partially shaded from direct sunlight, and protected from strong wind. If the hive is knocked over it will produce a serious disturbance to the colony and make the bees very defensive.

Take care to select a good place for the hive before installing a colony. It is much easier to move an empty hive than one which already has a colony living in it. If you have multiple hives, place them with plenty of distance between each one and its neighbours. Far enough that when working with one hive you are well outside the ‘engagement radius’ of the next hive. This will also help to reduce conflict between neighbouring colonies.

Once the hive is placed and ready for occupation, there are essentially two ways to introduce a new colony: capture and attraction.

Capture involves finding a colony that has already moved in somewhere (a tree, a roof etc) and brushing bees from that colony into your hive, making sure that the queen is among them. Then, you place your hive in the desired spot and allow the colony to settle. This method allows for essentially immediate occupation on your schedule. However, colony transplanting is an advanced technique. This method is best left strictly to professional apiarists. Do not attempt to handle wild colonies without expert assistance and advice.

Attraction merely involves placing a clean and well-designed hive in an attractive area, and waiting for a swarming colony to move in. Colonies swarm for a variety of reasons; migration, unfavourable local conditions , or because their numbers have become too large to be supported in their current hive. Either way, you can maximise your chances of attracting a swarm by placing substances in and near the hive that bees find attractive. The thick wax starter strips on the top bars make good bait. Coating the inside of the hive with beeswax is also a good idea. This can be supplemented with a small amount of traditional brew, maize meal or banana skins placed near the entrance or on the roof.

The advantage of the attraction method is that it requires minimal effort and is safe. On the downside, swarming occurs on the bees’ schedule, and is seasonal, so it may be some time before a colony moves into your prepared hive. Be diligent in keeping the hive and surroundings pest-free and well groomed. Remove spiders, and insects which may move into the empty hive.

Once a colony has moved in, do not open the hive for a few weeks. This gives the bees time to settle in. Only approach close enough to provide a clean and accessible water source.

Handling the bees

Whenever approaching the hive, have your smoker lit and ready, and full safety equipment on. Prepare any tools you will need beforehand and take them with you, so that you do not have to leave the hive prematurely during the operation. Always avoid disturbing the colony unnecessarily.

You should generally only perform one task at a time (cleaning, inspection, harvest, transfer etc) during a hive operation. This reduces the time spent disturbing the bees, and also reduces the chances of making a mistake, or forgetting to do something. Always have a complete work plan before approaching the hive. A written checklist is ideal, but the work plan does not have to be very formal. It can be a mental understanding of exactly what you are going to do and why. Observations, however, should absolutely be recorded in some way (photographs, written records, voice recording etc). This provides a later reference for what to expect in later seasons when the memory of the day may have faded.

The process for handling honey combs is largely the same, whether for harvesting or inspection. With smoker ready, approach the hive from the side or the rear, to avoid threatening the workers on guard. Once close enough, apply ample smoke to the entrance and under the roof. Allow time for the smoke to spread, then remove the roof fully and observe where most of the bees are. Choose the least populated area to remove a top bar from first. Throughout the operation, avoid blocking the bees’ flight paths into and out of the entrance.

If you are just checking whether combs are present or not, you can tap (very gently—it alarms the bees) on each top bar and listen for the sound. A hollow sound indicates that there is no large wax structure underneath. A muted or muffled sound indicates the presence of a comb. When you first assemble the hive—before a colony moves in—tap the top bars and familiarise yourself with the sound of a bar with no comb, for later comparison.

When removing combs, be very gentle to avoid breaking them or crushing any bees on them. Always hold the comb in the vertical position(the same orientation it has in the hive). Otherwise it is likely to break. This may be difficult to do while also performing other tasks, which is why having a partner is ideal.

Try to avoid pulling combs out of the hive in very windy conditions, and never open the hive if it is very cold or raining. Even when working with a partner, avoid removing more than one top bar at a time. Replace a top bar before selecting a new one to work with.

Below are the tasks which must be accomplished routinely:

Cleaning  

Clear overgrown vegetation (unless it is flowering plants) in the immediate vicinity of the hive stand. This must be done every few weeks in summer when rain is frequent and growth is rapid. It may not be necessary for months at a time in winter.

Inspection

Inspect the hive, by pulling out and checking each top bar one by one to inspect the combs. Check:

• if the Queen is laying correctly

• if the Workers are building combs correctly (regular and one per top bar)

• for leaking roof or walls, water pooling inside hive

• for intruders and pests (spiders, ants, beetles etc) disturbing the colony

• for strange behaviour or large numbers of dead bees, which could indicate disease or contamination

• the physical weight of the hive, which indicates honey production (do not shake the hive when checking this- lift gently, keeping it level)

Perform inspections on a regular schedule. The right schedule depends on conditions and preference, but a monthly inspection is a good compromise between efficiency and disturbance of the colony. . Consistent inspections allow you to spot problems early, giving you the best chance of successfully fixing them before they start to seriously affect the colony.

Winter support

In winter, when there are very few plants in bloom, food may be scarce for the bees. Ideally, you will have left sufficient honey in the hive after harvesting for the colony to subsist on for the winter. However, if regular inspections indicate a need for supplementation, the colony can be ‘fed’ with nectar substitutes placed in the hive. Raw honey is the ideal source. The next simplest supplementary feed is concentrated sugar solution. This solution is prepared simply by dissolving equal parts sugar and clean, boiling water. Avoid using raw or brown sugar where possible, as it may make the bees sick. White or refined sugar is preferred. Once the solution is cool, it can be placed in a shallow vessel with twigs or grass for the bees to collect without drowning themselves.

Supplementary feed must be placed inside the hive, far from the entrance—to help the bees protect it. Gently remove a top bar and place the solution vessel on the floor of the hive. Be careful not to spill it, as that could attract pests. Only provide a small amount of solution at a time—approximately a 2 day supply.

Harvesting

The key considerations with honey harvesting are to ensure to only harvest when the colony has surplus supplies, and to avoid harvesting brood combs. It is critical to be able to correctly differentiate between honey combs and brood combs.

The correct time to harvest varies depending on the colony and availability of food sources. Regular inspections should inform you of the presence and number of honeycombs, as well as their degree of sealing. Only harvest well-sealed honeycombs. Record your observations and use them as a guide in subsequent seasons.

It is best to harvest honey in the cool of the evening, but do not work in darkness. Never harvest honey in the rain, and avoid harvesting soon after rain, as the bees will not have had time to reduce the moisture content of the honey. A low moisture content makes for the best quality honey.

The tools required for harvesting are:

• safety equipment (suit and smoker)

• extra smoker fuel (eg maize husks, dry grass, leaves, rotten wood) where applicable—avoid any fuels (eg motor oil) which produce harmful combustion products

• honey bucket, clean and dry with tight lid to store the cut honeycombs (2 buckets if you wish to grade the harvest)

• large knife to cut the honeycombs off the top bars

• soft brush (feather brush or special bee brush) to remove bees from the honeycombs

Following the procedure set out in the previous section for approach and hive opening, remove top bars one by one to check whether they are suitable for harvesting. They must absolutely not hold brood combs, and the honeycombs must be mostly sealed. Sealed honey has been processed by the bees to remove moisture and ripen fully. It is of the best quality, and has the longest shelf life. Honey stores are generally kept on the opposite side of the hive from the entrance. Remember to leave plenty of honey for the colony to subsist on. Leave a minimum of 8 honeycombs for the colony’s own use.

Harvesting requires performing tasks which are difficult or impossible for one person alone to do correctly—depending on the length and weight of the top bars. It is highly recommended that honey harvesting be performed with a partner.

Capped honeycombs removed from a hive. Note carefully the golden colour with wax capping over the majority of the comb area, which indicates that it is suitable for harvest.

Photo: Gr8What(CC-BY-SA 2.0)

1. To harvest a comb, pull its top bar out of the hive and apply a little bit of smoke if there are bees on it. Do not use a lot of smoke—the comb might absorb it, which affects the flavour of the honey.

2. While holding the honeycomb vertically over the hive, gently brush any bees on it into the hive below.

3. Working quickly, move over to the honey bucket and cut the comb free from the top bar, leaving a 1-2 centimetre chunk of wax still attached at the top (like the original wax starter but much thicker) for the bees to rebuild on. If you wish to grade your honey, place the cut comb in your higher grade or lower grade bucket depending on whether it is light or dark, and whether it has a lot of pollen or other debris in it. Immediately after cutting, replace the lid onto the bucket to prevent bees from entering.

4. Replace the cut off top bar in the hive and select another one.

5. Repeat steps 1-4 until the only remaining combs are unsealed, brood combs, or the minimum stores for the colony itself—at least 8 honeycombs. Finally, rearrange the remaining combs so that there are no empty top bars between them, favouring positions far from the entrance, then replace the roof and leave the hive.

6. At a distance, remove any bees still on the honey bucket(s) with smoke and gentle brushing.

Do not forget to leave honey for the colony and do not harvest brood combs. Both of these acts are serious threats to the colony’s survival.

Brood comb removed from a hive for inspection. Familiarise yourself with the distinctive crust-like capping of the larval cells of a brood comb. Always note carefully what type of comb you are harvesting to avoid removing brood combs.

Photo: Oakley Originals(CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Basic Processing

Generally, honey processing refers to activities undertaken to prepare harvested honey for human consumption. Since beeswax is edible, ‘processing’ can be as simple as removing stray debris, and cutting a comb into smaller pieces. However, processing generally refers to separating the honey from the beeswax. The guide below sets out the steps necessary to extract honey from harvested combs.

There are several ways to separate honey from the combs, with varying levels of sophistication and speed. These can be categorised into cold and hot methods, which take place at room temperature or with added heat respectively. Cold methods are usually preferred, but hot methods are faster because honey flows very well when hot. The simplest method is cold filtration. It is quite slow, and does not extract 100% of the honey but it is very easy to accomplish. For beekeepers working with many hives at a time, the method below is too inefficient and slow—a honey press or centrifuge is necessary.

As with all food handling, all work surfaces, equipment and hands must be kept perfectly clean and sterile when working with honey. Wash everything thoroughly with soap and clean water. Also ensure that everything that comes into contact with the honey is completely dry. Low moisture content is part of the reason that honey has a long shelf life. Fingernails should also be cut short to avoid introducing contaminants trapped underneath them.

1. Around the mouth of a bucket, secure a clean, dry straining cloth. The cloth can have a rough weave, similar to a woven potato/orange sack. It must also be quite thin, and non-absorbent to avoid trapping honey. The cloth can be secured with a belt, tightly wound string or other method. This can also be done in stages by going once through with a very rough weave, then filtering again with a fine weave.

2. Thoroughly break up the honeycomb with a knife to break the cells and unseal the honey.

3. Place the portions of the comb on the filter cloth so that only honey runs down into the filter bucket. This process takes hours, so cover the top to keep pests away while straining.

4. If you have separate grades of honey, strain each grade into its own bucket and do not mix them.

5. When the honey stops flowing, remove the comb and place it in another container then filter the next portion. Extra honey can also be squeezed out after it is strained by forming a sack out of straining cloth and squeezing by hand into the extraction bucket.

6. Once the honey has been extracted, it is ready to be consumed. Store it in a sealed, airtight container.

With the honey extracted, you will be left with the crushed up beeswax, which still has some honey mixed in it that cannot be extracted by hand. Beeswax is a useful and commercially valuable substance. Do not discard it. If your honey was graded, keep dark wax separate from the clearer grade.

Refining beeswax involves removing residual honey and unwanted debris. This is done almost exclusively using various methods of washing and melting the wax into a liquid and then filtering it. The method below uses simple household cooking equipment to achieve a good refined wax product. Dryness is not an important factor for equipment and hands when refining beeswax.

1. Rinse the wax in water to remove residual honey and debris.

2. For final filtration, place the wax in a cloth bag, and place the bag in a pot of water over heat.

3. Without allowing the water to boil, heat and agitate the wax in the bag until the heat from the water has melted the wax completely.

4. Squeeze the wax through the cloth, making sure it flows into the pot. It may be too hot to touch with your bare hands, so use two mugs or cups to squeeze and roll the wax out without touching it. You will need someone to help you do this.

5. Once all the wax is squeezed out, remove the pot from heat and allow to cool, the wax will solidify on the surface of the water and can be collected.

The wax may now be ready for use, or it could still have some solid debris trapped in it. The next part is a second refining step, and can also be used for shaping the wax into required mould, for candle-making, as an example.

1. Cut the solidified wax into small pieces so that it melts faster, then place it in a suitable vessel for melting.

2. Place the vessel containing wax into (or over the mouth of) a pot with water in it over heat.

3. Heat the water in the pot to boiling, so that it melts the wax completely.

4. Meanwhile, prepare a clean mould of the desired shape by rubbing a film of soap all over the inside surface. This will prevent the wax from sticking to it when it cools.

5. Any solid debris will now be floating in the liquid wax. Filter the hot wax through clean cloth (cotton t-shirt material serves fine) into the mould, being careful not to spill any on your bare skin. The solids will be left on the cloth, which can be washed and reused.

6. Allow the wax plenty of time to solidify completely, then remove it from the mould. The wax is now ready for use.

Challenges and Solutions

Beekeeping is a rewarding activity, but bees are complex creatures. Like any other complex system, bee colonies are subject to a variety of problems. For the most part the colony will solve them itself, but occasionally you will need to step in. The guide below will help you to prevent or solve a few common problems that beekeepers encounter with their hives. Note that this is purely a guide and in no way serves as a comprehensive reference on the possible issues in apiary. Consult an apiary extension officer, or experienced beekeeper when in doubt.

Early detection of many of these problems makes the difference between a simple fix and—potentially—colony loss. Regular inspections (and observation of the bees’ behaviour) are the beekeeper’s best tool for maintaining a healthy colony.

Cross-combing
Cross-combing is when the bees build a single honeycomb spread over two top bars. Naturally, this makes honey harvesting and inspection very challenging without damaging the comb. It is more a problem for the beekeeper than the bees. Cross-combing has no real negative effect on the colony itself. Cross combing is caused by improperly sized top bars—either too wide or too narrow. It can be prevented by only having top bars of the correct and equal 32 or 33 millimetre width. At harvest time, attempt to harvest the cross-combed top bars as normal (three people may be necessary to do this), but afterwards replace them with correctly-sized top bars. Alternatively, leave the crossed combs in the hive permanently to serve as honey stores/brood combs as the colony sees fit.

Failure to colonise
There could be many reasons for a lasting failure to colonise a new hive. Broadly, it could be due to the surrounding environment, the hive itself or the time of year. If a suitable hive is placed and baited for occupancy in a good environment but is not being colonised, it could simply be because no nearby colonies are in need of a new home. That is, if there are no colonies ‘in the market’ for a new home when you set out your hive, then it will take time for it to be occupied. Continue to be diligent in placing fresh bait materials and keeping the hive and its surroundings clear of pests. Also make sure the surroundings of your hive are as attractive as possible by planting as many flowering plants in the area as you can.

Wax moth
For the most part, a strong colony will be able to defend itself against this kind of invader. However small or weak colonies may need assistance. There are two types of wax moths—greater and lesser—to protect the colony from. The wax moths and their larvae eat beeswax, destroying its structural value to the bees and its material value to the beekeeper. Wax moths have the typical appearance of other types of moths known for eating grain and woolen clothes. That is, wide, patterned wings relative to a slender body. Besides the presence of adult moths, the signs of an infestation are lines of white web or mesh on brown combs caused by burrowing moth larvae. Also visible white eggs, pupa or moth faeces in the hive. The queen bee only lays eggs in brood cells, and workers keep the hive clean so any eggs and debris elsewhere in the hive are those of invaders.

If these signs are spotted, carefully cut away and remove any affected wax. Also scrape away and clear out eggs and pupa, and smoke out any adult moths present. Ensure that there are no holes or cracks elsewhere in the hive, and that top bars sit flush against each other with no gaps. Seal any holes with wood glue or other durable non-toxic sealant (clay mud, for example). If the colony has recently weakened, remove any unused combs from the hive to prevent the wax from attracting moths. Also avoid dropping bits of comb around the hive, as this will attract wax moths to the area.

Ants
Ants are a very dangerous foe to bees. They also form well-organised and well-populated colonies. They eat honey, as well as the bees themselves—including brood. The only assured long term solution is to grease the legs of the stand regularly, so ants are unable to climb. Alternatively, the legs can be kept in vessels filled with oil, which also forms an effective barrier. Also make sure there are no branches or similar objects touching the hive which would allow the ants to climb via an indirect route. Do not underestimate the lengths an ant colony will go to to attack a hive. Clear the ground around the hive and spread dry wood ash around the stand legs. The ants will avoid walking on the ash. Continuously keep the grass short, and avoid spilling honey or sugar solution in or around the hive. A well made hive with no gaps or cracks is the final line of defence.

Termites
Termites, another organised, colony-forming species, do not eat bees, their brood, honey or wax. They eat dead wood at any level of decomposition. That means the stand and the hive are both at risk of termite damage. The defences against ants will also work to keep termites away. However, it is still important to keep a watchful eye for the tell-tale signs of termite attack during inspections. The surest sign is the presence of termite faeces, which looks like small, light brown pellets or powder. Termites also leave characteristic winding paths burrowed in wood. Termite-damaged wood also sounds muffled when knocked on. Severely damaged wood must be discarded and replaced. Getting rid of termites is difficult, so it is better to prevent them from attacking at all.

Hive beetles
Hive beetles eat brood, pollen and honey. Smaller beetles also lay eggs inside comb cells, which hatch within a few days and cause widespread damage. To prevent this from happening, ensure that there are absolutely no gaps anywhere in the hive. Seal any gaps promptly. Also ensure that the hive entrance is not larger than it needs to be for bees. Holes are much more secure than a slit, and the correct size is 8 millimetres. If an inspection reveals an infestation—indicated by the presence of maggots in the combs or eggs elsewhere in the hive—manually remove the affected combs and eggs and destroy them far from the hive. Smoking is also effective for removing hive beetles.

Pirate wasp
These are slender, yellow-brown wasps with black stripes across their bodies. They attack bee colonies and eat worker bees. They are larger than workers, so they are not able to fit inside a correctly sized entrance. This allows the workers to mount a defence and repel the pirate wasps. Ensure that there are no other holes in the hive through which a wasp could enter and wreak havoc. A strong colony living in a well-built hive can defend itself. However, if the hive is weak, it may need assistance. If you notice many pirate wasps, you can build a water trap to drown them.

You will need a plastic or cardboard beverage container (the narrow mouth is key) and a cutting implement (knife or scissors).

1. Cut the top of the bottle off, to form a short funnel and remove the cap/stopper.

2. Grease the walls of the bottom half with petroleum jelly or similar (optional).

3. Prepare bait for the wasps (meat scraps, used cooking grease, or jam)* the stronger smelling, the better, but it must not be rancid or decomposing.

4. Mix some water with dish soap, or other soap and pour enough into the bottom half of the bottle to have a depth of 3-5 centimetres.

5. Add in the bait, then place the funnel top (inverted to make an entrance that starts very wide and becomes narrow) into the bottom. There should be a good seal all around. If there isn’t, try wood glue or sticky tape to prevent trapped wasps from escaping.

6. Make sure that the water level does not reach the ‘entrance’ to the trap, or the wasps may be able to escape. Then the trap is ready.

7. Place the trap near the entrance of the hive or near the wasps’ own nest if that has been located.

8. Inspect the trap frequently to make sure no bees are being trapped (in the case of sweet bait).

9. If the trap does not work, try placing it in a different area, or replacing the bait.

*Do not bait it with honey, sugar, or any other substance that bees are attracted to. Be very careful when disposing of the dead wasps in the trap. Bury them, or wash them down a sink. Do not leave their bodies in the open near the hive as they also release alarm pheromones which will attract other wasps and make them even more aggressive.

A final note on pests; never use synthetic insecticides in or near a beehive. Insecticide application near a hive can be lethal to the entire colony (not just the bees in direct contact) within hours. When controlling pests in the area, consider biopesticides such as tobacco in soap water, concentrated capsaicin (chilli) solutions, onion juice and similar. These have the added benefit of also being non-toxic to humans and animals.

Mould and Fungus
Moulds and fungi require humid conditions to grow. The bees fan their wings over the combs to improve airflow and dry out the hive. Most problems with mould and fungus are easily prevented by ensuring the hive is well protected from rain (by a good, waterproof roof) and is kept in a well ventilated area away from dampness. Also, having plenty of (correctly sized) entrance holes helps with ventilation in the hive. Remove any combs from the hive which seem to be regularly unattended during inspections (record keeping is key), as this could indicate that the bees are not regularly fanning them, and they could become damp enough to grow mould.

Birds
Some bird species eat the workers bees as they come out of the hive to go to work. Due to their size and speed, they may be a difficult threat for the bees to handle. Others, such as the woodpecker, are interested in the brood inside. You may be fortunate to not have these species in your area, or for them to have access to easier food sources. However, if you do notice birds harassing the hive, you can erect one or two very fine steel wires in trees or across poles near your hive. The reflections caused by the light glinting off the wire may help to repel birds from the area.

Bee louse
The bee louse is a light brown insect which is small enough to ride on the bees’ backs. Although it does not pose a major threat, it should, like any other parasite, be controlled. Regular smoking helps to keep these lice at bay.

Varoa mite
The varoa mite is smaller than the bee louse and is reddish brown in colour. Unlike the bee louse, it is very much a harmful parasite. It feeds on the bee’s blood, making it ever weaker and less capable of working. It attaches to drone pupae and emerges with the adult, often causing deformity. It is an extremely serious pest, and there is not much that a beginner beekeeper can do once this parasite has taken hold, except to try to prevent it from spreading. Contact an apiary extension officer if a varoa mite infestation is suspected..

Diseases
Bee diseases are varied and can be quite serious. If inspections indicate abnormalities in the hive (strong and unusual smells, misshapen combs etc) you can attempt to help the bees control the problem by removing affected honeycombs. However, there are often other, more difficult interventions that may need to be performed, such as caging and reintroducing a queen, for example.

If you see these kinds of signs and suspect an outbreak of disease, be proactive in contacting an apiary extension officer, or an experienced beekeeper to assist in diagnosis and treatment. Your number one job as a beekeeper is to be observant for abnormalities. For example:

• large numbers of dead bees in and around the hive

• chalky, dried brood in cells

• yellow diarrhoea outside the hive entrance

• bees unable to fly

• bees spinning on the ground (a sign of insecticide poisoning)

Absconding
If, despite your best efforts, your colony absconds or dies, then it is too late to fix whatever problem the hive was facing. Keep the records of your observations and inspections safe so that in future you will know the signs of a similar problem. Your next step is to ‘reset’ the hive and try again. If you know beyond a doubt that the reason for absconding was not disease or pests, then harvest any edible honey, and remove empty combs from the hive. Clean out any debris but leave propolis and pollen as bait for the next passing swarm.

If there is any doubt at all about the reason for the loss of the colony, you must treat it as the worst case scenario (disease) or you risk a repeat of the issue with any new colony. Remove and harvest all the combs (for wax only—the honey is not fit for consumption and must not be fed to any other bees) from the hive. Clean out any debris, pollen and propolis. Sterilise the entire hive thoroughly. You can do this using plenty of soap and clean water followed by concentrated alcohol (surgical spirits). Thoroughly dry the hive under direct sunlight to prevent water damage. Sterilisation can also be done using heat, by exposing the surfaces of the hive to flames. This second method is difficult, however, and risks damaging the wood.

Once the hive has been thoroughly sterilised, prepare it for occupancy the same way as a new hive.