Table of Contents

Chapter One............................................................ X
How did we get HERE from THERE?

Chapter One will be divided into two subchapters.

One subchapter will detail the path we have taken from Honey Hunters, to Managed Beekeeping, to Industrial Beekeeping.

Honey has been collected from hives since the time of ancient civilizations. Rock art has been found that shows honey being robbed from the bees in even earlier prehistoric times - some from wild nest in truly difficult places to reach.

-- Some specifics about rock paintings found in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia showing the methods used to reach these inaccessible nests and collect the honey from them drawn from
The Rock Art of Honey Hunters by Eva Crane.

The difference between “fixed comb” and “movable comb” hives. Fixed comb hives: Log gums, box hives, skeps. Movable comb hives: Quinby, Langstroth, National, top bar hives. Pros and cons of each.

The Leaf Hive by Francis Huber - (a blind beekeeper!) in 1789, and how that influenced Rev. Langstroth.

The “original” top bar hive - dating to Greece in the 1600’s. The concept of “bee space” and how it dictated various features of hive construction.

Rudolf Steiner’s lectures - his predictions of the harm likely to come to the honeybees due to meddling with the natural hive society, manipulating the natural processes in a beehive, and the mechanization of beekeeping.

Industrial / Monoculture Agriculture - Industrial / Migratory Beekeeping - Pesticide Use - Migratory Pollination.

The need to transition from “Get Big or Get Out” To Slow Food and S.O.L.D. - Small, Organic, Local, Diverse.

The second subchapter:

It’s all about the wax.
Wax: Cell size, comb shape, chemical contamination.

Natural Wax vs Foundation Wax.

Research papers presented at Apiculture organizations events, especially since 2006 re: CCD, wax contamination, health of bees, etc.


Chapter Two............................................................. X
Time&Temperature - Basic Bee Biology


This chapter will delve into the basic biology of bees. It will be an overview and offer the “why” of things as its basis. It is important to avoid keeping bees on a calendar date basis, as each and every hive is located in a “micro-climate” all its own, and time and temperature (i.e. weather! after all, this is farming...) determine all of the activities of the hive.

This subject, of necessity, begins to touch on the mechanized, industrial aspects of the beekeeping industry as it has emerged over the last hundred years. Pointing up the differences between “industrial beekeeping” and “backyard or natural beekeeping” helps to highlight the thrust and the motivations behind various hive management strategies.

We have been thrilled to watch over the past three years as the remarks from people who see us exhibit have changed from “how much honey can I get out of each hive?” to “I just want to keep bees for the pollination of my garden - honey is nice, but it’s not the goal”. We have always said - “It’s not about the honey, Honey - It’s about the bees!” and the paradigm is shifting in this direction faster than we would have thought possible! Healthy bees do three important things: 1) they make more bees! 2) they pollinate our food! and 3) they make honey. So a focus on healthy honey bees will take us further in the long run.

This chapter is also one of the most fascinating as “swarming” is a big part of bee behavior and one of the most misunderstood. The wonder of bees reproductive mechanism - the swarm - is a magic unparalleled in nature. Beautiful and frightening at the same time - it’s the method by which bees make more bees - and we need them to be able to do this.



CHAPTER 3 - When to do What and Why -

How to Manage your Top Bar Hive through the Seasons

This is the nuts and bolts “How-To” section: How do I get the bees in my hive? How do I monitor for varroa mites? When do I open more entrances? When do I drop the bottom board? What are these “follower boards” for? My hive is making queen cells - what do I do?

In our years of experience teaching and exhibiting and advocating for healthy honeybees, we have heard a long list of questions about how to manage top bar hives. While we expect to be surprised by thinking beekeepers for the rest of our lives, we’ve also noticed that the list of practical questions and answers asked by sustainable backyard beekeepers is finite, and a basic understanding of bees will go a very long way toward providing the foundation upon which a beekeeper can base decisions about hive management.

This chapter will provide not only the answers to “How do I...?” but will build the understanding of “Why do I...”.

Much like Chapter 2 regarding basic bee biology, many factors influence the choices made in the management of a hive of bees, and understanding why you are doing something is far better than mechanically doing something based upon the calendar.

Section One - How/When/Where to get bees
- packages
- swarms
- nucleus colonies

Section Two - Where to locate your hive:
- location
- direction
- wind
- sun

Section Three - How to set up your hive
- Level
- South facing or “anti-wind” direction
- Protected (from kids and pets and neighbors and bears!)
- Use of the follower boards
- Placement of feeder
- Reasons for a moveable bottom board

Section Four - Hiving Your Bees
- Tools to have on hand
- The steps involved in getting the bees into the hive:
- packages
- hanging the queen cage
- “bonking” the bees
- swarms
- a simpler, more natural process
- Feeding a new colony - what and why

Section Five - As they Grow - Inspecting - Why?
- The making of straight wax
- What to look for as your hive grows
- What things SHOULD look like
- Bee Math (how to tell your queen is home, even if you don’t see her)

Section Six - Harvesting Honey
- Can you?
- When?
- What do the bees need?

Section Seven - Wintering
- Preparations
- Difficulties
- Things you can do


CHAPTER 4 - Terrible Things That Can Happen To Your Wonderful Bees

This is the chapter on bee pests and diseases. Much has been written on the subject from the research point of view, but the average backyard beekeeper is unlikely to see the spectrum of problems that are possible. Still - knowledge and the ability to recognize potential problems in the bee colony arms us with a better understanding - so we think it’s very important that people be aware of problems that can occur and what the solutions to these problems can include.

Natural wax and natural cell size affects the gestation period of the honey bee in a very positive way -- it returns the length of the larval stage of the honey bee to the natural time span. The use of foundation wax, and its machine-made “one size fits all” feature has been working against the bees by changing the timing within the gestation period in ways that provide advantages to the breeding needs of the varroa mite. This one thing has had such a “trickle-down” effect in beekeeping that its effects are difficult to measure scientifically - but to reiterate a quote I heard recently “If we wait for scientific certainty, in certain circumstances we will clearly have waited too long...”

Section One - Pests and Diseases
- American Foulbrood
- European Foulbrood
- Chalkbrood
- Wax Moths
- Small Hive Beetles
- Nosema
- Varroa mites
- Tracheal mites

Section Two - Treatments
- organic
- soft
- chemical

Section Three - Other critters and how to prevent them
- Bears
- Skunks
- Mice
- Ants
- Raccoons
- Squirrels
- Yellow Jackets

GLOSSARY AND REMARKS.............................................X