BEEKEEPING
Indigenous aloe is a great winter feed
A
loe daveyana is a very
similar aloe to Aloe
Transvalensis, the main
difference of importance to
the beekeeper being that A
daveyana flowers in the
winter and A Transvalensis
flowers in the summer.
Because of the abundance of
flora about in the summer,
the nectar flow of A
Transvalensis has not been put
to the test by beekeepers and
no appreciable reports have
been tabled. But for A
daveyana, when nothing else
is flowering and in competi-
tion, the honey flow is
recognisable. The aloes occur
in a wide belt north of
Pretoria from Zeerust in the
west to about Middelburg in
the east, flowering from June
in the extreme west to August
in the east.
A daveyana nectar flow
depends on a number of
factors. Good rains in the
growing season from
November to March are
required. While the plant is a
dry hot climate plant,
beekeepers look for the
honey and pollen yield that
can only be attained by good
rains. Before going to the
aloes, one needs to inspect
first and ask around about the
rainy season. Dry hungry
plants, with leaves that
resemble old dry biltong,
entering the dry flowering
season cannot yield a fair
crop. Sure there will be
plenty of pollen, but there
will also be hungry nasty
bees, and plenty of swarming
off to better pastures.
Fat, healthy flower spikes
pushing their way up are
promising for good thing to
come. The flower buds all
appear before they start
opening from the bottom
buds up. These are the best
flowers that build the bees
up.
The first cycle of brood in the
hive will hatch after 18 days
and the second cycle after a
Keeping your bees nourished through the winter plenty of space must be given
is a challenge on the dry highveld
to avoid congestion in the
further 18 days. By this time
to avoid a period of
hives.
the aloes are peaking, when
queenlessness. Therefore,
Continued on page 26
most of the florets are open
over the whole field, and only
now does the honey come
pouring in to the hive
because of the vast number
of new worker bees.
Also at this time virtually
every queen will prepare to
swarm off and at this short
period of queenlessness the
black “capensis” bee
becomes active. These are
always present in the hives
and carry the queen
pheromone, which deceives
the bees and prevents them
from raising a new queen.
The swarm thus continues
queenless, no new workers
are developed, and the
swarm diminishes over a
longish period until all the
honey and pollen stocks have
been consumed by these
non-foraging bees.
Beekeepers currently lose
about 40% of their bees after
the aloe flow for bees that
they had taken to the aloes.
Thus, at all costs the queens
must not be allowed to leave
or fly out of the hives in order
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