Beekeeping in Nigeria - Harvesting Honey at Night

WEBVTT

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May I have your attention, please? The following

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is not the real Jeff Fox release. If you have

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enough beeswax lip balm to last your family for

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300 years, you might be a beekeeper. If you failed

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freshman science, but now teach honeybee enough,

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to be at your local bee club. You might be a

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beekeeper. If you buy bags of sugar, buy the

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pallet load and you're not a baker. Welcome welcome

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to Be Love Beekeeping presented by our good friends

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at Man Lake. Today we're traveling over 7 ,000

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miles for a discussion with a beekeeper in Nigeria.

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I know you may be thinking what does beekeeping

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in Africa have to do with my beekeeping here

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in North America or Europe or wherever else in

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the world you are, but I think it's fun hearing

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from our fellow beekeepers in other parts of

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the world. Their struggles and successes may

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be different than ours, but we all share a common

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love for these amazing insects. And maybe there

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are ways that we can help each other. Up front,

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let me say that we do have some language barrier

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issues and there are some extraneous noises,

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so please give him a little grace. It'll be worth

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listening closely. Hopefully we'll have some

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fun and we'll learn something. Before we jump

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into that, how about we catch up on more honeybee

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fun facts? Did you know that drone bees develop

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from unfertilized eggs? So they have no father.

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They only have a mother and a grandfather. Speaking

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of drones, did you know that they don't have

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stingers? Only female bees have stingers. Did

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you know that worker bees, and these are all

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female by the way, the drones don't do any work

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around the hive. Worker bees have different jobs

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throughout their life, including cleaning the

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hive, feeding larvae, guarding the entrance,

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gathering nectar and pollen, and more. And lastly,

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did you know that bees collect pollen on their

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legs and use it as a source of protein? A single

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bee can carry up to 35 % of her body weight in

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pollen. Now, let's get with our guest and see

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what it's like doing beekeeping in Nigeria. I

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would like to welcome our very special guest

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today, all the way from Nigeria, Mr. Osida Unumene.

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Did I say that okay? Unumene. Unumene. Thank

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you. Fine, that's good. Hey, tell me about where

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you live and what your farm is like. All right,

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I live in Nigeria. I live in the capital of Nigeria,

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Abuja. I'm a beekeeper. We're into modern beekeeping

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and honey production. We not only practice beekeeping,

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we also empower Nigerians to encourage people

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to come into this sector because we know it can

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alleviate poverty. It can... helped to create

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financial sustainability and alternative farming

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for Nigerians as well. So we started since 2017

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and we've been practicing up to this day. So

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that's a little I can tell you about Salasita

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Farms. Yeah, that's fantastic. So you help new

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beekeepers get started as well as doing your

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own honey production, correct? Yes, very correct,

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sir. Do you teach classes? How do you do that?

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Yes, I teach physical classes and I also run

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an online WhatsApp class as well. In that WhatsApp

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class, everything I do in the firm, I've been

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able to convert them into video formats, written,

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explanatory, detailed write -ups that people

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can read, videos people can watch, and as they

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replicate what I teach, they can also achieve

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the same results. Let's get down to some of the

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basics, okay? Yes. In the area where you're keeping

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bees, give us an idea of what it looks like.

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If you had a camera and could show around, are

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we looking at mountains or desert or rivers or

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what does it look like? Well, there are mountains

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around, but where I run my prairie is only five

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hectare land that is very plain. There are hills

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around, but not on. my apiary. But it's a very

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big land, and that's where I practice my agricultural

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venture. He was far away from my apiary. What

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kinds of plants and flowers are your bees foraging

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on? Well, we have cashew trees around, we have

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palm trees around, and we just have local plants

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that bring out flowers. I may not know their

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names. But I don't plant flowers because we just

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have natural flowers growing everywhere around

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where my prairie is. Tell us a little bit about

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the kinds of bees that you have there. Here in

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the U .S. we're used to European honeybees, Italians,

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etc. Do you have stingless bees? Do you have

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some other kind of bees there? I have bees, Apis

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malifera. very aggressive kind of bees. In fact,

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we wouldn't mind if they are still called killer

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bees because they are very, very harsh. And that's

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why we always make sure that we are well protected

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before visiting our parry or doing anything that

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has to do with inspection. And as for stingless

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bees, I've not been fortunate enough to get a

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colony of stingless bees. But all I've been working

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with for these past few years have been apis

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mellifera, the aggressive African bees. So what

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are the secrets to dealing with those bees? Do

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you use a lot of smoke or just really good protective

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gear? Yeah, we use a lot of smoke and despite

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the protective gear too, understanding bee biology

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comes to play when they get colonized newly.

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and have not started storing honey. Their level

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of aggressiveness is not like when they have

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already started storing honey or have already

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started honey production. Their characters before

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honey production and during honey production

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are a bit different. So we understand these stages

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and know what to do at interval. By the way,

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you have a YouTube channel, some pretty cool

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videos there. Thank you very much. One of the

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ones that I was looking at showed you harvesting

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honey at night. Yeah. That's something a little

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bit foreign to some of us. Do you always do it

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at night and how come? Yeah, we discovered that

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harvesting honey during the night, especially

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when dealing with apis malifera, kind of bees,

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they are usually calm. They are not aggressive.

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like how they used to be during the day. So the

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night is very peaceful for Apis melifera. They

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can allow you, get in, do what you want to do,

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and they won't follow you around to a far distance,

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and they will all leave you alone. Tell me about

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what kinds of hives you use. Are you using mostly

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top bar? Yeah, we use the boat. We use the Langstroth

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hives and Kenya top bar hives. You say Kenya

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top bar hive. Is that different than the kind

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that I've seen before? Yeah, KTB hives. Oh, okay.

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So you're using a combination of both. Yes. How

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do you decide which ones you want to use for

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which bees? Okay, we don't decide which one we

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want to use for a particular colony. We just

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put them into any hive of our choice that we

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want at any given time. How many hives do you

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have? Yeah, so far we have about 72 hives at

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the moment. Oh that's awesome. Yes. Tell me how

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in a place like that do you obtain your bees?

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Do you have a way to buy them or are you trapping

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them or how do you find them? Yes, funny enough

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we don't buy bees in Nigeria. What we do is we

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bait and wait for new colonies to colonize our

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hives. I've never seen where bees are sold here

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in Nigeria. We only bait new hives, and we've

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learned to, at Salasita Farms, we've learned

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to formulate our own attractants, very effective

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on that, that always gets almost all our swarm

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traps colonized within a very short period of

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time. What do you use as an attractant? Well,

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B -Wax is the major aspect of it. Then we use

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other Luka plants as well. Did you say Luka plant?

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Yes. I'm not familiar with that. Is that spelled

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L -U -C -A? No, Luka, Luka. Or general plants

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that anyone can find around, like rose flower

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plants, lemongrass. We also use other plants,

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too, that we mix with it. That is just like a

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secret that we keep as lacita farms, because

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people buy from us as well. You don't have to

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tell me your secrets. It's okay. Thank you very

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much. One of the things that I've used is lemongrass

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oil. It works very well. Okay. What do your swarm

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traps look like? We use nucleus hive, the wooden

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nucleus hive. And we use the bucket's plastic

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bucket container too for it. Give me an idea

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of how that works. What does it look like with

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the bucket? Are you drilling a big hole or what

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do you do? Yes, what we do with the bucket swam

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trap is that we make a bigger hole or a big hole

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for the entrance. Then we now make other smaller

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holes at the bottom. and around the bucket for

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proper ventilation and if at any point there

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is a rainfall water can get into the bucket but

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will not stay they will all pass out under through

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the bottom of the bucket so it can still serve

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the bees to get it colonized. a conducive and

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well ventilated container for them to stay. And

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within the space of one month, we can transfer

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them into a permanent hive. How do you use a

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nuc? Yeah, the nuc, we divide a hive into three

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parts or two parts. And then because it is very,

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very convenient for us to hang on trees and then

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keep them in different locations, very comfortable.

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And as soon as they get colonized, we also wait

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for the period of four weeks, or maximum five

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weeks. The wooden nook is very, very easy for

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us to transfer because you're just taking the

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bars with the bees and the combs, okay, straight

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to another sizeable hive. And all we just do

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is to turn the bees inside there. the nook into

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the new hive and we are done. But it is different

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with the bucket one because the bucket one we

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have to cut the combs and then attach it to the

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bars again. The plastic bucket is always good

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when we are using a Kenya top bar hive because

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we have to attach the combs to the bars with

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the aid of ropes and all that. Then that's how

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it's done here. Yeah, that sounds interesting

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and a little bit complicated. Yeah. What kinds

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of pests do you have there? We deal with varroa

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mites and small hive beetles and various diseases.

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What kinds of things are pestering your bees?

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Yeah, the two major challenging pests we have,

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I have discovered, is the small hive beetle and

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wax moth. Okay, the wax moth is something that

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we take control of at every given time we do

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constant inspection. So we don't allow wax moths

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to infest our hive. But the small hive beetle

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is something one cannot control to an extent.

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But thanks to the kind of bees that we have here

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in Africa, they are strong enough to combat and

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withstand some certain attacks from. wax moths

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and hive beetles. How about varroa mites? Yeah,

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I've not come across varroa mites in all my years

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of practice. Yes. Oh, wow. I have not. Oh, you're

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lucky. Thank you very much. I hope you don't

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ever get them. I pray to. Tell me more about

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Salisita Farm. What is it all about beekeeping

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or do you do other things there? At the moment,

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it's all about beekeeping. We are so thrilled,

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we are so interested in not just venturing into

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it or practicing it. We're also interested in

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enlightening people, educating people, empowering

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people with our technical know -how to see that

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beekeeping is one of the ventures many people

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can. actually take up. Because here in Africa,

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here in Nigeria, we are blessed with lands and

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vegetation. And farmers don't actually have good

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knowledge about modern beekeeping and honey production.

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Okay, so many of them have different plantations,

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cashew plantations, banana and plantain plantations.

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And after that season of production, they don't

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do any other thing with this farmland. So teaching

00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:21.539
them how to utilize this land, to go into modern

00:15:21.539 --> 00:15:25.720
beekeeping, so as to help them create alternative

00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:30.519
farming and alternative financial income is one

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of our major priorities. Yeah, that's a fantastic

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mission. Thank you very much. Way to go. Tell

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me a little bit more about your honey production

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process. So you're pulling frames at night. Yeah.

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And what is your method for extracting the honey

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from the comb? Our kind of extraction is very,

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very simple because we have an extractor. We

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know so many people find it very difficult extracting

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honey, especially when they don't have an extractor.

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But at La Cita Farms, we don't have any challenge

00:16:09.929 --> 00:16:16.610
harvesting honey. Quick break to thank our presenting

00:16:16.610 --> 00:16:20.389
sponsor, Man Lake. I've found that Man Lake has

00:16:20.389 --> 00:16:23.330
absolutely everything I need to take care of

00:16:23.330 --> 00:16:25.940
the health of my bees. mite checks and treatments,

00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:28.460
beetle management, hive health and nutrition,

00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:32.580
pollen substitutes, food and feeders, and the

00:16:32.580 --> 00:16:35.039
knowledge base to help you know how to use it.

00:16:35.259 --> 00:16:38.600
Including Bella, their AI beekeeping genius.

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Just look for her icon in the bottom right hand

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corner of your screen at manlakeltd .com. While

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you're there, don't forget your discount code

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MLBlove10, it's in the show notes, for $10 off

00:16:50.700 --> 00:16:56.529
your first $100 purchase. And the reason why

00:16:56.529 --> 00:17:01.909
we love cutting them all of it is because we're

00:17:01.909 --> 00:17:05.269
also interested in the extraction of bee combs

00:17:05.269 --> 00:17:10.309
for the production of bee wax. Do you just sell

00:17:10.309 --> 00:17:14.089
the beeswax in blocks by the pound or do you

00:17:14.089 --> 00:17:17.190
make candles or other things out of them? For

00:17:17.190 --> 00:17:20.789
the fact that I train people a lot, I always

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use the extracted them. combs we use for the

00:17:25.740 --> 00:17:30.059
production of bee wax. We formulate it as an

00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:33.079
attractant and also give it out to our students.

00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:36.440
All right, that's all the questions I have. Just

00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:39.720
tell me some stories about beekeeping. If we're

00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:41.900
just old friends and we're just sitting around

00:17:41.900 --> 00:17:44.579
at night chatting and I don't know much about

00:17:44.579 --> 00:17:47.720
beekeeping, just tell me why you love it. Yes,

00:17:47.940 --> 00:17:51.839
and beekeeping is actually a very fascinating

00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:55.750
venture. because it has to do with the bees.

00:17:56.869 --> 00:18:01.910
And many people don't know that bees are like

00:18:01.910 --> 00:18:05.190
the cats you have in the house, the dog you have

00:18:05.190 --> 00:18:12.490
at home, the chickens, the mother hen, any other

00:18:12.490 --> 00:18:16.150
thing you can think of as pets. I see bees as

00:18:16.150 --> 00:18:20.430
not being aggressive in nature, but protective.

00:18:20.730 --> 00:18:23.269
This is the message I go around telling people

00:18:23.269 --> 00:18:26.970
because when you tell them about beekeeping and

00:18:26.970 --> 00:18:30.710
it has to do with bees, some people get frightened

00:18:30.710 --> 00:18:34.869
because they feel bees actually can kill, they

00:18:34.869 --> 00:18:38.630
can attack, they are stinks, it's painful and

00:18:38.630 --> 00:18:41.829
all that. But I always give them this message

00:18:41.829 --> 00:18:44.710
that when you come close to a mother hen, you

00:18:44.710 --> 00:18:47.490
always see her reaction. Okay, that mother hen

00:18:47.490 --> 00:18:51.019
is not aggressive. she's only protective and

00:18:51.019 --> 00:18:55.079
that is how bees are too. When a stranger is

00:18:55.079 --> 00:18:57.259
coming to your home and your dog doesn't know

00:18:57.259 --> 00:19:01.680
that stranger, you kind of see a reaction from

00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:05.160
that dog letting you know that I'm not familiar

00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:09.240
with you. Bees also play or have the same characteristics

00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:14.400
too. When you're coming to a colony of bees or

00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:18.480
to a pier or to a hive where bees are, expect

00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:23.299
same reaction because they want to protect their

00:19:23.299 --> 00:19:26.299
colony, they want to protect their food, they

00:19:26.299 --> 00:19:30.660
want to protect themselves from danger. And if

00:19:30.660 --> 00:19:32.799
you can give them a shelter to stay, they can

00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:35.680
give you honey in return as a reward. This has

00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:38.519
been my message and it's always been my message.

00:19:39.019 --> 00:19:41.900
Wow, that is a great way to put it. You're welcome.

00:19:42.250 --> 00:19:45.210
Thank you for that. I appreciate that. So one

00:19:45.210 --> 00:19:47.589
of the things I know that you've I know that

00:19:47.589 --> 00:19:50.490
you've listened to this podcast before and I

00:19:50.490 --> 00:19:53.250
didn't warn you upfront that I was going to ask

00:19:53.250 --> 00:19:56.450
you for a wild and crazy beekeeping story. But

00:19:56.450 --> 00:19:59.529
if you can take a minute to think about one and

00:19:59.529 --> 00:20:03.569
this could be anything that was either embarrassing

00:20:03.569 --> 00:20:08.490
or funny or painful or just very unusual experience

00:20:08.490 --> 00:20:11.390
that you had beekeeping. How about give us one

00:20:11.390 --> 00:20:15.569
of those? Okay, I have one of my staff working

00:20:15.569 --> 00:20:19.289
with me. We had a very terrible experience one

00:20:19.289 --> 00:20:23.509
fateful day, because as a beekeeper, it is very,

00:20:23.509 --> 00:20:27.009
very necessary and important that you check your

00:20:27.009 --> 00:20:32.250
bee suit, especially the facial net, because

00:20:32.250 --> 00:20:35.190
anytime it has a crack and you don't know, you

00:20:35.190 --> 00:20:39.809
will pay dearly for it. This staff of mine, we

00:20:39.809 --> 00:20:45.339
forgot to check his facial net thoroughly and

00:20:45.339 --> 00:20:50.240
there was an opening. Oh my God. He encountered

00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:53.220
a lot of bee stings because we had almost 20

00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:58.599
bees that entered his bee suit. The veil? Yes,

00:20:58.680 --> 00:21:02.519
the veil. And he was badly stung. You know, we

00:21:02.519 --> 00:21:05.279
ran out of the apiary where I was trying to calm

00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:09.980
him down. I don't know how I'm going to put it,

00:21:10.220 --> 00:21:17.880
if he ran mad for like 20 minutes. But we were

00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:23.259
able to calm him down, do what we had to do.

00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:26.759
And at the end of the day, everything was fine.

00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:29.819
So were the stings mostly on his face or all

00:21:29.819 --> 00:21:34.789
over? Yes, yes, just his face. because the net

00:21:34.789 --> 00:21:38.589
had a little tear and the bees went in through

00:21:38.589 --> 00:21:43.190
that place. Oh, poor guy. Yeah. All right. So

00:21:43.190 --> 00:21:45.029
it's one of the hardest lessons we've learned

00:21:45.029 --> 00:21:48.309
that you must check your bee suit thoroughly.

00:21:48.930 --> 00:21:50.970
Yes. That was somebody else. Have you ever had

00:21:50.970 --> 00:21:54.690
anything crazy happen to you yourself? Yes, yes,

00:21:54.690 --> 00:21:58.509
yes. I've had one experience too because in beekeeping

00:21:58.509 --> 00:22:01.720
we said... When you experience something going

00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:05.839
down your body, it can be sweat. It can be a

00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:09.319
sweat. But when you feel the sensation of something

00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:12.480
coming up, then just prepare your mind because

00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:19.500
it's a bee. Yes. So we had, I had that experience

00:22:19.500 --> 00:22:26.180
too, that a bee was crawling up into my suit.

00:22:26.819 --> 00:22:29.900
And at the end of the day, I got stung. at the

00:22:29.900 --> 00:22:33.319
left part of my ear. I couldn't squash the bee,

00:22:34.019 --> 00:22:37.680
okay, because I know one bee won't sting. And

00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:41.279
I kept laughing all through because the bee kept

00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:45.240
tickling my nose, tickling my ear, tickling my

00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:48.240
jaw. While I was doing inspection, I was just

00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:51.299
laughing all through. Nobody knew I was laughing

00:22:51.299 --> 00:22:54.500
until I told them that a bee is right inside

00:22:54.500 --> 00:22:59.230
my suit. And it was as if that bee was... trying

00:22:59.230 --> 00:23:01.670
to make me laugh all through my inspection period.

00:23:02.430 --> 00:23:07.269
So that was my own experience. I love it. You

00:23:07.269 --> 00:23:10.269
know how we have our not Jeff Fox worthy talk

00:23:10.269 --> 00:23:13.130
about, you know, you're a beekeeper if I think

00:23:13.130 --> 00:23:16.069
that one fits in. Yeah, you know, you're a beekeeper

00:23:16.069 --> 00:23:20.789
if there is a mean bee inside your veil and you're

00:23:20.789 --> 00:23:25.990
laughing about it. Way to go. Yeah. The other

00:23:25.990 --> 00:23:29.470
thing I've learned from you today is If you feel

00:23:29.470 --> 00:23:32.450
something going down, it's sweat. If it's coming

00:23:32.450 --> 00:23:37.009
up, it's a bee. So hold on. That's true. And

00:23:37.009 --> 00:23:39.809
you learned about how fast your friend can run.

00:23:41.430 --> 00:23:45.589
Yeah, yeah. That is excellent. Hey, Mr. Osita,

00:23:45.849 --> 00:23:48.329
you're doing great work over there in Nigeria.

00:23:48.430 --> 00:23:51.170
Keep it up. Thank you very much. It's good to

00:23:51.170 --> 00:23:55.190
talk to you and yeah, just keep it up and hopefully

00:23:55.190 --> 00:23:57.849
we'll talk again in the future. There's no problem.

00:23:58.170 --> 00:24:03.490
I look forward to meeting you on this. Thanks

00:24:03.490 --> 00:24:05.829
again for joining us here on Be Love Beekeeping

00:24:05.829 --> 00:24:09.809
presented by Man Lake. Remember right now to

00:24:09.809 --> 00:24:13.609
follow or subscribe and share this podcast. Also

00:24:13.609 --> 00:24:15.910
a quick shout out to Vita Bee Health for their

00:24:15.910 --> 00:24:19.400
support. Vita's Varroa Control range of products

00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:23.400
includes Apistan, Apigard, and now Varroxan,

00:24:23.700 --> 00:24:27.019
Extended Release Oxalic Acid Strips. Thanks guys.

00:24:27.660 --> 00:24:29.839
And remember, if you're not just in it for the

00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:32.559
honey or the money, you're in it for the love.

00:24:32.859 --> 00:24:33.700
See you next week.