# Newbie from Africa



## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Welcome to Beesource, Rob!

I'm curious what kind of honey bees you have? And for general reference, here is a page on Cape bees that may useful/interesting: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/cape_honey_bee.htm


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## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

Welcome to Bee Source.


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## bushpilot (May 14, 2017)

Welcome Rob. I love your beautiful country, having been there a number of times.


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Welcome Rob. The University of Florida has been to the area several years now. That is where Dr. Ellis worked on or earned his degree.


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## At HOMEinSTEAD (Feb 7, 2018)

Thanks Graham. Up where I am the bees are all the African sub species.


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## At HOMEinSTEAD (Feb 7, 2018)

Oh wow! Thats great to hear


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## At HOMEinSTEAD (Feb 7, 2018)

Thank you. Where I live is known as Zuluand and Big Five country. A stunning area indeed.


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## At HOMEinSTEAD (Feb 7, 2018)

Thanks


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## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

Hi Rob welcome to the forum, Spent a year just north of Hluhluwe in the 1970,s where about are you located. 
Johno


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## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

By the way Dr Jamie Ellis and his wife did their Phd's at Rhodes University in Grahamstown South Africa.
Johno


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## At HOMEinSTEAD (Feb 7, 2018)

Hi Johno. I travel through Hluhluwe alot. It is 100km North of Empangeni where I live


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## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

Rob you must be close to Mtubatuba, I ran a sisal estate for a while just north of Hluhluwe turned off the dirt road at the Sisalana Hotel. That was when I was young and stupid and my how times have changed, now I am old and stupid. I guess you will not be working your bees in short sleeves. Do you guys do anything about varoa on your bees, are there any experienced keepers near you who could help if you have problems.
Johno


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## At HOMEinSTEAD (Feb 7, 2018)

50km south of Mtuba. 
There is one experienced beekeeper that I know of, but he is a busy man and does not have much time on his hands. So we plough ahead learning as we go.
The sisal farms are all pineapples farms now.
Short sleeves??? Hell no. Not with these bees. They are pretty cool and have not given us too much trouble, but so now and then they just decide theyve had enough, sugar water really helps then. We spray them as we go. So far it has worked absolute wonders. 
We are overly positive.....there wont be problems


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## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

Good luck Rob, I hope you are keeping your hives reasonably far apart.
Johno


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## At HOMEinSTEAD (Feb 7, 2018)

How far is reasonable. I didnt give it any thought. Whenever you look online everyone has their bees right next to eachother


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

It is true a lot of beekeepers have their hives all jammed up to each other in a row. However having them hard against each other will eventually kill your back due to excessive bending and twisting, and being forced to use your back like a crane, if you have enough hives you have to work. Have 2 meters between them so you have room to stand, bend, put things like extra boxes down, and comfortably work each hive.

Two together such as on a pallet is OK because you can still stand to the side of each one.


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## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

The reason not to have your bees Apis melifera scutelata close together is if you are working one colony and it gets out of hand with alarm pheromone with these bees the other colonies will sometimes join in the attack. So if they are spread out a bit more you could prevent that from occurring. I have not had a lot of experience with your type of bee but they are much more defensive than the European bees.
Johno


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## At HOMEinSTEAD (Feb 7, 2018)

100%. I hear you. Over here we marvel at how you all work unprotected with your bees there so often. Not here....Our bees have absolutely no intention of making it easy for anyone to get their honey.


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## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

I was born and lived in South Africa for about 47 years on the south coast of Natal and can say that anything in that country that is not very defensive is soon dead.
Johno


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## At HOMEinSTEAD (Feb 7, 2018)

Yes we are survivors here. Dont mess with our stuff. lol


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## JaysonvanS (Nov 26, 2016)

Hi there Rob,

I am another KZN Beekeeper, living in Himeville. (Underberg). Nice to see another "Saffer" on a big forum like Beesource.


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## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

Hi Jaysonvans and welcome to Beesource, My kids went to Ixopo High School and we lived on the coast at Bazley Beach so we often picked up the kids on a Friday afternoon and headed up to Loteni for the weekend with a caravan spent the weekend there and then dropped them off at the school on Monday morning again. Great memories of the Underberg area.


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## MaryHansen (Mar 28, 2019)

Welcome abroad. Great to have you here.


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