May I have your attention, please? The following
is not the real Jeff Fox release. If you have
enough beeswax lip balm to last your family for
300 years, you might be a beekeeper. If you failed
freshman science, but now teach honeybee enough,
to be at your local bee club. You might be a
beekeeper. If you buy bags of sugar, buy the
pallet load and you're not a baker. Welcome welcome
to Be Love Beekeeping presented by our good friends
at Man Lake. Today we're traveling over 7 ,000
miles for a discussion with a beekeeper in Nigeria.
I know you may be thinking what does beekeeping
in Africa have to do with my beekeeping here
in North America or Europe or wherever else in
the world you are, but I think it's fun hearing
from our fellow beekeepers in other parts of
the world. Their struggles and successes may
be different than ours, but we all share a common
love for these amazing insects. And maybe there
are ways that we can help each other. Up front,
let me say that we do have some language barrier
issues and there are some extraneous noises,
so please give him a little grace. It'll be worth
listening closely. Hopefully we'll have some
fun and we'll learn something. Before we jump
into that, how about we catch up on more honeybee
fun facts? Did you know that drone bees develop
from unfertilized eggs? So they have no father.
They only have a mother and a grandfather. Speaking
of drones, did you know that they don't have
stingers? Only female bees have stingers. Did
you know that worker bees, and these are all
female by the way, the drones don't do any work
around the hive. Worker bees have different jobs
throughout their life, including cleaning the
hive, feeding larvae, guarding the entrance,
gathering nectar and pollen, and more. And lastly,
did you know that bees collect pollen on their
legs and use it as a source of protein? A single
bee can carry up to 35 % of her body weight in
pollen. Now, let's get with our guest and see
what it's like doing beekeeping in Nigeria. I
would like to welcome our very special guest
today, all the way from Nigeria, Mr. Osida Unumene.
Did I say that okay? Unumene. Unumene. Thank
you. Fine, that's good. Hey, tell me about where
you live and what your farm is like. All right,
I live in Nigeria. I live in the capital of Nigeria,
Abuja. I'm a beekeeper. We're into modern beekeeping
and honey production. We not only practice beekeeping,
we also empower Nigerians to encourage people
to come into this sector because we know it can
alleviate poverty. It can... helped to create
financial sustainability and alternative farming
for Nigerians as well. So we started since 2017
and we've been practicing up to this day. So
that's a little I can tell you about Salasita
Farms. Yeah, that's fantastic. So you help new
beekeepers get started as well as doing your
own honey production, correct? Yes, very correct,
sir. Do you teach classes? How do you do that?
Yes, I teach physical classes and I also run
an online WhatsApp class as well. In that WhatsApp
class, everything I do in the firm, I've been
able to convert them into video formats, written,
explanatory, detailed write -ups that people
can read, videos people can watch, and as they
replicate what I teach, they can also achieve
the same results. Let's get down to some of the
basics, okay? Yes. In the area where you're keeping
bees, give us an idea of what it looks like.
If you had a camera and could show around, are
we looking at mountains or desert or rivers or
what does it look like? Well, there are mountains
around, but where I run my prairie is only five
hectare land that is very plain. There are hills
around, but not on. my apiary. But it's a very
big land, and that's where I practice my agricultural
venture. He was far away from my apiary. What
kinds of plants and flowers are your bees foraging
on? Well, we have cashew trees around, we have
palm trees around, and we just have local plants
that bring out flowers. I may not know their
names. But I don't plant flowers because we just
have natural flowers growing everywhere around
where my prairie is. Tell us a little bit about
the kinds of bees that you have there. Here in
the U .S. we're used to European honeybees, Italians,
etc. Do you have stingless bees? Do you have
some other kind of bees there? I have bees, Apis
malifera. very aggressive kind of bees. In fact,
we wouldn't mind if they are still called killer
bees because they are very, very harsh. And that's
why we always make sure that we are well protected
before visiting our parry or doing anything that
has to do with inspection. And as for stingless
bees, I've not been fortunate enough to get a
colony of stingless bees. But all I've been working
with for these past few years have been apis
mellifera, the aggressive African bees. So what
are the secrets to dealing with those bees? Do
you use a lot of smoke or just really good protective
gear? Yeah, we use a lot of smoke and despite
the protective gear too, understanding bee biology
comes to play when they get colonized newly.
and have not started storing honey. Their level
of aggressiveness is not like when they have
already started storing honey or have already
started honey production. Their characters before
honey production and during honey production
are a bit different. So we understand these stages
and know what to do at interval. By the way,
you have a YouTube channel, some pretty cool
videos there. Thank you very much. One of the
ones that I was looking at showed you harvesting
honey at night. Yeah. That's something a little
bit foreign to some of us. Do you always do it
at night and how come? Yeah, we discovered that
harvesting honey during the night, especially
when dealing with apis malifera, kind of bees,
they are usually calm. They are not aggressive.
like how they used to be during the day. So the
night is very peaceful for Apis melifera. They
can allow you, get in, do what you want to do,
and they won't follow you around to a far distance,
and they will all leave you alone. Tell me about
what kinds of hives you use. Are you using mostly
top bar? Yeah, we use the boat. We use the Langstroth
hives and Kenya top bar hives. You say Kenya
top bar hive. Is that different than the kind
that I've seen before? Yeah, KTB hives. Oh, okay.
So you're using a combination of both. Yes. How
do you decide which ones you want to use for
which bees? Okay, we don't decide which one we
want to use for a particular colony. We just
put them into any hive of our choice that we
want at any given time. How many hives do you
have? Yeah, so far we have about 72 hives at
the moment. Oh that's awesome. Yes. Tell me how
in a place like that do you obtain your bees?
Do you have a way to buy them or are you trapping
them or how do you find them? Yes, funny enough
we don't buy bees in Nigeria. What we do is we
bait and wait for new colonies to colonize our
hives. I've never seen where bees are sold here
in Nigeria. We only bait new hives, and we've
learned to, at Salasita Farms, we've learned
to formulate our own attractants, very effective
on that, that always gets almost all our swarm
traps colonized within a very short period of
time. What do you use as an attractant? Well,
B -Wax is the major aspect of it. Then we use
other Luka plants as well. Did you say Luka plant?
Yes. I'm not familiar with that. Is that spelled
L -U -C -A? No, Luka, Luka. Or general plants
that anyone can find around, like rose flower
plants, lemongrass. We also use other plants,
too, that we mix with it. That is just like a
secret that we keep as lacita farms, because
people buy from us as well. You don't have to
tell me your secrets. It's okay. Thank you very
much. One of the things that I've used is lemongrass
oil. It works very well. Okay. What do your swarm
traps look like? We use nucleus hive, the wooden
nucleus hive. And we use the bucket's plastic
bucket container too for it. Give me an idea
of how that works. What does it look like with
the bucket? Are you drilling a big hole or what
do you do? Yes, what we do with the bucket swam
trap is that we make a bigger hole or a big hole
for the entrance. Then we now make other smaller
holes at the bottom. and around the bucket for
proper ventilation and if at any point there
is a rainfall water can get into the bucket but
will not stay they will all pass out under through
the bottom of the bucket so it can still serve
the bees to get it colonized. a conducive and
well ventilated container for them to stay. And
within the space of one month, we can transfer
them into a permanent hive. How do you use a
nuc? Yeah, the nuc, we divide a hive into three
parts or two parts. And then because it is very,
very convenient for us to hang on trees and then
keep them in different locations, very comfortable.
And as soon as they get colonized, we also wait
for the period of four weeks, or maximum five
weeks. The wooden nook is very, very easy for
us to transfer because you're just taking the
bars with the bees and the combs, okay, straight
to another sizeable hive. And all we just do
is to turn the bees inside there. the nook into
the new hive and we are done. But it is different
with the bucket one because the bucket one we
have to cut the combs and then attach it to the
bars again. The plastic bucket is always good
when we are using a Kenya top bar hive because
we have to attach the combs to the bars with
the aid of ropes and all that. Then that's how
it's done here. Yeah, that sounds interesting
and a little bit complicated. Yeah. What kinds
of pests do you have there? We deal with varroa
mites and small hive beetles and various diseases.
What kinds of things are pestering your bees?
Yeah, the two major challenging pests we have,
I have discovered, is the small hive beetle and
wax moth. Okay, the wax moth is something that
we take control of at every given time we do
constant inspection. So we don't allow wax moths
to infest our hive. But the small hive beetle
is something one cannot control to an extent.
But thanks to the kind of bees that we have here
in Africa, they are strong enough to combat and
withstand some certain attacks from. wax moths
and hive beetles. How about varroa mites? Yeah,
I've not come across varroa mites in all my years
of practice. Yes. Oh, wow. I have not. Oh, you're
lucky. Thank you very much. I hope you don't
ever get them. I pray to. Tell me more about
Salisita Farm. What is it all about beekeeping
or do you do other things there? At the moment,
it's all about beekeeping. We are so thrilled,
we are so interested in not just venturing into
it or practicing it. We're also interested in
enlightening people, educating people, empowering
people with our technical know -how to see that
beekeeping is one of the ventures many people
can. actually take up. Because here in Africa,
here in Nigeria, we are blessed with lands and
vegetation. And farmers don't actually have good
knowledge about modern beekeeping and honey production.
Okay, so many of them have different plantations,
cashew plantations, banana and plantain plantations.
And after that season of production, they don't
do any other thing with this farmland. So teaching
them how to utilize this land, to go into modern
beekeeping, so as to help them create alternative
farming and alternative financial income is one
of our major priorities. Yeah, that's a fantastic
mission. Thank you very much. Way to go. Tell
me a little bit more about your honey production
process. So you're pulling frames at night. Yeah.
And what is your method for extracting the honey
from the comb? Our kind of extraction is very,
very simple because we have an extractor. We
know so many people find it very difficult extracting
honey, especially when they don't have an extractor.
But at La Cita Farms, we don't have any challenge
harvesting honey. Quick break to thank our presenting
sponsor, Man Lake. I've found that Man Lake has
absolutely everything I need to take care of
the health of my bees. mite checks and treatments,
beetle management, hive health and nutrition,
pollen substitutes, food and feeders, and the
knowledge base to help you know how to use it.
Including Bella, their AI beekeeping genius.
Just look for her icon in the bottom right hand
corner of your screen at manlakeltd .com. While
you're there, don't forget your discount code
MLBlove10, it's in the show notes, for $10 off
your first $100 purchase. And the reason why
we love cutting them all of it is because we're
also interested in the extraction of bee combs
for the production of bee wax. Do you just sell
the beeswax in blocks by the pound or do you
make candles or other things out of them? For
the fact that I train people a lot, I always
use the extracted them. combs we use for the
production of bee wax. We formulate it as an
attractant and also give it out to our students.
All right, that's all the questions I have. Just
tell me some stories about beekeeping. If we're
just old friends and we're just sitting around
at night chatting and I don't know much about
beekeeping, just tell me why you love it. Yes,
and beekeeping is actually a very fascinating
venture. because it has to do with the bees.
And many people don't know that bees are like
the cats you have in the house, the dog you have
at home, the chickens, the mother hen, any other
thing you can think of as pets. I see bees as
not being aggressive in nature, but protective.
This is the message I go around telling people
because when you tell them about beekeeping and
it has to do with bees, some people get frightened
because they feel bees actually can kill, they
can attack, they are stinks, it's painful and
all that. But I always give them this message
that when you come close to a mother hen, you
always see her reaction. Okay, that mother hen
is not aggressive. she's only protective and
that is how bees are too. When a stranger is
coming to your home and your dog doesn't know
that stranger, you kind of see a reaction from
that dog letting you know that I'm not familiar
with you. Bees also play or have the same characteristics
too. When you're coming to a colony of bees or
to a pier or to a hive where bees are, expect
same reaction because they want to protect their
colony, they want to protect their food, they
want to protect themselves from danger. And if
you can give them a shelter to stay, they can
give you honey in return as a reward. This has
been my message and it's always been my message.
Wow, that is a great way to put it. You're welcome.
Thank you for that. I appreciate that. So one
of the things I know that you've I know that
you've listened to this podcast before and I
didn't warn you upfront that I was going to ask
you for a wild and crazy beekeeping story. But
if you can take a minute to think about one and
this could be anything that was either embarrassing
or funny or painful or just very unusual experience
that you had beekeeping. How about give us one
of those? Okay, I have one of my staff working
with me. We had a very terrible experience one
fateful day, because as a beekeeper, it is very,
very necessary and important that you check your
bee suit, especially the facial net, because
anytime it has a crack and you don't know, you
will pay dearly for it. This staff of mine, we
forgot to check his facial net thoroughly and
there was an opening. Oh my God. He encountered
a lot of bee stings because we had almost 20
bees that entered his bee suit. The veil? Yes,
the veil. And he was badly stung. You know, we
ran out of the apiary where I was trying to calm
him down. I don't know how I'm going to put it,
if he ran mad for like 20 minutes. But we were
able to calm him down, do what we had to do.
And at the end of the day, everything was fine.
So were the stings mostly on his face or all
over? Yes, yes, just his face. because the net
had a little tear and the bees went in through
that place. Oh, poor guy. Yeah. All right. So
it's one of the hardest lessons we've learned
that you must check your bee suit thoroughly.
Yes. That was somebody else. Have you ever had
anything crazy happen to you yourself? Yes, yes,
yes. I've had one experience too because in beekeeping
we said... When you experience something going
down your body, it can be sweat. It can be a
sweat. But when you feel the sensation of something
coming up, then just prepare your mind because
it's a bee. Yes. So we had, I had that experience
too, that a bee was crawling up into my suit.
And at the end of the day, I got stung. at the
left part of my ear. I couldn't squash the bee,
okay, because I know one bee won't sting. And
I kept laughing all through because the bee kept
tickling my nose, tickling my ear, tickling my
jaw. While I was doing inspection, I was just
laughing all through. Nobody knew I was laughing
until I told them that a bee is right inside
my suit. And it was as if that bee was... trying
to make me laugh all through my inspection period.
So that was my own experience. I love it. You
know how we have our not Jeff Fox worthy talk
about, you know, you're a beekeeper if I think
that one fits in. Yeah, you know, you're a beekeeper
if there is a mean bee inside your veil and you're
laughing about it. Way to go. Yeah. The other
thing I've learned from you today is If you feel
something going down, it's sweat. If it's coming
up, it's a bee. So hold on. That's true. And
you learned about how fast your friend can run.
Yeah, yeah. That is excellent. Hey, Mr. Osita,
you're doing great work over there in Nigeria.
Keep it up. Thank you very much. It's good to
talk to you and yeah, just keep it up and hopefully
we'll talk again in the future. There's no problem.
I look forward to meeting you on this. Thanks
again for joining us here on Be Love Beekeeping
presented by Man Lake. Remember right now to
follow or subscribe and share this podcast. Also
a quick shout out to Vita Bee Health for their
support. Vita's Varroa Control range of products
includes Apistan, Apigard, and now Varroxan,
Extended Release Oxalic Acid Strips. Thanks guys.
And remember, if you're not just in it for the
honey or the money, you're in it for the love.
See you next week.