Owning a beehive maybe little or no difficult task, but the process of harvesting is usually a more difficult task to carry out in local method.



We are going to be exposing you on how to locally harvest and process honey.

Note:this method does not require any modernized tool.

Also Note:protectives must be worn, and every harvesting and Processing should be done at night, within the hours of 10-11pm. Why is this so?

It is like this because the bees must have been stressed out and weak by that time due to the days work. This makes the attack by the bees less on the honey harvester. Also, by this time, it must have been dark, thereby not allowing the bees to see the harvester.



STEP1:As a good beekeeper, before any action is taken on the beehive, the harvester must have prepared the necessary tools needed to carry out this task. The tools that are usually needed for this task are:

-Dry Bamboo stick or Dry palm fronds:This is used to set up fire which will be used to attack the bees(note that a lot of bees will die in this process).

-Hand Glove:As a preventive equipment, it protects the hand from bee sting.

-Bucket:it is used to put the bee comb filled with honey



STEP2:After the first step, the next thing to do is to go to the beehive with those tools, including the dry bamboo stick or dry palm fronds. In a situation where by the harvester wants to make use of a bamboo stick, one end of the stick should be flogged against the wall or something hard, in other to make that end scatter(Note that this method helps the fire to burn easily)

On reaching the beehive,the harvester should quickly set up fire on one end of the palm fronds or bamboo stick(scattered end) and hold the other end, then unseal the beehive with the free hand.

Note: At this point, the bees will start coming out for war, so the harvester must be fast. When the beehive must have been opened,the bee comb should be cut out with a knife and kept inside the bucket. When this is done, the beehive should be closed, and the fire quench so that the bees will not locate the harvester and then he(the person doing the harvest) should move away quickly with the bucket of honey comb filled with honey.



STEP3:After the 2nd process is done, the next thing to do is to prepare the tools that will enable the 3rd step to be accomplished. These tools includes:

-A sieve

-Another bucket

-A tray

-Jars

After the bring out these tools, the next thing is to start work.

The first thing to do under this step is to take the bee comb little by little and squeeze out the honey with his hand into an empty bucket(this is why it is a local method). Make sure the hand glove is worn while doing this(it is more hygienic).

Any comb that has been squeezed should be put in a tray for either disposal or re-baiting of an empty beehive. After the squeezing, the next thing is to sieve the honey in other to remove the little particles of the comb.After all, the honey should be well as packaged in the jars for consumption or marketing.