Urban Rooftop beekeeping for beginner.

[guardian_10]

Hello all,

I live in Chennai, India which has a tropical climate with the average temperature ranging between 18 - 38 °C (64-100 °F) and average rainfall is about 140 cm. The temperature sometimes can reach 42 °C (108 °F).

Right now, I am in the process of learning the basics of beekeeping online and would soon try to join a beekeeping course in my neighbourhood. I would like to keep an apiary initially as a hobby on the rooftop of my house. The roof is on above G+1 floor. There are 2 major parks within 1 km radius and quite a few houses growing flowering plants/trees surrounding me.

Once I gain confidence, I would like to take it to the next step of setting up hives in my farm in the suburb which is surrounded by agricultural crops for probably a radius of more than 10 kms.

I am planning to try my hand with either Apis cerana indica (a domesticated specie native of India) or Apis mellifer (European/Italian bee).

Given these situations, would you advice me to try my hand at beekeeping on the rooftop? I would be providing some type of shelter from direct sun and rain. I thought that if someone in France, New York etc could raise bees on rooftop, why not me too. But, the only difference is that the weather does not goes to freezing temperature here. Since, I am starting off as a hobby, should I try to set up a top bar hive or go ahead and buy a Langstroth hive?

I have read that bees can fly up to 6 miles in search of nectar, but I also read that bees will desert the hive if food is hard to find. Given these 2 views, I would like to know what are the chances of the bees deserting my rooftop hive?

Sorry for the long post and thank you.

 

[MandF]

There are lots of examples of rooftop hives in London, so they do work, and generally the forage is better in urban areas than farmland (lots more different plants to work, over a longer period). As to whether your situation would work, it depends on what forage is in those local parks and gardens, your best bet would be to try and find a local beekeeper - if there is one close to you, or in a similar position (in terms of flora), you should be fine. You would probably need to keep a close eye on the stores in the hive during the season, and if in doubt you could close the hive/feed and move them elsewhere (instead of letting them starve!).

You should definitely do a beekeeping course before you start though, you will learn a lot, and also have people to share info/knowledge with after you start keeping your own.

 

[beeatshellards]

welcome to the forum guardian 10 , I have no experience of beekeeping in India, but in reply to your question there should be no reason not to try it and see, as for hives look at the different types available, and choose wisely, the only downside that I can see is the wax melting on the combs in extreme temperatures, although the bees are quite good at regulating hive temperature, I would use some kind of shading , get yourself some good tuition and try to seek out local beekeepers to find out what they do ,good luck

 

[Arfermo]

Urban beekeeping in UK benefits from domestic and parkland flower and other plantings. When I spent a longish holiday in India back in 1997 I saw very little such bee forage. However, they probably have a different type of bee with different foraging characteristics?

 

[guardian_10]

Thank you all for the informative and encouraging replies. After I posted this query and with much difficulty, I managed to find a local beekeeper here. I had a telephonic conversation with him and he is discouraging me from keeping Italian bee (Apis mellifera) saying that they need a constant supply of flowers over a vast area and what is available in my area would not be enough. He wants me to raise Asian bee (Apis cerana indica). For the types of bees available in my area, please see http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/apiculture/fe_api_typesofhoneybee.html

The only reason he mentioned over the phone was that a colony of Italian bee was too costly for me to loose. Just for price comparison, how much does a package of bee cost? Also, how much only for the queen? Here, from what he mentioned, a package of Italian bees would cost roughly $300 (Ouch!!!! Too much for a hobby). I have made a few enquiries around and would know soon if that's the price or more or less.

Anyway, he invited me to his house where he has his apiary on Sunday. Really excited to get to handle bees for the first time. I'm going to blast him with tons of questions.

BTW, what species are people raising, who are keeping bee colonies in urban jungles on the rooftops.

 

[itma]

Excellent that you should get to handle bees before getting in too deep!
Its a good thing to get stung as well ...

I don't think you'll find people in Europe keeping Asian bees.
Its a good idea to start in the middle of your local mainstream.

Regarding your roof.
You need easy access. Hives get heavy. Top bars can be very heavy and awkward to move. I would think that it could easily be a nightmare trying to get one round a corner on the stairs ...
Because hives are heavy, the roof needs to be strong - not so much for the hive itself, as for you lifting the hive, with all the weight on your footprints.
I'd expect that many Indian hives would be located in the shade - this may be hard to do on the roof.
And of course they need to be secure against any wind.
And you need to be safe working there.

The bees need a convenient year-round source of water (particularly important when its hot). They want a muddy patch rather than a river ... !

Good luck and I hope you enjoy meeting some bees!

 

[guardian_10]

Ok, I got the opportunity to visit this guy and guess I will have to unwind a bit of what I have learned online regarding beekeeping. Most of what I have learned so far is based on commercial beekeeping of a. millifera using langstroth or top-bar hive. This guy has all the equipments required for beekeeping - hive tool, smoker, veil, etc. But, the only tool he used ever was his bare hand. No veil, no smoker, nothing. He just simply broke off a bit of comb and asked me to taste it then and there. The honey was a bit sour and he mentioned that it was because there were lots of tamarind trees around his place. His bees were a. cerana indica. As for the hive, it was either a Newton hive or a Marthandam hive (What!!! never heard of them before?). These are hives used by locals here for organic beekeeping. All the big fellows use langstroth et all.

This guy has both a. millifera and a. cerana. But, seriously I could not differentiate between the two. Both looked about the same size to me.
I got to handle the frame - no smoker, no veil. Would you believe he was wearing dark clothes too. I went there clothed in light colors and expected him to be wearing same too.

Finally, I pleaded with him to let me get stung once. No alergies, not very painful. But, he warned that a sting from a angry bee would be more forceful and painful than this sting.

Now for the sad bit. I would have to travel over 800kms / 500miles south to purchase my first colony. No, they won't courier or ship it. No-one here does that and they all think I've lost my nuts for asking if they would ship it. Wish I was in US or Europe only for this.

Meet this person

 

[mexbigshow]

hi guardian, you could always attempt to attract a swarm of bees with a bait hive and a swarm lure, just a thought but it probably depends if there are any bees in close proximity to you, i did this and it worked but i have local beekeepers close by

chris

 

[guardian_10]

I was thinking about that option too. But, I am worried I would not be able to know what specie I captured. There are 5 specie here as you can see in the link I mentioned above. BTW, I don't know much about swarm lure. Where do I have to place the trap/hive? Does it have to be anywhere near an existing bee hive or can it be just anywhere I can see bees flying around? Where can I learn more about bait hive? Thank you.

 

[guardian_10]

One thing I forgot to mention is that this guy mentioned that A. Cerana is not lazy like A. Millifera. Once it swarms, it will not rest very close to the existing hive, but will fly off very far.

 

[mexbigshow]

i'm not sure how true that is but i'm sure someone will let us know but i think the bees would fly to any suitable site depending on stores they have and the age of the bees etc also there could be some wild bees in your area

 

[mexbigshow]

sorry i only saw the last post, for my swarm lure i just splashed lemon grass essential oil around my hive, i made a simple top bar hive out of spare ply wood i had in the garden so i got a hive and bees that cost me nothing at all, i just placed the hive next to my raspberries and apples and pears and after a while the bees moved in, it can be a long waiting game and depending on the size of the swarm that moves in it can take a while for them to build up but its just like fishing in a way and it gets exciting when you go to check for bees, i wouldn't worry too much about the strain you get i didn't mind and they have turned out to be very calm bees and i don't have to smoke them, i'll try and get some links for you.

 

[peterbees]

Have you contacted the British charity Bees for Development? I'm sure they can help you with information. See www.beesfordevelopment.org
I saw hives of apis cerana in Sri Lanka some years ago. The hives are much smaller than our, about the size of our nucleus hives. They were getting crops of honey and pollen from rubber trees.
Good luck with your beekeeping!

 

[guardian_10]

Here's what I'll try to do. I'll wait and buy a colony from this guy when he has one available and also ask him for some extra used combs he might have. Then, the next hard part is finding citronella oil and lemongrass oil. Everyone talks about India as an major exporter of software, but it's still in the dark ages when it comes to online shopping. Trying to find and buy some items is still a major problem here. Once, I can find these items, I'll try to set up a swarm lure and hope I get my 2nd colony free.

My worries about species arose only after I met this guy. Before that, I thought that beekeeping means compulsorily wearing a veil and having a smoker ready. But, a. cerana seems very docile. So, I don't want to spend more on equipments now initially. I am just starting off as a hobby for now. If I were to simply lure some bees and don't know about the species, I'm worried it might be a more aggressive one which stings. Call me stingy (pun unintended ) if you want.

Yes, even here in South India, it's the same. Smaller hives for a. cerana.

 

[guardian_10]

One thing I wanted to ask but forgot. Regarding the 7th picture in this link: "A peaceful enclave: Josephine's farm in Alanganallur ". Is this how beekeepers position the hives? What I read online and heard from the person I visited, I was under the impression that the hives should be protected from direct sunlight and rain. I see that the trees provide shade from the sun, but what about rain?

 

[Onge]

Good luck with your beekeeping.

Make sure you use local bees.

They will be adapted to your area.

 

[mexbigshow]

One thing I wanted to ask but forgot. Regarding the 7th picture in this link: "A peaceful enclave: Josephine's farm in Alanganallur ". Is this how beekeepers position the hives? What I read online and heard from the person I visited, I was under the impression that the hives should be protected from direct sunlight and rain. I see that the trees provide shade from the sun, but what about rain?

as long as the hive is water tight the rain shouldn't be a problem, it rains all the time in England and it never does any damage to my hive