The goal of Natural Beekeeping is to keep bees in a manner similar to that previously existing (and still existing in some areas today) in traditional beekeeping and to how bees live in the wild. It is about placing the needs of the bee above that of the beekeeper. It entails a holistic approach to bee management with the focus on the bees and not on what they can produce or the profit one can extract from them.
Natural Beekeeping is about allowing the bees and in particular the Queen, who is the mother of the hive, to live and move freely throughout the hive and carry out a natural life cycle as they would in a tree hollow or any other similar wild bee nesting place. This is essentially bio-mimicry. Over the 50 million years they have been here, bees have found what works, what is appropriate and most importantly, what lasts for them here on Earth. For us to at Gold Coast Permaculture to impose an industrial style beekeeping system upon them, that is perhaps analogous to cooping chickens up in cages, would be to engage in unethical behaviour.
- Industrial Chicken Farming is to Chickens as is Industrial Beekeeping is to Bees
Each bee in a colony is a fundamental part of a super-organism that is the colony of up to 50,000 bees. This view of bees has created a total paradigm shift in how we keep bees and has led to a complete rethinking of conventional management and hive design. Natural Beekeepers embrace this concept of the super-organism and see each bee as part of the greater whole, rather than merely an individual insect whose sole purpose in life is to produce honey.
Happy Bees at Gold Coast Permaculture – Just Swarmed and Prior to Rehousing
The design and use of the Warré Hive and the Horizontal Top-Bar Hive as Natural Beekeeping management tools has been inspired by the need to mimic the wild colony and is a less intrusive, cheaper, simpler and more bee friendly approach to beekeeping. Abbé Émile Warré, the designer of the Warré Hive, went through 350 different designs before coming up with the final product that is now the Warré beehive.
The Warre Hive (www.warre.biobees.com)
There are varying degrees of ‘naturalness’ with honey hunters collecting wild comb from trees at one extreme and large scale industrial migratory beekeeping at the other. It is this latter system that produces the majority of honey for consumption (probably 99.8%) in Australia and people would be shocked to see how bees are kept. Most hobby beekeepers are, unfortunately, also keeping bees in this manner.
Honey/Bee Hunters
At Gold Coast Permaculture, we allow the bees to mimic their natural social instincts that would be normal in the wild. They are allowed to express their ‘beeness’ in every situation. We do not utilise wax starter sheets that force the bees to build comb to a certain size thereby restricting the birth rates of drones and/or forcing the production of honey by the workers. The bees are able to swarm, construct their own comb, deciding for themselves according to honey flows as to the volume and speed of construction, population mix and their desire or otherwise to swarm and produce their own queens.
While the constant rebuilding of comb markedly reduces the ability of the beekeeper to experience higher profits from higher honey production, the bees are able to lay and produce brood in clean comb. Once the brood is hatched, the brood comb is used to store honey. When crushed, this comb contains extremely high levels of nutrients including bee bread and nectar product. It also provides a much cleaner product for consumers in that there is negligible ability for any pesticide or herbicide build-up as it does in the re-used comb or ‘stickies’ used under the industrial system.
This less intrusive style of beekeeping not only acknowledges the need for the bees to develop and live without excessive management, it generates a more resilient colony and one that is more adaptable to it local environment, resistant to pests and diseases and also one that creates a gentler and less defensive (less prone to sting) bee with which to work.
Swarming Into a New Home (Warre Swarm Trap) at Gold Coast Permaculture
Natural beekeeping and its negligible impact on bees is well supported in the scientific literature. Honeybee Democracy by Thomas Seeley and The Buzz About Bees by Jurgen Tautz are just two books by peer reviewed researchers into this area of knowledge. These and other resources to access and from which to learn are to be found in the “resources” section of this web site.
How can you help in looking after this most precious resource?
– Undertake a two day beekeeping course with Tim Malfroy and become a Warré beekeeper
– Participate in beekeeping workshops organised by Gold Coast Permaculture
– Plant bee and pollinator friendly gardens
– Provide habitat for native bees and pollinators
– Support local bio-intensive and biodynamic farmers
– Become a bee activist and promote the rights of bees in your area
Gold Coast Permaculture is now adhering to Demeter International Standards for the keeping of bees