"I can't breathe" says the honeybees

I can't breathe says the bees

*How do you manage your bee colony with smoke, smoker fuel and smokers?*

This is a contribution, please, smoker is an important tool used by beekeepers to calm and tactically coordinate flight of bees when disturbed.

But how do you handle your smoker and control the smoke?

It very important to note that fear makes the beekeeper direct the nozzle with heavy smoke into the beehive.

This attitude is no longer calming the bees but choking the bees and spoiling the grubs (potential workers and drones) that will help repair the comb, nurture the Queen and collect honey for you.

If you don't know how to manage a colony with smoker, you will:

1. Predispose them to pest invasion especially wax moth, and black beetles.
2. Make the colony weak.
3. Render the honey yet to be capped of poor quality, which the bees may refuse to complete the capping.
4. Cause the colony to abscond.

Hence, no matter your view of the bees, a gentle puff of dense white smoke at the entrance, and around the cover is enough to send a signal, and most workers will cling to protect their:

Queen, uncapped honey, and few around the larvae.

Too much smoke will surely alter your honey flavor, can cause honey rapid colour change, thus rendering your honey poor quality.

Hence, endeavor to use good and functional smoker without smoke leakage,

Organic smoker fuel, well dried plantain leaves folded into small rolls, or compressed dried moringa leaves is cool.

Therefore, indiscriminate use of smoke can either make or mar your honey and colony.

*Tropic Highland Apiary*
*Oyinsaanu*
*Village Hills Enterprises*

How to capture swarm of bees in Nigeria

Hello, perhaps you discover a swarm of bees around your assets or property or house, please you're doing the nature and our environment good by not destroying them either with chemicals or fire.

Kindly call a beekeeper around you or contact us 08061275115 we will help you to evacuate the bees peacefully.

This is a procedure for moving a swarm by a beekeeper who love to increase his or her number of colonized beehives or any one interested to learn process of hiving a swarm.

Get a net or sac with space enough to swallow the bee cluster .

Honey mixed with water to rub the inside of the net or sac,

Get dressed with your beesuit.

Place the net or sac under the swarm, and give a sharp jack on what colony is clinging on,
90% must fall in, hey watch and don't squeeze, just tie the net or sac neck with robe.

Pour or sprinkle honey mixed with water on them to calm them.

You're good to go.

Before you pour them into your hive, sprinkle little honey with water inside, then block the entrance to a tiny hole that can only allow one bee at a time.

Then open the top bar from the middle, like 7 bars for space to pour the bees.

Then gradually and gently open the net or sac of swarm, once opened, turn it immediately upside down into the beehive, quickly arranged the 7 top bars back to their position in order to prevent drifting off the anxious workers who wanted to be free.
Once up to 75% of the bees are inside, close the beehive cover, and the remaining bees in the net or sac should be opened and placed under the beehive.

They will fly out to meet the others that clung to your hive.
This process is 60 - 40 chances. But most times it is successful.

This was my experience, and it was a success hiving a honeybee swarm in southwest Nigeria.

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