Natural beekeeping or am I being lazy? Real question?

harvey · May 27, 2010, 11:33:10 PM

Ok I have caught three swarms so far this year in my swarm traps or bait hives! didn't really expect that since there are no apiaries around. I caught them all in the woods. I have two other hives I started this year from packages which now are in two deeps and a third hive which went queenless and I added a nuc with a carnolian queen to it. They now are in two deeps. None are ready to super yet. Now I am trying to go natural with these hives and all of them are on frames that were foundationless. They have all built a lot of wax and it looks really good. A couple frames are way to wide as they had empty frames next to them but I think next year or in the fall I can trim them. My question is that I have not fed any off them. Not at all. No sugar syrup or anything as I have read that maybe that has something to do with the noseium. I don't expect to harvest much if any from these hives this year but If I do that will be super. Am I on the right track? The swarms in the woods would not have been fed if they had not entered the bait hives. Is this truely the way go for natural beekeeping or am I being lazy and not taking care of the bee's properly?

Kathyp · May 27, 2010, 11:37:20 PM

the thing about keeping bees is that you are responsible for them. that means different things to different people and you'll have to figure out what it means to you. consider this though.....in the wild you probably would not have so many bees competing in one place for food. if there is plenty of forage, that might not be an issue. if there's not and they go into winter light, you'll lose them.

harvey · May 28, 2010, 12:00:49 AM

I definately don't want to loose them. Last year my first swarm that I hived ended up producing one super that I took and the two deeps were over a hundred pounds. This spring they still had five or six deep frames of honey. That was on Plasticell. I don't know if it will be different on natural cell or not. In the fall I have a lot of goldenrod and thistle around that they seem to really like. I also planted a half acrea of buckwheat? Not sure if that will help but figured it can't hurt

caticind · May 28, 2010, 11:19:48 AM

If you don't care about getting honey off them, then you should be able to leave them be until closer to the fall. Once the major nectar flows for your area are over, check each hive and see how much they have in stores. If they have managed to get enough to subsist through winter, great! If not, you can feed them up then to ensure they are ready for winter.

I believe a total hive weight of 100 lbs plus is a good baseline? Or by volume, you should have at least as many frames of solid honey as you have frames in the brood nest, around a full deep's worth.

Nothing wrong with letting the bees set the production pace if you don't want to rob them. But make sure you don't let them go into winter doomed to starve - THAT would be irresponsible keeping. You should check the hives for disease and mites as well, so that you can use IPM methods before they go into cluster. Even if they have enough stores, if your varroa load is too high, they won't make it to spring.

skflyfish · May 28, 2010, 11:45:36 AM

harvey,

I planted buckwheat last year during the third week of July and it came on just as the star thistle was ending and was a a good fill in nectar source till the golden rod came in. I plant it as a green manure and source for bees. I believe it takes 60 days to flower, so you could possibly till it in after flowering and replant and get a second flow for your girls.

Jay

harvey · May 28, 2010, 12:03:20 PM

I planted a half acrea of yellow and white clover as well. I know the bee's should like it and the deer and pheasants too. Pretty much have set my forty acreas up so that we can sit on the porch and watch the wildlife. Lots of pines trees, a 3 acrea pond with fish. Kinda my own little haven. I have a small orchard 25 trees of pears, plums, peaches cherries and apples and a small garden. This year I also planted some spirea, Kinda like a mound of white in the spring, and some of the blue aniese that I read about on here. I know I didn't spell it right though. I am trying to keep the combs on the hives as natural as I can. I put them on all foundation less frames and have not treated yet for anything. I am hoping that at least some of these bees become or are resistant to mites. I think the ones that I have caught out of the woods as they are quite a bit smaller may be ferral bees. I am trying to not feed as I want to try and eliminate the nosseium ? I would like a little honey off of them but will only take what they can produce above the two deeps.

ccwonka · May 28, 2010, 12:12:23 PM

If you're trying to stay natural, make sure you do a "powdered sugar" treatment series for mites before winter. That'll at least weaken any varroa population, and stays in line with natural, though not so much lazy ;)

CC

luvin honey · May 28, 2010, 12:36:22 PM

Quote from: harvey on May 28, 2010, 12:03:20 PM
I planted a half acrea of yellow and white clover as well. I know the bee's should like it and the deer and pheasants too. Pretty much have set my forty acreas up so that we can sit on the porch and watch the wildlife. Lots of pines trees, a 3 acrea pond with fish. Kinda my own little haven. I have a small orchard 25 trees of pears, plums, peaches cherries and apples and a small garden. This year I also planted some spirea, Kinda like a mound of white in the spring, and some of the blue aniese that I read about on here. I know I didn't spell it right though. I am trying to keep the combs on the hives as natural as I can. I put them on all foundation less frames and have not treated yet for anything. I am hoping that at least some of these bees become or are resistant to mites. I think the ones that I have caught out of the woods as they are quite a bit smaller may be ferral bees. I am trying to not feed as I want to try and eliminate the nosseium ? I would like a little honey off of them but will only take what they can produce above the two deeps.

That sounds wonderful!

Michael Bush · May 28, 2010, 11:07:18 PM

>If you're trying to stay natural, make sure you do a "powdered sugar" treatment series for mites before winter.

And that is natural in what way?

ccwonka · May 30, 2010, 09:18:00 AM

Quote from: Michael Bush on May 28, 2010, 11:07:18 PM
>If you're trying to stay natural, make sure you do a "powdered sugar" treatment series for mites before winter.

And that is natural in what way?

Well, in the wild of course there are the "powdered sugar rains of fall" that would naturaly cleanse the bees in Wonka-land.

OK, replace the word "Natural" with "Chemical Free".