A natural broodnest in a top bar hive.
What?
Natural beekeeping is a new way to keep bees. It has a new focus based on two precepts:
- bees are their own best managers
- the beekeeper must do no harm
A bee colony's function and organization are intimately intertwined with their nest. A nest is more than a place to hang out and store food. Colony functions resulting from the complex interaction of bee biology, seasonal change and the environment are enhanced by the nest structure. It is the very foundation of the honeybee colony superorganism.
Bees are very adaptable creatures who can tolerate a wide variety of seasonal and environmental changes. But they are less tolerant of changes to their nest which is built for the lifespan of the colony. Interference there, often results in subtle, long term consequences.
When bees construct a natural nest in a suitable cavity, located near adequate food and water, they will reproduce and thrive. Feral colonies demonstrate few problems with disease or pests and they have done so for millenia without any intervention from man.
Why?
My small cell experience indicated that something was very wrong with modern beekeeping. A clean broodnest, combined with a change in cell size, produced healthy, productive colonies that thrived without treatment. And they required minimal management. That's the upside of small cell beekeeping.
But that same experience and my natural comb observations indicated there was something wrong with small cell beekeeping as well. The importance of cell size was a big step in the right direction. But it was just one step and it didn't go far enough. Small cell beekeeping promotes the same standard beekeeping practices which so negatively impact colony health. They just use a single, smaller cell size foundation which creates its own set of problems.
Beekeepers have become very polarized over small cell issues. As a result, small cell beekeeping concepts are inflexibly stuck. Many concepts neither follow the bees or are natural regardless of what's claimed.
To avoid confusion and the errors associated with small cell, a new name was needed. Natural cell was selecting as it reflects the importance of cell size, combined with the a natural broodnest structure. Using 'Natural' also permits a flexible way to modify concepts when needed. And it allows for a great degree of personal freedom as well as responsibility.
A top bar hive is a great natural comb hive.
How?
It's very simple. A natural beekeeper lets the bees do what they do best.
- build a broodnest
- rear brood
- ventilate their hive
- maintain reserve food
- swarm
- balance colony dynamics with the season
So, what's a beekeeper to do?
- provide a suitable cavity
- provide a suitable location
- provide supplemental emergency feed or water
- maintain uncontaminated comb
- maintain as natural a broodnest structure as possible
- become a student of natural bee behavior
- evaluate all equipment and management for negative impacts
- never assume that if it the bees don't drop dead it's ok
So, what shouldn't a beekeeper do?
- think he can manage a bee activity better than the bees can
- believe science can provide a better diet than nature
- stimulate colony activity beyond seasonal limits
- practice feed lot beekeeping
- worry that bees can't survive without him
When?
Now's the time. Natural beekeeping isn't about equipment. It's about keeping bees in a new way. And it requires a different mental focus. With this focus you can be a natural comb beekeeper today. Management and equipment may eventually change. But the big change will be bee health. And the consequential simple management that occurs when a beekeeper works with the bees rather than against them. That's a different beekeeping experience.
This focus isn't arbitrary. Most beekeepers end up with this focus when they see how much better the bees do with minimal interference.
Natural cell beekeeping resembles that done by Langstroth before he invented the modern hive. He lived in a time swept up with concepts of industrialization. At that time beekeepers applied these concepts to reap the benefits of industrialized beekeeping. It was a time when nature was seen as something to be conquered or mastered. Some advantages were gained, but much was lost when the natural broodnest structure was replaced by a man made approximation.
Natural cell beekeeping restores much that has been lost through the industrialization of beekeeping.
Natural cell beekeeping can be a humbling experience. I know, because I was a commercial beekeeper. All that intensive management made me feel real important. I thought, all those practices had to be done or the bees couldn't survive, let alone thrive. I was a bee god! Natural cell beekeepers have found that less management equals better bees.
Now, I work my bees, mostly because I need the experience and not because the bees need my management. I'm liberated from a sense of time pressure and worry. It is said in my wife's culture, "Bees, no problem man."
Satisfaction
The ability for a man to provide the best possible husbandry and produce the best products possible using his head, hands, heart and a few simple tools is very satisfying. It's a rare experience in our post industrial, digital world.
Designing, building, stocking, and harvesting honey, from a top bar hive managed from a natural comb perspective, is one of my most satisfying beekeeping experiences. And I've received email from other beekeepers, that attest to the same.
If I were starting over in beekeeping, I would standardized on a top bar hive design with a natural comb focus, especially if I were a hobbyist or a small scale side liner.
