What’s natural about keeping bees? Man has been cultivating bees for thousands
of years, but to the bee, it’s not natural.
But then, thousands of years of keeping them one way or another, maybe
it is. Over a hundred years ago when the
framed hives were invented, the doomsayers said it would destroy the bees. Is it?
I hardly think so, but it is putting a lot of stress on them, constantly
manipulating the inside of the hive the bees have worked so hard to make their
own. Chemicals to fix this and that,
constantly inspecting, cooling the brood, making life inside the hive more
taxing. Stealing too much honey and
having to replace it with sugar water.
Is it actually the sugar water which is causing the problems? Moving the hive from point to point and
grazing on single plant species.
Replacing the queens 2, 3, 4 times a year and then watching the whole
bunch fly off to places unknown (CCD).
Do artificially inseminated queens even know what their role in life
really is? Never having taken the first flight, no wonder they take the colony
and leave. Is it simply these queens which are responsible for CCD?
As backyard bee keepers, we need to make a change and begin committing
to a more natural way and make it better and less stressful for both us and the
bees. Allowing the bees to build their
own environment makes them more docile. Frankly,
friendlier bees means no more sweating days under the hood.
Bee diseases can and should be monitored only, but on
occasion we can give them a hand. Nosema
for example, is a fungus caused by too much humidity in the hive and this we
can help by providing more ventilation. I
also think it is caused by feeding sugar syrup which has been around too long. For the Hive Beetles we can provide beetle
traps and screened bottom boards with catch basins under to catch larvae as
they drop, or using Nematodes around the hives.
Tracheal mites can be treated with oxalic acid without too much adverse
effect to the bees. But the Vorra mite
is something the bees have to learn to work with. Applying poison’s only poisons the comb and
honey, exposing that back to us as consumers and then, because the mites become
resistant, we have to put in stronger and stronger poisons, a never ending cycle. But by allowing the bees to build their own
environment inside the hives; they can then fend off all of the above. And if they can’t, we have to let them perish
and start anew with a hardier breed and or crossbreed from other hives which
have survived. (By the way, Monsanto is
trying to develop, through gene manipulation, a “Super” bee which they say will
fight off the mites, Or are they just trying to make a bee which can withstand
there own poisons so they can then sell more and stronger ones? Of course all
with government grants.)
So what is natural bee keeping? It is simply allowing the bees to tend to
themselves. By providing them with a
more natural environment inside the hive and allowing the bee’s to build new
comb to raise brood however they want, the bees do exceptionally well on their
own. Natural comb shape is not straight,
but curved to inhibit a bad environment inside the hive. Monitoring the bee’s actions from outside and
checking the drop board for any problems, and allowing the colony to die if
need be and opening the hive only as a last resort. With all the problems we have caused over the
years, we need to be trying to raise a hardy, more resistant bee and not to promote
further problems.
Let’s talk about the hive.
My preference is an octagonal shape, more closely resembling the inside
cavity of a tree. After several years of
experimentation, I have settled on one that suits me well. The boxes are 7” tall with a 14” diameter
inside cavity, closely matching the inside dimensions of the Warre hive. The bottom board is screened and has a beetle
trap entrance. Under the screen is a
drop pan which is sprinkled with Diatomaceous earth. The roof has a built-in blanket filled with a
cedar shavings for positive ventilation.
Each box has ten top bars (some of have 4 center removable frames, which
helps with splitting the hives if need be and or transferring eggs and brood to
a queenless colony, these are bottomless).
A single full box of honey will weigh approximately 35lbs, more than
enough supplies for an entire winter. I
harvest in July, then, just monitor through-out the late summer until close-up
in winter, when I add insulation to the outside of the hives.
After finally learning to let my bees be, I have succeeded,
this year anyway, in having a 100% survival rate and more than doubled my stock
naturally. I also gave away 2 swarms and
had the misfortune to lose 1 to Nosema, after feeding some leftover syrup and
lost 2 that flew away when I, unfortunately, was not around. Good luck on your endeavors. Later
