Natural Methods for Keeping Honey Bees

Sources

Gunther Hauk - “Toward Saving the Honeybee” (featured in “The Queen of the Sun”)

Abbé Emil Warré – “Beekeeping for All”Ormond & Harry Aebi – “Mastering the Art of

Beekeeping, Vols. 1-2”Maurice Maeterlinck – “The Life of the Bee”H. Storch – “At the Hive Entrance” Jurgen Tautz – “The Buzz about Bees”

Continuum

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Commercial All Natural

It’s not black and white, we all choose the combination of methods that makes sense to us.

History of Beekeeping through Art

Human-Bee Relationship

Honey Hunting– 7,000 b.c., honey invaluable, bee becomes sacred.

Ancient Egypt – 19th Century - Beekeeping by Priests. Through the middle ages - rudimentary bee management, skeps of basketry, pottery, dung.

Itinerant Bees – a very old practice

To Zeno, Greeting from the beekeepers of the Arsinoite nome. You wrote about the donkeys, that they were to come to Philadelphia and work ten days. But it is now eighteen days that they have been working and the hives have been kept in the fields, and it is time to bring them home and we have no donkeys to carry them back. Now it is no small impost that we pay the king. Unless the donkeys are sent at once, the result will be that the hives will be ruined and the impost lost. Already the peasants are warning us, saying: "We are going to release the water and burn the brushwood, so unless you remove them you will lose them." We beg you then, if it please you, to send us our donkeys, in order that we may remove them. And after removing them we will come back with the donkeys when you need them. May you prosper!

(middle 3rd century, B.C.E., Egyptian tablet)

The Agricultural Value of the Honey Bee

Bees in their Natural State

Some Ideas on Natural Beekeeping

1)  a tree-like hollow space2)  some height off the ground3)  natural comb [no foundation]4)  queen is free to move throughout the

colony [no queen excluder]5) honey is left for the bees, take only what is

truly superfluous and then in the late spring

Natural Beekeeping cont.

6)  drones are allowed to develop at the will of the colony 7)  swarms are allowed to occur naturally, no

interference or swarm prevention 8)  queen remains as long as the colony accepts them,

[no requeening at beekeepers will] 9)  no synthetic chemicals used for medication or

miticide/fungicides 10)  the colony is left alone whenever possible  [no

weekly hive checks that disperse the precious warmth and hive scent]

To Feed or not to Feed

Best is to never feed your bees.Better is to feed bees rarely and with your own

honeyGood is to feed bees with an organic herbal sugar

syrup.Other Ideas? ------------------------------------------X-----------------------Corn Syrup Sugar Organic Sugar Herbal Syrup Honey No

feeding

Organic Herbal Sugar Syrup Recipe

Organic Chamomile tea – lightly steepedOrganic cane sugar - the lighter the better,

never dark1:1 or stronger depending on season and useAdd: pinch of sea saltAdd: Ph balancing agent: organic pure lemon

juice(~ 1 Tbsp. / quart of syrup)

Other Herbs for Syrup

Almost any kitchen herb growing in the garden, especially the ones the bees are gathering from

Yarrow HorsetailDandelion NettlePeppermint ThymeRue Lemon BalmHyssop

Natural Smoker Fuels

Sage Meadow GrassMyrrh ResinOther ideas?

Mite Control

Essential Oils – thyme, tea tree, peppermint etc.

Natural Acids – Oxalic acid, Formic acid – not approved by the FDA for use on bees, but widely used and scientifically validated in Europe. (see scientificbeekeeping.com for detailed instructions)

Ashing – biodynamic preparation of mite ashNo treatment, let natural selection workOther ideas?

Expanding Colonies

Add boxes below in early spring for expansion of brood colony downward

Add supers above in later spring and summer for honey storage

Other natural management ideas?

Internet Resources

http://warre.biobees.com/ http://biobees.com/http://scientificbeekeeping.com/http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htmhttp://urbanbeeprojectseattle.com/