The House of Bees

Gebeyehu is a most imaginative beekeeper. I had the pleasure of visiting his farm in Yewbush, Ethiopia. Gebeyehu designed his house to accommodate his family and his bee hives. The sturdy construction is like that of other Amhara farm houses. Eucalyptus poles are plastered with mud. Unlike most area farm houses, that are one story, Gebeyehu’s house is two stories. The upper story is smaller than the lower story, providing an elevated gallery all around the house under a broad, overhanging tin roof. This gallery, surrounding Gebeyehu’s second-story bedroom, holds dozens of bee hives. Three tiers of hive stands hold bee hives facing outward on all four sides of the house. There is space behind all of the bee hives for Gebeyehu to conveniently access the hives. Bees exit the hives in all directions from the second story, flying above the heads of children and adults in the yard. The broad, tin roof above the bee hive gallery shades the hives from the tropical sun.

Gebeyehu’s house of bees contains all three types of bee hives in use in Ethiopia, traditional, transitional top bar hives, and modern. Gebeyehu has modified some of his modern Zander hives by connecting the hive bodies end-to-end instead of atop one another. This arrangement creates a horizontal hive with removable frames. From the outside, this modified Zander hive looks like a Tanzanian top bar hive. This hive gives the beekeeper the advantages of access without lifting heavy hive boxes. The hive is worked like a top bar hive, but it has the sturdy removable frames of a top bar hive. Two of these horizontal hives are visible on the second tier of hives in today’s photo of Gebeyehu’s house. Traditional hives are long cylinders built of cane. Modern Zander hives are upright boxes, usually painted yellow in Ethiopia. A small child tends to her infant sibling snuggled in her backpack while bees fly overhead. People and bees live in harmony here.

--Richard

Hive Ventilation and Cooling

To determine why some Ethiopian beekeepers are experiencing bee colonies absconding, or abandoning their hives, we look at each of their three types of hive. Honey bees will abscond if there is not enough forage in the area, and then the bees migrate to areas where food is available. This dearth of forage does not seem to be severe enough in some of the areas experiencing absconding. Honey bees will, however, abandon their hive if environmental conditions make the hive completely unsuitable for bees and developing bee brood. After evaluating the Ethiopian traditional hive, the transitional, or top bar hive, and the modern bee hive for size, ability to shed rain water, and ease of defense, we look at the ability of the bees to regulate hive temperature and provide ventilation. Here, we see several problems with the hive designs and the bees’ ability to maintain their hive’s internal environmental conditions. The traditional bee hive, usually constructed of cane, coated with mud or dung, and wrapped in banana leaves, is often plugged so that only a tiny opening exists for bees to enter and exit the hive. There is almost no through-ventilation inside the hive or space for bees to fan their wings at the entrance. The same lack of ventilation exists with both transitional and modern bee hives. Modern Zander bee hives, like the ones shown in today’s photo, are particularly lacking in through-ventilation. A small entrance is the hive’s only outside port. Air circulation in the top of the hive is difficult to maintain. Fortunately, this ventilation problem can be easily solved by cutting a screened hole in the back of the hive.

Beeswax melts at temperatures around 145 degrees Fahrenheit, and there are reports of wax melting in Ethiopian bee hives. Since bees try to maintain a brood nest temperature around 95 degrees, such wax-melting hive temperatures make these hives completely unsatisfactory. Shade trees and hive stands with elevated roofs protect hives from the tropical sun.

--Richard

A Dry Bee Hive

For bees living near the equator, dry and rainy seasons shape the bees’ year. The month of June sees the beginning of a four month rainy season in Ethiopia’s Amhara Region. A bee hive must be able to protect the bees from the elements. The hive must be designed and mounted so that it is protected from rain. We examine each of the three Ethiopian bee hives to see if they are suitable in the rainy season. Traditional hives, though often covered with mud and dung, are usually wrapped with banana leaves, effectively shedding rain. Modern bee hives have a solid cover, making them quite rain proof. Only transitional hives, also known as top bar hives are vulnerable to rainy season problems. Traditional hives are mounted in trees, where they serve as effective swarm catchers. Some traditional hives are mounted on the walls of farmers’ houses, protected from rain by the overhanging thatch or metal roof. Modern and transitional bee hives are mounted on stands in the open. All three types of bee hives are at times mounted on stands with a covered roof as in today’s photo, which shows from left to right a traditional hive, transitional hive, and modern Zander bee hive. The roof above the hives provides for good rain protection as well as shade from Africa’s tropical sun. The space above the hives allows for good air circulation.

Bees in transitional hives are most vulnerable to rain. Top bars are usually covered with some protective material. If the covering is a simple water resistant top, the hive is well protected. However, it is a common practice in Ethiopia to cover transitional top bar hives with a heavy layer of green leaves during the rainy season. While this traditional practice is meant to protect the hive from rainfall, it tends to hold moisture in and around the hive. The moisture adds to the development of chalkbrood, a fungal disease commonly afflicting Ethiopian bee colonies.

--Richard

Bee Hive Size

Honey bees live in cavities. In Ethiopia, natural cavities are hollow trees or crevices in volcanic rock walls. Ethiopian farmers also keep bees in three distinct styles of manmade hives. Traditional bee hives are long baskets, usually constructed from cane or strips of wood. Transitional bee hives, also known as “top bar hives,” are open baskets with strips of wood at the top to hold the bees’ combs. Modern bee hives are wooden boxes with removable frames to hold the bees’ combs. Honey bee colonies will generally maintain their brood nest in a hive as long as there is food available in the region and the hive remains suitable to the bees. To try to determine why the Amhara beekeepers are experiencing their bees' absconding and swarming, we look closely at each of the three manmade bee hives.

The first concern for a bee hive to be suitable for the bees is its size. For the farmers to build up a population of bees capable of producing a surplus of honey the hive must be large enough for the bees to greatly expand their brood nest. In nature, bees often select a cavity with a volume of about 40 liters. After the colony fills this volume, the colony divides; and half of the bees swarm in search of another cavity. We measure traditional and transitional hives and find them to have a volume of about 89 liters. A modern Zander hive with two brood nest boxes measures about 84 liters, probably a suitable volume. It appears that the use of a single Zander brood nest box by some farmers probably leads to brood nest congestion and swarming. The Amhara farmers recognize that they might be able to reduce swarming by adding more hive boxes and frames as bee populations grow. In today’s photo, seasoned Ethiopian beekeeper, Gebeyehu, brings one of his traditional bee hives to the Machakel training facility for us to examine. Hive size is important wherever we keep bees.

--Richard

Transitions

Three types of bee hives are used in Ethiopia. Ninety-seven percent of the hives are traditional hives, long baskets built at no expense of cane and banana leaves. These hives are usually hung high in trees, but they are also attached to the outside walls of houses. Some traditional hives are placed inside houses under beds. Modern bee hives similar in design to the Langstroth bee hive comprise two percent of Ethiopia’s bees. The remaining one percent of Ethiopian bee hives is top bar hives, described as “transitional hives.” These simple boxes are also built from locally available materials at no expense. Transitional hives provide an economical method of managing honey bees that allows for the benefits of modern beekeeping: ease of hive inspection, ability to combine and divide colonies, move brood between hives, requeen, and improve genetics. Most importantly, transitional hives allow for the non-destructive harvesting of high quality honey. Beeswax is harvested by crushing honeycombs. Hive products are collected without killing or losing the honey bee colony. Today’s photo from Ethiopia shows one of Teshome’s transitional bee hives mounted in a tree. This top bar hive is covered in plastic and foliage as is the custom in Ethiopia. I recommended that Teshome consider removing the foliage to improve air circulation. Chalkbrood, a honey bee fungal infection, is a major hive problem in Ethiopia’s rainy season.

Many transitions are occurring on Ethiopian farms. Beekeepers earn additional income with transitional and modern bee hives. Using standardized sized hives, beekeepers can move combs from one hive to another. Teshome recognizes the benefits of improving queen bee genetics; he uses similar techniques in cattle breeding. He foresees the ability to produce gentler bees by selecting queen stock from his best hives. His farm is steadily transitioning to a broader based economy. Teshome eagerly traces the design of my hive tool so that he can have the local blacksmith produce tools for area beekeepers to take a more hands-on approach to beekeeping.

--Richard

Traditional to Modern

The beekeepers in the Oromia region of Ethiopia collect honey and beeswax from traditional bee hives mounted in trees. However, problems the farmers encounter in handling and storing honey often mean a harvest of inferior quality that brings a low price. My Winrock International assignment is to teach modern beekeeping methods and to demonstrate how to move bees from traditional bee hives into modern hives. Most Ethiopians are farmers, and nearly all Ethiopian farms have bee hives. Ninety-seven percent of the hives is traditional hives like those placed high in trees for thousands of years. These hives are truly beautiful sights; tall trees holding the five to six-foot long cane cylinders resemble trees covered with weaver bird nests. One percent of Ethiopia’s honey bees is held in transitional bee hives, known as top bar hives. The remaining two percent of Ethiopia’s bee hives is the modern Zander hive, and half of the Zanders sit without bees. With the vast majority of Ethiopia’s bees being held in traditional hives high in trees, beekeeping in this semi-tropical land is based on attracting swarms of bees and then making a one-time harvest of honey and beeswax. The method of harvesting is destructive of the bees’ nest, and it usually results in the loss of the bee colony. Keeping bees in modern hives makes harvesting high-quality honey possible with no loss of the bee colony.

I planned a move of brood comb and bees from a traditional hive into a modern Zander hive. Unlike traditional bee work done at night using large amounts of smoke, I told my students, all seasoned beekeepers, that we would attempt to move the bees during daylight hours using a small amount of smoke. In today’s photo, I am shoulder-deep in the traditional hive cutting out brood combs which my helpers tie into modern frames with string. After I have removed all of the combs, I dump all of the remaining bees into the waiting hive with one sharp bump.

--Richard

Ethiopian Bees

Driving through Ethiopia’s western highlands, we pass Asgory town; the name means “come here.” We see bright yellow Zander bee hives on the roadside for sale. A small woman walks down the road carrying a Zander slung on her back in a blanket. My host, Guta, driver, Jotte, and I stop briefly for coffee and bread in Ambo, a town known for its highly independent citizens. We continue driving. A large wild bee flies into our truck, striking both Jotte and me in the face, but not stinging either of us. The bee, twice the size of a honey bee worker and considerably larger than a drone is colored half black and half orange. We stop for me to get a close-up view of traditional bee hives hanging from limbs of a tree next to a niger seed field. Niger, Guizotia abyssinica, a seed grown for cooking oil, is native to Ethiopia’s western highlands. The niger plant requires fertilization by honey bees to produce the seed which is exported to the United States as bird food for finches.

We arrive at the farm of beekeeper, Teshome, who proudly shows me his bee hives. The thatch-covered structure in today’s photo holds traditional hives, long cylinders of cane and banana leaves. Traditional hives are often hung high in trees, but they are also mounted on the walls of houses under the roof eaves and inside houses under beds. Trapezoid-shaped transitional hives, or top bar hives, are constructed of cane covered with mud and dung. Other hives are clay pots similar to water jugs. Elsewhere, Teshome shows me transitional bee hives mounted in trees and modern Zander hives mounted on poles. To protect the hives from ants, Ethiopia’s greatest bee hive pest, the hive stands are painted with burned engine oil. Teshome and other highland beekeepers also harvest medicinal honey from underground stingless bees. Guard bees from the traditional hive on the upper right back me away from their hive entrance.

--Richard

Top Bar Beekeeping

Top bar hives, known as “transitional hives” in Africa, are bee hives without the full frames used in modern hives to hold honeycombs. Bees attach combs to simple pieces of wood called “top bars.” Hives employing top bars are considered to be transitional because they are an intermediate step between traditional hives and modern hives. Traditional hives are woven baskets built in designs passed down from one generation of beekeepers to the next. In Ethiopia, traditional hives are long cane cylinders, which are mounted high in trees. In other parts of the world, traditional hives may be skeps, round overturned baskets. The inexpensive traditional hives, constructed of locally abundant plant materials, are easily built by people skilled in basket weaving. However, traditional bee hives present some disadvantages for the beekeeper. They offer no way to remove and replace honeycombs, to manipulate the hive, or to inspect for hive problems or brood diseases. Transitional hives, built from locally available materials, are also inexpensive. They offer the beekeeper several advantages. Located on the ground, they are safer to work with than those mounted high in trees. Transitional hives do not have heavy parts, such as hive bodies and honey supers, to be lifted. They can, thus, be worked by those of lesser strength. Honey is usually harvested from top bar hives by hand-crushing the honeycomb and straining to separate the beeswax from the honey, saving the cost of a honey extractor. These advantages make top bar hives attractive to some individuals in developed countries.

I am assisting beekeeper and pottery artist Melissa Bridgman start a colony of honey bees in a top bar hive. To guide the bees’ comb construction, we painted the center of the top bars with chemical-free beeswax. A swarm of bees built combs on the top bars, temporarily attached to Langstroth top bars. The well-fed swarm readily accepted the top bars, built out comb, and produced brood. These top bars will be transferred to Melissa’s top bar hive.

--Richard

Jimma to Nazareth

Wubishet and I brought an empty drum from Bonga to the fuel depot at Jimma, but Jimma was experiencing a shortage of fuel. An angry encounter at the fuel depot was the only time I heard voices raised my entire time in Ethiopia. Many trucks converged on the fuel depot, and the operators would not pump any extra fuel. They did, however, allow us to fill our truck’s fuel tank with diesel. A guard with an automatic rifle ensured no actions exceeded the raising of voices. After a final cup of Jimma’s famous Kaffa Zone forest coffee, we started the long and beautiful drive to Nazareth.

Wubishet Adugna, an accomplished beekeeper and businessman, taught beekeeping skills to 2000 farmers who supply honey and beeswax to Apinec. As we made the long trip by truck from Jimma to Nazareth, we discussed honey bee health and compared beekeeping techniques between Ethiopia and the United States. In the Kaffa Zone, we encountered many traditional bee hives hanging high in trees I spotted a dark mass 50 feet up a tree and adjacent to traditional bee hives. I asked Wubishet if that might be exposed honeycomb or a swarm. He explained that it was a colony of small ants, locally called “enni.” These ants fight larger ants living in the ground, and ants are considered Ethiopia’s greatest honey bee pest. Ethiopia doesn’t have Varroa mites, America’s most deadly pest. Ethiopia doesn’t allow the importation of bees or items which might bring in Varroa. Ethiopia has lesser trade in shipping containers and no sea harbors. Discussing bees, Wubishet explained that he resents the image presented of African “killer bees.” We visited a farm house with traditional bee hives attached to the walls under the thatched roof eaves. Children regularly played around the hives. We saw honey bees and humans living together in harmony. The photo shows the stick and mud daub construction of a typical Ethiopian farm house protecting humans and domestic animals from predators.

--Richard

Traditional Beekeeping

Agriculture and beekeeping contrast starkly from the United States to Ethiopia. America’s food production is now accomplished by a small fraction of the population, while almost all Ethiopians are farmers. Even though beekeeping and the pollination it provides is responsible for one third of our food production, an extremely small group of people manage our bees. By contrast, beekeeping is a part of many Ethiopian farm families’ endeavors. Honey bees in the US are housed almost exclusively in removable frame hives, mostly of the Langstroth design. A few individuals keep bees in top bar hives or Warre hives. In Ethiopia, modern bee hives are few; some keep bees in mud-coated straw top bar hives, known as transitional hives. However, the vast majority of hives are traditional bee hives which are simple six-foot cylinders made of cane and lined with leaves. Traditional Ethiopian bee hives are placed empty in the forest tree tops with the leaves of the Limich plant used to attract swarms of honey bees. The hive trees are truly beautiful and impressive sights. With woven bee hives mounted among the branches of trees from 50 to 120 feet above the ground, the trees resemble larger-scale versions of native Ethiopian trees covered with weaver bird nests.

The keeping of honey bees in Ethiopia involves indigenous knowledge passed down through generations. Nimble two-man teams of beekeepers harvest the hives at night. One barefooted climber with a torch negotiates the tree and gently lowers a hive to his waiting partner. The bees are worked at night because these are the bees with the reputation as the most defensive honey bees in the world. Harvesting the honey is destructive of the nest. Using heavy smoke to drive the bees back, the beekeepers cut combs from the hive. The combs are crushed by hand, and the collected honey and beeswax are sold. The displaced colony of bees flies to another awaiting traditional bee hive. Beekeeping in Ethiopia depends upon colonies regularly swarming.

--Richard

From Proctor to Bonga

It is a long trip from Proctor, Arkansas to Bonga, Ethiopia. It’s 21 hours in the air at six hundred miles per hour, stopping at Atlanta, Amsterdam, Khartoum, and Addis Ababa. And then it’s almost two more days by truck, stopping regularly for goats, sheep, cattle, and donkeys. Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is a cosmopolitan city. Ethiopians call it “The Capital of Africa.” The African Union meets in this colorful, flowered city. Diplomats, tourists, engineers, and business leaders are seen on the streets. The traffic in the city of four million is similar to that of American cities. Drivers negotiate busy intersections with their vehicle’s horn because there are no traffic signals. Traffic officers referee the larger intersections. Newcomers, like me, are surprised to see small herds of sheep, goats, or cattle on city streets. Driving out of the city, the sight of animals becomes the norm. The people of Ethiopia hold a strong connection to their animals. After leaving the capital city, one sees a continuous flow of humans and animals on foot along the roads. People walk with their donkeys laden with goods for the market, or they carry a plow by hand as they follow their oxen to the field to plow. Young boys herd drought-thinned cattle to rivers for water or to fields to forage. Near the small towns, two-wheeled horse carts called “garis” and three-wheeled “bajajs,” diesel-powered, enclosed rickshaws, serve as taxis. Buses carry passengers between towns, and large trucks carry sacks of coffee, grain, fuel, and goods to markets.

I knew that I had arrived in the land of Ethiopia’s forest honey when I saw the weathered sign on the side of the road. The sign proclaimed “The Town of Bees” in Amharic. Two traditional bee hives stand on the highlands above the Great Rift Valley with volcanoes in the background. The cylindrical hives are adorned with honey bees, modern bee hives, and honey. Endemic Limich plants top the hives.

--Richard