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Getting down to business with the bees

The most recent visitors to the community of El Ojochal del Listón are visitors who we hope will stay, and there are thousands of them!  The first of eight hives of africanised bees was transported to the community leaving León before dawn to arrive at their new home just as it was getting light.  Kept quiet with smoke, the bees were peaceful until they reached the site of the new apiary and as the sun came up they flew out of the hive to explore their new surroundings.  The move took place under the watchful eye of Erika Perez, Nuevas Esperanzas’ resident beekeeper at the end of July.

A few weeks later, seven more hives were moved to the community, but this time things were not quite so straightforward.  Extremely heavy rain and difficult conditions the day of the move meant that one hive got wet on the journey and the bees died.  Over the following weeks, as the remaining bees needed to settle in and explore their new environment, persistent rain kept the bees in the hive.  Stressed by the journey and frustrated by the rains, the bees from two more hives decided to desert their new home and move on. The weather has worked against us this year.  July and August usually bring drier weather for a few weeks known as ‘little summer’ but this year was different and the little summer never came.  Although the cool, wet conditions were certainly not idea for moving the hives, the remaining five colonies appear to be doing well.

When the dry season starts in November and the trees are flowering, native bees will be looking for homes where they can produce honey.  We hope to capture some of these bees from the wild in El Ojochal del Listón to replenish the empty hives.

In the meantime, work is continuing to train young people from El Ojochal del Listón and El Ñajo in beekeeping techniques.  They have learnt about the life span of a bee (one to two months) and how to recognise the workers and the drones.  They have learnt about the queen who can live up to five years but is usually changed by the colony after about two years.  They have also learnt how to feed the bees with sugar solution.  With so much rain, the bees could become weak from lack of food if they are unable to go out to collect pollen, making them vulnerable to mites and less likely to stay at the hive.  The sugar solution will sustain them until they are able to go out and collect pollen again.  The trainee beekeepers are doing really well.  They can now check the hive, using smoke to calm the bees and removing one panel at a time to see the comb and check on the queen. 

There is not much pollen at the moment but in a couple of months’ time the 10,000 bees in each hive will be hard at work collecting pollen and busily producing honey.  In 15 -25 days each hive will produce up to 30kg of honey – then they really will be getting down to business!

13/09/10