bee on lavender
bee on wild rocket
We have two hives that produce organic honey mainly from acacia and grewia flowers. However they also help to pollinate flowers in our permaculture garden, and harvest pollen from alfalfa, rocket and lavender.
robber fly
orb-web spider
Pests of bees include ants, especially the black ants that raid the hives for honey; beetles that raid the hives for the larvae; robber flies that lie in wait to catch the bees and spiders such as the band legged golden orb-web spider that trap bees in their web.
During summer we check the bees daily:
Bee Box
bee with pollen on its legs
something is wrong: the hive could be too hot
a hive has swarmed
Then we check inside the hive and harvest honey around every two months:
checking the hive
bees at work capping the honey cells
combs of honey
harvesting the honey
A wildlife garden in Botswana 