The Natural Beekeeping is “Old Fashioned” Myth
There seems to be a lot of misinformation and myth circulated around the web and in some beekeeping publications regarding Natural Beekeeping.
The first and to my mind the most damaging myth put about by exponents of conventional beekeeping methods is that Natural Beekeeping is a return to the ancient ways of beekeeping before the ‘great’ invention of removable frames by Langstroth.
To paraphrase an all to common opinion; “The basis of natural beekeeping was to catch swarms and stick them into hives, the most primitive of which were just hollow containers made of wood, clay or straw. When the bees had filled the nest with honey, they were smoked out or killed and the honey and wax harvested. Just one step away from stealing honey from wild bees! So the old ‘natural way’ was to catch bees, gave them somewhere to live, then kill them and take their stuff.”
Then the clincher question would be asked. “How is that in anyway better than modern beekeeping?”
My answer to that is it’s not any better, modern conventional beekeeping is probably about the same!
I would suggest that modern Natural Beekeeping started with Abbé Émile Warré (1867 – 1951) who lived in France and kept bees in a wide variety of hives with the aim of finding the best hive for both bees and beekeeper.
Abbé Warré developed The People’s Hive based on his studies of 350 hives of different systems that existed at his time as well as of the natural habits of the bees themselves.
He advocated a method of beekeeping that involved minimal interference. After all the bees have had over 100 million years practice why do they need us to strip their nest apart every two weeks to check they are doing it correctly?
His hive uses top bars so the bees can build their own comb the size they want unlike conventional frames and foundation where the bees are forced to build comb larger than they would otherwise. (The thinking there was that larger cells means bigger bees resulting in more honey) The actual effect is larger cells make it is easier for the Vorroa!
The main draw back with Warre’s methods is his hive. It is expanded by adding new boxes to the bottom. The existing stack of bees and honey has to be lifted so the new empty box can be inserted. Towards the end of a heavy nectar flow you would need two fit people to lift it. Not a beekeeping method for anyone with a bad back!
Enter the Horizontal top bar hive, a style of cheap low-tech hive that has been about since ancient times. It could be adapted to the new minimal interference methods suggested by Abbe Warre without the heavy lifting.
Therefore I would suggest that ‘Natural’ beekeeping is in fact a more ‘modern’ method of keeping bees than that supported by the conventional beekeeper. Their assertion that natural beekeeping is nothing more than a return to the old days of slash and burn beekeeping is just a load of hokum.
Perhaps it is the conventional methods of manipulation, exploitation, constant interference and the use of chemicals as a cure for everything that should be regarded as old fashioned?
Check out my website Natural Beekeeping Using Top Bar Hive
