Norm's Bees, Naturally

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I started conventional beekeeping in the mid 1980's before the Varroa mite hit the UK.  The worst thing we had to worry about then were the brood diseases. We thought back then that maybe we could prevent it reaching us, and if it did, contain it. Huh! Fat chance!

Any stable parasitic host relationship is symbiotic as it is no use the parasite killing its host. Varroa developed this symbiotic relationship with its host, Apis Cerana where it's drone is about as large as a modern worker of the European honeybee. Varroa crossed the species barrier to the  European honeybee which had no history of co-living with it and the bees very quickly succumbed.

The conventional wisdom then (and now) was treat infected hives with chemical miticide or the colony wouldn't survive.  Many colonies died out anyway and lots of beekeepers gave up beekeeping, myself included for a time. Then later on, the chemicals were not quite as effective because the mites were developing a resistance. Stronger and stronger chemicals were needed and it became clear to me that there had to be a better way.

It seems that bees living unstressed in a hole in a tree without disturbance, without being poisoned by chemicals, without being robbed of their honey, feral bees, unmanaged and untreated, were surviving. Feral bees are natures survivors and have, by the survival of the fittest principle, overcome disease and mite problems without mans' intervention. 
 

I believe feral bees could be part of the solution to dealing with Varroa by utilizing their genetic diversity and keeping them in manner that closely mimics their natural habitat. For me that means Top Bar Hives, managed with minimal intrusion. There are quite a few people in the world keeping bees on natural cell size combs without using chemicals that have contained the varroa problem.

That's what this web site is about.
 

Bees & Beekeeping

Modern beekeeping practices have given rise to various problems for the honeybee.

Natural Beekeeping
Natural methods of beekeeping seeks to address these problems.

The Biosphere
All of nature is connected in some way and unless we respect natures laws, we cannot succeed in our endeavors.