an_introduction_to_balanced_beekeeping.pdf

7/25/2019 an_introduction_to_balanced_beekeeping.pdf

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An Introduction to Balanced Beekeeping

If you are thinking about establishing some bee hives as part of your garden, farm,

homestead or smallholding, it is worth spending some time thinking about the type of bee

keeper you want to become.

Honeybees cannot be domesticated in the sense that cows or pigs or sheep have been.

Despite contact with us throughout our time on Earth and many attempts to breed them

to suit our needs, they remain essentially unchanged. Their unique mating behaviour and

reproductive cycle ensure that diversity and adaptability will continue to be the dominant

themes in their evolution.

In the context of the wider environment, pollination is by far the most important activity

engaged in by bees, albeit as a by-product of their foraging activities. It is their intimate

involvement in the reproductive mechanism of the flowering plants that provides us with

the possibility of a varied diet and has thereby supported our own evolutionary process.

As I see it, our main job as 'bee keepers' is to be observant and to understand our bees to

the best of our ability. We cannot fully enter into their world, but we have an unique

opportunity to gain a greater appreciation of it. And once we begin to understand how

deeply embedded they are within nature, and what sensitive indicators they are of

disturbances in the natural world, we may find ourselves unable to imagine a functional

planet without them. So before launching headlong into the keeping of bees, I would urge

you to take a deep breath and consider what it is that really interests you about them, as

this will give you some important information about how best to proceed. An hour or two

of careful deliberation at this stage could save you a lot of time, a good deal of trouble and

a pile of money.To help you decide where you stand on the 'beekeeping spectrum', I have identified six

types of bee keeping, three of which fall on what I call the 'conventional' and three on the

'natural' side.

1. Honey farming

Production-focused; intensive management of bees for maximum honey yield or for

migratory pollination. Typically involves routine sugar or HFCS feeding and prophylactic

medications, including antibiotics and miticides. Queens are usually raised using

artificial insemination and replaced frequently - sometimes more than once per season -

while drones are suppressed and swarming is prevented by the excision of queen cells orby splitting colonies. Usually involves some movement of hives, sometimes over large

distances especially in the USA. This is a business run for profit, linked closely to

agriculture, but as with other farming work, there will be good years and bad.

2. Sideline beekeeping

A smaller-scale, part-time version of honey farming. The aim is profit, but your livelihood

does not entirely depend on it.


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3. Association beekeeping

A miniature version of commercial or sideline beekeeping, as promoted and taught by

most conventional bee keepers' associations. Usually the intention is still to produce the

maximum amount of honey, but from only a small number of hives and not necessarily

for financial reward. Queens are often marked and clipped and in most other respects the

methods ape those of the honey farmer.

4. Balanced beekeeping

The emphasis is on bee welfare and facilitating the natural behaviour of bees, with the

intention of providing conditions in which bees may find their own solutions. Restrained

taking of honey and other bee products only when plentiful and appropriate. Beekeepers

may or may not use mite treatments or medications, but if they do, they use non-toxic,

naturally-derived substances that support bee health rather than target specific

disorders. Queens are open-mated, splits optional and swarming may or may not be

managed. Provision is usually made for inspections, which may or may not be regularly

undertaken.

5. Natural beekeeping

Similar to 'balanced beekeeping', with heavier emphasis on 'do-nothing' approaches.

Little or no management is attempted, and rarely are splits made or queen-rearing

carried out beyond what the bees do themselves. Hives are rarely opened; routine

inspections are discouraged; honey is rarely taken; other hive products barely at all.

. Bee !onser"ation

Bees for their own sake; no honey taken and no inspections, treatments or feeding;

Darwinian approach to survival. Bees do as they please and take their chances with the

weather and forage. Bee-friendly plants may be incorporated in a conservation-stylescheme, which may include other pollinator species.

While I have shown these as distinct categories, they should really be thought of as a

continuous spectrum, from most to least invasive and from most to least 'production-

focused'. It is also possible - at least, in theory - for a honey producer to operate apiaries

along 'Darwinian' lines - with no medication and relying on survivor stock but in practise,

serious honey production relies on quite intensive bee management.

You may notice that in the above list I have not mentioned any particular types of hive.

While it is true that certain designs are more suitable for specific applications, it ispossible to be a 'balanced beekeeper' using a conventional frame hive, and in France and

elsewhere there are honey farmers using Warrhives - a vertical variant of the top bar

hive, which was designed for outright honey production. It would also be perfectly

possible to be an 'interfering' beekeeper in a top bar hive, so I don't think it is useful to

categorize beekeepers purely by the shape of their hives or even their personality traits:

it is their intention and attitude toward their bees that matters.


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spectrum and created something of a gap between itself and what I have called

association beekeeping, as promoted by conventional associations. This is the gap in

which, I suggest, 'balanced beekeeping' happily sits, and as I coined this term for a

purpose, I had better explain myself.

'Balanced beekeeping' accommodates the use of a wide range of equipment and methods,

while preferring the 'natural' over the 'conventional'. It is a style of beekeeping for those

who are willing to think through their interactions with bees and not merely follow

instructions.

Balanced beekeeping is for people who want to do more than just observe bees: they want

to be bee 'keepers' rather than just bee 'havers'; they want a more intimate relationship

with their bees than is allowed by never opening the hive, while understanding that this

should always be done mindfully and not too often. They want to keep healthy bees

without resorting to medications, but they are happy for the bee inspector to call

occasionally and check their charges for signs of disease, if that is required. If a hive

becomes bad-tempered and begins to cause a nuisance to neighbours, they are willing and

able to replace the queen if appropriate, or move the hive to another location. Whencombs become black with age and propolis, they can easily remove them. If a hive

becomes honey-bound, they can recognize the condition and rectify it. They know how to

raise a few extra queens - should it become necessary - and they can tell when a colony

needs some extra feeding and can provide it: they recognize that beekeeping is both a

science and an art and constantly strive to improve their skills. Above all, they are

constantly and deliberately learning their craft.

Balanced beekeeping is about working with the natural impulses and habits of

the bees, respecting the integrity of the brood chamber, leaving them ample

honey stores over winter and generally arranging things in order to cause their

bees as little stress and disturbance as possible, while being willing and able to

intervene when the bees need help or when their activities are causing a

nuisance to others.

So the point of balance is somewhere between doing too much and doing nothing; being

over-controlling and letting nature take its course; being a bee-farmer and a bee-watcher.

Compared to the more 'honey-focused' approaches, more time is spent observing the bees

and some operations may need to be performed a little more often: honey harvesting, for

example, is likely to be done by taking smaller amounts over a period of weeks or months,

rather than the typical all-at-once, smash-and-grab raid practised by honey farmers and

most amateurs.

If your main aim is to obtain the absolute maximum amount of honey from your hives,

regardless of all other considerations, then you will by now have realized that you are

reading the wrong book. Not that this style of beekeeping cannot produce decent amounts

of honey it certainly can but the emphasis here is on sustainability and keeping

healthy bees, rather than setting records for honey crops, which inevitably has a cost to

the welfare of the bees. The essence of balance is to work well within the limits of a


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natural system. We do not aim to extract every possible drop of honey from a hive. We

respect the bees' need to eat their own stores - especially over the winter - and regard

sugar syrup as an inferior supplement to be given only when bees are short of their own

food, due to prolonged bad weather or other causes.

A 'utually Bene(cial)elations$ip

As beekeepers, our natural allies

are gardeners, organic growers

and smallholders and especially

those who understand and use

the principles of permaculture,

which can also be thought of as

the principles of nature.

A mutually beneficial and

sustainable relationship with

our bees must be based on such

a truly holistic attitude: we need

to learn more about how the

colony works as a complete,

living entity and the manifold

ways in which it interacts with

its environment, with us and

with other living things. For too

long we have been locked into an un-balanced, old-fashioned, reductionist approach,

dealing with bees as if they were mere machines created solely for our benefit, instead of

highly-evolved, wild creatures, with which we are privileged to work.

I believe that keeping bees for honey should be small-scale, local and carried out in the

spirit of respect for the bees and appreciation of the vital part they play in our agriculture

and in the natural world. I disapprove of large-scale, commercial beekeeping because it

inevitably leads to a 'factory farming' mentality in the way bees are treated, handled and

robbed. I believe we should think of honey much less as a food and much more as a

medicine, and adjust our consumption accordingly. We should not expect to see

supermarket shelves piled high with jars of honey from around the world, as if it were

jam or peanut butter. Honey should be valued and prized as the product of innumerablebee-miles and the assimilation of uncountable drops of priceless nectar from myriad

flowers.

Honeybees love to feed on a multiplicity of flowers, as can be easily demonstrated by the

variety of different pollens they will collect if sited in a wild place with diverse flora.

Transporting them to where there is only a single crop of, say, oilseed rape (Brassica

napa) within reach causes an unnatural concentration within the hive of a single pollen,

which is, I dare to presume, lacking in some of the elements they require for full health.

Ls!l" #su$a demonstrating his he%agonal &edde hive in 'isgy(r,Hungary. His design is )onstru)ted in layered units,with ea)hstraight se)tion of timber of an identi)al pattern. His hive ismanaged in a similar way to the Warr*.


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It may also contain small amounts of pesticides, which may or may not intrinsically be

enough to fatally damage the forager bees nervous system, but when gathered by many

thousands of workers and concentrated into the confined space of the hive may easily

reach lethal levels. Yet migratory beekeeping is practised in just this way on an

industrial scale in some countries, especially the USA. Clearly, this needs to change.

*rotecting Biodi"ersityAn important aspect of 'balance' is to ensure that our activities as beekeepers do not have

a detrimental impact on other species.

Honeybees evolved to live in colonies distributed across the land according to the

availability of food and shelter. Forcing 50, 100 or more colonies to share the territory

that - at most - half a dozen would naturally occupy is bound to lead to concentrations of

diseases and parasites, and may also threaten the forage and thus the very existence of

other important pollinating insects, such as bumblebees, mason bees and the many other

species that benefit both wild and cultivated plants. This means that we have a

responsibility not to over-stock any location and to create habitat for other species, which

may take the form of 'bee hotels' or simply piles of old logs.

Anything that is done to improve the environment for honeybees will also be beneficial to

other pollinators. Having a deep appreciation of the interconnectedness of all living

things, and an understanding of the impact our own species has had and is still having,

leads us inevitably to the conclusion that we have a responsibility towards everything

that walks or crawls or slithers on the earth or beneath it, or that swims in the sea or

flies in the air, and shares this precious planet with us.

As bee keepers, we have a special responsibility to also be 'earth-keepers'.

Backyard BeekeepingBalanced beekeeping is small-scale by definition. It is 'backyard beekeeping' by people

who want to have a few hives at the bottom of their garden, on their roof or in their own

or a neighbour's field.

Probably you want to produce modest quantities of honey for your family and friends,

with, perhaps, a surplus to sell at the gate or in the local market. You will have by-

products; most obviously beeswax, which you can make into useful stuff like candles, skin

creams, wood polish and leather treatments, so beekeeping could become the core of a

profitable sideline.

You are interested in bees for their own sake, I hope. If not yet, I have no doubt that you

will be once you have looked after a few hives for a season or two.

You may have been to an open day hosted by your local beekeepers association, or read a

book, or perhaps you have taken the plunge already and bought a second-hand hive and

captured a swarm or obtained a 'nuc'. You may have browsed through the catalogues of

beekeeping suppliers, wondering at the enormous number of gadgets and pieces of

equipment you seem to need and wondering where you would put it all and how you

would pay for it. In this case, you may be thankful to know that my mission is to show


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you that, (a) beekeeping does not have to be as complicated as some would make it out to

be and (b) you need none of the stuff in those glossy beekeepers' supplies catalogues in

order to keep healthy, happy and productive bees. If you want to enjoy your beekeeping

and not have it become an expensive chore, my advice is to keep it simple, sustainable

and small-scale. Complications in the form of unnecessary gadgets quickly add to your

costs and the amount of physical and mental space taken up by what should be a simple

activity.

The system I will describe here is about as simple as beekeeping can get, while

maintaining provision for occasional inspections, comfortable over-wintering and non-

destructive harvesting. Everything you need is in one box the beehive which you can

make yourself if you follow the instructions inBalanced Beekeeping I.

Principles of Balanced Beekeeping

There are too many 'books of rules' in the world already and I have no desire to addanother one. Instead, in The Barefoot Beekeeper, I proposed three principles, which form

the basis of my approach to beekeeping. You are welcome to adopt them if they suit you,

or you may want to think about creating some of your own.

1. +nterference in t$e natural li"es of t$e bees is kept to a minimum.

This is not a licence for neglect, but rather an encouragement to 'leave well alone'.

Most beekeepers' associations stipulate full colony inspections every 7-10 days

throughout the season, on the grounds that we should at all times know the status of our

colonies in terms of diseases, parasites, queen-rightness, available space and food stores.

I suggest that, by paying close attention, you can gain a quite accurate picture of all theseaspects without routinely removing every comb from the brood nest, which creates

considerable disruption and needless stress for the bees and which is highly likely to be

detrimental to their health. Bees go to a great deal of trouble to keep undesirable viruses,

bacteria, moulds and fungi away from their developing larvae, including sealing up their

living quarters with propolis. Breaking this seal causes them - at the very least - extra

repair work and allows airborne pathogens direct access to open brood: an invitation for

the acquisition and spread of disease.

Towards the other end of the spectrum, some natural beekeepers, including some

advocates of AbbWarrs Peoples Hive, leave the bees to their own devices from early

spring right through to the end of the season. Some bee inspectors are not entirely happy

with this, but it certainly takes our 'minimum interference' principle to its logical end,

short of altogether abandoning the concept of 'keeping bees'. Indeed, I think there is an

excellent case for setting up a network of 'conservation' hives, that are not touched at all

and in which bees may have a chance to build up their genetic diversity once again, allow

some natural selection to take place and provide a continuous supply of swarms for re-

populating our hives.


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2. Not$ing is put into t$e $i"e t$at is kno,n to be- or likely to be $armfuleit$er to t$e bees- to us or to t$e ,ider en"ironment and not$ing istaken out t$at t$e bees cannot aord to lose.

It seems to me that the way forward in the control and treatment of bee diseases and

parasites lies not in the use of synthetic chemicals, but in breeding from the most

resilient, surviving stock, and putting our faith in the ability - tested over millennia - of

the bees to find solutions to their own problems. Also important, I think, will be the use ofbee-friendly hives and management techniques, along with natural-sized cells built by

bees to their own design.

Our recent experience with Varroa destructorhas demonstrated that such pests can

develop immunity to miticides in a very short time. By using such treatments, we helped

the evolution of the mite by selecting for the immunity to chemical x trait: those mites

that survived our assault went on to breed with other survivors, so now we have mites

that are harder to kill. Bayer - or some other pesticide manufacturer - will, no doubt,

come up with another chemical 'fix' and the cycle will begin again. In my opinion, this is a

dead end policy that bolsters the obscenely large profits of the agri-chemical industrywhile making the problem worse for us and the bees in the longer term.

The balanced beekeeper has no use for synthetic chemicals, relying instead on creating

the optimum conditions for the bees' health and well-being. If a treatment is considered

necessary for the bees' survival, we look for the natural medicine that causes least harm

and then consider all options and consequences before making a decision, bearing in mind

the universal animal breeders principle that no benefit is gained by perpetuating the

genes of a line that has proven itself unable to survive unaided.

Harvesting of honey is on the basis of sharing with the bees, rather than robbing them

blind. The balanced beekeeper aims to leave the bees ample honey to get them through

the winter, only feeding sugar when absolutely necessary to supplement their stores.

Considerable argument has raged to and fro about the use of refined, white sugar as a

food for bees. Some say that it is just as good as honey, while others claim it to be

positively detrimental. I believe that bees need honey, as that is what they make for

themselves. Of course, they turn sugar syrup into something as close to honey as they

can, but it seems likely that it will always be missing that tiny fraction of minerals and

vitamins that, on the scale of their delicate digestive systems, make a vital difference to

their overall health.

On this basis, I always make sure that my bees have honey for their winter feed and if

that means I have less honey on my toast, then so be it.

3. #$e bees kno, ,$at t$ey are doing/ our 0ob is to listen to t$em andpro"ide t$e optimum conditions for t$eir ,ellbeing- bot$ inside andoutside t$e $i"e.

According to those who knew him, one of Brother Adam's favourite sayings was, Listen

to the bees and let them guide you.

In the literal sense, much can be learned by the attentive beekeeper by listening to the


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sounds the bees make and learning to differentiate their possible meanings. The

differences in pitch and volume between the wing notes of a bee in defensive mode and

another that is merely curious is one of the first and most useful distinctions to learn.

Then there is the brief 'roar' when a hive is tapped with a knuckle, which gives you

information about the approximate number of inhabitants and their general state of

alertness. If the roar continues beyond a few seconds and develops into an overall

hubbub, suspect that the colony is without a queen. A healthy hive of docile bees going

about their business has a characteristic, contented hum, which is the most pleasant and

relaxing sound a beekeeper hopes to hear. Of course, Brother Adam was also indicating

that we should pay attention to the needs of the bees and plan our work accordingly and

not by our own mechanical clocks.

There is much to be learned by both literal and metaphorical 'listening': we can

continuously develop our perception by spending more time observing bees.

If sound principles are assimilated as the foundation of our beekeeping practice, we do

not need a 'book of rules' to answer every little question that arises. No such book could

cover every eventuality, but a set of sound principles can remind us where to look for theanswer.

Philip Chandler

#$e Barefoot Beekeeper first published in 2007 and now in its 4thedition,this book has been credited with starting the 'natural beekeeping' movement. It spells

out why 'modern beekeeping' and 'modern agriculture' have caused many of the

problems that bees now suffer from and suggests some remedies.

Balanced Beekeeping +/ Building a #op Bar Hi"e theory anddetailed construction plans for this increasingly popular hive.

Balanced Beekeeping ++/ 'anaging t$e #op Bar Hi"e350 pages ofdetailed information on hive management and keeping your bees healthy. This is the

'workshop manual' for users of the top bar hive.

All books by Phil Chandler are available at Lulu.com

More information, much of it free, on the author's web site

biobees.com

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an_introduction_to_balanced_beekeeping.pdf