Crane, Eva. 1998. Wall Hives and Wall Beekeeping. Bee World 79(1): 11-22

10

AcknowledgementsThe authors wish to thank Dr W Rubinkand R Rivera of US Agricultural ResearchServices (Weslaco, Texas, USA) for officiallyidentifying our mite samples as Varroo Jacob-son/. A Sanchez Chavez is thanked for draw-ing the map of Costa Rica. Beekeeper F Eli-zondo of Los Santos is thanked for allowingus to use some of his infested colonies forthe formic acid experiment

ReferencesI. ARCE ARCE.H G; VEEN, JW VAN (1997) Pro-

duction, processing and quality of honeys inCentral America and Mexico. In Sommeijer, MJ; Beetsma, J; Boot, W-J; Robberts, E-J; Vriesde, R (eds) Perspectives for honey production inthe tropics. NECTAR; Bennekom, Netherlands;pp 103-115.

1 CALDERONE, N W; SPIVAK, M (1995) Plantextracts for control of the parasitic mite Vor-roo jacobsoni (Acari: Varroidae) in colonies ofthe western honey bee (Hvmenoptera: Api-dae). Journal of Economic Entomology 88(5):I2II-I2I5.

3. CAMAZINE, S (1986) Differential reproductionof the mite, Vorroo jocobsora' (Mesostigmata:Varroidae), on Africanized and Europeanhoney bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Annals ofthe Entomological Society of America 79(5):801-803. ,

4. DE JONG, D; GONCALVES, L S; MORSE, R A(1984) Dependence on climate of the viru-lence of Vorroo jocobsom. Bee World 65(2):117-121.

5. RIES, I (1993) Vorroo in cold climates: populationdynamics, biotechnical control and organicacids. In Matheson. A (ed) Living wittt rorma.IBRA; Cardiff. UK; pp 37-48.

6. HOOD. W M (1997) Field test of the varroatreatment device (TM). American Bee journal137(3): 224.

7. MATHESON, A (1996) World bee health update.Bee World 77(1): 45-51.

8. MORETTO.G (1997) Defense of Africanized' beeworkers against the mite Varroa jacobsoni inSouthern Brazil. American Bee Journal I37,((0):746-747.

9. NIXON, M (1982) Preliminary world maps ofhoney bee diseases and parasites. Bee World63(1): 23-42.

10. OCHEITA, J (1995) Beekeeping extensionist ofINTECAR Guatemala. Personal communica-tion.

11. RITTER, W (1993) Chemical control: options andproblems. In Matheson, A (ed) living with vor-roo. IBRA; Cardiff, UK; pp 17-24.

12. RUIJTER DE A (1993) Varroa at the neighbours:ten years' experience in The Netherlands. InMatheson, A (ed) Living with varroa. IBRA;Cardiff, UK; pp 33-36.

13. RUIJTER DE, A; EIJNDE, J VAN DEN (1989) Reidexperiment to determine the efficacy of Apis-tan on Varroa mites in bee colonies and theeffect on spring development of treatedcolonies. In Cavalloro, R (ed) Present status ofyarroatoys in Europe and progress in the varroamite control. Proceedings of a meeting of the EC-Experts' Croup, Udine, Italy, 1988; pp 331-337.

14. VEEN, J W VAN; ARCE ARCE, H G (1993)Situation actual y perspectives de la apiculturaen Costa Rica. Proceedings of the IX National ,Agronomy and Natural Resources Conference,Vol. I, Nffl 57; San Jose, Costa Rica; 8 pp.

I S. WATKINS, M (1996) Resistance and its relevanceto beekeeping. Bee World 77(4): 15-22.

Johan van VeenM, Rafael A Calderon Fallas1, Ana Cubero3 andHenry G Arce Arce1

'Department of Social Insects, Ethology and Socio-ecology, Laboratory of ComparativePhysiology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box. 80.086, NL-3508 TB Utrecht, TheNetherlands

2Centro de Investigaciones Aplcolas Tropicales, Universidad Nacional, P.O. Box 475-3000, Heredia, Costa Rica'Ministerio de Agriculture, Departamento de Extensibn Apicola, Sabana Sur, CostaRica 'Present address: PO Box 475-3000, Heredia, Costa Rica

Original Article

Wall hives and wall beekeepingEVA CRANE

In the warm temperate zone of the Old World, wall hives as well asfree-standing hives have been widely used for Apis mellifera and A.cerana. Dr Eva Crane explores their distribution and thebeekeeping done with them.

Within a wide latitude belt, stretching about10 000 km from Morocco in the west toNepal in the east, some beekeepers in thepast hived bees directly into recesses builtinto a wall. The belt lies between about30°N and 50°N (mainly between 35°N and45°N), directly south of the deciduousforests where bees were tended in tree cav-ities. Local races of both Apis mellifera and Acerana were used in wall hives.

This article explores the characteristics anduse of wall hives in some twenty countries,and discusses how their use relates to theuse and siting of free-standing hives. In a fewcountries with areas of soft rock (loess ortuff), beekeepers created hives in the rockwithout building a wall. They enlarged anexisting cavity or made a new one — forinstance in a cliff face — by scraping with asuitable hand tool. Examples of such hivesare included at the end of regional sectionsbelow.

Early referencesThe use of wall hives dates back at least toRoman times, since Columella (c. AD 60)referred to it in the preface to his Book IXof De re rustico: 'Within our own memoryaccommodation for bees was providedeither in holes cut in the actual walls of thevilla [country house or form building], or insheltered porticos and orchards.' In BookIX.6.2, Columella mentioned brick hives,deprecating their use because they 'cannot

be moved to another site', and Armbruster2

may well have been correct in suggestingthat these hives were recesses built into abrick wall.

The next record found was made by Ibn-el-Awam who lived at Seville in Spain in the11 OOs. He added to a description of varioushives: 'Others make round or square open-ings in walls,... slightly inclined or converg-ing towards the base'". A 1483 record inCyprus is quoted in Excerpta Cypr/o. Amonk, Felix Faber, entered an empty cell ina Dominican convent and noticed a woodendoor that closed off a cavity in the outsidewall. He opened the door, and 'immediatelythere burst upon me an infinite swarm ofangry bees ... There was a little hole in thewall by which they entered from the gardeninto the cupboard.' A passage by Possot in1532 also mentioned wall hives: 'the beesare inside the houses of the village, and onthe outside of the walls they have little holesto go in and out, and the wax and honey arethus inside the houses. This is the fashionthroughout the Kingdom of Cyprus.'

General characteristicsand distribution of wallhivesA wall hive is a recess built into a wall andnormally closed by a door across theopening, which the beekeeper removes totake out honey combs. A small flight

In .JL

entrance is made, either on the same sideas the beekeeper's door (front-opening) oron the opposite side (back-opening). Thelatter arrangement enables the beekeeperto remove honey from inside a building.Front-opening hives were probably themore primitive, and the bees might have tofly in and out through cracks in the door.But sometimes these hives were the onlychoice, for instance if the back of the wallwas blocked off or faced on to someone

else's land.

I have seen wall hives in use in Europe andNorth Africa, and in Asia for bpth A. meffif-era and A. cerono. They are usually less thana metre from the ground and worked fromground level. But in two-storey houses, forinstance in Spain and in Nepal, the back-opening hives are above head height and areworked from a loft or bedroom. (In

FIG. I. Courtyard of a house in EI-Kelaa-des-Mgouna, Morocco, showing (bottom left) flightentrances to three back-opening wall hives, I 964.

addition, wall recesses have been used inOman to accommodate colonies of A ftoreo— a species which nests in the open — butthese are not considered here.)

Countries bordering thewestern Mediterranean(Apis meffifera)

North Africa

In Saharan oases in Morocco, the honey beeis A meHifero sahariensis. Colonies wereenabled to survive the diurnal temperaturefluctuations by housing them in walls of thesun-dried mud used for buildings. Figure Ishows hive entrances in a house wall in El-Kelaa-des-Mgouna, and I was shown how aswarm was put into a hive through the larg-er opening at the back of the wall. Otherhouses there had similar hives. In Figure 2,one of several hives in a palm grove inErfoud oasis is being opened from the front;the back of the wall faced on to a publicpath. Hives ran lengthways along the —probably less thick — wall, and the beekeep-er closed the opening with narrow strips ofwood and plastered them over with mud.

Armbruster7 published (probably upside-down) Baldensperger's photograph of anapiary at Ain-Sefra 'at the entrance to theAtlas-Sahara' in Algeria. Near the bottom ofa stone wall were three cavities, their open-ings made rectangular with mortar and eachclosed with a board; bees flew out through

cracks left open.

Chevetls published a photograph of a few ofthe hundred or so unusual hives in Hai'drain Tunisia, near the Algerian border. A rowof parallel low stone uprights on the groundwas joined up by arches moulded from chalk

or limestone.

Spain and France

In Galicia in north-west Spain. Chevetfound a large number of back-opening hives(a/aceno, cupboard) in house walls, still inuse. They were 40 cm wide and 60 cm high.and lined with wood. He also showed acolony of bees in a wall near Santiago deCompostela.

In France, Masetti" found 30 houses withback-opening wall hives (ruche-p/ocord) in thecommune of Peone, Alpes-Maritimes, andothers in Charente-Maritime north of theGironde estuary, where Chevet13 alsodescribed a number — in houses, barns andother buildings, mostly in walls 60 cm thick.These wall hives were like those in Spain andhad a similar cross-section. Some could bedated to between 1300 and 1700, and somewere still in use.

13

Italy

Columcl'.i refolded to accommodation forbees being provided 'within our own mem-ory' in holes cut in walls, and this suggeststh.it he was fami l iar with them where helived — near Rome or in southern Spain.

Armbruster described front-opening wallhives, each wi th a wooden cover, nearCengnola in south-east Italy: he showed 14in a photograph . He mentioned others inItaly, some of them 80 cm high and 50 cmwide and deep. In 1934 he reported manyrecesses in tuff near Brindisi in southernItaly. Wai! hives (ormo murale) were probablyused in northern Italy, since two buildingsnear Monti d'Alba about 40 km south-eastof Turin are fitted with a number which havebeen adapted to more modern manage-ment".

FIG. 2. Front-opening hive in a boundary wall of a palm grove. ErfouH O.IMS. Morocco. I 964.

'it is easy to do when you are building a wall.'But very few hives contained bees — I thinkvatroa had recently killed the rest.

Part of Cappadocia in Central Anatolia isformed of volcanic tuff from an eruption ofMount Argeus long ago, and in past cen-turies the population carved out of this rocktheir houses, churches and even under-ground towns. In 1942 Bodenheimer'" wasreliably informed that 'in ancient times thepeople used to make holes in the rocks, orprofit from the existing ones, and settledbees in them; entrances were 3 or 4 mabove ground, to guard them against theft.'In 1985 I found I I such recesses in use nearGoreme which had been excavated from a'cave' made behind a dressed rock face (fig.

7).Pechhacker and Huttinger28 mentioned wallhives in Iran.

FIG 7 Flight < ntrancei to hives cut in tuff,t

Asia (Apis cerana)Wall hives are still very common in the sub-Himalayas, from the upper Indus basin eastthrough Himachal Pradesh and UttarPradesh in India, as far as Nepal.

Pakistan and IndiaIn 1944 Mullick24 found bees 'flourishingwell' in wall hives in almost every village inHazara District, now in Pakistan.

In India, wall hives were common in UttarPradesh, and in Garhwahl district 'most ofthe families' kept bees in them™. Hives mea-sured by Verma32 were 30 cm wide and 45cm high; over 150 near jeolikote in NainitalDistrict were on average 38 cm 'long' and25 cm 'deep'25. Near its source, the Indusruns through Ladakh, which is high aboveSrinagar and the Jhelum valley in Kashmir;Leh is at about 3500 m. In 1975 bees werekept in wall cavities separated by uprightbeams, and the wooden door of each con-tained the flight entrance.

NepalWall hives are also very common in Nepal,from the west to beyond Kathmandu.Where a beekeeper kept bees in horizontallog hives under the eaves as well as in wallhives, he often said that the bees winteredbetter in the wall hives. I was also told thatthe depth of a wall hive was never morethan 60 cm (the distance between elbowswhen the arms are linked together with theforearms overlapped); the beekeeper wasthen able to reach all parts of the hive. Mostwall hives I measured in Nepal were about45 x 45 cm and 30 cm deep.

Round Pokhara in the west, a wall hive wasmade — usually in the south gable end —when a house was built (fig. 8); there weresometimes several hives in one house. Theycould remain unoccupied for some time,but some beekeepers collected swarms to

19

FIG. 8. Gable end of a house showing the flight entrance to a back-opening wall hive for Apis cerana, atReiiachur, near Pokhara, Nepal, 1984.

put in them. Inside the cavity, woodenboards might be plastered with mud on thetop surface from which the bees wouldbuild their combs. The hive was opened bya wooden door inside a room or loft Whenharvesting, three combs were left toencourage the colony to remain, butcolonies were not fed: the beekeepers weretoo poor to buy sugar.

Within the past few decades a hundredhives 30 cm deep were built in the brickboundary wall of the Royal Apiary at Gokar-na near Kathmandu (fig. 9); they were usedas bait hives for swarms which flew over inJanuary/March.

VietnamI do not know of the use of wall hives far-ther east than Nepal, but colonies of A cer-ana were tended in rock cavities in at leasttwo areas in northern Vietnam2': in Quang

Ninh province, and by Dao people in HaTuyen province. When a beekeeper harvest-ed combs, he cut off each flush with the roofof the cavity, then cut the upper honey partaway from the lower brood part; the divi-sion between the two parts is horizontal inA. cerana combs. Each piece of brood combwas replaced in the cavity, fixed in positionagainst the roof with the aid of a forkedbamboo stick (see fig. 9 in Crane et o/.'8).

-*

What we know aboutwall hives

Specific characteristics

What we see now are mostly vestiges fromthe past, and we do not know the sequenceof the use of wall hives and free-standinghives in the different places where bothoccur.

FIG 9. Well made wall hive containing a recent swarm of Apis cerono, Gokarna Royal Apiary, nearKathmandu, Nepal, 1992.

The number of wall hives found at one loca-tion varies from one to 20 or more. Wherewall hives are found in a constructed wall,the wall is usually of stone (dry ormortared), but sometimes of brick. In theSahara region sun-dried mud is the usualbuilding material, possibly strengthened withstraw. Hives were also excavated in loess ortuff, the two most common types of softrock.

Wall hives are usually rectangular, which maybe the easiest shape to construct. Also, har-vesting honey is easier if the upper surfaceis flat, and a rectangular closure is the sim-plest to make and to operate.

Almost all wall hives are found in regionswhere traditional free-standing hives arehorizontal, and the management of bees inthem is in some ways similar to that in thefree-standing hives. The thickness of the walllimits the length (depth) of a wall hive. Wallhives built recently seem to be back-opening

except where the site prevents this, as in theCyclades where the hives are in a wall whichretained the earth of a terrace at a higherlevel, and in the Balkans and some otherareas where the hives were excavated incliffs of loess or tuff. In Turkey the traditional,horizontal hives can be opened at the backand, unusually, so can at least some of thehives excavated in loess.

Reasons for theirgeographical distributionHives in free-standing walls were necessarilyrestricted to areas where materials wereavailable for building thick walls. Rainfall wasnot very high, and land boundaries might beprotected by walls rather than by hedges orbushes.

These hives, and those excavated in softrock, are found only in a latitude belt wherewinters were not too cold for colonies tosurvive in stone or rock cavities (average

January temperatures perhaps not muchless than about 6°C).* It seems likely that, inthis latitude belt, swarms built their nests insuitable spaces within rocks and walls, andthat people then adapted the bees' nest siteby providing an access door and a flightentrance, and subsequently made recessesspecifically for the bees.

Many qf the areas with wall hives had beenrather distant from the main centres ofdevelopment of hive beekeeping. Almost allwere in countries where the earliest free-standing hives were used horizontally andharvested from one end. But areas referredto in France (wall hives) and Hungary (exca-vated hives) used upright hives in known his-torical times.

It would be interesting if the existence ofwall hives could be established in areasother than those reported here, so thattheir distribution can be more closely exam-ined.

Comparison with othertraditional hivesWall hives have certain elementary benefitsover free-standing hives. They are likely tobe longer lasting, they provide greater secu-rity from theft and from damage by animals,and where suitable building material is avail-able the cost can be minimal. Also, inregions where they are used, bees seem towinter better in them, probably because thematerial of the wall provides a thermalbuffer. Back-opening wall hives share withback-opening free-standing hives the advan-tage that bees can be smoked off honeycombs from the back of the hive at harvesttime. Main disadvantages of wall hives are

21

that they cannot be moved, and that withthe usual construction their size cannot bealtered.

In Spain and some other countries, longhorizontal earthenware hives were embed-ded close together in specially constructed(very thick) walls described earlier (Crane",figs 76-80). This practice must have postdat-ed the use of free-standing hives, but we donot know if it developed from the wall hivesdiscussed here.

Wall hives and wall recessesfor hives

At first sight it might appear that there wasa close link between hiving bees directly intoa wall recess and placing a free-standing hiveof bees in a wall recess (bee bole), and Arm-bruster' believed this to be so. I do not thinkit was true in general, except that building arectangular recess in a dry stone wall wasitself a very ancient utilitarian practice.Crane17 published such recesses at SkaraBrae in Scotland, dated to 2500-2000 BC.

The two beekeeping uses of wall recesseshave different geographical distributions.Most recesses for hives were buik in regionswhere upright hives were used, and wherethe climate would have been too cold forbees to survive in wall hives; Britain, Ireland,northern France and some higher parts ofsouthern France. In general wall hives arefound in warmer regions farther southwhich were characterized by the use offree-standing horizontal hives.

The thermal conductivity of earth materials is much higher than that of wood or other plant materials of which hiveswere made, for instance:

sandstone l.3Wm~'K'limestone 1.5granitewoodstraw/reed thatch

2.S0.1-0.30.07. 0.09

Plants for bees

References1. ANAGNOSTOPOULOS. I TH (1996) Personal

communication.

2. ARMBRUSTER, L (1926) Der Bienenstand alsvolkerkundliches Denkmal. Biicherei furBienenkunde 8. 1-147.

3. ARMBRUSTER. L (1928) Die ate Bienenzucht derAlpen. Bodiere fur Bienenkunde 9: 1-184.

4. ARMBRUSTER, L (1932) Die Biene im Orient II.Bibel und Biene. Ardw fir Bienenkunde 13(1):1-43.

5. ARMBRUSTER, L (1934) Imkerei-Betriebsformen.IV Areh/v fir Bienenkunde 15(2/3): 117-132,

6. ARMBRUSTER, L (1954) How old are English beeboles. Bee World 35(3): 50-52.

7. ARMBRUSTER, L (1957) Imkerkiinste in Bienen-Rohren, -Urnen, -Steintunneln, -Mauern.ArchN fur Bienenkunde 34: 1-10, 13-22.

8. ARMBRUSTER, L (1970) Erdbienenzucht Imker-freund 25(12): 353-356.

9. BIKOS, TH (1991) Personal communication.10. BIKOS, TH (1996) [Bee boles and bee-cupboards

in Andros.] Melissokomiki epitheorisi 10:359-363; 462-466 (in Greek).

11. BIKOS, TH (1997) [Wall hives in florina.] Melis-sokomikiepitheorisi 11(3): 118-123 (in Greek).

12. BODENHEIMER, F S (1942) Studies on the honeybee ond beekeeping in Turkey. Numune Mat-baasi; Istanbul, Turkey.

13. CHEVET, R (1988) Des niches a abeilles en Sain-tonge. Revue francoise d'Apicutture (478):440-442; (47,9): 503-504.

14. CHEVET, R (1988) L'exploitation des abeilles dansles niches. Revue francoise d'Apicurture (479):503-504.

15. CHEVET, R (1996) Apiculture en Tunisie. Revuefrancoise d'Apiculture (567): 460-461; (568):504-505.

16. CLEMENT-MULLET, J J (1864) Le Km de rogricul-ture d'/booMwom. A L Herold; Paris, France.

17. CRANE, t (1983) The archaeology of beekeeping.Duckworth; London. UK; 360 pp.

18. CRANE, E LUYEN, V V; MULDER, V (1993) Tra-ditional management at Apis cerana using mov-able-comb hives in Vietnam. Bee World 74(2):75-85.

f ... ^ -,„_,..„.Eva Crane

iFormerty Director of IBRA, Wbodside House, Wfoodside Hill. Gerrards CrossI Bucks SL9 9TE, UK

19. DOMACINOVIC. V (1989) Pcelarenje beikolnica/Waldbienenzucht Vtt I, Part IJI (4mops + pp. 9-19) of EtnoloSkj adas jugoslavi-je/Ethnologischer Atlas von jugoslavien. VBe/oj; T Vmicak (eds) (in Croatian and German).

20. GAUR. R D (1983/84) Resource developmentthrough bee farming in the GarhwahlHimalaya, johsard (7/8): 51-59.

21. K6GER, A (1986) Zwischen Mythen und Wirk-Ikhkeit: Griechenland ... frnteifreund-4l(l2):473-475.

22. MASETTI.H 1997) Personal communication.23. MULDER, V H (1991) Traditional beekeeping

using Apis cerano in Vietnam. In Kaal, j; Velth-ius, H H WJongeleen, F. Beetsma, J (eds) Tn>ditional bee management as a basis for beekeep-ing in the tropics. NECTAR; Bennekom,Netherlands; pp 61-74.

24. MULUCK, N P (1944) Honey and bee-keeping inScriptures and after. Indian Bee Journal 6(5/6):108-114.

25. MUTTOO, RN (1954) Bee-keeping in AncientIndia. Indian Bee Journal 16(5/6): 102-106, 124.

26. NACHTSHEIM,H(l92l)NaturrohrenalsNatur-bienenwohnungen. Archiv fir Bienenkunde3(1/2): 81 + I pi.

27. NICOLAIDIS, N J (1955) Facts about beekeepingin Greece. Bee World 36(8): 141-149.

28. PECHHACKER, H; HUTTINGER, E (1995)Gedanken zur Beutenfrage. Bienemater116(2): 60-63.

29. RUPP, K (1959) Albania — meheszete. [Beekeep-ing in Albania.] Meheszet 7(12): 229 (in Hun-garian).

30. SHOWLER, B; SHOWLER, K (1985) Notes on abeekeeping visit to Greece (unpublished).

31. TOTH, G (1981) The hivestones of Hungary.American Bee Journal 121(3): 202-203.

32. VERMA, L R (1992) Personal communication.33. ZYNGAS, J (1991) Personal communication.

Longan: a major hone^ThailandSlRIWAT WONGSIRI, RATNA THAPA AND PlCHAI KONGPITAK

Fact BoxSpecies: Dimocarpus hngan

Family: Sapindaceae

Common names: lam-yai (Thailand),lungan (dragon eye) and long-yen (China& Taiwan); shek-yip (Hong Kong); leng-keng (Indonesia); mein (Laos); mata kuc-ing (Malaysia & Brunei); nham (Philippines& Vietnam); pon-yai, chompoo (Aus-tralia); kohala, chompoo, blackball, dagel-man (USA); chompoo (Hawaii, USA)

Distribution: tropical and subtropicalAsia; native to Asia. Main growing areasin Thailand are in the northern highlands

Flowering period: late January — lateFebruary; flowering period may last 4-6weeks (dependingon cukivars, table I) indie northern part of Thailand

Pollen: minor, pale yellow

Value to bees: visited by five species ofhoney bees: Apis mellifera, A cerana, A.dorsata, A florea, and A andreniformis; aswell as stingless bees (Trigona sp.).Besides these, fruit flies and butterfliesalso visit for nectar

Honey: fresh honey from cultivatedspecies of D. longan is pale yellow incolour with a fine flavour and strongpleasant aroma.

Other uses: fruit; old trees (> 40 years)are used for timber and fuel-wood. Thelarge seeds are used for ornamental pur-poses.

Descripti<Three kinds of lo(wild species), niand commercial Iare widely founcThailand. Dimocaisubspecies andthroughout Asia acial scale in ChiaiRai and Lampan(table I). Scandeobtusus), a wild spin the mountainopart of Thailand.

Longan trees areand grow to betwetrees are cultivatedly branched, uprifbark of the longanof litchi (LJtchi chinhighly susceptiblewinds. The leaves aand paripinnate wiopposite leaflets.glossy dark green opaler on the lower <are terminal, erect, vup to 30 cm. There;in each dichasium, Imiddle develops intosmall and yellow broI). Longan flowers aitillate or hermaphro'flowers may be borrMajor pollinators ofdorsata and A ceranaimported in 1970).