thefletchershouse
New Bee
Hello everyone
My wife and I are very new to beekeeping. So new, in fact, that we haven’t actually bought any bees yet. Earlier this year we spent a lovely afternoon with Jordan of Humble Bees just to the west of Durham City in his apiary on a little farm full of wild flower meadows. We live nearby on the County Durham coast.
The reason we haven’t bought any bees yet is that it will be my wife who will be the beekeeper, but the plan is to help her family and their rather poor community on the island of Biliran, in the Philippines. We have been married for thirty years and our four children are adults now so she has taken the opportunity to help her family by establishing a nursery and apiary in her old home village, on land that we bought some time ago. The surrounding land is jungle with coconut palms and mango banana and numerous other fruits and plants. These provide bee forage all year and the rainy season is around September and October. The Philippines is hit by about six typhoons a year and the world heard about “Yolanda” in 2013 which devastated nearby Bacolod City before ripping through the other Visayan islands.
Wild bee nest robbing is still widespread there. The bees create their nests in tree tops often fifty feet or more high and the young men and boys free climb the trees to ransack them, frequently with tragic consequences. Beekeeping was introduced by the American colonists in the very early 1900s. They brought in hives that were designed by the Rev Langstroth along with the italianised Apis millifera honey bees. There are, of course several native honeybees, the Apis cerana being the main one. This species is widespread in Asia and is renowned for its aggressiveness and tendency to abscond. It is only half the size of the millifera and produces less honey. There are also several species of the tiny ant sized stingless bees. They only produced a tiny amount of honey but are excellent propagators and their propolis is highly valued. There is also the Apis dorsata (the giant honey bee) much bigger than the millifera, but I understand that it doesn’t take kindly to being kept in a hive.
We have bought three long Langstroth hives and shipped them out but I am not sure that they are appropriate for a tropical climate. There is no winter to lay in stores of honey for apart from the fairly brief rainy season. Insulated hives might be appropriate to protect the bees from the heat rather than the cold. Because the cerana hate being disturbed and are aggressive, I was thinking that a horizontal hive might be appropriate. All of my information has been obtained from United Nations and American Peace Corps sources, online. My wife tells me that all information in the Philippines is monetised so their few forums are unhelpful. (Although I am familiar with the Philippines, I don’t speak or read any of the languages. My wife speaks three of them, including English) All knowledge has a cash value so the free exchange of assistance and advice that is the norm on this forum, is unheard of, there.
In her own way, my wife has been funding and encouraging her family to plant appropriate plants and trees. Illegal logging has caused problems on the island and has had an adverse effect on the bees. My in-laws and their neighbours have a “scratch and feed” life according to my wife. We would like to help them create very low cost hives without damaging their environment. Perhaps by re-using waste compressed cardboard which would be free, fairly lightweight and insulating. We are aware of Kenyan long hives and the use of mud and also the modified Leyans hives of the late Fedor Lazutin. My wife favours natural beekeeping with no chemicals or artificial foundation. She may be trying Top Bar too. Many of the people are off-grid so a fruit press will be used, being multi purpose and low cost and more appropriate.
Every one of you reading this has more practical knowledge of beekeeping than me, so any thoughts, experience of beekeeping in those areas or advice will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
ian fletcher
My wife and I are very new to beekeeping. So new, in fact, that we haven’t actually bought any bees yet. Earlier this year we spent a lovely afternoon with Jordan of Humble Bees just to the west of Durham City in his apiary on a little farm full of wild flower meadows. We live nearby on the County Durham coast.
The reason we haven’t bought any bees yet is that it will be my wife who will be the beekeeper, but the plan is to help her family and their rather poor community on the island of Biliran, in the Philippines. We have been married for thirty years and our four children are adults now so she has taken the opportunity to help her family by establishing a nursery and apiary in her old home village, on land that we bought some time ago. The surrounding land is jungle with coconut palms and mango banana and numerous other fruits and plants. These provide bee forage all year and the rainy season is around September and October. The Philippines is hit by about six typhoons a year and the world heard about “Yolanda” in 2013 which devastated nearby Bacolod City before ripping through the other Visayan islands.
Wild bee nest robbing is still widespread there. The bees create their nests in tree tops often fifty feet or more high and the young men and boys free climb the trees to ransack them, frequently with tragic consequences. Beekeeping was introduced by the American colonists in the very early 1900s. They brought in hives that were designed by the Rev Langstroth along with the italianised Apis millifera honey bees. There are, of course several native honeybees, the Apis cerana being the main one. This species is widespread in Asia and is renowned for its aggressiveness and tendency to abscond. It is only half the size of the millifera and produces less honey. There are also several species of the tiny ant sized stingless bees. They only produced a tiny amount of honey but are excellent propagators and their propolis is highly valued. There is also the Apis dorsata (the giant honey bee) much bigger than the millifera, but I understand that it doesn’t take kindly to being kept in a hive.
We have bought three long Langstroth hives and shipped them out but I am not sure that they are appropriate for a tropical climate. There is no winter to lay in stores of honey for apart from the fairly brief rainy season. Insulated hives might be appropriate to protect the bees from the heat rather than the cold. Because the cerana hate being disturbed and are aggressive, I was thinking that a horizontal hive might be appropriate. All of my information has been obtained from United Nations and American Peace Corps sources, online. My wife tells me that all information in the Philippines is monetised so their few forums are unhelpful. (Although I am familiar with the Philippines, I don’t speak or read any of the languages. My wife speaks three of them, including English) All knowledge has a cash value so the free exchange of assistance and advice that is the norm on this forum, is unheard of, there.
In her own way, my wife has been funding and encouraging her family to plant appropriate plants and trees. Illegal logging has caused problems on the island and has had an adverse effect on the bees. My in-laws and their neighbours have a “scratch and feed” life according to my wife. We would like to help them create very low cost hives without damaging their environment. Perhaps by re-using waste compressed cardboard which would be free, fairly lightweight and insulating. We are aware of Kenyan long hives and the use of mud and also the modified Leyans hives of the late Fedor Lazutin. My wife favours natural beekeeping with no chemicals or artificial foundation. She may be trying Top Bar too. Many of the people are off-grid so a fruit press will be used, being multi purpose and low cost and more appropriate.
Every one of you reading this has more practical knowledge of beekeeping than me, so any thoughts, experience of beekeeping in those areas or advice will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
ian fletcher
