New Developments
Miner's Beekeeping Veil
by
Manfred Leitner

Manfred Leitner was our speaker at the September meeting of the Midrand Beekeeper's club. Manfred has many years of experience in bee keeping and shared many interesting facts and tips on different aspects.

Manfred spoke about the Miner's Beekeeping veil. Essentially what Manfred has designed is a veil that incorporates a miner's hard hat, a miner's light/globe and battery pack into a design for a veil.

The stainless steel mesh is stitched to the miner's hat with an industrial machine and keeps the mesh and miner's hat neatly together. The mesh is strong and durable and won't rust. The miner's hat can then house the miner's light as per design.

The battery pack is about 1Kg in weight and the belt is a good support. It also assist in keeping bees from crawling up into you overall, caddy or jacket. Leitner suggests wearing the Miner's Beekeeping veil over an overall. Also be sure still to wear the belt. The life span of the battery is about 12 hours and they can be rechargeable. The lifespan of the globe is considerable as Leitner is still using the first one he installed with his prototype.

The usefulness of the miner's light is that if you prefer working at night, the light assists you to work with both hands free. There is no need to hold a torch in one hand leaving only one other to work with.

Alternatively, one doesn't have to make use of the miner's light and the bee veil results in a sturdy design and value for money.

Leitner also gave insight into difficult bee removals with height challanges. As you can see below, the concept Leitner was showcasing involved a frame containing old comb, an old broomstick and a G - vice. The broomstick needs to be squared off to length of the frame so it can attach to the top of the it using the G- vice.

This system is very good in the case where a swarm is out of reach. You can raise the broomstick once the frame is attached and place it alongside the swarm, hold it in place as long as possible until fatigue sets in to your arms and then lower the frame to your catch box. Shake the bees off into the catch / trap box and then repeat until you have the queen or all of the swarm either on the catch frame or in your box.

The bees will settle very quickly and actually be attracted to the old frame containing comb. It reminds them of home.

I recently removed a swarm in my complex using a similar system and it took 30 minutes for all the bees to relocate from their original spot into my trap box.