Farmer’s Weekly – 30 August 2019

ARCHIVE

30

Y EA RSAGO

Whilebeekeeping

canbea lucrativehobbyor

occupation,it is a difficultand

time-consumingventure.

If youwantbeesandhoneyto

makesweetmusicto youandyour

bankmanager,it’sbetterto specialise

becausethereis muchto learn.

Beesdon’tnecessarilyneedclose

management,butmanagementmust

becorrect.Thesearetheviewsof

experiencedbeekeeperHLHardy

of DunswartontheEastRand.

If youdevoteallyourenergiesto

makinghoneyyouronlysmallholder

business,managethebeescorrectly

andgivethemaccessto additional

fodderareas,beekeepingcanbe

morerewardingthanmanyother

smallholderoperations,hesays.

Probablythequestionmostoften

askedbyanyonestartingwithbees

is:‘WherecanI setuphives?’

Theanswerto this,fortheamateur,

anyway,is anywhere,provided

normalprecautionsaretaken

to protectthebeesaswellasthe

peopleandanimalsinthearea.

Tosucceedat beekeeping,one

mustunderstandbeebehaviour

anduseit to one’sadvantage,and

alsohavea goodknowledgeof local

nectarandpollen-producingplants.

Hardysaysoneof theadvantages

of beekeepingis thattheinitialcost

againstexpectedreturnsis small.

Hivesmadeof pinecanbe

constructedbya goodcarpenter

to conformwiththeLangstroth

standards– Langstrothwas

a beekeeperinthe1850swho

graspedthesignificanceof ‘bee

space’,theareaof beemovement

surroundinga movableframe.

TheLangstroth-pattern,

ten-framehiveis theonemost

commonlyusedinthiscountry.

ABOVE:

A framefilledwith

honey.If youplan

tosellbottled

honeydirectlyto

thepublic,thehive

shouldprovide

at least30kgof

honeya year.

Thisphotograph

accompanied

thearticlein our

26 May 1989 issue.

Randvalueshave

beenadapted

forinflation.

Thisarticlehas

beeneditedto

adheretothe

currentstyleof

Farmer’sWeekly.

26 MAY 1989

Try honey

for money

DEVOTED TO SA FARMING SINCE 1911

FROM OUR

ARCHIVES

For the best rewards, honey should be

sold directly to the public. “Fresh off

the plot to the customer, which is the

whole idea of plot agriculture,” says

Hardy, although he himself is now

selling honey from some 500 hives to

a bottler, only a limited amount going

‘over the fence’ to cover labour costs.

“And,” he adds, “part of plot

agriculture is that the customer

expects honey off the plot to be

cheaper than shop-bought honey,

and that it should be pure.”

Honey can be big business,

and this has been proved by one

smallholder honey producer who has

6 000 hives and in one particular

year, achieved a R1,6 million

[about R12,2 million] t ur n o ve r.

But before you enter the big

league, you must have a thorough

knowledge of the subject.

Also remember that there are

municipal regulations that apply to

beekeeping, with local authorities

having the power to ban beekeeping

completely on smallholdings.

Where they are allowed, bees must

be housed at a safe distance from

boundary fences, rights of way and so

on. Although there is no need to feed

bees, the first step in beekeeping is to

assess the availability of bee fodder

(flowers or trees and other plants),

not only on one’s own smallholding,

but also in the surrounding area.

The bee fodder available will

directly affect the quality and quantity

of honey the bees will provide.

The next step in beekeeping is to

have a bee-proof honey house. “You

should also learn when honey flows

occur in your area,” says Hardy.

Hardy says to be economical, a hive

must provide 30kg of honey a year.

A part-time beekeeper may

manage 20 hives with an income

a year of R3 000 [R22 857].

Obviously, if you aim to be a

full-time beekeeper, the number

of hives kept must be increased

substantially, about 400 to 500.

“You cannot establish new

hives overnight,” says Hardy.

“Also, a lot of work is involved in

repairing and maintaining hives,

while housing for the hives must

be adequate. The most important

factor is fodder for your increasing

number of hungry swarms.” ▪FW

10 farmer’sweekly 30 AUGUST 2019