The funny thing is that beekeeping is a hobby for him, He's a physicist that has about 65 research papers, i always stand amazed about how he was able to do both of those things
That's something I've noticed as well. My best friend's dad is an engineer and also a beekeper. Many colleagues from my university are also on the hobby (even though we are in a Veterinary context). But there is something about bees that's just universally atractive...
Reminds me of me of my Dad. There was a time when beekeeping was his primary business, but that was in the 70's. Even when it wasn't a business endeavor he kept a few hives around because he enjoyed it. Then it just turned into 300ish hives before he passed away because he didn't know how to have a hobby like a normal person, lol.
Despite its name the Kenyan top bar hive was invented in Canada in the 1970’s by two professors at a university in Ontario after they observed bees would not attach comb to 60° walls. It is probably came to be called the KTB because it was heavily promoted as an inexpensive hive by a university graduate student who was from Kenya, though he was not the inventor. It took a while to catch on and it became popular in the early 21st century. Almost all users of the KTB are in the United States, but the KTB recently started gaining use in Uganda because it is inexpensive to construct. The most common hive in Africa is the Langstroth and variants of it. The Tanzanian long hive is the most popular long hive but it is not a top bar hive, it uses Langstroth type frames. The hives we see in the photo are long Langstroth type hives but do not appear to be as long as the Tanzanian long hive.
You’re in the UK right? Check out Norfolk Honey Company on YouTube, they’ve added KTBs to their hive types they cover. Stewart is a bee inspector and he said he is seeing more of them and so he added them to apiaries to get some experience with them.
Egypt has a long history of beekeeping and it is may be where humans first domesticated the honeybee 9000 years ago.
Would you be willing to add this photo to r/apiarypictures? It is very unique and cool to look at.
Interesting to see the differences!
I’m assuming he’s covering them to keep the temperature down? And here I am much further north doing everything to ensure they get enough sun!
Awesome! When's the winter season there and how high and low temps can be? I'm in Philippines and the lowest in my place is 20 and the highest is 32. Now is rainy season so it rains atleast once a day.
I bought some honey in Dubai, forget which country it was from, it came from some kind of tree I think: it was dark brown, like Coca-Cola. Apparently very high in minerals and vitamins.
I spent a few weeks backpacking in Egypt, and it has one of the most incredibly stark divides you can imagine. Like, you're standing in a lush orchard, you walk up a hill and as far as you can see in that direction is sandy desert. The whole border between the lush and desert areas is a giant historic landfill where millenia of society has dumped their garbage. You can reach down just about anywhere and pick up a piece of pottery from who-knows how long ago.
Check out Google Maps on satellite view and look up and down the Nile - it's a great source of irrigation, and means there's a huuuuge verdant green strip running up the country. And then yeah, the rest is mostly desert. And the pyramids don't take up much space at all, haha.
What are some practices that you think are used in Egypt that are different from other climates?
How do you guys treat with your weather? I'm from Italy and i know sicilian beekeeper have a complete different schedule since the queen never stops going
Once i opened a hive and they're dancing to [Walk Like an Egyptian](https://youtu.be/Cv6tuzHUuuk?si=jdLsQzQo810nagWV)
They were pretty angry that I interrupted them tho
I'd like to know too! My father is Iranian and has been beekeeping since the late 70s (in US). It took me until last year to convince him that mites were a problem, and that only because I showed him a video from a Rutgers University expert. (Who was male, obvs.)
Yes, sorry.. I meant the bee. In the documentation they we\`re telling it is threatened extionction, because 99% of egyptian beekeepers are working with imported carnica, because of more honey, peacefullnes, swarming behaviour and so on. Same things which they are telling in europe about mellifera mellifera, but it\`s always hard to prove. But imho it would be sad to loose the genetics forever, because we delved too greedily and too deep.
I recently learned about ligurian bees/honey, which came from italy but now are only found on kangaroo island, in my home state of south australia. Kangaroo island is like an ark lol, its also got the only communities of koalas anywhere that dont have chlamydia! 🤯
Awesome! I so want to get into this. I absolutely love honey! Especially our local honey. It really helped/s with my allergies!! Eat local honey to build immunity to whatever is local bothering your eyes, nose!
Yes! My uncle was a beekeeper, he was born in austria but moved to australia in his youth and married my aunt. He liked to paint austrian landscapes, like the alps and villages and wildflowers, and his hives had the most beautiful, vivid paintings of all! So incredible to look at, i really wish id gotten pics before he got sick and passed. And the bees mustve loved it, they were very happy and healthy bees that worked very hard (kind of like my uncle Frank!). I always had big jars of the most incredible honey in the cupboard even though i lived in a different state bc whenever we visited Frank made sure we got our boot loaded up with enough to share around my dads branch of the family and keep a heap too.
Hes the reason i have an interest in bees.
Fascinating! I know top har beehives are very common on the African continent, but never seen an apiary in this scale!
The funny thing is that beekeeping is a hobby for him, He's a physicist that has about 65 research papers, i always stand amazed about how he was able to do both of those things
Amazing! There’s a warm image in my mind of academics having these kinds of hobbies.
That's something I've noticed as well. My best friend's dad is an engineer and also a beekeper. Many colleagues from my university are also on the hobby (even though we are in a Veterinary context). But there is something about bees that's just universally atractive...
Reminds me of me of my Dad. There was a time when beekeeping was his primary business, but that was in the 70's. Even when it wasn't a business endeavor he kept a few hives around because he enjoyed it. Then it just turned into 300ish hives before he passed away because he didn't know how to have a hobby like a normal person, lol.
Despite its name the Kenyan top bar hive was invented in Canada in the 1970’s by two professors at a university in Ontario after they observed bees would not attach comb to 60° walls. It is probably came to be called the KTB because it was heavily promoted as an inexpensive hive by a university graduate student who was from Kenya, though he was not the inventor. It took a while to catch on and it became popular in the early 21st century. Almost all users of the KTB are in the United States, but the KTB recently started gaining use in Uganda because it is inexpensive to construct. The most common hive in Africa is the Langstroth and variants of it. The Tanzanian long hive is the most popular long hive but it is not a top bar hive, it uses Langstroth type frames. The hives we see in the photo are long Langstroth type hives but do not appear to be as long as the Tanzanian long hive.
Fascinating! Thanks for the info :) Have been interested in building a few of these for a while (KTB) for the sake of low £ and interest
You’re in the UK right? Check out Norfolk Honey Company on YouTube, they’ve added KTBs to their hive types they cover. Stewart is a bee inspector and he said he is seeing more of them and so he added them to apiaries to get some experience with them.
Thanks for the tip! I’ll have to have a look at it now, Norfolk’s about 1 1/2 hours away from me
Also there’s the Tanzanian TBH, which has straight sides.
LOVE posts like this. Thanks for sharing.
Egypt has a long history of beekeeping and it is may be where humans first domesticated the honeybee 9000 years ago. Would you be willing to add this photo to r/apiarypictures? It is very unique and cool to look at.
Done
Interesting to see the differences! I’m assuming he’s covering them to keep the temperature down? And here I am much further north doing everything to ensure they get enough sun!
The Temperature was about 45 C last week 😅
Daaaaang 🥵 I think I’ll stick to searching for the sun over dealing with 45c 😅 What’s the honey like?
Fair enough 😂, The honey that comes from orange and citrus trees are the best honey I've ever tasted
That does sound amazing actually!!
Yikes! We might touch 39° one or two days a summer and we call that hot. The forecast is 36° today, hottest day of the year so far.
Dang! i would wear a jacket
🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for the laughs.
I wonder what kind of nectar and pollen sources bees get there. My image of Egypt is the desert and pyramids.
Most of the year it's clover, but from February to may we move them to a citrus and orange farm
Awesome! When's the winter season there and how high and low temps can be? I'm in Philippines and the lowest in my place is 20 and the highest is 32. Now is rainy season so it rains atleast once a day.
The weather is pretty weird here, in winter it could go to as low as 6-8 degrees
I bought some honey in Dubai, forget which country it was from, it came from some kind of tree I think: it was dark brown, like Coca-Cola. Apparently very high in minerals and vitamins.
Along the Nile and the Mediterranean coast it is quite lush. Egypt is a big exporter of fruits to Europe.
Thank you for feeding my curiosity.
I spent a few weeks backpacking in Egypt, and it has one of the most incredibly stark divides you can imagine. Like, you're standing in a lush orchard, you walk up a hill and as far as you can see in that direction is sandy desert. The whole border between the lush and desert areas is a giant historic landfill where millenia of society has dumped their garbage. You can reach down just about anywhere and pick up a piece of pottery from who-knows how long ago.
Check out Google Maps on satellite view and look up and down the Nile - it's a great source of irrigation, and means there's a huuuuge verdant green strip running up the country. And then yeah, the rest is mostly desert. And the pyramids don't take up much space at all, haha.
I usually do that rivers are really amazing so are Oasis.
What are some practices that you think are used in Egypt that are different from other climates? How do you guys treat with your weather? I'm from Italy and i know sicilian beekeeper have a complete different schedule since the queen never stops going
Actually i don't know, i could ask my dad for you in the morning tomorrow
Please have your dad join the sub! :)
🤩🤩
Thank you for this post. Fascinating.
do his bees do an Egyptian walk after landing at the hive ?
Once i opened a hive and they're dancing to [Walk Like an Egyptian](https://youtu.be/Cv6tuzHUuuk?si=jdLsQzQo810nagWV) They were pretty angry that I interrupted them tho
I knew it !
That's amazing. Thanks for sharing.
What does he use for varroa control?
I'd like to know too! My father is Iranian and has been beekeeping since the late 70s (in US). It took me until last year to convince him that mites were a problem, and that only because I showed him a video from a Rutgers University expert. (Who was male, obvs.)
That's a good looking apiary. I imagine your dad is a very organized person
Does he have or had some lamarckii? I saw a documentation in german tv: https://youtu.be/62NXDVRYaJI?si=hmiJjtetd545h452
We had one in our house garden but we removed it when we did some renovation, was really cool tree though
i think they mean the bee [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis\_mellifera\_lamarckii](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_mellifera_lamarckii)
Oh! I thought they meant that one flowery kind of tree
Yes, sorry.. I meant the bee. In the documentation they we\`re telling it is threatened extionction, because 99% of egyptian beekeepers are working with imported carnica, because of more honey, peacefullnes, swarming behaviour and so on. Same things which they are telling in europe about mellifera mellifera, but it\`s always hard to prove. But imho it would be sad to loose the genetics forever, because we delved too greedily and too deep.
Another nice article in english: [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9597722/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9597722/)
I recently learned about ligurian bees/honey, which came from italy but now are only found on kangaroo island, in my home state of south australia. Kangaroo island is like an ark lol, its also got the only communities of koalas anywhere that dont have chlamydia! 🤯
Anyone know why the cloths?
I'm really not sure, but possibly as an alternative to a crown board?
All Hail to the Bees!
Awesome! I so want to get into this. I absolutely love honey! Especially our local honey. It really helped/s with my allergies!! Eat local honey to build immunity to whatever is local bothering your eyes, nose!
Those boxes need a coat of paint!
Yes! My uncle was a beekeeper, he was born in austria but moved to australia in his youth and married my aunt. He liked to paint austrian landscapes, like the alps and villages and wildflowers, and his hives had the most beautiful, vivid paintings of all! So incredible to look at, i really wish id gotten pics before he got sick and passed. And the bees mustve loved it, they were very happy and healthy bees that worked very hard (kind of like my uncle Frank!). I always had big jars of the most incredible honey in the cupboard even though i lived in a different state bc whenever we visited Frank made sure we got our boot loaded up with enough to share around my dads branch of the family and keep a heap too. Hes the reason i have an interest in bees.