Day #101 To treat or not to treat

This is so cool! I went back to do some re-reading in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Beekeeping, and found yet another reason—very clearly expressed—for why it’s not a good idea to feed bees sugar water (except when the bees are getting first established).

Bees apparently self-regulate the size of their colonies based on the amount of food available. When there is less food (in the form of nectar and pollen) the queen slows down on the egg-laying. When they stop rearing brood for a time, it interrupts the life-cycle of the diseases and parasites that grow in the brood chambers.

When beekeepers feed the bees constantly from early spring to late fall, the bees never get that “message” that it’s time to slow down, so the parasites keep right on multiplying. Then the beekeepers find it necessary to treat with antibiotics like Terramycin  and Fumadil.

Do you really want to eat honey that has antibiotics in it?

Even the use of so-called natural treatments (like dusting with powdered sugar) interferes with the microbial culture in the hive.  Just because something is natural, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good idea. As Stiglitz and Herboldsheimer wrote in The Complete Idiot’s Guide, imagine “using the oil of the poison ivy plant as a massage oil.” Hmmm.

I’m more and more glad every day that I’ve decided to let my bees simply BEE.

BEEattitude for Day #101:

       Blessed are they who let us BEE what we want to BEE, for they shall help populate the world with healthy pollinators.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       My new wood carrier, a birthday gift from my massage therapist, Karen Krotz

http://www.franstewart.com/
My ebooks are on special sale now (only $3.99)

Day 1 (only 599 to go)

I never knew there was so much to learn about bees. There seems to be a drastic division within the beekeeping community, with those who advocate the large-cell foundations, which result in larger bees that are more prone to attack by varroa mites (nasty little buggers) on one side, and the so-called "natural beekeepers" on the other. Guess which side I'm on?

I learned about the natural approach through reading The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beekeeping. I checked it out from the library, but have ordered a copy from my favorite independent book store, Cowan's Book Nook in Blue Ridge GA. I plan to use only the small-cell foundation, so I can have healthier and, I would assume, happier bees.

What's foundation, you ask? Well, it's a sheet of very thin beeswax that is stamped in a pattern of hexagonal ridges. When the bees build comb, as they've done for more than 14 million years in the wild, they don't need foundation, but beekeepers find that by giving the bees the foundation to start with, the bees create honeycombs that are more convenient for said beekeepers who want to rob -- er, harvest -- the honey.

I think I'm going to start with one hive with foundation already in it, and one hive where I give the bees a chance to build their own. Then again, since the only thing I know about bees comes from the fifteen books I've read so far, I may change my mind by day 60 of this blog.

I'll keep you informed every step of the way.

Beeatitude for day 1:
Blessed are they who use no pesticides, for they shall be healthy - and so shall we bees.