Mike, I encourage you do dive in. It will be the backyard natural keeper who maintains the wild genetics in bees. I leave all the weeds in my yard, and I have a stunning amount of native pollinators for that gift of weeds. If you are a more hands-off beekeeper, the keeping is minimal and not at all tedious. You only go into the hive a few times a year, if even that. I’d encourage you to find some local bees or seek out a swarm!

You are so welcome! I LOVE showing folks there are different ways to bee!

Thanks so much for the advice. Interesting – common beekeeper club wisdom is that in early spring, when the bees have moved into the top brood box, rotate the boxes so they are on the bottom and have to build up. You’re saying the opposite which, frankly makes more sense. My hubby has the strong back, so I’ll bring him into this new schema. And will read more about Warre hives. I’ve had two swarms – the first being the most magnificent thing I’d ever seen and especially HEARD in my life!!! It always seemed counter-intuitive to try to stop swarms by ripping out queen cells, etc.

I was lucky enough to hear a talk by Prof. Seeley, who talked about the wild bees in Cornell’s Arnot forest. This is not far from where I live – hope my swarms end up there 🙂

Thanks again for this beautiful approach to beekeeping that so resonates with me.

Cally, yes, you can use your equipment and modify it. Easiest thing to do would be to remove frames and pull out the old foundation. Then, the bees could make their own wax. If you wanted to go a few steps further, you could actually remove the sides and bottoms of the frames, and let the bees build out from a top bar. This would sort of look like a large Warre’ hive, and you would work it by the box rather than by the comb, as the side attachments would be pretty extreme (also before you do this, perhaps check with your local ordinances to see if it is legal to keep hobby bees in fixed-frame hives). But if you can do this, the bees will have a MUCH easier time controlling hive temperature and scent.

Bees are less stressed building down than up. Having empty space above them is very unsettling to them, hence, they usually build out upper boxes fast to fill it. If you have a good back, treat your Langs like Warre’s, removing a box from the top in the spring just as the first flow comes on, and then adding a fresh empty beneath them. In this way, you rotate the comb out every three years (If you were running it as a three-stack), and so the wax gets regularly replaced. Also, consider modifying the roof also like a Warre’ hive, making a “quilt box” to fill with shavings, which means the bees never have to deal with cold drops of water condensing down on their heads in the winter.

Keep to three boxes only. Bees survive best in smaller spaces. Remember, swarming is a good thing!

And thank you so much for writing this. It’s had to find people who have moved to this philosophy. My mentor (from the beekeepers club) does not agree with me. But he’s lost more bee hives over winter than I, despite his mite treatments.

a hundred, singular, not hundreds

Chris, when money becomes key, livestock always suffers for it. If I had to make my money off of bees, I simply could not do it. Too stressful (especially these days) for the keepers and the bees. So much stress is not sustainable. I think that commercial beekeeping will have to sort itself out and make a lot of changes. But we backyard keepers are so blessed that we have the opportunity NOW to innovate, explore, and find new ways of beeing—and still be able to pay our bills. Our situation is a bit luxurious as our livilihoods do not rest on the shoulders of our bees. But I believe that backyard keepers can and will be the keepers of the chalice of honeybee genetic diversity, and, ultimately, the saviors of these amazing creatures.