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Beekeeping from Jamaica

36K views 83 replies 18 participants last post by  janyfarmer 
#1 ·
Just to share some photos from my small island
 
#11 ·
The exact location I am at have some very large ants that we call red ants. The containers are filled with water and/or old engine oil so the ants can't crawl onto the boxes. These ants will kill even a strong colony in a few hours. I have seen these ants team up and fight colonies colonies in batches. Sometimes they come for honey sometimes for brood.
 
#12 ·
Theses hives are mmuch closer than I would prefer as well but with the lack of space as well as this apiary being a feeder for smaller apiaries they seem to be doing fine. I use different colour boxes so only two boxes beside eachother can look alike on a row.bees seem to be able to tell the difference between 2 similar boxes but have problems with 3 or more. Even if the bottom boards alone are differnt seems to help.
 
#17 ·
Since year, the beekeeping industry in my country haas taken a big blow. The mites have taken over.The beetles have moved in on the weaaker hives. Truth be told though, I broke my brood cycles and then continuously did splits. So I'm one of the few beekepers smiling. Most of the older guys just go by routine and even when I've tried to share with them some are not receptive.
 
#21 ·
Well I started off with 10 single brood chambers and 20 5 frame nucsss in February as an experiment. I am now at about 90 with a feww nucs. Soundss crazy but I'm trying to reach 200 before december. I don't let them go lazy on me and I give them lots of work to do by building fresh combs to expand. I extract not crush the combs. I havnt fed once for the last 2 years can u imagine if I did?
Oh apart from the mites, bettles and ants we have foul brood. I had it about 5 years back but I shook them down phased out those beess and purchased this new stock which I have tested for being hygenic and they are in majority. My queens are replaced after a few months and they out breed most pests...oh ya we have some birds we call pitcheries. I pay my little cousins for shooting them with the sling
Thank you for the reports, they are very interesting. We old people are resistant to change....I guess it applies to bees too. :)
 
#19 ·
Well I started off with 10 single brood chambers and 20 5 frame nucsss in February as an experiment. I am now at about 90 with a feww nucs. Soundss crazy but I'm trying to reach 200 before december. I don't let them go lazy on me and I give them lots of work to do by building fresh combs to expand. I extract not crush the combs. I havnt fed once for the last 2 years can u imagine if I did?
 
#20 ·
Oh apart from the mites, bettles and ants we have foul brood. I had it about 5 years back but I shook them down phased out those beess and purchased this new stock which I have tested for being hygenic and they are in majority. My queens are replaced after a few months and they out breed most pests...oh ya we have some birds we call pitcheries. I pay my little cousins for shooting them with the sling
 
#23 ·
I can see you all like your jerk chicken! Hahahha wish I could but juggling between being a teacher and keeping bees....ai sah! Here we only have a handful of beekeepers who do only beekeeping. We don't have pollination services like in the US. Most beekeepers only rely on honey. On the average we sell a 750ml bottle of honey for $800..holds about 2 pounds and woorks out to about $9US dollars. I am thinking I can go full time with 200 hives. Not just honey but pollen and other things.
 
#26 ·
The one to the left is a mixture of different honey sources. The one to the right is the honey most people know jamaica for, Logwood Honey. its a very ...hmmmm...cant really describe the taste but really nice!!! we have a few weeks shot of getting this honey. overall the honey from Jamaica has a more full taste or more parts of your taste buds are involved. sorry for my lack of proper descriptions. Hope i can send up samples for you all! the picture in the next post will wow some! well it did me...drum roll!!!! YES MAN!
 
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