Key to hive survival
Maintaining the core brood nest structure.
Research is pointing to a more natural environment as the key to long term survival.
Imagine not needing to treat your hives, having uncontaminated honey and wax, not worrying about mites!
Dee Lusby in Arizona uses nothing but small cell foundation with astounding results. Michael Bush in Nebraska uses small cell and natural comb and has not had to treat his hives at all. Dennis Murrell took the small cell theory further and experimented with switching bees that were regressed back and forth from cell size to cell size. He discovered that cell size was just a part of the survivability of the “regressed” bees. More experiments showed that leaving the brood nest natural, letting the bees do what they want with it resulted in a few very interesting things happening. Bees in natural brood nests are hygienic. They remove mite infected brood and clean the cells. Evidence of chewed mites on the bottom was observed (Sound a lot like SMR). The bee size varied in accordance with what the hive needs to survive. These hives required no treatments! When he placed the same bees on large cell they showed the same behaviors but could not tolerate the mites and needed to be treated or died.
Here are some promising signs, smaller bees managed by the hive!
Core brood nest cleaning 02 Sept 07!
I had a TBH which I let get hopelessly cross combed I could not get into it so I left it. To my amazement it came thru the winter. It was the only survivor I had. The next season I split the brood nest cut all the offending comb and cleaned it up. The hive had started out a boomer! This same hive absconded with three others in that fall. Had I left it alone would it still be here? Maybe! I was treating with FGMO every two weeks and was constantly in the hives, which was probably the reason they absconded in the first place. Fall is the most critical time for the core brood nest cleansing of pests, storage of food, and a general thinning out of population for winter is happening.
A feral swarm moved into this hive and this time I have only opened the hive three times this season. I have done most of the monitoring from the outside. I have observed the varied size bees and the hygienic behavior. I have also done nothing to treat or ventilate this hive.
TBH the Ideal Hive
The TBH hive is no more than a cavity the bees can build a nest in. The advantages it has over full frame type hive is the lack of foreign objects that interfere with the natural process of nest building. Frames, wire, foundation are all obstructions. A natural bee's nest follows a pattern that allows it to conform to the environment it finds itself in. TBH hives allow moveable frames which are required by law in some places. The right size TBH allows the harvesting of honey without disturbing the brood nest. Bees in a TBH are less stressed than in conventional hives due to minimal keeper intrusion when working one. TBH hives are not suited for the commercial pollination business but a smart commercial operator would have TBH hives in a home apiary to supplement the losses associated with travel, stress and frame type hives in general. The savings on chemicals would more than offset the cost of building them!
I am willing to bet if you put a swarm of your own bees in a TBH hive you will see the same results as above. What will this prove- The SMR trait is there, the small cell is there, everything they need to survive is there and now the proper environment is there also!
The Apiary on 18 Dec 07
I am predicting some questions that may arise on this topic (because I had to ask): Q: Does non interference in the core brood nest mean it cannot be inspected?
A: No. Just put it back exactly as you found it.
Q: Can you make splits?
A: It is early enough in the spring to split because the bees have enough time to rebuild/repair.
Q: When should last inspections be conducted?
A: With enough time left for the bees to recover from the interference and definitely not if any of the cleaning behavior is observed.
Q: Will you need to treat the hive in the first season it is installed?
A: Depends on the source, condition of the bees upon installation current experiments will tell in spring of 08!
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