Apitherapy and more: Honeybees and the ecosystem.

“Bring the injection box”, my dad said. What injection box?

My dad is a farmer, so whose injection box was he referring to? Perhaps he started a course in medicine, and I wasn’t aware, I wondered. But while thinking, my sister brought out the box, and it was full of bees. What’s that? I asked and the visitor responded, “injection box”.

My dad had a lot of bee hives at different farm locations, and for anything, I hated going close to the hives, except on days when we were at the farm to prepare the hives for the bee colony so that we could harvest honey. On other days when the hives had been fully colonized, I wouldn’t dare get close because of the mighty sting, however, my dad would say, “honeybee venom is healing”.

Many years later, after a little research, I realized that the visitor had come for what’s now called ‘Apitherapy’, a therapy that uses honeybee products to treat human diseases. The visitor said he felt feverish, and he came for treatment, so the bees sting was the treatment. According to research, the bees’ venom has the potential to cure diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, arthritis and boost the immune system source.

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The little space at our backyard was used for subsistence farming and sometimes, I used to go there to help with the cultivation processes. One day, I returned from school and excitedly dashed to the farm to harvest some fresh corn to prepare a meal, and I was met with about five bees flying around the farm.

I couldn’t wait to see if they had come to just say ‘hi’ or for another mission because I didn’t want to go to school the next day with swollen eyes. I met my dad inside and after he listened to my story, he said, “those bees have come to harvest pollen grains from the farm so that they can eat and feed their family, however, they’ve also helped our farm products grow. In the process of harvesting their meal, they helped with the crop’s fertilization on the farm, which will enhance seed germination. This is what I later learned to be pollination.

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Growing up, one of the times of the year that I looked forward to was the period of honey harvesting. It used to feel like war because of the way we kit up and arm ourselves with weapons. Not guns, but smoke dispeller to repel the attacks by the bees because they don’t like fire.

Harvesting period was usually in the morning, after which we would take the honeycombs home to extract the honey and sometimes, convert the honeycombs to wax. Sometimes, my dad used to extract Vaseline from the comb too. I don’t know how he did that.

I don’t know why I loved to play with fire growing up, but for the many times I’ve had wounds, honey was the major item used for the wounds dressing. Apart from being used as a sweetener, honey has been an important material in the beauty and cosmetics industry.

Fun facts about honeybees

1. The honeybee colony has the workers, drones, and one queen and the queen are the only sexually developed female in the colony.
2. The workers in the colony are females and are non-productive, but they are the soldiers of the hive.
3. The workers work to feed the colony, including the drones.
4. The drones eat the most food but are the laziest in the hive.
5. During winter when nectar is scarce, the workers push the drones out of the hive to starve so that the food can be sufficient for them till the winter is over. Honeybees don’t encourage laziness.
6. The honeybees are powerless at night, but that does not mean you should invade their peace.
7. When you go close to honeybee hives, don’t wear perfume, else, they’ll pollinate you thinking you are a nectar.