Post by Ismail AbdulAzeez on Jun 5, 2011 12:51:14 GMT 1
A floral calendar for beekeeping is a time-table that indicates to the beekeeper the approximate date and duration of the blossoming periods of the important honey and pollen plants in his or her local area.
The experienced beekeeper will have acquired much of this information over the years but in Africa this type of documented information is difficult to come by. As a new beekeeper you will more than likely have to rely on yourself to document this information. As a starting point you can consult experienced beekeepers (including traditional beekeepers) in your area and your local government extension service for assistance. The information could be known locally but may not be written down.
To complicate the matter vegetation and climate vary over short distances (in Kenya at least) so you really have to work out your own calendar. It is highly unlikely that someone has already done it for your area.
The floral calendar is very useful for the beekeeper. It enables him/her to know when to expect flowering and subsequent harvesting of honey. It will also allow the beekeeper to know when to carry out bee management tasks such as preparing colonies for the nectar flow, hunger periods etc.
Assembling a floral calendar for any specific area is simple but time-consuming. It requires observation of the seasonal changes in the vegetation patterns and the foraging behaviour of the bees, and the manner in which the honeybee colonies interact with their floral environment. The accuracy of a floral calendar, and hence its practical value, depend solely on the careful recording of the beginning and end of the flowering season of the plants and how they affect the bees. The preparation of an accurate, detailed calendar will therefore often require several years of repeated recording and refinement of the information obtained.
The steps normally taken in building up a floral calendar are as follows:
1. The beekeeper makes a general survey of the area, drawing up a list of flowering plants found, special attention being paid to plants with a high floral population density per unit area or per tree.
2. He/she places several strong honeybee colonies in the area, inspecting the hives regularly and observing changes in the amount of food stored within the hive to determine whether it is depleted, stable or increasing. Any food gains or losses can be monitored accurately by weighing the hives. If possible one of the hives can be set up as a scale hive (on a weighing scale).
3. At the same time that he/she monitors the hives' food stores he/she surveys areas in the vicinity of the apiary and within the flight range of the bees (approx 3km radious), to record the species of plants that the bees visit.
4. He/she determines whether the plants are visited for nectar or for pollen. Pollen-foragers will have pollen pellets attached to their hind legs. To determine whether the bees visit flowers for nectar the observer squeezes the abdomen of individual bees to obtain a drop of regurgitated nectar, tasting it for sweetness or measuring the nectar concentration with a hand refractometer.
5. He/she studies the frequency with which the bees visit each flower species, in relation to changes in the level of the colonies' food stores. If there is a continuous increase in food stores, in direct response to the availability of the plants visited, the plants are good forage sources. When the food stores remain stable, the plants can be depended upon to meet the colonies' daily food requirements, but they cannot be classified as major honey sources.
6. He/she carefully records all the changes in the blossoming of the plants visited. When the colonies begin to lose weight, the flowering season is finished for all practical purposes.
7. In Africa you need to record the weather conditions. When do the rains/dry seasons begin and end. How do these seasons relate to the flowering of the bee plants? You should also make notes of bee behaviour relating to your calendar. When do bee colonies migrate into your area? When do your bee colonies swarm? When do colonies abscond (if any)? Try and understand this information on bee behaviour in relation to your floral calendar.
The information contained in your floral calendar, refined over years of observation, will assist you to become a very good beekeeper allowing you to fine tune your bee colony management increasing your yields of honey.
The information in your floral calendar could assist other beekeepers in your area/country. Please email your calendar to: beekeepinginnigeria@gmail.com for publication and share the knowledge!
Source: www.fao.org/docrep/x0083e/X0083E04.htm
The experienced beekeeper will have acquired much of this information over the years but in Africa this type of documented information is difficult to come by. As a new beekeeper you will more than likely have to rely on yourself to document this information. As a starting point you can consult experienced beekeepers (including traditional beekeepers) in your area and your local government extension service for assistance. The information could be known locally but may not be written down.
To complicate the matter vegetation and climate vary over short distances (in Kenya at least) so you really have to work out your own calendar. It is highly unlikely that someone has already done it for your area.
The floral calendar is very useful for the beekeeper. It enables him/her to know when to expect flowering and subsequent harvesting of honey. It will also allow the beekeeper to know when to carry out bee management tasks such as preparing colonies for the nectar flow, hunger periods etc.
Assembling a floral calendar for any specific area is simple but time-consuming. It requires observation of the seasonal changes in the vegetation patterns and the foraging behaviour of the bees, and the manner in which the honeybee colonies interact with their floral environment. The accuracy of a floral calendar, and hence its practical value, depend solely on the careful recording of the beginning and end of the flowering season of the plants and how they affect the bees. The preparation of an accurate, detailed calendar will therefore often require several years of repeated recording and refinement of the information obtained.
The steps normally taken in building up a floral calendar are as follows:
1. The beekeeper makes a general survey of the area, drawing up a list of flowering plants found, special attention being paid to plants with a high floral population density per unit area or per tree.
2. He/she places several strong honeybee colonies in the area, inspecting the hives regularly and observing changes in the amount of food stored within the hive to determine whether it is depleted, stable or increasing. Any food gains or losses can be monitored accurately by weighing the hives. If possible one of the hives can be set up as a scale hive (on a weighing scale).
3. At the same time that he/she monitors the hives' food stores he/she surveys areas in the vicinity of the apiary and within the flight range of the bees (approx 3km radious), to record the species of plants that the bees visit.
4. He/she determines whether the plants are visited for nectar or for pollen. Pollen-foragers will have pollen pellets attached to their hind legs. To determine whether the bees visit flowers for nectar the observer squeezes the abdomen of individual bees to obtain a drop of regurgitated nectar, tasting it for sweetness or measuring the nectar concentration with a hand refractometer.
5. He/she studies the frequency with which the bees visit each flower species, in relation to changes in the level of the colonies' food stores. If there is a continuous increase in food stores, in direct response to the availability of the plants visited, the plants are good forage sources. When the food stores remain stable, the plants can be depended upon to meet the colonies' daily food requirements, but they cannot be classified as major honey sources.
6. He/she carefully records all the changes in the blossoming of the plants visited. When the colonies begin to lose weight, the flowering season is finished for all practical purposes.
7. In Africa you need to record the weather conditions. When do the rains/dry seasons begin and end. How do these seasons relate to the flowering of the bee plants? You should also make notes of bee behaviour relating to your calendar. When do bee colonies migrate into your area? When do your bee colonies swarm? When do colonies abscond (if any)? Try and understand this information on bee behaviour in relation to your floral calendar.
The information contained in your floral calendar, refined over years of observation, will assist you to become a very good beekeeper allowing you to fine tune your bee colony management increasing your yields of honey.
The information in your floral calendar could assist other beekeepers in your area/country. Please email your calendar to: beekeepinginnigeria@gmail.com for publication and share the knowledge!
Source: www.fao.org/docrep/x0083e/X0083E04.htm