Yes you did see crystals, and beat me too it with reference to Isle of Wight Disease.Originally Posted by Trog
She didn't say what happened to the bees in the hive she opened up. The wax looked remarkably new, and empty of bees.
Yes you did see crystals, and beat me too it with reference to Isle of Wight Disease.
She didn't say what happened to the bees in the hive she opened up. The wax looked remarkably new, and empty of bees.
They flew off in a giant swarm with Wendy and Peter to Neverland
Hive is to be restocked next year with Dung beetles
Last edited by The Drone Ranger; 23-10-2012 at 12:44 AM.
Anybody know where I can buy some of those magic crystals so I can protect my bees from varroa?
http://www.naturalbeekeepingtrust.org/
Yet another "natural" organisation where the first thing on the page that loads is a donate button.
If I were more cynical I might opine that most of these "natural" organisations are peddling this twaddle because it sounds good and gets people to open their wallets.
Just caught up with the programme and had to laugh at the emphasis she made on the " no honey " - Who in their right mind would want to eat honey, which is most probably unfit for human consumption, being just above a dried out cow pat ? Would that not also attract a whole host of undesirable creatures, which would just make the bees work twice as hard at defending their stores ? So it is hardly surprising that Julia Bradbury was stung and shame on the BBC [ yes, yet more shame ] on putting one of their presenters in that position in the first place.
As far as I can see the more successful 'natural' or non treatment beekeepers are those who manage to keep their bees alive.
Michael Bush is one of the few who has managed it consistently and he puts his success down to small cell even though that has been debunked over and over in properly controlled studies. Something is working in his setup but it's hard to put your finger on it.
I notice in one of the videos on the naturalbeekeeping site that earlier in the year there were bees in the sun hive which she was demonstrating empty to the Countryfile presenter.
Most of the other videos seem to feature swarm collection, most of which looked like small casts.
The apple blossom was out so they must have been swarming from April.
Surplus honey is a pipe dream for most 'natural' beekeepers, dung tainted or dung free.
Read biobees.com for a flavour. For many of the beekeepers it is a struggle trying to keep the colony alive with no varroa control or less than optimal varroa control.
The aims are laudable but reality can be cruel.
Not to mention:
"The workshops are priced at £120 per weekend, to include organic lunch and refreshments. The wooden hoop frames and support structures will be available ready-made and may be purchased separately. The complete set of wooden parts costs £100.
A book in English about the Sun Hive is now available to purchase via mail order. The book includes detailed plans on how to make your own Sun Hive. A limited number of complete Sun Hives are also available to purchase."
As for the hives, it is important not to confuse bullsh*t with cow pat. The latter are a classic *binder* for rye straw in biodynamic hives.
This is the thing isn't it, something is working -but apparently not in the UK! There seems to be plenty of people such as Michael Bush, Kirk Webster, Daniel Weaver and John Kefuss not to mention our own Chris who are getting by just fine without treatments. Some of them such as Weaver and Kefuss on a very large scale.
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The usual story, perhaps with Chris' exception -at least I can't remember him ever mentioning this possibly because like the South African beekeepers he never treated to begin with- is that when treatments are withdrawn there starts a cycle of collapse and regrowth. It's invariably not just the one massive collapse but a series of progressively smaller collapses over a period (usually) of up to ten years.
I know that a lot of people get very heated over this subject but I for one would rather try to understand what's going on than to dismiss the people who claim to be succeeding. Actually that would be tantamount to calling them liars; something I'm not prepared to do either in person or from behind a keyboard.
The sad thing is that while people such as Kefuss, Weaver and Webster write little and shout less a lot of the people that do, the one's who beat the loudest drum about 'natural' beekeeping, come across as not having a clue about any kind of beekeeping.
Last edited by prakel; 23-10-2012 at 11:42 AM.
Me too, and I have the greatest respect for Michael Bush who is one of the most helpful posters/contributors on the internet.but I for one would rather try to understand what's going on than to dismiss the people who claim to be succeeding
The trouble is that the vast majority seem to be struggling, and those who lose their bees tend to keep quiet about it, whereas those who have more success are more likely to let others know. Same in any walk of life I suppose.
Phil Chandler was honest enough to admit that he has been wiped out by varroa three times and he does come across as more realistic than a lot of the other posters on his site.
In this sense it is hard to get an idea of the success rate of 'natural' or non treatment beekeeping but I suspect that it is low.
the other issue is the evangelists for the cause who find it difficult to take an impartial view on issues like small cell, hive type, varroa treatment, non intervention and all the other issues around 'natural' beekeeping.
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