Natural beekeeping in Sicily

Danilo Colomela (translation by Giulia Lepori), Italy

I was born in Palermo, a big city in Sicily. In 2005 I decided to live away from the city. Together with my wife Simona we moved to Sagana, a rural area approximately half an hour by car from Palermo.

Here we found what we were looking for: tranquillity, contact with nature, and the possibility to experiment with a simple life of reduced consumption. The place is too beautiful and the house too big to be lived in by only the two of us. Therefore, we decided to establish the Centre for Development of Consciousness – Thar dö ling (www.centrothardoling.it). We imagined the Centre as a gym where it would be possible to train the consciousness, like an instrument for positive change in the person and in the community.

At first we continued to work in the city – a commuting life – which allowed us also to renovate the buildings. After some time and with the help of permaculture (a methodology to design sustainable human settlements) we understood that the Centre and the place itself could become the very source of our livelihood. With this new outlook, we redesigned our life in a systemic way, and we began inserting various elements into the project, for example aromatic plants, donkeys and fruit trees, to create a productive and resilient system on different levels. One of these elements is the honey bee with the numerous functions that she carries out.

In 2010 we asked an expert beekeeper, Giovanni Caronia, to install some of his frame hives on our land to learn by observing his work. After three years the will arose to have an exclusive relationship with the bees and I delved into the theme of natural beekeeping, which really fascinated me, particularly because of the similarities with Fukuoka’s natural agriculture. In 2013 I built my first top-bar hive. I chose this horizontal hive as I considered it very didactic from my beginner’s point of view.

The colony is looking very healthy

Checking the health of the colony

Photos © Michał Krawczyk

In this initial phase I focused on the main goal of understanding if there is a form of beekeeping that can totally avoid treatments, the inhibition of swarming, nutrition and commercial hybrids. The colonies that I breed come from swarms, and from settled colonies that I caught, which have the genetics related to the territory where I live.

After six years, I noticed that there are colonies that survive (in my experience, around 20% of caught swarms) and others that do not survive. Those that did not make it all died by the end of the second year and, among them, 80% by the end of the first year. The loss of a colony is always painful, but death is part of life. I think that it is not useful to excessively help a colony that does not have the genetics for the territory where they live.

Another important fact that I have observed is that the freedom of swarming eventually leads to an overall reduction of such impulse, which means that the colonies do not swarm every year. The colonies’ general health is good. At times, some of them show the signs of little epidemics caused by viruses, probably spread by Varroa. However, these seem to disappear after some days.

Honey extraction using a press

Recovery of a wild colony

Swarm rescue!

On many occasions I could observe the cleaning behaviour among bees, also known as grooming. For example, the bees with Varroa infestation tend to clean themselves of the Varroa, or they are cleaned by their companions through their mandibles. With regard to hygienic behaviour of the brood, the bees rapidly remove anything that presents problems (dead or sick), also often caused by Varroa.

During these years, I could see that the bees have the possibility to spot the “abnormal” brood. Sometimes the anomalous brood is uncapped, therefore the level of humidity changes inside the cell and Varroa is no longer able to reproduce, whereas the bee larva can continue its metamorphosis.

After noticing that a significant number of colonies survive, I started working towards the second goal: the production of honey, beeswax and propolis. The products derived from natural beekeeping are of the highest quality and can be used to promote human health. The honey, extracted by press, is a great nutritious food; beeswax is useful for natural cosmetics, while propolis is useful for tinctures for the care of human beings and plants.

Finally, I would like to share data regarding the latest harvest: average production per hive was 4 kg of honey and 200 g of beeswax. After six years of experimentation, I consider myself satisfied with natural beekeeping modality, which in my opinion gave various results. The products obtained are of the purest quality. With regard to quantity, the relationship between outcome and employed time/energy is rewarding, especially if I compare my harvest with the data from organic beekeeping in frame hives, in the area (12 kg per hive). Besides, by not eliminating the drones I offer the resilient colonies’ genetics the possibility to spread in the territory, for the benefit of the whole population of honey bees.

In this experience, what is most important to me is still the selection of colonies that are more adaptable to the territory, therefore more resistant and self-reliant in controlling parasites and diseases. By increasing the possibilities of healthy life conditions for the bees, I feel that I am working towards a multispecies collaboration for a more harmonious future on earth.

The landscape of the natural apiary in autumn when the heather is in bloom