Absolutely amazing!!!

[Goldprospector]

At the last local bee club meeting, one of the State bee inspectors were speaking. Believe this or not, but she actually advocated treatment free beekeeping. She gave herself an out by saying that you could still treat if you want and the State would not have a problem with it....but now they are advocating what I have been saying for years...She actually said these words (para) "It is suspected that the continual treatment of bees has led to their demise" AND "I hate to say it, with all of the treatments, but beekeeper have bee slowly poisoning and killing the bees."

She did however, try to make it sound like the fault of the "experts" for advising people to treat bees.

Who'd a thunk it?

[Seymore]

That's pretty kewl!

[DC Bees]

That's good to hear,i think people are starting to catch on.I am treatment free and my hives are doing well!

[Solomon Parker]

That's good to hear. However, the treatment-free ideal began almost thirty years ago when Dee Lusby began to combat trachael mites with cell size alone. Ten years ago, Michael Bush was documenting this successes with the idea. Nine years ago, I started.

The beekeeping industry has suffered countless heartbreaks over the last thirty years as new treatments work and then fail or just fail to live up to their promises. The way of agriculture is first to look for something in a bottle to fix the problem, fertilizer, pesticide, antibiotic, or herbicide. There are always better ways, but they are not as quick.

It is good to see some validation for what we've been doing for years.

[julysun]

Treatment free would take us back to bee gums. I am bad treatment free yet I am using SBB and working on ventilation, both treatments. Dr. Salk eliminated Polio, Edison gave us the Light Bulb. Lang gave us the modern hive, M. Bush has a new top vent and top entry. No I am not good treatment free, never will be. Bad treatment? Well, that is different!

[squarepeg]

look at it like this:

treatment free isn't necessarily a means to an end, but the end result of master beekeeping.

i.e., wouldn't it be the goal of all us to have hives that were healthy, produced lots of honey, requeened themselves ect., without us ever having to use anything foriegn in the hive?

that's going to be my goal. my 10 over wintered hives are now 20 hives. no syrup was fed and no treatments were used all year, except a one time antibiotic treatment in march for the remaining 9 hives, after number 10 tested positive for afb and was burned. this happened in the first round of brood after winter.

even though i was focused on increase, i harvested about 50 gallons of honey, and got about ten deeps and thirty supers drawn out.

i have two hives that have yet to get to wintering weight, otherwise all all heavy, healthy, and queenrite.
i'll end up taking a few frames of honey from the really heavy hives and giving it to the light ones.

beetles are being controlled with traps and fire ants, moths are being controlled by strong hives.

very few mites found on drone larvae, but i think i would just requeen a hive it it got too many mites, and make darn sure it doesn't get robbed by my other hives.

my stock is survivor stock bred from long time feral hives in my area. there are still quite a number of surviving feral hives nearby, that are supplying at least some of my worker bee genetics.

[Tom Davidson]

At our last bee meeting, the speaker issued tons of treatment advice. Then he told us of so many beekeepers in his county next door losing ALL of their hives last year. Of course his reaction was treatments, just a changed regimen.

Later that meeting a mentee of one of my mentors who uses soft treatments asked me what to do. First I told her, "figure out what kind of beekeeper you want to be and then ask the people appropriate to your approach." Them I told her mine. The mentor listened back in and said, "Tom, you really have drunk the Kool-Aid!" Then She put down the treat ment free methods I began to talk about, and I ended by saying, "Well, at least I'm trying it. How do you know it doesn't work?" She had no good answer. We'll see how it shakes out, but I feel good working with nature rather than against it. I started this year with 2 hives, and have 6 now prepping well for winter. We'll see.

[Rick 1456]

This thread is so refreshing! Thanks. What makes sense to me, is to set the stage for nature/the bees to make the adjustments. The stage is a healthy home and environment as much as we can. Everything else is a mask.

[squarepeg]

i'm trying my best not to get in their way, them seem to do better if i leave them alone.

but my boxes are not the same as a good tree, and i'm robbing some of their honey, sooooo.....

i give myself lattitude to be a good caretaker.

+1 on the working together with nature. doesn't always mean lack of intervention.

good thread, thanks for the posts.

[Rick 1456]

We all have to set our own "bar". Intervention means different thing to different beeks. Don't get me wrong ,, just sayin. Maybe I'm out there near Pluto, but my bar is, if my bees swarm, they should make it in what ever home they choose. Assuming they chose a good one. Maybe I'll get a swarm from them sometime Just me

[squarepeg]

i let half mine go, (swarms), and succeeded in trapping the other half.

i depend on them, (swarms that become feral hives), to survive and provide drones with survivor genetics to my area.

i made good hives out of four caught swarms this year.

i'm maxed out at 20 hives now though, so any caught next year will be sold.

[bamindy]

When people ask me what goes in my hive my answer is "wood". That is it. No treatments, no foundation, no plastics. Which also means I save a bunch of money by not buying stuff others swear by and then spend more money on packages and nucs every Spring. I have been treatment free for 5 years and this year went foundationless. Great success this year on all fronts and we had a bumper crop. Letting the bees decide who will be queen and when, what size cell they want, and whether or not they survive is a decision they make on their own. All I do is keep stacking the boxes higher!

[Kirk Osborne]

As a new beekeeper, who will be starting his first 3 hives this coming Spring, I have to say THANKS. I appreciate this thread, and I am enjoying myself as I read the different ideas/opinions shared here. I hope to be treatment free. I know that I will probably have heartbreaks, losses, and headaches at first, but I am also hopeful that I will be able to contribute to a stronger, healthier, better bee in my area.

Again, thanks for sharing your ideas and opinions.

[BeeGhost]

Great success this year on all fronts and we had a bumper crop. Letting the bees decide who will be queen and when, what size cell they want, and whether or not they survive is a decision they make on their own. All I do is keep stacking the boxes higher!

Bamindy i'm with you whole heartedly!! Almost all my hives are from either feral hives or swarmed from someones hives, im assuming due to locations of catch most of them are from feral stock.

I have done powder sugar treatments before, but due to time constraints I have not been able to keep a schedule of that, so I have decided to just let nature take its course, which will probably bite me, but hopefully if it works out I will be saving money and time!!

[d.frizzell]

When people ask me what goes in my hive my answer is "wood". That is it. No treatments, no foundation, no plastics. Which also means I save a bunch of money by not buying stuff others swear by and then spend more money on packages and nucs every Spring. I have been treatment free for 5 years and this year went foundationless. Great success this year on all fronts and we had a bumper crop. Letting the bees decide who will be queen and when, what size cell they want, and whether or not they survive is a decision they make on their own. All I do is keep stacking the boxes higher!

Now that is truly what "Treatment Free" is all about!! Thanks for the post!!

[Halley L. Hart]

When people ask me what goes in my hive my answer is "wood". That is it. No treatments, no foundation, no plastics. Which also means I save a bunch of money by not buying stuff others swear by and then spend more money on packages and nucs every Spring. I have been treatment free for 5 years and this year went foundationless. Great success this year on all fronts and we had a bumper crop. Letting the bees decide who will be queen and when, what size cell they want, and whether or not they survive is a decision they make on their own. All I do is keep stacking the boxes higher!

This is great to hear! Explain what you mean when you let the bees decide who will be queen...

[wadehump]

Amen

when people ask me what goes in my hive my answer is "wood". That is it. No treatments, no foundation, no plastics. Which also means i save a bunch of money by not buying stuff others swear by and then spend more money on packages and nucs every spring. I have been treatment free for 5 years and this year went foundationless. Great success this year on all fronts and we had a bumper crop. Letting the bees decide who will be queen and when, what size cell they want, and whether or not they survive is a decision they make on their own. All i do is keep stacking the boxes higher!

[Solomon Parker]

How are you proof? You did what I suggest.

[heaflaw]

I've been told several times that here in NC, the inspectors and apiculturalists at NC State Univ very strongly recommended regular treatments. They would try to force you to treat to be able to register to sell hives. I have avoided asking an inspector to check my hives for that reason (haven't treated in 8 years). She spoke at our club a few months ago and I remember her stating that treatment free may be a possible option, but still recommended treatments. So, yes, this is absolutely amazing.

[hillhousehoney]

I don't even talk about it any more (treatment free). Their minds are closed. I backed off the "doin the club thing", because all they talk about is mites. I am so tired of hearing about mites and chemicals. This will be year 4 (treatment free). No winter losses. I might have some mites, but they are of no consequence. The bees are bringing in pollen and activity is crazy. Brood boxes are HSC, and 4.95 in the rest. And the honey is "yummy". Keep charging on, troops, just because others choose to do it wrong, does not me we have to !!