What beeks we are

[Bad Boy Bee]

I see a lot of advice being given out and most of it is really good, however:

Do you brush bees with a bee brush?
Do you put a swarm on old combs?
Do you crush them, brush them, flatten them and push them around when moving frames, or replacing the excluder?
Do you drown them in syrup?
Do you suffocate swarms on hot days?
Do you chill brood in your eagerness to make increase.
Do you singe them with the smoker?
Do you destroy Queen cells?
Do you smash drone brood?
Do you take too much honey and have to feed sugar?

All this can be avoided with a little more thought.

How dare we attempt to improve on their system?

Accept them as they are and work with them and not against them. Every thing a colony does is done for a very good reason, though you may not be sufficiently advanced to see it. Sit and watch them, let them teach you.

Shakespear once said bees teach the act of order to a peopled kingdom. If only we are humble enough to learn.

The most important leason I have learned as a beekeeper is to listen, observe and interpret.

Rant over Phew!!

No comments required, newbies just need to know there is no substitute for experience and the ability to learn from it.

 

[Silly Bee]

You should read "Consider her ways, and Others"


John Wyndam

 

[Finman]

.
To where you use that knowledge?

 

[Bad Boy Bee]

Thanks Sb I do like my apocolyptic sci-fi and not read that one

 

[Silly Bee]

Its a good read

 

[Bad Boy Bee]

.
To where you use that knowledge?

Sorry Finman noy following you

 

[Finman]

.
One question more: do you eate drone soup some day?

 

[Bad Boy Bee]

.
One question more: do you eate drone soup some day?

I will try almost anything once - experiment experiment

 

[mbc]

B B B I think I've managed to do all of you r not to do list and will probably do some again - some totally intentionally

 

[Rosti]

Do you brush bees with a bee brush? -yes sometimes, especially when harvesting or looking for laying patterns, sometimes I knock them off and give them a free-fall parchute lesson instead

Do you put a swarm on old combs? - yes its part of the combination of elements that make my bait hives 100% successful so far!

Do you crush them, brush them, flatten them and push them around when moving frames, or replacing the excluder? - yes unavoidably, but not intentionally

Do you drown them in syrup? - only when I was using horrid contact feeders and possibly the odd one when they get OA.

Do you suffocate swarms on hot days? - not intenionally but if one takes up residence in a bait hive and I'm in Spain then they can always leave again

Do you chill brood in your eagerness to make increase. - I'm a beek not a weatherman, it possible through a manipulation, slipping in an extra frame etc.

Do you singe them with the smoker? - dont be a pratt, I have a properly set up smoker not a flame thrower!

Do you destroy Queen cells? - guilty as charged

Do you smash drone brood? - absolutely, sacraficial drone brood is part of my varroa control program

Do you take too much honey and have to feed sugar? - no i take honey in a planned way and then feed sugar. Sometimes (as last year in august - I harvested late July - the weather was so bad that I had to feed to compensate - it can happen!)

Your quote "No comments required, newbies just need to know there is no substitute for experience and the ability to learn from it."

What's your point? All of the above can happen, or can be a deliberate outcome if you actively manage bee colonies. I am a beekeeper, not a bee watcher. Overall I am happy that I make net positive contribution to the welfare and success of the colonies in my care, in some instances doing exactly what you are ranting about. Bees of course dont do any of these things themselves, they dont rip down queen cells, they don't ball and suffocate/overheat a queen, the dont throw drone out- equal to sacraficial drone brood culling (unless we are going to have a rights of the unborn drone brood debate as well).

Strangest start to a thread I have read in a while!

 

[RoofTops]

Thanks Rosti. I couldn't really work out what B3's point was either. Some of the things he lists are normal beekeeping practice, others like squashing bees are an unavoidable risk of opening up a hive.

I suspect B3 may just be a TBH beekeeper who generously donates swarms to his neighbours.

I've nothing against TBHs, having tried one myself, but we are not all the same and thankfully some of us do things differently.

 

[Poly Hive]

The major one for me, and I stress me, is the brush.

I tried to clear supers with one once and never ever again. A disaster. Killed more bees than anything.

PH

 

[Vergilius]

with all of the above... Okay if one wants to beek "naturally"... That's fine with me!!! But don't tell me not to get a good crop and to "donate" swarms to the biosphere which invaribly die in the first few months due to the mites... That is madness... Your was are your ways, mine are mine.

To be honest, IMO, most beeks, "natural" and "un-natural", are doing a great service to their livestock which, in these times, are very unlikely to survive without the services of a beek.


Ben P

 

[For want of a better word]

I just have to add to the list of do yous

Do you sing loudly to your bees... ar hum quietly, so they can join in?

 

[Easy Beesy]

Methinks BBB spent too long in the pub last night!!
Don't pander to his ego by letting him get to you.
He makes a lot of sense and it would be great if we could let the bees look after themselves but we've gotten them (bees nature the planet) into this mess and it's time we helped out. They need us now, almost as much as we need them.
Eb

 

[mbc]

The major one for me, and I stress me, is the brush.

I tried to clear supers with one once and never ever again. A disaster. Killed more bees than anything.

PH

How do you go about getting shot of the bees from a frame of larvae for graffting ?
I use a goose wing and brush them off gently - cant think of another way to quickly clear the frame of bees without disslodging the larvae

 

[Poly Hive]

A quick shake works for me.

then walk away to the vehicle and graft.

PH

 

[drex]

A wise old friend, now dead used to say, " there are 2 ways of doing everything, your way and mine, and neither is right".

Keep telling me your ways. I am learning, and changing some of mine.

Thanks all

 

[Polyanwood]

This thread had me giggling.

So what is good about natural beekeeping?

I must say I have a soft spot for some of them: amusing, well dressed and well read and some of them smell nice too... it it the patchouli??? They tend not to use chemicals on their gardens and some of them manage to live sustainably too, which is great.

But in relation to beekeeping, unfortunately a number of them seem to show the combination of smugness, arrogance and ignorance of those who believe, despite there being no evidence to confirm it, that they are on the moral high ground.

Natural beekeeping is a form of bee abuse. Phil for example, has now allowed millions of bee to die because he believes, that evenutally he will manage to breed bees from the survivors that will not need to be treated with oxalic acid. It is like a religion. Natural beekeepers believe in the absence of evidence, other things too.

For example some believe that it is better for Winter bees to eat honey rather than sugar. The evidence is to the contrary. There is good evidence that honey can contain EFB and AFB spores. There is good evidence that feeding bees thymolated sugar syrup this will increase survival rates and protect the bees from both varroa and and nosema - but natural beekeepers do not care about the bees, they are in love with what is natural.

And it may be natural allowing bees to swarm, but it is selfish to neighbours and it is mean to the bees. If bees are allowed to swarm and swarm and swarm, most of the swarms will die and the original colony is at risk too.

And what about about your beekeeping neighbours? There is a massive risk that if a natural beekeeper's bees get something nasty, he or she won't know and if they do, they won't treat. This will mean that the remianing disease bees will seek a new homne in the nearest colonies - perhaps yours!!

In TBHs the frames become unremovable. They cannot be shaken to look for brood diseases, so TBHs pose a risk to other beekeepers.

Me? I admit to wanitng to use essential oils in my hives and to wanting to reduce the use of chemicals, but I am an evidence based beekeeper, not a natural one.

 

[Storm™]

Its a good read

It is a good read but The Chrysalids is better. It's my favourite one of his. Brilliant author. Chocky also good.