Tag: beekeeping

Why Would Anyone Make a Beehive from Concrete?

Shelley Hive Co (@ShelleyHiveCo) contacted me for feedback on their AAC (Autoclaved Aerated Concrete) beehive. Initially, I was skeptical, but I relented and installed a Shelley horizontal hive. In this video, I captured the setup of the hive and the installation of a honeybee colony.

For more information about the Shelley hive, visit their website at https://www.shelleyhiveco.com/. Subscribe to Shelley Hive Co on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ShelleyHiveCo When purchasing a Shelley Hive, promo code SAVETHEBEE100 will give a discount of $100, and 10% of the purchase price will go to Save the Bee (https://savethebee.org/). The promo code is good through 12/31/2025.

Powdered Sugar for Varroa Mite Management?

A viewer recently commented about the use of powdered sugar for managing mites in beehives. Below is that comment and my reply:

Viewer:
In the 80s old beekeepers, and still today, use powdered sugar poured onto the top of the hive directly on the bees, getting them to start grooming each other. Mites fall to the bottom tray that has diatomaceous earth to kill the mites.

My response:
I understand the use of powdered sugar to stimulate grooming behavior among the bees, but I don’t practice or advocate for any external interventions to manage mites. Once the powdered sugar is gone, the bees will return to their natural state, and if they don’t have the traits to manage the mites themselves, then interventions must be repeated. This is an unsustainable approach and, as we’re seeing in places where treatments are common, supporting weak (susceptible) genetics promotes the spread of those genetics and continues a dependency on intervention.

As mites spread around the world, it was a reasonable conclusion that the Western Honeybee, without prior exposure to the parasites, had no way of combating the threat, so intervention was critical for survival. Now we have more experience and have had the opportunity to see how the bees reacted without intervention. In parts of the world where no treatments were used, the honeybees took about 5-7 years to go through a funnel of natural selection. Those bees with genetic traits for managing the mites survived and propagated, spreading those traits, while those without died out. The result is a stronger honeybee with better mite resistance and/or tolerance. Despite what we now know, the old mindset persists, and the “developed” world has been on the treatment treadmill for 30-40 years with no real progress against mites among conventionally raised bees.

Rather than interventions, no matter how “soft” they may seem, I advocate for allowing the bees to manage their mites and to let natural selection run its course. Feral bees – those that have lived without intervention for some time – have a higher likelihood of some developed mite resistance. When local bees are caught and kept, they will be better acclimated to the local seasons and nectar flows, reducing stress on the colony. In my own apiary, I keep only locally caught bees, use no treatments at all, and propagate from my strongest and most productive colonies. Losses are quite rare, and my winter survival rates, averaging 93% over the last few years, are better than what I see many conventional beekeepers reporting.

While many still hold to the idea that “we have to do something” about mites, I think that idea is misguided and sometimes intervention is more detrimental than allowing nature to take its course. By trusting and allowing the natural selection funnel to take its course, we promote stronger bees and reduce our workload as beekeepers.

For more information about my treatment-free practices, please watch the following video:

Unseasonal Honeybee Brood Build-Up and Winter Starve-Out

Below is a comment from a viewer, pertinent to over-wintering bees in fully insulated hives, and my response:

Viewer:
One thing I noticed is that when Per a Feb 2024 study, I decided to insulate, I got a million answers for why it’s wrong. the only problem it caused and I don’t know if it was that or the crazy year we had. Is I had a hive go gung ho and raise like 6 frames of brood in Dec. Between the end of Oct and the end of Nov, it had consumed more than 100# of honey and starved out.

Sodbuster Response:
There could be several factors involved, and I don’t think that the insulation was a contributor. These may or may not apply to your case:

Bees are generally stimulated to raise brood when days lengthen and/or nectar flow increases. The first factor, which allows the bees to prepare for oncoming blooms, mainly depends on the bees’ genetics for when they produce brood and how quickly they build up. Bees better suited for southern climates (e.g. Italian bees) will build up earlier (and/or continue producing brood later in fall/winter) and produce more brood, which can be out of sync and create issues for the colony in a northern climate. I’ve talked to many people in northern states who ask me why they have difficulty keeping colonies through winter. In these cases I can usually predict, before asking, that they populate their colonies with packages shipped from the south.

The second factor – nectar availability – is something that we can simulate by feeding sugar, and most recognize this as a tool to build up colonies in spring. But feeding over winter can unnaturally stimulate brood production, creating a population that will quickly eat through stores. I heard a speaker (but, regretfully, I don’t recall who) express a point I agree with: winter feeding can, ironically, contribute to spring starve-outs when the colony builds up inappropriately early and the population consumption exceeds the honey stores.

Some have argued that if a hive is insulated and the bees move around more, then they’ll use up honey faster, but that’s a hypothesis with which I wholeheartedly disagree. Bees in cluster burn a lot of calories to vibrate their wing muscles and generate heat, while bees out of cluster but with no particular jobs, such as foraging or raising brood, are doing little to require more calories. To my knowledge, bees don’t aimlessly snack like we would be prone to do. My observations of my insulated vs. uninsulated hives confirm that the insulated regularly have more honey left at the end of winter.

I don’t know where you’re located, where you got your bees, or how you keep them, so the above may or may not apply. You might be right that weird weather – like late warm weather stimulating out-of-season blooms – might be a factor. Like you, I’ve heard naysayers explaining why insulation is a bad idea. But I know that my locally caught bees, and the colonies propagated from them, are usually thriving, come spring, with full insulation and no winter feeding.

Please watch this video for more information about why I chose to completely insulate my hives:

Ozarks Homesteading Expo 2024

It’s almost time for the Ozarks Homesteading Expo, which will be on September 6-7, 2024 at the Webster County Fairgrounds in Marshfield, MO. This will be a fantastic event for anyone wanting to learn to live a more independent, sustainable life. There are many great speakers scheduled, demonstrations of traditional skills such as animal processing, wood milling, blacksmithing, etc., and over 150 vendors with goods to equip your sustainable life.

Visit ozarkshomesteading.com for more information and to buy tickets to the Expo.

I’ll have a booth at the Expo, where I’ll have books, Layens hives and swarm traps available, along with a new hive stand available for the first time. I’ll also be speaking at 2:00 pm on Saturday on the topic: “Keeping Bees Doesn’t Have to be Hard”. I hope you’ll come by to say hi!

The new hive stand, described in the video below, has been developed by Kris Hopkins of hopkinshomesteadstore.com, where the Hopkins family sells high quality steel raised garden beds. Visit their website and use code “SODBUSTER” for a 5% discount.