Hi. I thought it would be useful to mention this style of beekeeping to broaden the range of subjects here.
I realise this is a controversial topic in this organisation. Non-treaters tend to get, shall we say, a rough reception in many forums so we tend to disengage and go our own way. But I feel it would be a disservice to newbees not to offer an alternative perspective onbeekeeping.
So here's my story. I live in a rural area and have been non-treatment since 2012. The next Spring my Buckfast bees died, with a high varroa load. I repopulated from local swarms (up to 20 miles away) and have never lost a colony to mites since then; I have 6 colonies these days. I have talked to a lot of non treatment beekeepers, and this pattern seems consistent: it is much harder to get bees which thrive without miticides if you buy from a breeder, but getting local bees to thrive is like pushing an open door.
Most of the beekeepers round me don't treat. They find it just is not necessary. There is a low but constant level of mites (typically about 2 a day on inspection boards). The bees use a variety of control mechanisms, the most obvious being ejection of some pupae.
The less I open the hives, the better the bees do. My hives have been inspected twice by bee inspectors who gave them a clean bill of health. My main problem is queen failure - when you catch a cast, with a virgin queen, sometimes she fails to mate. Old beeks tell me this used to be rare decades ago.
Here's a key factor in the success of natural beekeeping: we're not that excited about honey yield. So our hives take a couple of years to establish, from a swarm, before they are big enough to generate an excess to harvest. We don't use stimulative feeding - seems pointless as we tend to have static hives, the local bees are attuned to the local forage rhythm! - so there are brood breaks, which act as a natural firebreak on parasites. Most bee pests and diseases are brood diseases.
Another factor often denied by hard line conventional beekeepers is the background population of feral bees who survive without human help. I know of six such colonies in my village alone; I monitor them every week or so from February to June to confirm they have not died out (generally 4 or 5 survive each winter, I think one householder poisons them each year). Allowing free mating with these strengthens my bees. I haven't had an aggressive colony since I stopped treating, which really annoyed the "mild mannered" Buckfasts.
Another aspect not spoken of by breeders is how crossing strains gives aggressive bees. They blame "local mongrels" but from the perspective of beekeepers using the local strain, the problem is that newbees believe claims from breeders and import non local strains. The BBKA strongly promotes the use of local bees!
I realise this is a controversial topic in this organisation. Non-treaters tend to get, shall we say, a rough reception in many forums so we tend to disengage and go our own way. But I feel it would be a disservice to newbees not to offer an alternative perspective onbeekeeping.
So here's my story. I live in a rural area and have been non-treatment since 2012. The next Spring my Buckfast bees died, with a high varroa load. I repopulated from local swarms (up to 20 miles away) and have never lost a colony to mites since then; I have 6 colonies these days. I have talked to a lot of non treatment beekeepers, and this pattern seems consistent: it is much harder to get bees which thrive without miticides if you buy from a breeder, but getting local bees to thrive is like pushing an open door.
Most of the beekeepers round me don't treat. They find it just is not necessary. There is a low but constant level of mites (typically about 2 a day on inspection boards). The bees use a variety of control mechanisms, the most obvious being ejection of some pupae.
The less I open the hives, the better the bees do. My hives have been inspected twice by bee inspectors who gave them a clean bill of health. My main problem is queen failure - when you catch a cast, with a virgin queen, sometimes she fails to mate. Old beeks tell me this used to be rare decades ago.
Here's a key factor in the success of natural beekeeping: we're not that excited about honey yield. So our hives take a couple of years to establish, from a swarm, before they are big enough to generate an excess to harvest. We don't use stimulative feeding - seems pointless as we tend to have static hives, the local bees are attuned to the local forage rhythm! - so there are brood breaks, which act as a natural firebreak on parasites. Most bee pests and diseases are brood diseases.
Another factor often denied by hard line conventional beekeepers is the background population of feral bees who survive without human help. I know of six such colonies in my village alone; I monitor them every week or so from February to June to confirm they have not died out (generally 4 or 5 survive each winter, I think one householder poisons them each year). Allowing free mating with these strengthens my bees. I haven't had an aggressive colony since I stopped treating, which really annoyed the "mild mannered" Buckfasts.
Another aspect not spoken of by breeders is how crossing strains gives aggressive bees. They blame "local mongrels" but from the perspective of beekeepers using the local strain, the problem is that newbees believe claims from breeders and import non local strains. The BBKA strongly promotes the use of local bees!