Gauteng Smallholder Gauteng Smallholder September 2017 | Page 23

BEEKEEPING
How to move your beehives
T
here are various
reasons why one needs
to move bees and
hives, over very small or very
long distances. Here are some
reasons why, and pointers as
to how to do it.
Small movements of the hives
may be necessary to face the
entrance in order to change
Another article in our regular feature on
bees and beekeeping, by Peter Clark,
chairman of the Eastern Highveld
Beekeepers Association
the flight path of the workers.
In this case the hive remains
in its original position but
swivels through 180 degrees
to change the direction from,
say south facing to north
facing.
On day one swivel only 45
degrees and leave for 3 day,
then a further 45 degrees for
SMART SMALLHOLDERS
From page 20
has a number of mentors in
the industry.
From a business perspective,
she hopes to hire permanent
beekeepers so that she can
focus on the business side of
things. As with any growing
agricultural business, Mabela
finds herself spending a lot of
time in the fields at the
expense of time for marketing
and business networking.
Native Nosi's final challenge
has been around consumer
education. Customers
question the difference in the
colour and flavour of honey
until they are told the reasons
behind this. Customers have
also questioned the differ-
ences between large retail-
bought honey and the organic
honey from Native Nosi.
“Unfortunately, we are led to
believe that what we buy at a
supermarket is fine and when
something is presented to us
that is different we question
this,” says Mabela. Because
of this, Mabela says her
product sometimes needs
explaining to the consumer.
Native Nosi relies largely on
word-of-mouth for its
marketing. This has been the
case for Mabela since the
early days of selling her
father's honey at work.
Today, Native Nosi has a large
Facebook following and was
Continued on page 23
21
www.sasmallholder.co.za
another 4 days and repeat
two more swivels of 45
degrees with 4 day intervals
to complete the 180 degree