Dear friends

We cannot improve beekeeping by going further and further away from the bees’ natural tendencies. Instead, select the hive model that is best matched to your locale, populate it with local bees, and the results will speak for themselves.

French apiculturalist Georges de Layens wrote those wise words for beekeepers 120 years ago, and they remain wise advice. In this edition of BfD Journal we bring you important articles surrounding this theme. Tom Seeley’s’ explanation of Darwinian beekeeping helps us to understand how industrial beekeeping practices are moving bees away from how they need to live, ‘the bees’ natural tendencies’.

Wolfgang Ritter’s discussion of our spreading of bees’ pathogens and predators around the world, is a plea for an end to international movement of bees - it is now too difficult or even impossible to prevent the introduction of exotic pathogens, and our honey bees should not have to, and perhaps cannot, cope with any more.

On page 11, a young and entrepreneurial Dutchman explains how he encouraged his friends and relatives to help finance his beekeeping business: it was crowd funding at the level of nearest and dearest. At the other end of the scale, one of the most successful crowdfunding campaigns in history was run by inventors of the Flow Hive. Just two years ago in February 2015, they launched their campaign with the aim of raising US$70,000. That goal was achieved within the first few minutes, and their total now stands at US$ 4.2 million. This success story caught everyone’s imagination, and beekeepers world-wide found themselves being asked about the Flow Hive. It is one of the world’s most expensive hives, and many beekeepers are intrigued to know if it really works. We are delighted to bring you John Gates discussion - as a highly-experienced beekeeper, he was chosen to begin testing The Flow Hive from its early days, long before the crowd funding sensation: you can read his careful considerations on pages 12-13. Its cost makes The Flow Hive beyond the reach of most beekeepers and readers of this Journal, however it is of interest to us as Cedar and Stuart Anderson, inventors of the Flow Hive, have sought to find a way to harvest honey that is less stressful for the bees and the beekeeper. Would the Flow Hive satisfy Georges de Layens requirements? His marvellous book is now available in English - learn more about his ideas on page 14.

Nicola Bradbear Director, Bees for Development