Hello from South Germany

[SiWolKe]

I?m Sibylle from South Germany.

I keep bees since 2014 and started treatment free beekeeping in 2015. Still some bee colonies left 

I hope to find some civilized discussions here. Please help me if I?m not civilized myself, it may be I?m misunderstood. It?s not my native language.

I?m here to improve this and learn more about what happens in the world of beekeeping.

Hi and thanks to Michael Bush.

[paus]

WE welcome you.  I am very interested in bee keeping methods from other Geographical regions.  No question is  dumb, there only dumb answers of which I have given a few.  ,Trev AKA paus

[Ben Framed]

Welcome SiWolKe; This was my first year to keep bees of my on. I have learned much here. I am sure you will too! Maybe we can learn from you! I'm sure you are civilized plenty enough or you wouldn't be making a honest conscious effort to do so. 
Phillip Hall "Ben Framed"

[Michael Bush]

Welcome.

[BeeMaster2]

Welcome to Beemaster.
Jim

[Acebird]

I?m Sibylle from South Germany.
I hope to find some civilized discussions here.

You will Sibylle.  Finally you came to the right place.  Welcome!  The activity is not as strong but the people are a whole lot nicer.

[herbhome]

Welcome Sibylle

[SiWolKe]

Thank you guys!

[blackforest beekeeper]

Und ein Willkommensgru? aus dem Schwarzwald!
(Welcome from the Black Forest!)

[SiWolKe]

Danke!
Ich wohne bei Konstanz, sehr nahe bei dir.

[blackforest beekeeper]

2 hours ride. But a LOT milder Your place!
Our bees winter in the Kraichgau, which is about as mild as Your place. We just bring them to the BF for the forest-honey.
good luck!

non-treatment is in a dense bee-area as yours VERY difficult, for your neighbourhs, too, if hives crash.

Ich bin mitten im Schwarzwald.

[SiWolKe]

Oh nobody must fear my mite bombs.
I?m practising soft bond right now, my susceptible colonies die in winter when they are no threat. 

I rather fear my neighbors bees which are breeding more virulent mites and those bees try to rob mine every season after harvesting because they want to get at the honey, having only syrup.
My first hive was a treated one and robbed a neglected nuc apiary nearby. Mite numbers raised to the sky in two weeks.

I don?t want my yards to crash by invasion myself.
I gave a speaking last week and outed myself as a tf beekeeper. The treating beekeepers present were not interested in mite bombs  nor in resistance 
Only interest was honey harvest.

Good for me and my co-workers, so we can go on unmolested in our breeding resistance efforts.

Is it true what the bee inspector said to me once, that bees used in the fall flow in the black forest are left to die because the mite numbers are so high no rescue possible?
That?s why commercials make many nucs in spring? 
Or is it anecdotal?

[blackforest beekeeper]

I know none personally doing this.
Keeping them alive with a late flow is a job of its own.

[SiWolKe]

This summer I worked as an apprentice with Erik ?sterlund in sweden, a beekeeper who earns his income by making honey throughout the season, heather honey included and who breeds queens from treatment free lines.

He practises soft bond and has 10% losses mostly.
His bees are very strong. The susceptibles which have over 3% of mites ( alcohol wash two times a year, 4 minutes labour, we watched our smartphone) he treats with thymol and once again after 2 weeks. Two treatments on half or less hives in a season, no more, and those get the queens shifted next spring.

If we ever meet I tell you about this.    It was fascinating. He checks and treats after observing dwv bees but I have not seen any black shiny hairless bees.

To have more resistant bees in a commercial setting is an endless labour but the results were great. Many production hives as high as a man without treatments.

But one thing differs to your beekeeping, BFB, he does not migrate. Could be a main factor having healthy non treated bees?

[blackforest beekeeper]

on Gotland there is a population of resistant bees. might be the climate mostly? also, in swedish climate, the reproduction cycle of the mites is shorter.

We had very little mites this year. I treated with formic acid nevertheless, but I could have saved the expense and labour on most hives.

What is soft bond?

[SiWolKe]

Soft bond is to treat only the bees which are over a threshold you have to find out in your special location.
Bee association often tell about the thresholds.

Then breed from the not treated and shift queens to the queens you bred out of tf hives.

So you make your stock more and more resistant while having not as high losses as in a darwinian process of live and let die.

Perhaps you will never have resistant, completely treatment free colonies, but you will not have to treat constantly. Maybe stop formic. And you spread stronger genetics in the long run.

[kikooo]

Thank you for sharing, it sounds really good.
I live in New York and welcome more communication.
I work in a lab, sometimes so busy, just like a bee you know 
https://www.cd-genomics.com/Viral-Genome-Sequencing.html

[SiWolKe]

Hi kikooo, your profession sounds interesting!

I?m a "hobbyist reseacher" myself if it comes to bees. I must have taken 5000 pictures or more since I started beekeeping 2014.