Heidi Herrmann's responses to your countryfile discussions -

[sunhivebee]

" From my point of view all forms of beekeeping are beneficial to the environment in particular if no persistent chemicals are used in or around the hives. To try and create divisions is a bit counterproductive."

Quite!
HH

 

[Red Bee]

Hi Heidi

Welcome to the forum, I'm intrigued with the use of crystals.

"The crystals seen around one of the hives are a convenient way of blocking the inevitable gaps created by nadiring a skep with a box. They have no mystical significance, but appear in this instance to have served the purpose of eliciting all sorts of prejudice and wild associations."

If they have no mystical significance why use them? Why not use grass to block gaps? Or something else.

They must have some significance?

Just curious as to why, would be interesting to know.

 

[victor meldrew]

My thoughts entirely We all have our hang ups one way or another so I didn't/won't press the point
VM

 

[sunhivebee]

Been a bad season with many having to feed just to keep the bees alive, plus collected swarms of course, is the natural way to let them starve if they have used up all the reserves, or have nothing in the case of swarms?

I cannot speak for other natural beekeepers, but I personally would not knowingly let a colony starve; hence this year has been focussed on feeding, not much else.

 

[sunhivebee]

Hi Heidi

Welcome to the forum, I'm intrigued with the use of crystals.

"The crystals seen around one of the hives are a convenient way of blocking the inevitable gaps created by nadiring a skep with a box. They have no mystical significance, but appear in this instance to have served the purpose of eliciting all sorts of prejudice and wild associations."

If they have no mystical significance why use them? Why not use grass to block gaps? Or something else.

They must have some significance?

Just curious as to why, would be interesting to know.

I thought I answered that question. They were handy! do you understand that? And to me they look more beautiful than grass! And they look great propolised! And they seemed to have served the additional purpose of eliciting all sorts of freaky assumptions, if not insults. Final submission on crystals. And if you prefer grass I promise I won't challenge it. Best wishes
Heidi

 

[sunhivebee]

Brosville: "and I have always been somewhat taken aback by the venom directed at (more) natural beekeeping - often from a position of total ignorance of what it's actually about, with many inaccurate assumptions about disease."

Well put. Helps to think of the first guys who pointed out that battery chicken farming might not be such a bright idea - am told that they were considered quite crazy by some. Hippies, perhaps, or sth even more heinous.

 

[VEG]

Well done for coming here and fighting your corner. There are quite a number of beekeepers on here that have been stung while just looking.
If you want to keep bees in the hives you have chosen then good for you. At the end of the day we do it for the bees.
I dont personally like the term natural or more natural in beekeeping. We all are beekeepers end of.

 

[sunhivebee]

Well done for coming here and fighting your corner. There are quite a number of beekeepers on here that have been stung while just looking.
If you want to keep bees in the hives you have chosen then good for you. At the end of the day we do it for the bees.
I dont personally like the term natural or more natural in beekeeping. We all are beekeepers end of.

Thanks, Craig. We're all beekeepers for sure. But as the term natural beekeeping is part of the name of the charity I represent it will stay, I think. We found it necessary to delineate ourselves from another charity that supported a producer of bee-killing pesticides; they have meanwhile moved on, I gather, not least for various "natural beekeeprs" intervention and exposure, and that is really great.
When you say "fighting your corner" - it was my intention to give one response to a great variety of unintelligent rants and insults and appeal for a higher standard of interaction. Since then I have confronted a few more submissions in a similar vein. So whilst it would be great to interact with some of you I have met on this forum, including yourself, and might even prove to be of mutual benefit, I shall confine myself to visiting the forum occasionally until such time that a higher standard of discussion of bee related topics is achieved. Besides I have not much time to spend in cyberspace as I care for a very large number of colonies (all from my own stock) and am keen to achieve the consistently high colony survival figures to which I have become accustomed. This does not leave me much time to interact with rude and ill-intentioned individuals hiding behind unidentifiable identities.
With very best wishes

Heidi

 

[Pete D]

I dont personally like the term natural or more natural in beekeeping. We all are beekeepers end of.

I agree.
I am new to beekeeping but have been amazed by how many people think its amazing what I do, helping the bees.
I have had 7 calls this year to remove natural bees from roofs, sheds, wheelie bins and compost heaps and where practical I have helped and given them a new home. I have also took some natural swarms of which some would of perished without doubt if I had not fed them pure natural sugar !

The clue is in the name..........'beekeeping forum' and its inclusive not exclusive

Merry Christmas

Pete D

 

[sunhivebee]

I agree.
I am new to beekeeping but have been amazed by how many people think its amazing what I do, helping the bees.
I have had 7 calls this year to remove natural bees from roofs, sheds, wheelie bins and compost heaps and where practical I have helped and given them a new home. I have also took some natural swarms of which some would of perished without doubt if I had not fed them pure natural sugar !

The clue is in the name..........'beekeeping forum' and its inclusive not exclusive

Merry Christmas

Pete D

Pete, keep up your good work! And yes, of course there are situations where pure white cane sugar has to be fed to avoid starvation. It's another matter feeding it in order to replace the honey taken. But let's not go into that, some beekeepers evidently consider it ok, I don't. End of discussion, please.
H.

 

[mbc]

End of discussion, please.
H.

No.
Another point of view is that beekeepers who dont harvest honey are wasteful of natures providence and should pack it in so there's more nectar available for proper beekeepers who dont spurn wonderfully nutritious food

 

[drstitson]

judging from the photos the size of the sun hive one would imagine that there are significant stores in the main body before any overflow into a super.

obviously in a poor year like this one even colonies left to own devices would need feed to survive.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Why cane sugar? If the reason is neonics, then both beet or cane are often treated with them.

http://www.bayercropscience.com.au/cs/products/productdetails.asp?id=258

http://scientificbeekeeping.com/testing-of-bee-feed-syrups-for-neonicotinoid-residues/

 

[tonybloke]

judging from the photos the size of the sun hive one would imagine that there are significant stores in the main body before any overflow into a super.

obviously in a poor year like this one even colonies left to own devices would need feed to survive.

not so, good Doctor!
I've taken over 200lb of honey off of my 3 hives this year, and only fed them 1kg of sugar per hive (a 2;1 solution) in a rapid feeder when I first treated with apiguard. (they didn't 'need' this, I find it keeps more of the bees indoors to help efficacy of treatment)

I keep my bees in a larger than most brood box (16 x 10) and the bees have plenty left in the brood box when I take off the supers. all hives are really heavy atm, bees ramming in the ivy

 

[Red Bee]

I thought I answered that question. They were handy! do you understand that? And to me they look more beautiful than grass! And they look great propolised! And they seemed to have served the additional purpose of eliciting all sorts of freaky assumptions, if not insults. Final submission on crystals. And if you prefer grass I promise I won't challenge it. Best wishes
Heidi

Fair enough.

Just asking.

 

[drstitson]

TB - that's what i meant. your bees have a large brood box. any stores in super are supplementary.

you are lucky to have had decent forage. many others won't have had. for example S. Lincs relies on OSR - most of the flowering period was either wet or <15C so no nectar. i got one small bucket off 6 hives.

 

[VEG]

Not so long ago there was another member of this forum that joined amidst a lot of posts just like has happened to you. He is still here and a very valuable contributor to the forum.

 

[tonybloke]

DrS, that's the problem with folk who keep bees in the countryside, relying on 1, or 2 plants to provide a years worth of nectar!

 

[Hivemaker.]

DrS, that's the problem with folk who keep bees in the countryside, relying on 1, or 2 plants to provide a years worth of nectar!

Cannot really be called the countryside if that is the case can it Tony, more like a factory.

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

Having perused some of the posts published here I am astonished at the tone and language used; to the moderators I would recommend to undertake a little study of the yahoo Warre forum, for example, in which the kind of mean-spiritedness, bigotry and narrow-mindedness manifested by many of your contributors would not be tolerated, if it ever occurred.

Of all the wild insinuations and foul-mouthed comment I have found only the contributions of Chris Kenn to display the attitude of reason, humanness and tact that one would ideally hope to find in people privileged with caring for bees.

It is therefore, I would imagine, absolutely vital that you should pursue your craft armed to the teeth, as no sensible bees would allow you anywhere near them when you exude so much bile towards your fellow human beings.


I didn’t even see the program and this gal has my back up. I haven’t read a load of old carp on the forum in a long time.
Crystals in a bee hive, what is that about, did a space ship land and I missed the coverage on the news.
This reads like a case of rattle fallen from the pram to me. However, it does sound like you have found yourself a nice little money earner exploiting your bees on the TV the "natural way", so good luck with that...


As for your fears that the bee colonies maintained by natural beekeepers might lead to the demise of all other colonies because they are not treated in the counter-intuitive ways some of you appear to favour, I commend to you the research published by

As for the BBC I would like to inform you that they have received a wealth of fantastic feedback from members of the general public as well as beekeepers, besides some hate mail from certain beekeepers who, they imagine, felt stung. Media interest in sustainable beekeeping is boyuant, I am pleased to assure you, and you will do well to inquire deeply into the species specific needs of the honeybee if you wish to be beekeepers in the future.

I will now address some of the issues raised in your post:

The fresh comb shown in the programme relates to a swarm that was housed in a sun hive, of which I identified queen failure within a few weeks; the bees were combined with another hive. Thanks to the detailed and sustained observation techniques employed by natural beekeepers this was identified before the colony started dwindling.

The crystals seen around one of the hives are a convenient way of blocking the inevitable gaps created by nadiring a skep with a box. They have no mystical significance, but appear in this instance to have served the purpose of eliciting all sorts of prejudice and wild associations.

My relationship my bee inspector is one of mutual respect, possibly much helped by the low incidence of varroa in my “alternative” hives and the caring attitude he finds in the natural beekeeping community.

I will conclude by wishing you all the best in your endeavours with bees, may they thrive and winter well, and may you succeed in becoming more fully human in the way you deal with each other as well as other beekeepers whose views differ from your own.

With best wishes

Heidi Herrmann
Natural Beekeeping Trust

I didn’t see the program and this gal has my back up. I haven’t read a load of old carp on the forum in a long time. Crystals in a bee hive, what is that about, did a space ship land and I missed the coverage on the news.
This reads like a case of rattle fallen from the pram to me. However, it does sound like you have found yourself a nice little money earner exploiting your bees on the TV the natural way, so good luck with that.....