Work with Nature! Bees

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As the name suggests, this blog is about natural ways of beekeeping in Ireland.

Natural beekeeping, to me, means for instance not using harmful chemicals in and around the hive,

not clipping the queens wings and keeping the local black bees (which have shown to survive our Irish climate much better).

I also strive to leave the bees with their honey stores, thereby not feeding sugar, unless there’s no other option for them to survive.

All my bees are on either organic land or areas where very little sprays are used.

This means, as bees forage close to home, that they are mainly foraging on non-chemically treated nectar sources.

I have also been using the topbar way of beekeeping, as this is one way to allow the bees to build their own comb. This then makes smaller bees and helps the bees cope against the varroa mite. The aim of this Blog is to share my experiences of natural beekeeping and have an updated, ongoing advice/Diary for those local novice beekeepers who could maybe use some locally relevant information.

Please also join your local Beekeeping Association as they will usually teach you how to keep bees, to much can go wrong if bees are neglected.

As for the sustainability and affordability of beekeeping, there are also many tips and tricks that I will reveal on this Blog along the way. Beekeeping in itself is essential to the preservation of our beautiful planet and the more people can join in – no matter how low their funds – the better!

Natural beekeeping is Eco-logical! Why interfere with Nature too much, when she knows best, anyway?

So my credo is: work with Nature!

Also I am now on youtube

Youtube workwithnature”.

A serious threat to the honeybee populations!

There is now a serious threat to the honeybee populations all over the world. In his book Michael Schacker/ A Spring without Bees, writes (compilation):

Then in 1987, the worst mite of them all, Varroa destructor, appeared in Wisconsin honey bee colonies. There are 250.000 species of flowering plants and trees, providing most of the crops and ornamentals we depend on. Of those plants 130.000 rely on insects, mostly 20,000 species of bees, to ensure reproduction. Bees are thus essential to biodiversity.
By 1994, 98% of the wild honey bee population was wiped out by the mites and all the viruses and other pathogens they carry. Remember that Apis, the honey bee, has a known weakness in the number of gene families controlling immunity, they are not able to easily fight of new viruses and pathogens. By 2006, there were only 2.4 million from 6 million commercial hives left in the U.S.. The honey bee was thus already on the ropes when the Knockout punch came. Colony Collapse Disorder

It is now more then ever that we need people to start learning this very important hobby. In just a few years we could have a very big drop in the food we produce for human consumption, again Schaker writes: To be continued…..

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