How we keep on keeping bees

Sustainable Beekeeping

Internal resourcingSelf-perpetuation

Autonomy -----------

You have what you need.

The Essence of Sustainability

It is not the wholesale rejection of all treatments for mites.

It is not the exclusive preference of Top Bar Hives over Langstroth hives

It is not necessarily the denunciation of wax foundation in favor of natural-sized cells in foundationless frames.

It’s not letting colonies die, unnecessarily

What is NOT “Sustainable Beekeeping?”

“natural” (just provide a home)“organic”

“treatment-free”“top bar hives”“Warre hives”

“small cell foundation”“biodynamic”

And not necessarily equated to…

Kirk WebsterMichael BushPhil ChandlerGunther HawkeRudolph Steiner (who never kept

bees)Cater mostly to smaller, back yard and

recreational beekeepers, promote a “bee-centered” management and simplistic, non-intensive , non-intrusive production.

“Sustainable” prophets

“We contend that we do not need to use commercial beekeeping practices for the hives in our gardens. They are unsuitable and inappropriate for the well-being of the bee or for our own finances and time input.

“We choose simple, low-effort, low-cost, bee-centric, sustainable approaches which are likely to produce enough honey to feed our families and still allow some to give away to friends.”

www.sustainablebeekeepers.com

Internal resourcingSelf-perpetuation

Autonomy -----------

You have what you need.

The Essence of Sustainability

Capable of being supported from within

Self-sufficient, self-supportedMaintains it’s own viabilitySelf-resourcing with minimal outside inputs

Maintained without inflicting damage or exhausting valuable resources

Capacity to endure or survive

What is “Sustainable?”

A little more detail…to sustain is…To continue, to persist, to persevereTo be self-reliant, self-resourcing (queens)To be resilient to outside forces (not

depending on outside vendors, i.e., shortage of nucs in the spring)

To be in control, independent of othersThe freedom to ride out the variables and

availability of what I need to be successful

What do you do to make your beekeeping sustainable?

Raising locally-adapted queens rather than purchasing and shipping in southern-raised queens.

Breeding and selecting for mite resistance in our queens.

Splitting our survivor hives as opposed to buying more nucs and packages.

Catching and trapping feral swarms.

What is “Sustainable Beekeeping?”

Where are we “shooting ourselves in the foot,” making more work for ourselves rather than trusting the bees?

How can we work proactively with the bees and local resources for greater health and productivity?

Two questions:

“Balance”How can I best keep my bees alive?

Formic acid, OA rather than chemicalsBut not legalistically treatment-free.

Issues of resistance and residues.

How can I best refill my winter losses?Swarm trapping and splitting my own

survivors.

What am I looking for?

Michael Palmer (Vermont) Youtube Video “Michael Palmer Sustainable Apiary”“Queen Rearing in the Sustainable Apiary”

Coweta BeekeepersFacebook: Coweta Sustainable Beekeepingwww.cowetabeekeepers.org

Mel Disselkoen, OTS, www.mdasplitter.com

Balance and Freedom

Overwinter nucsSplit non-productive colonies, requeen

Raise locally-adapted queensSeasonal splits to create brood breakIPM “Integrated Pest Management” Monitoring of mite populations (treat if you have to)

Sustainable Overview - generalities

https://www.createspace.com/4542110https://www.createspace.com/5966374

Am I Sustaining ME?80% of new beekeepers quit in 2 years“I’m tired of my bees dying.”“I’m frustrated by having to buy new

bees every year, and replacements are junk.”

“I don’t know how to make a split, or raise queens.”

“I’m still looking for some honey, and so is my spouse.”

Sustainable SolutionVision

think of where you want to go, broadly begin with the end in mind

Focusthink of a narrowing of your vision,

goalsPassion

consuming obsession (Nick Saban)Purpose

why are you keeping bees?

Nick Saban QuestionWhy does Nick Saban, coach of the

Univeristy of Alabama Crimson Tide, win so many football games?

Because he obsesses about winning football games!

VisionFocusPassionPurpose

Kent Williams Quote“The only way to stay in the bee business is to not quit.”

“There will always be beekeepers who sell bees. You can learn how to manage your bees and raise your own replacements… or you can buy new packages every spring.”

This is… this is kind of hard to understand, but sometimes you can try so hard at something.Sometimes you can be so prepared, and still fail. And every time you fail, it’s painful, it causes sadness, and especially as I saw last night, it causes disappointment.

I’ve often said a man’s character is not judged after he celebrates a victory, but by what he does when his back is against the wall. So no matter how great the setback, how severe the failure, you never give up.

John Cena – My Patron Saint of Sustainability