Carrying bags in hand, eyes wide open to hunt bees to raise for honey

(Baonghean.vn)- While professional beekeepers often raise Italian and industrial bees in a nomadic style, people in Thanh Chuong (Nghe An) catch bees themselves to raise for honey.Spring is also the time when honey bee hunters pack their bags and go out in search of bees.

A group of people go into the forest to hunt for bees. Photo: Tran Dinh Ha

For many months now, on sunny days, Mr. Nguyen Van Tu in Hamlet 8, Thanh Thinh Commune, Thanh Chuong District and many other middle-aged and elderly people in Thanh Thinh, Thanh Huong, Thanh An and Thanh Thuy Communes, Thanh Chuong District have gone into the forest to hunt for honey bees.

In addition to rice balls and drinks, each person brought a net made of gauze and two “bait bee” nests. The net was used to catch bees and the bait bee nest was used to lure the bees back. The bait bee nest was a curved piece of wood, usually jackfruit wood, drilled and hollowed out in the middle, sealed at both ends, and had a small door in the middle.

After the winter solstice, the weather gets colder, so honey bee colonies living in the wild will begin the process of finding a place to hive and avoid the cold. In early spring, the bees will find a place to build a nest to begin the process of reproduction and honey production. In both of these processes, the bee colony will assign the task of finding a place to live to some bees. These bees are called visiting bees.

These visiting bees fly around everywhere and often look for old trees with many holes to find shelter for their swarms. The bee hunter will bring a racket and bait hives to approach, use the racket to catch them. Then skillfully put them in the bait hives and seal them tightly, locking the bees in for about 1-2 minutes before opening the door.

By habit, the bee will go in and out to explore the nest of the bait bees, then it will fly away to call its friend. After about 3 - 7 minutes (depending on the distance of the bee swarm), there will be 3 - 4 more bees flying back with the old bee. After a period of exploration, these bees will fly away again, followed by about 10 - 15 more bees flying over. From the time the first bee is caught and brought into the nest until the end of the process of successive waves of bees arriving is called the bee visiting process. This is the time when the bee hunter is so nervous that he holds his breath.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tu, Thanh Thinh commune (wearing blue shirt on the right) is examining the point where the bait nest is hung. Photo: Dinh Ha.

If after waiting for 3-7 minutes the bees do not return, the bee hunter knows that he has failed and must find another one to repeat the process. If he is lucky, the bees will return. That is the most exciting and joyful moment of the bee hunting profession. Whoever brings back the beehive is considered lucky and will be cheered and congratulated by his fellow bee hunters.

After the bees have entered the nest, the bee hunter will use a tool like “that me” to cover the hole and bring the entire bait nest and the bees inside home, starting another process called bee spreading. From the compact bait nest, the bees will be spread to other, larger nests. This nest is called the breeding nest, made of hollow jackfruit wood, shaped like a barrel but smaller, with two closed ends with two pieces of wood, and two doors.

Before filling the hive, the beekeeper opens one end of the hive, uses pure honey to smear a little on the top of the hive to attract the bees and create a place for the bees to gather there. Then, using his hands, he gently and leisurely picks up handfuls of bees and puts them into the hive.

From here the bees will begin the growth process to work after 2-3 months through the flowering season to produce honey-filled hives.

After 3 batches, each hive can harvest 6-12 bottles of honey. This honey is similar to the honey found in the forest, called pure wild honey. Currently, it costs about 350,000 VND for a 650 ml bottle, 5 times higher than industrial honey. Mr. Nguyen Van Tu and many bee hunters in Thanh Thinh each have 10-30 hives, earning 25-100 million VND per year.

On this occasion, some professional bee hunters often catch a lot of honey bee colonies, not only to raise them but also to sell to other households in need at quite high prices, from 500,000 VND to 1 million VND depending on the number of bees in the colony.

Tran Dinh Ha

(Thanh Chuong Radio)