Let's talk about this approach I refer to as "Homestead Beekeeping". I use this term in contrast to "Conventional Beekeeping or "Commercial Beekeeping".
Let's keep facts up front shall we? Both commercial beekeeping and conventional beekeeping are approaches of beekeeping that focus on beekeepers working hives to maximize honey production in the best interest of the beekeeper.
Conventional beekeeping is, the way I refer to it, using the same equipment, management techniques and prioritization of beekeeper intent over bee intent, just on a smaller and generally more localized scale.
Homestead Beekeepers also want to harvest product from the hives. However, the motive isn't for profit necessarily as it is to contribute to the beekeeper's ability to be self sufficient. Not to say that every hobbyist that follows conventional beekeeping is in it for profit, but that the practices they use and the view they take to beekeeping is essentially the same as commercial beekeeping.
No, I'm not calling these people bad people or bad beekeepers. I'm just saying that a homestead beekeeper has a bit of a different set of priorities and outlook toward the bees.
Homesteading in general is an approach to life that is centered around a person being self sufficient. The self sufficient person is looking for ways to provide for their lifestyle that is not dependent on the surrounding social system. They prefer to make and grow and do things themselves to have more control over the process and to use the harvested items in their everyday life.
Homesteaders grow fruits and vegetables. We raise livestock for food and materials. Homesteaders try to be as efficient as possible, getting the most out of our efforts as possible and be as resourceful as possible. We also have a healthy respect for those animals and creatures we include in our efforts.
When it comes to honey bees, we want to not only get the surplus honey, but the extra wax as well. We want the surplus pollen and the extra propolis. We also want the pollination for our gardens and fruit trees. We want to be able to harvest over the long term as much as possible meaning we look out for the welfare of the bees above all.
We have a lot of respect for the bees as being very self sufficient themselves. They are a role model and example of this worthwhile lifestyle. Bees do not "need" people to survive. They have adapted with flowers over 150 million years. They are actually very able to over produce to meet their own needs and tolerate harvesting of their surplus resources very well all things considered.
What the Homestead beekeeper understands is that the bees don't need us to do it for them. They need us to generally stay out of their way and be a good neighbor to them. The need us to plant lots of flowers all year long. this benefits them as well as it benefits us.
They need us to stay out of the hive unless it's absolutely necessary. Whether it is harvest time or because we observe a problem when we inspect the external area of the hive, they will let us know when they need someones attention and assistance to overcome problems they cannot handle themselves.
We as Homestead beekeepers learn the signs of a hive in distress simply by paying attention to the external environment of the hive. We study honey bee biology and natural behavior to identify and differentiate between a healthy colony and one that needs help.
Homestead beekeepers tend to use hives and methods that allow the best of both worlds, as we see it. We use top bar hives or even framed hive setups that allow harvesting of honey and wax combs. This gives us more of those items and it gives the bees fresh, unpolluted wax to raise their brood in each new Spring. Because we take combs and all, we are very, very careful not to take too much or leave the bees with too little. In fact, a Homestead beekeeper will be more likely to leave a little more just to ensure the bees have enough for Winter.
We try to use hives that meet the ideals that scout bees look for for when swarms leave a hive in their annual reproduction of the colony. We look for hives that have similar dimensions and attributes that are sought out by swarms. In other words, we want to encourage the bees to live "naturally" or as they would outside of human management.
Why do Homestead beekeepers want to keep bees in this manner? Because we have a great respect for our bees and e want to promote long term health and prosperity for our bees. The longer our bees stay healthy and prosperous, the longer we can continue to harvest their surplus and be self sufficient on our own.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Sunday, July 13, 2014
More Than One Way To Play With Bees
Ever since Lorenzo Langstroth introduced his hive system, American beekeepers have overwhelmingly used and taught one main way to go about beekeeping. That approach to beekeeping is essentially the same model regardless the size of the operation by a beekeeper. Hobbyists, Sideliners and Commercial beekeepers alike essentially use the same approach to beekeeping regardless.
I would suggest though, that modern beekeepers should consider another beekeeping approach. An approach that is not new or dramatically different from anything that has been done in the past. Simply an outlook that has been overlooked for at least a hundred years or longer.
First of all, the modern, conventional approach is the Commercial approach. Nearly all beekeeping in America is done with an eye on surplus honey production. I'm not saying that this is bad or wrong in and of itself. I am suggesting though that it may not be the best approach for every beekeeper and possibly for most hobbyists.
In the conventional commercial approach, hive bodies are supered, meaning that new boxes are added tot he hive stack on top of the current boxes.This is done because beekeepers know that bees prefer to store honey above the brood and so by adding more space above the bees, the bees will most likely fill that excess space with honey.
What I would propose might be a better approach for beekeepers with smaller interests is what I refer to as the Homestead approach to beekeeping.
The Homestead approach focuses more on collecting resources from the whole hive instead of just one primary crop like honey. The Homestead approach seeks to collect honey, beeswax, propolis and even pollen from the hive not so much to sell to others but as a way of being self sufficient in one's own home.
As a result of this smaller scale of beekeeping, a Homestead beekeeper is looking to minimize interaction with the colony beyond harvest. This doesn't mean the Homestead beekeeper doesn't inspect hives or take measures to help hives stay healthy. It just means the beekeeper is going about managing the bees differently from a high honey crop production approach.
I think we can see the interest in many newer beekeepers in looking for another approach to beekeeping that is outside of the conventional approach. A great interest in top bar beekeeping and other types of hives and methods has become obvious in beekeeping magazines, beekeeping club meetings and presentations and in other ways.
In future posts, I will elaborate on how I see Homestead Beekeeping as an alternative approach to beekeeping and how it can successfully be done.
I would suggest though, that modern beekeepers should consider another beekeeping approach. An approach that is not new or dramatically different from anything that has been done in the past. Simply an outlook that has been overlooked for at least a hundred years or longer.
First of all, the modern, conventional approach is the Commercial approach. Nearly all beekeeping in America is done with an eye on surplus honey production. I'm not saying that this is bad or wrong in and of itself. I am suggesting though that it may not be the best approach for every beekeeper and possibly for most hobbyists.
In the conventional commercial approach, hive bodies are supered, meaning that new boxes are added tot he hive stack on top of the current boxes.This is done because beekeepers know that bees prefer to store honey above the brood and so by adding more space above the bees, the bees will most likely fill that excess space with honey.
What I would propose might be a better approach for beekeepers with smaller interests is what I refer to as the Homestead approach to beekeeping.
The Homestead approach focuses more on collecting resources from the whole hive instead of just one primary crop like honey. The Homestead approach seeks to collect honey, beeswax, propolis and even pollen from the hive not so much to sell to others but as a way of being self sufficient in one's own home.
As a result of this smaller scale of beekeeping, a Homestead beekeeper is looking to minimize interaction with the colony beyond harvest. This doesn't mean the Homestead beekeeper doesn't inspect hives or take measures to help hives stay healthy. It just means the beekeeper is going about managing the bees differently from a high honey crop production approach.
I think we can see the interest in many newer beekeepers in looking for another approach to beekeeping that is outside of the conventional approach. A great interest in top bar beekeeping and other types of hives and methods has become obvious in beekeeping magazines, beekeeping club meetings and presentations and in other ways.
In future posts, I will elaborate on how I see Homestead Beekeeping as an alternative approach to beekeeping and how it can successfully be done.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
What's In Your Spray Bottle?
I can tell you that in mine you'll find Honey-B-Healthy.
I "discovered" HBH about two years ago. At the time I was just wanting to try it out as a stimulant for Spring rearing by mixing it it with 1:1 sugar syrup.
At this point, I cannot see being a beekeeper without it. It helps with so much more than that.
Mind you, this is all circumstantial evidence, but hey, I believe what I see with my own eyes.
Here are things that I do with HBH that help my beekeeping;
1) Stimulate brood rearing as a feed additive.
2) Spray directly onto queens (usually HBH mixed with water or even not mixed at all) when they are introduced into a colony as a replacement. The bees just seemingly automatically and unquestioningly accept her even without spending time in a cage.
3) Mix with water to use instead of a smoker. This seems especially useful when dealing with swarms, cut outs and trap outs. Spray the bees a bit if they are flying a bit too much or they seem a little too grouchy. Takes most of the grouchy right outta them.
4) Spray onto frames or foundation to encourage bees to draw wax there. This seems to especially work well when used as a mix of 1:1 sugar syrup with HBH. I have been using leftover black plastic foundation that I noticed bees have been reluctant to draw out in the past. I had a need for the foundation recently and thought it might be interesting to see if the HBH would help that out any.
WOW, did itever! On average, I have found that bees will draw out frames sprayed with HBH almost completely within 5 days and often sooner.
I still use a smoker on hive inspections, but boy is that spray bottle with HBH handy for working with bees outside of a typical hive inspection scenario.
I "discovered" HBH about two years ago. At the time I was just wanting to try it out as a stimulant for Spring rearing by mixing it it with 1:1 sugar syrup.
At this point, I cannot see being a beekeeper without it. It helps with so much more than that.
Mind you, this is all circumstantial evidence, but hey, I believe what I see with my own eyes.
Here are things that I do with HBH that help my beekeeping;
1) Stimulate brood rearing as a feed additive.
2) Spray directly onto queens (usually HBH mixed with water or even not mixed at all) when they are introduced into a colony as a replacement. The bees just seemingly automatically and unquestioningly accept her even without spending time in a cage.
3) Mix with water to use instead of a smoker. This seems especially useful when dealing with swarms, cut outs and trap outs. Spray the bees a bit if they are flying a bit too much or they seem a little too grouchy. Takes most of the grouchy right outta them.
4) Spray onto frames or foundation to encourage bees to draw wax there. This seems to especially work well when used as a mix of 1:1 sugar syrup with HBH. I have been using leftover black plastic foundation that I noticed bees have been reluctant to draw out in the past. I had a need for the foundation recently and thought it might be interesting to see if the HBH would help that out any.
WOW, did itever! On average, I have found that bees will draw out frames sprayed with HBH almost completely within 5 days and often sooner.
I still use a smoker on hive inspections, but boy is that spray bottle with HBH handy for working with bees outside of a typical hive inspection scenario.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)