Bees for Development Journal 124 September 2017
Dear friends Let’s stop talking about traditional beekeeping! Our cover picture of bee hives in Russian woodland was painted in 1894 by Andrei Nikolaevich Schilder (1861-1919). In those days Russian beekeepers kept bee colonies in simple hollowed logs, practising what would nowadays be described as Natural beekeeping. In 1853 Reverend Langstroth wrote about them in his famous book The hive and the honey bee: “The Russian and Polish beekeepers …. are among the largest and most successful cultivators of bees, many of them numbering their colonies by hundreds, and some even by thousands! They have, with great practical sagacity, imitated as closely as possible the conditions under which bees are found to flourish so admirably in a state of nature”. Reverend Langstroth patented the movable frame beehive in 1852, and nowadays frame hives in many countries tend to be named ‘Langstroth’ or ‘modern’ hives.
Issue 124 September 2017 In this issue
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Natural beekeeping and ideal hives.................................... 3 Bee Conservation Project ............. 9 Bee Reserve for The Gambia.......11 RukaJuu Beekeeping in Tanzania.......................................12 News...................................... 14, 15 Indicators to measure achievements...............................16 International Meeting of Young Beekeepers.......................18 Notice Board................................18 Look Ahead..................................19 Workshop Success.......................20 Bees for Development Journal Produced quarterly and sent to readers in over 130 countries Editor: Nicola Bradbear PhD Co-ordinator: Helen Jackson BSc Subscriptions cost £26 per year - see page 18 for ways to pay Readers in developing countries may apply for a sponsored subscription. Apply online.
In this edition we are delighted to bring you consideration of current concepts of sustainable and natural beekeeping by leading bee scientist Professor Tom Seeley and thoughtful, treatment-free beekeeper Dr Leo Sharashkin (who brought Schilder’s beautiful painting to our attention). What exactly is natural beekeeping? In many beekeeping circles lively debate is underway concerning conventional and natural beekeeping, with renewed interest in keeping bees in hives without frames, and/or without medication, and even in trees – see Look Ahead page 19. Are you a natural beekeeper, or a conventional beekeeper, or maybe a bit of both? Many readers of this Journal are practising near to natural beekeeping, allowing bees to live in simple, low cost hives. At Bees for Development we have always appreciated and sought to explain the advantages of lowcost, sustainable beekeeping, and indeed our logo shows a simple hive hanging in a tree. This style
of beekeeping is being used today by thousands of beekeepers world-wide. We never describe the use of simple hives as ‘traditional beekeeping’ as this term is used in contrast to ‘modern’, and tends to imply something that is outof-date, unchanging, no longer sufficiently effective, or even ‘backward’. In fact the reverse is true - simple hives allow bees to live most naturally or as Langstroth put it ‘in a state of nature’, and modern science is helping us to understand the reasons why this helps them to survive well. So fellow beekeepers, let us talk about simple, natural, economic, ecological, healthy, sustainable and economic beekeeping – whatever you like – just please don’t use the ‘t’ word!
Dr Nicola Bradbear Director, Bees for Development
Bees for Development Works to assist beekeepers in developing countries. Bees for Development Trust gratefully acknowledge: Artemis Charitable Trust, Didymus Trust, E H Thorne (Beehives) Ltd, Ethiopiaid, Eva Crane Trust, Hub Cymru Africa, Neal’s Yard Remedies, Stroud Buzz Club, The Waterloo Foundation, Welsh Government,Yasaeng Beekeeping Supplies. Copyright You are welcome to translate and/or reproduce items appearing in Bees for Development Journal as part of our Information Service. Permission is given on the understanding that the Journal and author(s) are acknowledged, our contact details are provided in full, and you send us a copy of the item or the website address where it is used.
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Cover picture: Bee hives in woodland painted by Andrei Nikolaevich Schilder in 1894. This oil painting is in Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum in Russia.
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