In my opinion feralness is overrated. I don't know any other part of agriculture that uses or promotes the assumed beneficial aspects of an unmanaged population of livestock. Why is this so in beekeeping? Is it because of the predominance of persons who keep bees as pets?
I dont know if it's still run this way, but, a few things keep coming to mind after reading this thread a couple days ago, regarding family friends that had a small dairy operation when I was a child growing up. They promoted, and encouraged, a number of unmanaged stocks on the farm. There were cats running free in the barn, they were not house pets, and, were not really managed in any way, except occaisionally some milk set out for them during milking. For the rest, they just ran free, totally unmanaged. The purpose they served was simple, control of the mouse population. In the northeast corner of that farm, the beavers were encouraged to 'stay put' as well. They maintained a fairly complex network of small dams, which resulted in a rather large pond. Once in a while, the farmer would 'help' the beavers with a front end loader. Again, rationale was simple, that pond was the water source for irrigating a quarter section. If the beaver pond was dry, water had to be pumped from the river, a lift of 200 feet. When the pond was full, no water had to be pumped from the river. The beavers helped eliminate a significant cost. Added bonus, they were slowly clearing a large stand of poplars.
When chris and I started with our bees in the spring, we didn't know exactly where this would lead, and, it led to something we had no clue was on the horizon. After getting our first hive, we were introduced to an elderly gent just down the hill from us, he has a 14 acre holly orchard. We were asked if we wanted to locate bees in the orchard, because his friend that had bees there for years, had reached the age where he wasn't able to manage hives anymore. Both of them are in mid 80's. Near the end of the summer, we were asked about taking a much greater interest in the farm, and, now we are managing the holly harvest on his behalf. Our bees have a new purpose, and that is to pollinate the holly. Without a decent berry crop, the holly is difficult to sell in season, but with a good berry crop, it sells well. I guess you could say, we have become sharecroppers. The older gent that owns the farm is in his 80's, and, no longer physically capable of managing the harvest, so we've gone into an arrangement where we do that for him, on a percentage of yield basis.
So, why am I now interested in the feral population, the answer is simple. I need to make sure the holly is pollinated. We are not in the business of selling honey, and, dont really want to get into that business. We would like to harvest enough honey for our own use, and, that's about the extent of it. Today we have 2 hives in the holly, and, would like to expand that number a bit over the next year. This year, our bees were a cost center, they required feeding, and, we bought all the equipment etc. In the fall we purchased the stuff needed for mite treatments. Keep in mind, for us, this started as a hobby, and, we were not really worried about individual cost per hive. But, that's changed, and as so often happens, the hobby has morphed into part of a business.
Today, our business is taking a crop off of a small farm. 14 acres of holly trees, and a few acres of apples. The bees started as a hobby, with the intention of something to 'force' us to get out of the office for a few hours once in a while. Now they are a tool, intended to pollinate a crop, and our thought process around them has changed. Ideally, we can reach a point where the bees are no longer a cost center, but, something that looks after itself, with no monetary input of any kind. The idea of a stock that can deal with local issues, ie mites and climate, without help in the form of feeding and treatment, is suddenly very appealing. For our goals today, feral hives taking up residence in the fir trees on the property, is the 'holy grail', a totally unmanaged stock that requires no input from us, but pollinates the property. I dont think thats going to happen, so, we are now embarking down a plan to try get closer to the goal of bees that require no input. It may, or may not work, but, the only way to find out, is to try.
Reading your posts off and on, I'm left with the impression that you manage bees to produce a honey crop, and, it's a business. The bottom line is, the difference between $ input on a hive, and, the revenue from honey sales, with honey as the target crop. That is the traditional business model for bees. Our goals and objectives are different than yours. Our target crop is the holly for sales during the christmas season, and the bees are just a tool to maximize revenue from that crop. So, our approach to the bees is going to be different. On our 5 year plan moving forward, I want to reach the goal of 8 hives in the orchard, and get there without buying anything other than woodenware. Ideally, we can get there without pouring any $$ into the hives in the form of feed and/or treatments. I dont really care if the bees are gentle. In reality, the only thing I really care about, is that they live in that orchard, and, continue to do so.
So, we've read a lot about keeping bees here, and elsewhere. The knowledge base has ramped up from zero, and continues to ramp up every day. I've read a bunch about the process of selection for traits, etc, and, I've got a plan. The bees currently in the orchard came from packages this spring, and, they got treated for mites in the fall. We know of one location that has had a wild hive 20+ years that we've been able to confirm. Traps go out there in the spring, we want to try get 'whatever they have' that's allowed them to keep going over that time. That particular hive has thrown swarms for at least 18 of the last 20 years, this we have confirmed with current and former owners of the property. Assuming we get a swarm from that hive, it's going into the orchard, and, it's going to recieve nothing in terms of feed or treatments. The bees that are there now, will get no feed, and we will make the call on mite treatments next fall. The goal is, over a period of 3 years, reach a point where at least _some_ of the hives can go the full year with zero input, then propogate from those. At the end of the 5 year plan, I want 8 hives in the holly orchard, of which at least 5 are surviving the winter, with no input from us. Swarms from the survivors can re-populate the deadouts.
I know, long drawn out post, but, I think it shows why I'm interested in unmanaged stock, for agriculture. It's actually one of our goals, to get bees into the hives that dont require any management at all. Can I get there ? I dunno, but, that's part of the challenge now. Selecting bees on survival, and survival alone, is part of a longer term cost reduction strategy. But, to get there, we have to start with the first steps along the path, and from where I'm sitting right now, that means we need to be looking for feral bees that have been around for a while, to try seed that trait into the bees in the orchard. Am I on the right track ? Ask me in 2 years, and I'll have the answer to that question for you.
