On New Year’s Day last year, well-known farmer and businessman Sarel van der Watt died when he was attacked by a swarm of bees while scraping the road on his farm in the Buffelshoek District. In 2023, the death of two dogs in Potchefstroom after being stung by a swarm of bees also made headlines.

South Africans love spending time outdoors. As water is critical to a beehive for ventilation, people, especially children, often get stung at swimming pools.

To help prevent poolside stings, keep a bird/bee bath filled with water on your property. Bees love to soak up water in moss.

The inside temperature of a beehive is maintained at 34°C all year round, even in the middle of a Parys winter. If the temperature drops too much, the brood (eggs and larvae) will perish, and the whole hive with them.

I started my beekeeping career in March 2017, and each year since then has been a steep learning curve. Remember that the peak of summer and plants flowering is also the peak of bee activity.
The more honey a hive has to defend, the more aggressive it can be. Valuable advice to take note of:
Removing Bees

Beehives split to make new hives, and it’s these bees that are often seen clumping in trees. It is easy to catch them if you get there in time. They are often on their way to their new permanent home, so time is limited. It is a simple process of literally knocking the clump of bees into a cardboard box (making sure the queen is included). Place the cardboard box next to a bee box, and the bees will move into it. The box can be moved soon after.

Once a swarm of bees has moved into its permanent home, it is often very difficult to move.

After a few days, when the queen starts laying eggs, the hive will only move if forced to do so. Bees will not relocate to an empty bee box without reason, and that is where the expertise of a beekeeper is required.

Each removal is different because bees move into so many different things. Bees find permanent homes in canoes, kayaks, tractor or bus tyres, garage cupboards, chimneys, ceilings, under baths through the outlet pipe, lay water canals, tree trunks – particularly willows, owl boxes, holes in the ground etc.

To prevent bees from moving in, stuff empty spaces (I buy used livestock feed bags). Please seal the gap between your bath outlet pipe and the wall, and seal cupboard doors in outside buildings. Bees can fit through a hole smaller than 1cm and can eat/burrow through cement, expanding foam, chipboard, etc, to get back to their hive or to escape from being enclosed.

If the beekeeper can reach the hive, they can gently remove each piece of comb and place it in a frame, secured with an elastic band, and placed in a bee box. It can be difficult to find the queen under these circumstances, but as many bees as possible are scooped into the box, too.

This is always very traumatic for the bees, and it is nearly impossible not to damage their hard work and offspring. It is not always successful, and the bees will sometimes not stay in the box they have been relocated to. I always leave all the honey for the bees to give them the best chance of surviving. It is bad enough to eject them from their cosy home; it is worse if their food is taken too.

If the beekeeper cannot reach the hive (particularly chimneys, under baths through outlet pipes), it is always a nearly impossible, complicated challenge to force the bees to move out without killing them. Over the past years, I’ve tried many different ways, with limited success.