Biodynamic Beekeeping
Questions put to
Biodynamic Beekeeping Consultant
Michael Weiler
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1. What
are the essential differences between conventional and Biodynamic beekeeping?
The most important points are:
· The biodynamic bee keeper aims to preserve the unity
of the colony; he treats it as a complete organism not as separate parts.
· If the colony begins to split from itself by preparing
to swarm we harness the power of this process, we do not suppress it.
· We use the power of the swarm process for
renewal and all breeding.
· We do not make artificial nuclei or induce
queen rearing.
· The bees build their own comb; we do not give
them any foundation apart from little starter strips.
· We only use natural materials for the hives.
· We do not recycle wax in the hives.
2. Is this type of bee keeping
new and how has it been developed?
Yes, you could say that this
type of bee keeping is really new. It developed in response to the question:
What do bees need in order to regain their vitality? What are the essential
expressions of bee life? What is suppressed in conventional bee keeping?
3. Is it just for hobby bee
keepers?
No, professional bee keepers
also work with the biodynamic ‘Demeter’ standards. In Germany, most Demeter bee
keepers own 50 to 100 hives or more. There is one bee keeper with more than 500
hives – it is his main profession. There is no reason why keeping bees in this
way cannot be economically viable.
4. Do I need more expensive
equipment for biodynamic bee keeping?
No, you
don’t need more equipment than is used in conventional beekeeping; in fact some equipment like queen excluders or that
required for queen rearing is not needed.
5. Can I
use my existing hives and equipment?
Demeter Beekeeping Standards
require that the brood box and frames are large enough to accommodate all the
brood as it grows without it being cut in two parts by the wooden frames of two
brood boxes – for this reason we use large brood frames. Normally the brood
area has a diameter of around 350 mm, seldom more. The brood area of a colony
is elastic and adapts itself to the form of the space. To allow for this we
need 10 to 12 frames of about 350 x 350 mm each. Larger numbers of smaller
frames can be used, but only in one box. In Germany we generally use frames of
at least 1200 cm². This contrasts with the usual practice of using much smaller
frames. Because most available frames are much smaller, we will need to modify them.
6. Are there any other
limitations to commercially produced hives?
All hive parts should be made
from natural materials (apart from essential fixings such as nails). The wood
must be free of agricultural pesticides and Varroa treatment residues. This is particularly important if you get
second-hand hives. Residues can be transferred and may then be found later in
the combs.
7. You
advocate leaving a space of 100mm between the brood box and the floor. Is this
essential and what is it for?
The so-called “high floor” is
not essential – but it is often used in Germany and not only in biodynamic or
ecological beekeeping. It’s helpful for working with the large brood box. If
the colony is strong the bee cluster is able to hang down above the floor. This
can in turn help to prevent swarming. In Germany the “high floor” also has a
“back door” through which the bee keeper can take a look at the colony from
below. In early summer this can be helpful for judging the right time to put on
the honey supers – if the cluster is hanging down, it means that the weather is
fine and lots of flowers can be expected.
Another point concerns the
litter falling down from the cluster – a high floor gives a greater distance
between litter and cluster and makes it easier to monitor and observe how well
the bees clean this floor. If the floor is mostly dirty, your bees are bad
cleaners – this could be a reason for selection.
8. What is your view of top
bar hives? Is there a place for them in biodynamic bee keeping?
Top bar hives could be used –
if they have a large enough brood area. It is more a question of practicality
and whether you want to be able to use honey supers and harvest honey in the
normal way. If you are happy with that style of bee keeping there is no reason
why you cannot keep bees in a top bar hive.
9. What
about frames and foundation?
Foundation for the honey
supers (if you use them) and starter strips, should be from Demeter beeswax –
in the beginning you could use other organically certified beeswax if insufficient
Demeter wax is available. You should collect your natural combs and wax from
de-capping the honeycombs to use for this.
The frame wood must be free of
all pesticide and Varroa treatment residues.
10. Do
you need to wire frames in which Bees will build natural comb?
I
don't use wires, but then I don't move my hives to different sites.
Demeter Beekeepers are allowed to use wires (stainless
steel) and I would say that if you move your hives it is best to use them - it
gives more stability for the combs. But you have to make absolutely sure that
the frames are hanging vertically in the hives, so that the wires can disappear
completely in the natural comb.
11. Do
you have any recommendation for spacing frames?
I find that in my brood boxes
there is enough space for 12 frames with 35mm distance between combs (from
middle to middle) There is only natural comb in my brood boxes and as these
combs move a little bit more than combs made from foundation, you will sometimes
find little waves. This means that you have to be careful when getting the
first comb out of the brood box when working the hive. For this reason I only
use 11 frames in the space of 12. This enables me to press the frames together
a little and increase the space between them and so avoid damaging the comb
before lifting it out.
12. Do
you recommend different spacing in brood chambers and supers?
I sometimes use thicker frames
in the honey super (9 or 10 frames). It’s possible and normally not a problem.
13. What
method of frame spacing do you recommend?
I use Hoffmann frames. I find
that the Hoffman side bar is helpful to the bees – it protects the brood area a
little bit because it covers the brood nest from the outside space, helping to
preserve warmth. Other bee keepers use different methods equally successfully -
many ways are possible.
14. Can you use foundation
in supers?
The Demeter guidelines allow
the use of foundation in the supers, but it is a compromise. Most Demeter bee
keepers don’t use it. Just as with the brood frames, bees need something to
climb up on to build the comb. You must either use foundation starter strips or
give them two complete, built combs in the centre of the box and fill up with
empty frames on either side.
You are allowed to use the
fully developed combs again in the next years.
15.
Demeter wax is a valuable commodity, how do you go about melting wax?
Demeter wax is a valuable
by-product, much prized by the cosmetic industry, as it is free of the residues
found in the wax from conventional hives. Between 500 to 1000 g of wax can be
harvested per hive per year when keeping bees biodynamically.
A solar smelter is good for
bee keepers who have only a few hives. With more hives you could use a steam
wax extractor or really hot, soft water and then filter the wax through a fine
sheet of cloth or muslin.
16. Do
you have a recommendation for treating the outside of hives?
No, not really. I don’t think
it’s necessary. Some carpenters say, wood without protection lasts 144 months while
with protection it lasts 12 years! It’s more helpful to prevent too much rain
falling on the hive, so that it dries out quickly. If for aesthetic or other
reasons you want to paint the outside of your hives the exterior coating should
be an ecologically friendly paint with natural ingredients. Some bee keepers
use linseed oil or a very hot mixture of linseed oil and beeswax. The inside of
the hive should not be coated with anything at all and does not need
protection.
17. Is
there a problem with using metal in beehives?
It is perhaps good to be
careful in our use of it. Some bee keepers in Germany don’t use wires in the
frames or metal roofs. They say that these wires produce an effect like an
antenna. A radio engineer could measure the frequency of this antenna. It is
anyway important to use stainless steel if we do use metal and certainly for
nails and frame wires.
18. Does biodynamic bee
keeping result in a lower honey yield?
Yes, especially when you first
start you can expect a reduction of 30% - but this also depends on how
intensively or extensively you have been working before.
19. Is it
more labour intensive?
When you first start and
before you have found a routine for biodynamic bee keeping, it will be more
labour intensive. Later on you will find that there is a lot of work that you
do not have to do; no artificial queen breeding, no breeding calendar and so
on.
20. What
is your approach to raising queens and why?
I only use queens, which have
developed as part of the natural organic activity of the bee colony. This is
the only way to produce a natural queen with all the attributes which nature
intended. The bees have a much stronger relationship with a natural queen than
with one, which has been introduced.
21. What
do you do about swarm control?
All bee keepers know when
swarming starts in their region. Once it starts you have to monitor your
colonies for signs of the swarm process. First you’ll find queen cups, later
you’ll find eggs or larvae in these cups. Now you can be sure that the process
has started. The organism can stop this process at any time. The point of no
return is when the prime swarm leaves the hive.
We remove any unneeded frames
in autumn – maybe 2 or 3 if the brood box is big enough and put in dummy
boards. Then in spring when the bees need more space we add empty frames so
that on inspection we just need to check the new frame. We can learn to read
the form of the newly built combs to see if the swarm process has started. If
there are worker cells and a smooth
line, all is OK. If it is wavy or there are a lot of drone cells or queen cups
then something is going on and you will need to check further.
If we wish to prevent the swarm from flying away or
settling in a tree top, the following procedure can be used to hold back the
swarming drive. Shortly before the swarm prepares to leave the hive (up to two
days before if necessary) we open up the hive, look for the queen and take her
out. Then we carefully sweep the bees
off the comb in the brood chamber via a funnel into a swarm box until we have
at least 1.5Kg of bees. Then we let the queen join them and place the box in a
quiet, dark and cool place (like a cellar) for up to three days. The bees must
be fed well during this time otherwise they will starve. After about three days
the swarm is placed in a new hive with empty frames.
About 30% of colonies will
swarm each year on average which is just enough for natural regeneration.
22. When
hiving swarms on frames with only starter strips do you need to put a queen
excluder beneath the brood chamber to prevent them from absconding?
I’ve never had this problem.
No, we don’t do that.
23. If you allow the bees to
build their own comb without any foundation don’t you get too much drone comb
and too many drones and consequently more Varroa?
If the bees build their own
comb after swarming they will only build worker cells for the first 10 to 14
days. If you support this first building period with feeding, the new colony
will build up 4 to 6 large combs with worker cells. That is all you and the
colony need. After this the colony may do what it likes. Sometimes you will
find 2 or more drone cell combs and a lot of drone brood; we do not have the
experience though, that we have more Varroa because of this.
24. What do you recommend for
the treatment of Varroa
We find that through our
method of working with the swarm process and by using only natural comb the
vitality of the colony is strengthened. In our
experience however this is not enough in itself. Besides this we use organic
acids (lactic, formic, oxalic) to control and regulate the mites. We do not use
natural thymol since it leaves a residue in the wax. Within the bee colony it
has an aroma which brings its own problems to the hive. I don’t like to use
organic acids and I hope that we will need them less and less. We must however
remember that it has taken a long time to weaken the bees to a point where they
don’t have the vitality to heal themselves and it will also take a long time
and need our assistance for them to have that vitality again.
25. Apart from it’s possible
effect on bees people advise against the
use of formic acid because of its extreme unpleasantness for humans using it
and because of its corrosive effect on all metal hive parts including nails.
What is your experience of this?
As I said, I don’t like to use
these acids – but so far we don’t find any other helpful medicines – and
sometimes, medicines are bitter. Using cold water to get stronger is not always
enjoyable – but you will only use it, if you are warm.
26. What
about open mesh floors?
I don’t use them myself, but
some biodynamic bee keepers do.
27. What
about drone removal?
To take out one full, capped
drone comb in early summer helps to slow the increase in the number of Varroa
Mites and delays the peak of the development of the population in summer time.
But we only do this once and this method on it’s own is not enough.
28. Is it
not a waste of honey producing energy if bees have to produce all their own
wax?
Nobody knows exactly how much
energy a bee needs to produce wax. One natural Dadant size comb has a weight of
about 50 g. This is not very much. If you weigh a comb with a sheet of
foundation, you’ll find that it’s weight is more than 50 g. That means you
don’t save energy if you give foundation. Far from it! You actually waste
energy by producing foundation.
Producing wax and building
their own combs is an essential expression of bee life.
29. It seems that some of the
problems with Colony Collapse Disorder in America could be because of the
stress of migratory bee keeping. Is there a place for migratory bee keeping in
the biodynamic approach? What guidelines can you give?
I don’t think that normal
migratory bee keeping is the main problem for bees. Migratory bee keeping is
really a very old method – just look back to Ancient Egypt 5000 years ago.
The problem is intensive
migratory bee keeping as practised by professional bee keepers in the USA who
move their hives only for pollinating. This is a strong form of exploitation.
To move the bees once or twice
a season is not a problem for the bees. Nevertheless – bee keeping without
migrating is ideal, if there is enough forage in the area.
30. What
guidelines do you have for feeding bees?
Feeding – the best thing is if
the bees can over winter with their own honey without any feeding – there is no
question that this is best but it is not always possible.
If feeding is necessary to
supplement the stored food in the hive, we need a sugar solution. You have to
use organically grown crystallised white sugar (not brown or dark sugar). I put
3 kg of sugar into 2 litres of water (or in proportion to the amount you need).
To the sugar we add 10% of our own honey (to 9 kg of sugar you add 1 kg of
honey); to this mixture we add some chamomile tea and a very little pinch of
salt. You only need a small amount of these substances – if I prepare 100
litres of sugar liquid in this way (this would be nearly 75 kg of sugar and 7.5
kg of honey together with 50 litres of water) I would use one or two litres of
a strong chamomile tea and maybe a teaspoon of salt (sea salt).
This mixture is suitable for
feeding new colonies and nuclei as well as for autumn feed.
It helps the bees to convert the sugar solution to a
honey like substance.
31. How
do you unite two bee colonies without disturbing the brood?
Quite a clean way to unite the
bees is to sweep them down in front of another hive. Uniting the brood nests
not only disrupts the colony but also has the danger of spreading disease. The
newspaper method, where you put a sheet of newspaper between the brood boxes
can also be used (the weaker on top of the stronger), later removing and melting
one set of brood frames.
32.
Could a ‘shook swarm’ be an appropriate way to convert a colony from a
conventional hive to one which uses frames without foundation, or should you
always wait for the colony to show signs of swarming?
It is always better to wait
for signs of swarming and for the swarm process to run close to the point of no
return (the prime swarm). This colony will get the best possible start.
Artificial swarms made before signs of swarming don’t get the same power. If
you do it in early summer it is possible but the first way is better.
To speed up the conversion
rate of your colonies to natural combs, you can make an artificial swarm with
the old hive after the prime swarm has left. The new queen starts laying eggs
after the brood of the old queen has hatched completely. Once you have seen
that the new queen is laying you can make an artificial swarm with all the bees
and the new queen. You have to brush them into a swarm box or directly into a
new hive with a few empty frames (only starter strips) situated on the old
site. Then you have to feed them carefully for the following weeks until you
find enough stored food in the combs. The new colony will build up new combs.
When the frames are filled you can add extra empty ones.
33. Especially
if you have a small number of hives, there will be times when a new queen from
outside your own apiary will be required, how and when would you go about
introducing her?
It is always risky introducing
a strange queen into a strong hive. But if it is necessary one way that works
is to put a bit of liquid honey on the new queen and then put her at the
entrance or on a brood comb. The bees will clean the new queen and mostly
accept her.
Michael Weiler (Dipl.Ing.agr., Imker)
Advisory service for Demeter Beekeeping (Germany)
Frontalstraße 4
D - 75392 Deckenpfronn
Tel. ++49 – (0) 70 56 – 9 65 65 83 (Wednesdays from 9.00 – 15.00
Fax ++49 – (0) 70 56 – 9 65 65 85
Email: Imkerberatung@Demeter.de
Linker
Biodynamisk biodling, http://www.imkerijella.com/se/
Biodynamisk birøkt, http://www.biodynamic.org.uk/farming-amp-gardening/bees/
Naturlig birøkt i SolKuben, http://www.biodynamic.org.uk/fileadmin/2013_PDFS_and_Stuff/home_farmer_sun_hive_article.pdf
Mye informasjon om og Kurs i Naturlig birøkt, http://www.naturalbeekeepingtrust.org/events-and-courses
Biodynamisk birøkt i Nederland, www.bdimkers.nl
Biodynamisk birøkt i Nederland, www.bdimkers.nl
Michael Thiele (USA), http://gaiabees.com/
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