What do bees need to be successful survivors in this modern beekeeping world?
What the bees need to do: They need to exhibit good foraging and winter storage traits. Bees that do not accumulate enough food stores and store them will not survive overwinter, especially in northern, colder and wetter climates.
What the Beekeeper can do: Be selective of races that have already shown good overwintering traits. Carniolans and Caucasians are good examples of this. Be prepared to provide food for bees during Late Summer and Fall Dearths when flowers may decrease nectar production due to fluctuating weather conditions or scarcity of blooming plants.
What the bees need to do: They need to show successful overwintering traits. This usually means they reduce the Winter population so as to reduce unnecessary consumption of Winter stores. It also means they cluster effectively and are efficient nest heaters.
What the Beekeeper can do: Beekeepers can influence this by making sure to leave the bees enough of their own honey during harvest instead of taking too much away from the bees. Beekeepers can also ensure that hives are "Winter Ready" by making sure that there is sufficient wind block and that the hives do not waste or lose heat and build up condensation in Winter. Instead, use locations, materials and methods that conserve the heat bees create, keeping the cluster warm as well as keeping the food accessible.
What the bees need to do: Bees should exhibit good resistance traits. Bees that are more hygienic will survive hardier. Races of bees noted for having these traits are "russian" bees a variety of Caucasian. Minnesota Hygienics such as those raised by Dr. Marla Spivak.
What the Beekeeper can do: Encourage selective breeding and raising queens from those colonies which display successful hygienics. Beekeepers can also make sure that hives are easily defended by ensuring that pests and parasites cannot easily enter. Reduce entrances when temps and conditions require so that bees can more easily keep intruders out with a smaller fighting force.
There is a saying among beekeepers that the best defense is always a healthy, highly populated hive. I would say that in many ways, that is correct.
However, even more to the point is that the heat-able space and defensible access relative to the population is just as important because bees do fluctuate populations with the seasons and they do change how they inhabit the hive due to being in a cluster or not.
I have talked in other posts about how some beekeepers feel that beekeepers have an obligation to do things like feed in hive, medicate and use pesticides in the hive because they have a responsibility to the bees to keep them alive. I have also said that those who consider themselves "natural" tend to look to natural selection and bees adaptive abilities to handle issues instead.
However, that is over-simplifying things a bit. I think "natural" beekeepers would say that we have an obligation to make sure we are not getting in the way or interrupting the bees natural behaviors to take of themselves as they have been adapted to doing.
Also, I would think that it is important to create an environment for the bees that most closely resembles that of a successful natural nest site, especially if we as beekeepers take it upon ourselves to locate bees in areas that they might otherwise have naturally not chosen to occupy.
I think it's as much about not trying to do "for" the bees that which they can and should do for themselves. Successfully adapted colonies do not "need" beekeepers for anything at all outside of a manged hive environment. We actually tend to be in their way at times when they are trying their darnedest to get it done right on their own.
Ultimately, I guess I am suggesting that "natural" beekeepers see the role as a facilitator rather than a steward or manager of the hive. We try to set bees up in such a way as to let bees do what they do best and make sure the things they need to be successful are there and accessible to them so they can use them as and when they are needed.
No comments:
Post a Comment