Organic Beekeeping - ARTICLE

[GT]

As I listed in a survery here a few months back, I lost both of my hives this Spring. It exhausted my tolerance for all of the forces working against the bees, and me. So I'm taking a hiatus - I hate to be without hives because I've identified with them for so long, and love it when I get a chance to talk about beekeeping with people who know so litle about the wonder of bees. Maybe I need what I've tried to be to others - a mentor. Anyone on LI NY willing to rehab me back into the fold??
People on this site have surprised me when the topic has turned to medicating the colonies, something I've never done. I've been called a tree hugger among fellow tree huggers because I refuse to medicate. I never understood how someone would let their food supply get altered - or how someone could believe it would be harmelss with no side effects. And now we have nationwide hive disappearances - could it have something to do with medication, or the pesticides, or the gmo crops? Please read the article posted below and think it through. Every action causes a reaction. There are options. Thank you to Michael Bush for being supportive on alternative (maybe the term should be 'original') methods, and offering me/others support when up against issues of all sizes. I hope you all have a banner year for the hives you have, a honey flow like no other (good weather in the northeast for it this year), and yeats of continued success.
Organic Bees Are Thriving While Pesticide Intensive Conventional Bee Hive Colonies Are Collapsing
"Natural" beehives appear less affected by the strange new plague dubbed colony collapse disorder.
By Sharon Labchuk
GNN - Guerrilla News Network, April 24, 2007
Straight to the Source


Colony Collapse Disorder in domestic honey bees is all the buzz lately, mostly because honey bees pollinate food crops for humans.

However, we would not be so dependent on commercial non-native factory farmed honey bees if we were not killing off native pollinators. Organic agriculture does not use chemicals or crops toxic to bees and, done properly, preserves wildlife habitat in the vicinity, recognizing the intimate relationship between cultivated fields and natural areas.

While no one is certain why honey bee colonies are collapsing, factory farmed honey bees are more susceptible to stress from environmental sources than organic or feral honey bees. Most people think beekeeping is all natural but in commercial operations the bees are treated much like livestock on factory farms.

I'm on an organic beekeeping email list of about 1,000 people, mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list. The problem with commercial operations is pesticides used in hives to fumigate for varroa mites and antibiotics are fed to the bees to prevent disease. Hives are hauled long distances by truck, often several times during the growing season, to provide pollination services to industrial agriculture crops, which further stresses the colonies and exposes them to agricultural pesticides and GMOs.

Bees have been bred for the past 100 years to be much larger than they would be if left to their own devices. If you find a feral honeybee colony in a tree, for example, the cells bees use for egg-laying will be about 4.9 mm wide. This is the size they want to build ­ the natural size.

The foundation wax that beekeepers buy have cells that are 5.4 mm wide so eggs laid in these cells produce much bigger bees. It's the same factory farm mentality we've used to produce other livestock ­ bigger is better. But the bigger bees do not fare as well as natural-size bees.

Varroa mites, a relatively new problem in North America, will multiply and gradually weaken a colony of large bees so that it dies within a few years. Mites enter a cell containing larvae just before the cell is capped over with wax. While the cell is capped, the bee transforms into an adult and varroa mites breed and multiply while feeding on the larvae.

The larvae of natural bees spend less time in this capped over stage, resulting in a significant decrease in the number of varroa mites produced. In fact, very low levels of mites are tolerated by the bees and do not affect the health of the colony. Natural-size bees, unlike large bees, detect the presence of varroa mites in capped over cells and can be observed chewing off the wax cap and killing the mites. Colonies of natural-size bees are healthier in the absence mites, which are vectors for many diseases.

It's now possible to buy small cell foundation from US suppliers, but most beekeepers in Canada have either never heard of small cell beekeeping, aren't willing to put the effort into changing or are skeptical of the benefits. This alternative is not promoted at all by the Canadian Honey Council, an organization representing the beekeeping industry, which even tells its members on their website that, "The limitations to disease control mean that losses can be high for organic beekeepers." [ref link]

Organic beekeeping, as defined by certification agencies, allows the use of less toxic chemicals. It's more an IPM approach to beekeeping than organic.

Commercial beekeeping today is just another cog in the wheel of industrial agriculture ­ necessary because pesticides and habitat loss are killing native pollinators, and vast tracks of monoculture crops aren't integrated into the natural landscape.

In an organic Canada, native pollinators would flourish and small diversified farms would keep their own natural bees for pollination and local honey sales.

The factory farm aspects of beekeeping, combined with an onslaught of negative environmental factors, puts enough stress on the colonies that they are more susceptible to dying out.

Some small cell beekeeping resources::

Organic Beekeeper list http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Organicbeekeepers/

Michael Bush's site: http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm

BeeSource: http://www.beesource.com/pov/lusby/index.htm

Sharon Labchuk
Earth Action (and organic beekeeper)

[Robo]

People on this site have surprised me when the topic has turned to medicating the colonies, something I've never done. I've been called a tree hugger among fellow tree huggers because I refuse to medicate.

What amazes me on this site is people who have never had bees before who think that they can just not use chemicals and the bees will survive (BTW,  not trying to insinuate you fall in that category).  Although I agree that we are way over medicated and every attempt should be made to reduce or eliminate the use,  sometimes there are no other reasonable choices.   Yes, Michael Bush has been a great influence to all of us and has gotten himself to the point of no treatment.  However,  this does not happen over night.  You just can't one day decide I'm not medicating anymore.  Your bees will die, as you have seen first hand.  Even Michael treated at times while he regressed.

I never understood how someone would let their food supply get altered - or how someone could believe it would be harmelss with no side effects.

I guess you don't consider death of your colonies a side effect of NOT treating?  And the side effect of the substantial loss of bees to the food supply if all bee treatment was just stopped.

It is very easy for us hobbyist to say stop treating or regress,  but I do feel for the commercial beekeepers whose life and family rely on making money from bees.   Dead bees don't bring in money, and if your livelihood depended on something,  you would do whatever was necessary to survive.   These guys don't like medicating anymore than you or I.  It is very costly to them, but it is their best odds of surviving at this point.


Personally I find the use of the word "organic" a joke when you look at the standard for honey (still in the proposed state I believe).

I can't use honey super cell 4.9 frames as instant regression to eliminate the use of chemicals to control varroa because they are plastic.
But one can

• use the antibiotic oxytetracycline (terramycin) as a preventive measure against the spread of American Foulbrood  -which I don't do
• use Menthol for control of Tracheal Mites (Acarapis Woodi). -which I don't do
• use Folic acid, formic acid, and lactic acid are allowed for the control of Varroa Mites -which I don't do
• use burning sulfur as wax moth control when storing supers which I don't do

So I will just keep selling my honey as "all natural".....

The term 'organic' aside,  I do believe this country is way over medicated (not just bees) and we have become too dependent on drugs.  However, that does not mean that there are not good or necessary drugs and medications.


I do think natural beekeeping has it's merit, and I myself am trying to work towards someday being completely chemical-free.  I have come a long way from where I was just 5 years ago,  and do feel my bees are healthier now.  I still do treat for varroa on occasion, but only when needed.  No more preventive medications for me.  I also think it is naive for someone to think it is as easy as just stop treating.

My personal opinion is that although CCD may be real and I have no reason to believe it is not,  a lot of the losses this year where weather related and being blamed as CCD.  I personally lost 75% of my colonies this winter, but not to CCD.  We had a very mild winter all thru January and then had weeks of sub-zero weather.  In every hive that I lost,  I found they had started to raise brood and would not leave the brood to move to additional stores and starved themselves to death. 

I'm sure I drifted far from where you wanted this to go,  but that is just my 2 cents.

[abates99]

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=10550.0

Something from an earlier post.

[KONASDAD]

Balance. I endeavor to be synthetic free, but would consider if it saved the hive. I would just remove those frames over time to avoid contamination. I already envision me removing every frame on a two year cycle. Safe that way, and I'll have extra wax for candles and such. In order to avoid using synthetic drugs, I use SBB, suger shakes and FGMO rags in hive. Am considering organic acids if needed for late fall, but hope to avoid by using Integrated pest management techniques. I also bought hygenic queens as well.

[Kirk-o]

I started beekeeping in 2000 in Los Angeles of all places.I had a horrible time
I had my bees at a community garden were the nieghbors would lean over the fence and say my compost heap stunk they call the city the city said no laws
against compost people would confront me entering the garden and say I was takeing there parking space and on top of that all the bees I ordered would die
or abscond because of the ants .It was discouraging to say the least.The owner of the Property were the garden was evicted the garden and the owner halled off my bees he wouldn't even let me purchase them back.I found another garden that the city owned and started over bought bees they died.Purchased more they died or absconded.Well I was running out of money
hard to purchase bees every year.I did a cut out this hive did great still going
large cell never trteated.I then captured swarms and used small cell foundation no treatment.I started haveing more and more succes.When it comes to survival you just have to observe what works for you I read Michael Bush's web page many times and also the organicbeekeepers on yahoo and beesource.I have met and purchased bess from Dee Lusby and found her way of doing things very workable.It hasn't been easy sometimes but it would bee harder to give up.I had bees in the 1970's it was easy compared to now but I still keep going.
kirko

[Kathyp]

i know i'm repeating myself, but i really think the answer to most of these problems is a combined approach.  good breeding, good management, and careful use of medications.  perhaps small cell factors in as well.  i will be interested in the results of the study mentioned in another post.  so far, small cell alone does not look promising as far as i can see.

unfortunately, this article makes several assertions that are not backed up by the facts as we know them. 

[DayValleyDahlias]

While I am new to beekeeping, I have spoken with many a beekeeper.  Each has his or her own idea of success in keeping bees, the common denominator was that despite their various ways, some hives dwindled.  One keeper relies on what I call "The Darwin Approach"...survival of the fittest.  He feels if the bees can't survive varroa and the like, then they "need" to perish..thus only the resistant ones survive.  He looses bees...he looses bees...The one concern I have with that is cross-contamination...he may not treat, but the fellow down the road may want to......Another one treats aggressively ( with chemical ) he looses bees...

I like the word balance...I feel I am responsible to make the bee's environment as healthy as possible, ensuring they have their own honey for food, cleanliness, and proper inspection...treating a problem before it occurs  or gets out of control in a conservative manner, until I can regress fully...

QWhile I am a pretty staunch tree hugger type...I realize the importance of some chemicals used responsibly...