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Sci Tech
Fibre-glass beehive for honey production
By Our Agriculture Correspondent
The new fibre-glass beehive has good thermal insulation and has recorded higher honey production than the wooden hives.
AN INNOVATIVE engineer- turned professional and distinguished apiculturist in the Philippines, has designed a fibre-glass beehive, which has more advantages than the conventional wooden hives. ``The fibre-glass beehive has excellent thermal insulation, and is absolutely maintenance- free,'' says Mr. Joel Magsaysay, veteran apiculturist, who has given a new lease of life for apiary in the islands nation.
In the midst of his 8-hectare organic coffee plantation Silang, Cavite about 40 km south of Metro Manila, lies his honey bee farms ``Ilog Maria'', and this where Mr. Magsaysay has been trying out several novel technologies for enhancing honey production through sustainable pathways.
``The fibre- glass hive is exposed to the elements of nature for curing immediately after the fabrication. Once the smell of the resins vanish and the hives turn off-white to beige, it is ready to replace the wooden hive. Italian bees, especially have taken to this new hive readily, and honey production in this has been found to be almost fifty per cent higher than in the normal hives,'' he explains.
The fibre-glass hive is lighter than the wooden hives, and is free from the dreaded wood-rot that bugs bee-keepers all over the tropics and sub- tropics.
There is no need for painting this, and what it needs as maintenance is a gentle scrapping and washing once a year. This non-photo degradable hive can be kept, if handled well, as long as fifty years.
Though it lacks the rigidity and strength of the wooden hives, it has the acceptable strength for bee keeping. It is also an eco-friendly product, as it saves the forests being felled for making the beehives. Ethanol extracted from renewable resources can be used for making the resins for the fibre-glass hives.
``Though the initial cost of the fibre-glass hive is almost double that of the wooden hives, its long-life and low-maintenance cost can more than compensate the price difference. Again, the cost can still come down substantially when it is produced in large numbers,'' says Mr. Magsaysay. The fibre-glass hive has been perfected after years of painstaking research. It has several desirable features such as stackability and adjustable venting (a most important aspect for humid and hot climatic conditions).
``I have incorporated the migratory honey production capability in this. With this it is now possible to move the full strength hives (fully loaded with honey and the bees) even during the day. We could never imagine such a thing with the traditional wooden hives,'' he points out.
He has plans to improve the hives further with aluminium channels with perfect edges and seals, serving as re-inforcements.
With the addition of the new material strengths, the thickness of the fibre-glass boards can be reduced, and thus the cost as well.
``The bees have adapted well in this fibre-glass hives. The average production of honey in the new hive is about 50 kg per year, while it was only 40 kg in the conventional hives.
The only disadvantage with this hive is that the bees have stopped producing propolis, and it resulted in ants invading the hives.
Predatory ants attacked the queens. We have to work out some eco-friendly strategy to counter this menace,'' points out Mr. Magsaysay.
The high initial cost of the fibre-glass hive should not intimidate large bee farmers, as the scale of operation and the higher productivity of the hives will make the investment worthy, according to Mr. Magsaysay.
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