Every subject area seems to
have its icons, people you look up to because of their years of experience and
the knowledge they have gained. Top bar hive beekeeping is no exception.
I had the privilege of meeting
Les Crowder during my time in Jamaica. In top bar hive beekeeping, Les is very
prominent and well known. With 40 years of beekeeping experience, many look to
him as one of the authorities on this system of managing bees. He is the author
of a book, a speaker at conferences, and a trainer of beekeepers.
Top bar hive authority Les Crowder with a recently
removed bush bee colony in Jamaica.
Like me, he has also been a Farmer
to Farmer volunteer with the top bar hive beekeeping project in Jamaica, having
gone there several times. He just happened to be on the island visiting his
girlfriend while I was there. This gave me the opportunity to meet him and even
get into a colony of bush bees with him.
Bees had established themselves
several months beforehand in one of the hollow branches of a large mango tree
at his girlfriend’s house. At night some bees would enter the house, Les said, attracted
to the light. He saw this as his opportunity to get a bee hive started in
Jamaica while eliminating a nuisance.
The jury rigged smoker used to cut the limb off the
mango tree. The result—hundreds of mangos all over the ground.
He had called over to Yerba
Buena Farm asking for the use of a smoker. He jury rigged a simple one from a
paint can and black plastic tubing but he had a problem keeping it lit. James,
who was the intern at Yerba Buena, and I went over to there with the smoker and
willing to give a hand if needed.
When we got there he had already
cut down the limb. What a disaster! Not with the bees, though. There were
mangos and branches everywhere—literally hundreds of mangos.
The bees were still in the
limb, awaiting the arrival of the smoker. After greeting one another and
talking for a bit we got the smoker going and put on our veils. Les grabbed the
chainsaw and began cutting sections off the end of the branch, trying to locate
exactly where the nest was situated.
Upon finding the bottom of the
combs inside the limb, Les cut a wedge from it in order to open up the cavity. It
was a bit tricky. You need to judge how much you need to cut into the trunk to
free the wedge while not cutting so much that you cut into the combs and bees.
The limb was sawed off in sections until the bottom of
the combs were located. Les then cut a wedge out of the top to open up the
colony’s nest.
The removal itself was then simple.
The bees were calm. The combs were easy to remove. The queen was found and put
in a cage. All the bees marched in after her.
Les didn’t have the ideal hive
box for the transfer. It was a bit “rustic” since he had to make do with what
he had available. He put a couple boxes together from some old boards the family
had left over from the original house on the property. The grandfather had cut
them by hand 40 years before.
He didn’t have any comb savers
so he just set the combs on the floor of the hive at the back. Les said that
once the bees began building some new comb from the bars he would press the old
combs onto that in order to attach them. The hive would also be moved little by little over
several days to its new location at the back of the house.
The combs from the colony set at the back of the hive
box.
Les looked at each comb as he
removed them, trying to find the queen. When she wasn’t located on the combs he
started checking the cavity. I found her in a clump of bees that was on the
wedge that he cut out to open up the cavity. Les put her into a cage and set
her among the combs.
Les carefully scoops out a clump of bees from the
hollow in the tree limb while also looking for the queen.
He is uncertain about the
colony’s survival. Les said the queen seemed to be damaged. The colony was
small. It is also the dearth period so flowers with nectar are scarce.
But, according to Les, it had
to be removed. They were a nuisance. The tree itself was also a threat. It was
hollow inside and full of termites (the chickens seemed to love that). A strong
wind from a passing hurricane would probably have knocked it down, possibly on
top of the house.
I had the chance to talk with
Les further after we finished. It turns out that we have things in common. Both
of us speak Spanish and have experiences in Latin America. He worked for a
large commercial beekeeper before turning to top bar hives. We both even have
experiences with dairy farms.
Les Crowder and myself.
There are always some
beekeepers I wish I could meet. Living in Honduras the closest I normally get
is reading something about them on the internet. But when that opportunity does
come around, what better way to have it than with a bee veil on and playing
with bees.
--Tom
