There follows part of a mail sent to me by a friend who teaches beekeeping
in Nigeria. She has also sent as a word document the instruction manual which
I shall copy and paste into the next mail.
Chris
Hi Chris,
I usually advise a similar method to the one you describe , called the
8 day float method. It requires only simple buckets and filters, little
sweaty hard work (pressing etc), foreign equipment (extractors etc) and is
used quite successfully on our rural Nigerian projects.
But I am afraid the first lesson is that honey quality management starts
right from the hive at comb harvest. Hive type really does not come into it.
Before we harvest
We harvest at night as well but we make sure we visit the hives sometime
BEFORE we harvest, IN THE DAY and IDENTIFY & MARK the brood comb/brood area
or honey combs AND very importantly note the COMB QUALITY (dark, medium,
light). We mark the brood comb top bars (with chalk, charcol, stones,
whatever). Some people prefer to mark the actual combs they will harvest
instead of the brood area. We teach ONLY to take combs that are READY i.e
75% SEALED ON BOTH SIDES. No unsealed cells or brood, EVER. This is a hard
and fast rule which is re inforced after harvest. We then go back at night
to harvest the honey combs.
At the hive, at comb harvest, at night
1. Take 75% sealed on both sides only
2. Sort / grade wax combs for quality (light medium dark)
3. As 75% sealed combs are removed / cut, they are placed the appropriate
bucket (light, medicum, dark). BUCKETS must all have tight fitting lids for
transport, processing. Another hard and fast harvest rule to protect against
contamination in transport etc.
4. Cleanliness is paramout. All equipment must be cleaned before etc. etc.
No debris from harvesting should be thrown about the hive. We advise to take
an extra bucket or bag to collect debris from harvesting.
On a practical note, successful harvesting is about practice. We find that
if people are clear what they are doing and why after a couple of practice
runs they are able to harvest quietly at night without a lot of smoke and
banging about the hive and chucking debris everywhere about the hive. When
the TBs are lifted the combs are usually covered with bees and this is where
the panic ususally starts. It is very important to demonstrate and allow
peopole to practice the correct techniques under live conditions.
First some bees can be gently tapped or shaken off as the bar is lifted,
then most bees can simply be brushed off with a brush of some sort and the
remaining gently smoked off to reveal the honey comb underneath, which is
cut from the top bar (1'' or so) and comb placed in the appropriate bucket
with lid. A white cloth(s) can also be used to give additional control, by
placing it over the TBs as soon as the roof is removed and rolling it back
to gain access to each TB. Until they are experienced, we get them to
harvest in twos only.
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