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>Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:02:55 -0500
>From: James Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
>Much longer than hundreds of years - thousands.
>I'd call 75-100 hives in one yard a "high-density apiary".
>Better yet, it was even an "urban" apiary, right in town.
Yup man has been keeping them for a very long time. I was keeping to
the present as a 100 traditional log hives (dejebbah) in N.. Africa
for example just do not have the colony size or numbers as a single
apiary of 50 hives.
I spend about three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in beekeeping in
Tunisia. I was in the mountains (Tell Bee) working with farmers that
had bees--usually the grandfather.
They had the traditional log hives. And already had Varroa (probably
brought into the country from Yugoslavia by commercial beekeepers
importing stock down in the citrus groves near the N. coast) anyhow
One of the bigger traditional farmers I met had a stack of over two
hundred hives. The stacks were covered with hay to provide protection
from water in the winter & the heat of the N. African summers. Rarely
were all the hives full ( a cylinder 9-12 inches X tree foot long)
and even if they were there would not be the numbers of bees or
harvest seen from a modern hive.
Don't openly dismiss the management skills beekeepers from whatever era.
One thing that really impressed me was that these old Hadj's (old
gentleman beekeepers) was their insight into bees. They probably
could not read or write but their observations were dead on. They
could observe the entrance & identify the health of a colony &
determine if it was queen right, diseased or identify wether a flow
was on etc. They had the time to lounge amongst the bees & watch &
ponder-something that we do nt have the luxury of today. I know I don't.
They were also beekeepers in every sense, trying new & innovative
activities like feeding--dryed milk or powdered chickpeas. Not
knowing the science behind it, they understood the colony needed
additional protein, not just sugar.
Their management usually revolved around catching swarms--as the tell
bee would cast huge numbers of swarms. I saw one dejebah one
afternoon throw about 16. The last was about the size of a
tangerine. The Hadj sent the grandson off with directions to catch as
many as he could. This kid would come running back after each catch
(about 8 or 9) and the bees would be stuck in a dark shed off the main
house awaiting dusk to then be placed in an empty dejebbah in the
stack.
Numbers were more important than individual colony strength--that was
perhaps one of the biggest obstacles I kept running into. That & the
ministry wanted everything in a Modern hive and there was not the
infrastructure to maintain modern beekeeping ( in the hills where I
was anyway) Now the commercial beekeepers down at the coast were
beholden to a whole different set of values--they were migratory
beekeepers with good stainless equipment from europe & good italian or
yugoslavian stock also imported.
This was 25 years ago--but I bet there has been less change than has
been seen here in the US as life is slower & change much less accepted
in Tunisia.
Thanx for the forum to rambler
Mike
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