19BBKA News Incorporating e British Bee Journal January 2017

The BBKA BasicAssessment in ModernAfrican Beekeeping

By Richard Ridler, Chairman, Bees Abroad and Jane Ridler, Master Beekeeper

British examinations are highlyregarded around the world and theBBKA Basic Assessment in Modern

African Beekeeping (which will now bereferred to as the Assessment) is noexception. It came about through theinitiative of Pam Gregory, one of thefounders of Bees Abroad, the UK charitypursuing the relief of poverty throughbeekeeping projects.

So far all examinations have been carriedout by Bees Abroad’s volunteer projectleaders. However, anyone qualified toexamine in the UK can act as an examinerif they have adequate knowledge ofbeekeeping in Africa. In this article we aregoing to look at some of the differencesbetween the UK and African assessments,which we hope will be of interest. edifferences should also make you thinkabout why we do things as we do in theUK and may even lead you to somealternative approaches.

‘Modern’ really means beekeeping usingtop-bar hives. e Kenya top-bar hive

(KTB) is widely used having been designedin the UK in 1965 to suit Africanconditions. Before that bees were kept in avariety of traditional hives. ese requirethat beekeepers put an arm inside the hiveto remove comb. is has to be donewithout the luxury of being able to see whatis on the comb and in most cases withoutany protective equipment. Many Africanbeekeepers continue to use such hives, butthrough the work of Bees Abroad andothers, KTB hives are now widely acceptedas preferable. e KTB does not haveframes so the Assessment does not requirethe assembly of one. However, candidatesare required to know the correct width of atop-bar. is is the only critical dimensionin the KTB because none of the rest of thebuilt parts depend on bee-space, whichdrives the need for framed hives to bemade accurately. e bees build their owncomb with bee-space without any help! ewidth of top-bars sold for use in UK top-bar hives is 34mm. However, the correctwidth in Africa is 32mm. e differencecomes from the fact that the Apis melliferamellifera bees we have in Europe are veryslightly larger than A. m. scutellata andother races, in Africa. e syllabus requirescandidates to know how to prepare the top-bars to ensure comb is built along the barsand not across several bars. ere are anumber of ways of doing this; foundation isnot available. We have observed that themost successful is to provide a woodenguide along the centre of the bar primedwith wax. e other approach is to lay abead of wax along the centre line of the bar.

Beekeeping in Africa is less intensive thanin the UK and involves a lot lessintervention. Arguably, it is more naturaland has some commonality with theconcepts of natural beekeeping, whichhave acquired considerable favour in USAand are now gaining some support in UK.All manipulations are best done early in

As we take ourBBKA ‘Basic’ here in the UK, we mightspare a thought forour African cousinsdoing the very samething ... but with afew differences.Richard and JaneRidler report.

Traditional African hive made of wattle and daub. All photos courtesy of Bees Abroad.

20BBKA News Incorporating e British Bee Journal January 2017

the morning or late in the evening. African bees have a reputationof being aggressive and so handling them at dawn and dusk whenthey are more docile is preferable.

Artificial swarming, uniting colonies and actions to deal withlaying workers and drone-laying queens are not practiced inmodern African beekeeping and so are not part of the Assessment.However, knowledge of attracting and catching swarms anddividing colonies is included.

Catching swarms is essential because African bees oen abscondto escape pests, the extremes of weather and dwindling forage.Nucleus colonies are not available for sale. A typical African apiarywill have around a quarter of its hives empty at any one time.Swarm control is not practiced and so there are plenty of swarmsto be caught; empty hives in the apiaries, which have been cleanedand baited, are used to attract them. Propolis is rubbed around thehive entrance and plenty of beeswax applied over the insidesurfaces of the hive to act as attractants. Other readily availableattractants include lemon grass, cassava or maize flour and bananaskins. Catcher boxes, which resemble short KTBs, are also used forcatching swarms. ey are placed in locations favoured by swarmson the move which are known to local beekeepers. Once caughtthe swarm is moved and transferred into a full-sized hive; the lessthan three feet or more than three-mile rule applies.

Splitting colonies is best done in the cool of the early morning andonly strong colonies are split. e old hive is moved to one sideand a new empty hive is put in its place. Combs with brood andespecially eggs are chosen, all bees are swept off them and they areplaced in the new colony at the entrance end. e combs aredivided roughly equally between the hives. No attempt is made tofind the queen so it is essential the combs being transferred arefully cleared of bees because she must be in the old hive. If queencells are already present, at least one brood comb with queen cellson it is very carefully transferred into the new hive. One broodcomb with queen cells on it should be le in the active hive in casethe queen is lost during the division.

e Assessment requires that a method of deterring bees fromabsconding is known. A paper clip fixed appropriately over theentrance hole can be used to stop the queen leaving the hive.

e nature of top-bar beekeeping in Africa is inherently healthy forbees. is is such a key issue that it has been selected as a focus forthe Beekeeping for Rural Development Stream at Apimondia 2017.e reasons are:n e extraction of honey from comb involves the destruction of

the comb and with it any pathogens. e wax is oenrecovered and either sold or used to make creams and

cosmetics.n Aer bees abscond, which they oen do, wax moths destroy

comb or the beekeeper removes it; again pathogens aredestroyed.

n Artificial swarming is not practised so there are more swarms.Swarms leave behind much of the pathogen load and most ofcertain pests, particularly varroa and small hive beetle (SHB).

e Assessment requires the ability to describe AFB and EFBalthough not what action to take if it is found. ere are, as yet, nosuch things as bee inspectors or notifiable disease legislation.

As in the UK the Assessment requires knowledge of how to dealwith pests. e range of such pests presents more of a challenge tothe beekeeper than in the UK and contributes to the moredefensive nature of African bees as well as their absconding habit. n SHB is endemic throughout Africa and is readily visible.

African bees are practised at controlling the beetles, they chasethem relentlessly, bite them and herd them into corners. eyare not such a threat to strong colonies, but do overcomeweaker ones. To counter SHB, used engine oil is put on theground around hives. Larvae of the SHB pupate in the groundand the engine oil kills them, thus breaking the life cycle.

n Lizards can devour large quantities of bees and are all too oenfound sitting between the hive cover and the top-bars pickingoff bees as they enter and exit through ill-fitting top-bars.Making accurate top-bars in Africa is problematical due to thelack of suitable tools. e solution is better top-bars or stuffingup the holes.

n Termites can literally eat hives. One solution is, again, to makea little reservoir around the hive feet where they meet theground and to fill it with used engine oil, which termites willnot cross. e way to prevent ants entering hives is the same.

n If honey badgers are present hives must be strung betweentrees using wires to stop the badgers getting to them.

n Monkeys can knock hives over and so if they are present hives

Keyna top-bar hives in an apiary in Uganda.

A practical lesson.

21BBKA News Incorporating e British Bee Journal January 2017

must also be strung up. n Strangely enough elephants are scared

of bees!n While varroa is endemic in Africa no

attempt is made to control it and wehave seen no evidence that it isparticularly harmful.

Some factors in the selection of apiary sitesand their layout differ from the UK. It isessential that hives are shaded from thesun; sometimes trees are plantedspecifically. We recently visited a newapiary with a row of sticks around it. eexplanation to the sticks was that they werecut from a tree whose cuttings naturallyroot, just like willow whips do.

e availability of water in Africa variesgreatly. In the tropical zones there is morethan enough but in the arid zones it can bean issue. In extreme circumstances beeswill migrate in periods of drought.Beekeepers are advised to keep the areasaround their hives clear of vegetationbecause it provides a path for pests,particularly ants and termites, to reachhives. It is also important to leave a firebreak space between vegetation and hiveswhere forest fires are common. Africanbees are more defensive than ours so it isessential that apiary sites are selected withthe safety of neighbours and livestock inmind. We know of goats that came tooclose to hives being killed by bees.

We found the day of the Assessments to behung with tension when we assessed eightof the most experienced of the hundred orso beekeepers at our well-establishedproject in Kasese, Uganda, last February.ere is huge weight placed on educationand achievement in exams, evidenced bythe fact that spare money is so oen usedfor children’s schooling.

It was not just the candidates who were tobe put on their mettle. For instance, theAssessment requires the candidate to name

local flora from which bees collect nectarand pollen. Answers oen includedavocado, eucalyptus and mimosa but manyplants and trees were new to the assessor!However, this kind of question and answeris less testing for the tester than theunderlying necessity of always ‘thinking outof the box’. Beekeeping is representative ofthe whole culturally different approach tolife and ways of doing things, so it is not somuch about right and wrong answers,rather ‘could this solution to a problemwork?’ You also have to be always consciousof language differences. Although English isthe national language of Uganda and is usednationally in schools and colleges (there areover thirty, first languages), the use ofidioms and words can be different. I wasconfused at one stage by the use of‘mingling’ in respect of mixing honey inbuckets; a word I tend to keep for people!Still, only one candidate needed a translatorand we had the advantage of knowing the

candidates and their beekeeping quite well.Of course knowing your candidates well isnot allowed in UK Basic Assessments. Wehad been very careful about who we letenter the exam because of this and tryingalso to avoid the disappointment of failurein the African environment.

So at the end of two very hot days (we hadrequested that the practical and the theorysections be separated as it was a long walkto the apiary) there were some extremelyhappy and proud achievers of the BBKAcertificate. It is very easy for us tounderestimate the value of thisqualification as a money-making tool inUganda. Some of our candidates are highlyeducated in biological and environmentalsciences, but that does not mean they caneasily gain employment in rural Uganda.As the Bees Abroad projects proliferate,these local beekeepers can be used moreand more as trainers; so beekeeping isrelieving poverty on two levels!

Examining for the African Basic. Receiving the BBKA Certificate.

At Bees Abroad we are allvolunteers. The charity’s objective isthe relief of poverty in any part ofthe developing world through theadvancement of the craft ofbeekeeping. We exclusively do thisby working with groups helpingthem to establish sustainable socialenterprises. The money earned frombeekeeping is typically used to payfor medicines and school fees. Tofind out more about us visit ourwebsite at www.beesabroad.org.uk.If you might want to join us or justhave a question, please emailinfo@beesabroad.org.uk

Catcher box being prepared for putting into anearby tree.