Natural Beekeeping
Helping bees

Beekeeping using Natural Bee Husbandry Objectives

Our primary interest is in assisting the bee to survive and thrive in its more natural state rather than manipulating and controlling its behaviour to produce maximum honey. This can be practised in all types of hives including framed hives, top-bar hives, skeps and logs/tree trunks. Management interventions are carried out after observation and by the behaviour of the bees and not performed as a routine activity.

The principles

Sympathetic beekeeping covers a wide spectrum of practices but basically will involve non or minimal intervention into the bees’ nest environment.

• Minimize intrusion into the hive; this is disruptive, damaging and stressful.
• Allow bees to replace their own queens by supersedure or swarming and reproduce at their own impulse.
• Allow bees to make their own comb using their own unpolluted wax with cell sizes of their own choosing.
• Avoid using pesticide treatments and medications, as chemicals damage bees, kill beneficial microorganisms and disrupt the chemical balance in the nest. 
• Leave sufficient honey for colonies to sustain themselves through winter and periods of potential famine. We do not routinely feed sugar which impairs the immune system.
• Enable the colony to retain the pheromones and warmth in the nest environment; to optimise brood-nest conditions.

We aim to:

• Work with local native or near-native bees, which have survived natural selection and adapted to local weather and forage as they will have good potential to adapt resistance to pathogens and pests.
• Maintain a density of strong colonies appropriate to local forage conditions and treat the bee colony as a single, complete organism. 
• Seek to inform and educate beekeepers about the needs of the bee with less intervention, regular observation at the hive entrance, as well as talking to experienced beekeepers, will enable one to learn and understand different behaviour and recognize the health and development of the colony.
• Provide a well-insulated hive made from a range of natural chemical-free materials.
• Work with nature to provide a range of bee and insect friendly forage plants.

Who are we?

We are an integral part of the Andover and District Beekeepers Association meeting regularly, participating in the training programme, especially for beginners but then offering alternative apiary visits and experiences allowing beekeepers to formulate and establish their own ways of beekeeping. Contact John Haverson - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.