From page 20
When the moisture content is
reduced down to 19% and
lower, the bees cap the cell
with a thin layer of wax.
The foraging field bees will
only bring in an amount of
nectar that the house bees
can process overnight and
during the next day.
There is no surplus of nectar
stored somewhere in the hive
waiting to be processed. The
field bees gauge their
activities to suit the processing
bees in the hive.
While there can be a lavish
nectar flow from the flowers,
the field bees will only bring
into the hive the amount of
nectar that can be processed
into honey and the overall
BEEKEEPING
rather than mixing up, say,
strength of the hive is
determined by the house
bees who are able to process
the nectar as rapidly as it is
foraged.
Moreover a foraging bee will
not mix sources of nectar. If it
starts on, say lavender, it will
continue working only
lavender plants till is has a full
belly of lavender nectar,
lavender and lucerne nectar.
Once the hive becomes full
of honey the bees stop
working.
This is where the beekeeper
helps out, by removing the
frames full of honey and
replacing them with empty
ones so that the bees can
resume their work again.
For more information: Peter
Clark tel 011 362-2904,
author of Tales of an African
She owns two Kubota B2420
Beekeeper, and chairman of
tractors and an L4100. The
the Eastern Highveld
B2420 features a fuel efficient
Beekeeper's Assoc, secretary
24HP Kubota ETVCS diesel
Mike Alter, tel 011 965-6040.
engine.
The 41,6HP Kubota L4100
has an 8-forward/ 4-reverse
transmission with Kubota's
sliding gear range shift system,
allowing seamless directional
changes between forward
and reverse. “This is particularly useful for us when
operating in some of the
nursery's narrow aisles,” De
Luca says.
Kubotas prove their worth at Random Harvest
M
Luca, says that her fleet of
three Kubota tractors has
been “life-saving”.
“I have had our Kubota
tractors for about
five months now
and I use them to
move product
around the nursery,
to pull orders, to
remove move
rubbish and for a
host of other daily
tasks that must be
done in the nursery
Random Harvest’s drivers with one of their
environment,” says
machines: Sidney Chikaonda, Ben Lolwana and
De Luca.
Michael Ramunyandi
uldersdrift-based
Random Harvest
Indigenous
Nurseries owner, Linda De
21
www.sasmallholder.co.za