Here is a fun, short video on hunting honey from the Giant Honey Bee. Clearly shot oversees by amateurs, it shows the technology used in 3rd world countries.
Note that Apis Dorsata only builds one comb, and it can get to be the size of a door.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1_ze8Fab4s
Mailed off my state sales taxes today, on the way home I checked on 3 swarm traps.
Frank and I are back from my outyard. The bad news is that I lost almost all of my nucs. This drought in central texas has gotten pretty bad. There are flowers, but little nectar in them. The ants are looking for anything, and I’m forced to feed which attracts them.
Yea, it is Spring and I should be busy keeping my hives from swarming. But I got distracted when I came across this nifty page on Ancient Egyptian Beekeeping.
http://pcela.rs/Egyptian_Beekeeping_1.htm
Nifty stuff, old and new hives look the same.
So I’m a quiet member of Kiva, the microloan folks. When I began, I just loaned to sub-Saharan African women, due to my knowledge of the conditions there.
Got a call forwarded from the local dispatcher, you know the guys who answer 911. They call me when when they get a 911 call for bees, it is the price I pay for my civic duty as a volunteer as the fire department beekeeper for sting attacks.
Anyway, the swarm was at 4 feet on a wall in a nice subdivision. Couldn’t ask for anything more. Well, I could have asked that they be on a branch not a immovable wall. Anyway, a quick brush job and I was done in 30 minutes. I did offer to put up a swarm trap to prevent this from happening again.
