Conscious Beekeeping
The Pfeiffer Center- Chestnut Ridge, NY
The growing popularity of small-scale beekeeping is good news for the bees, but it also raises its own set of challenges. Rarely does a small-scale beekeeper encounter Colony Collapse — but every beekeeper must contend with rampant Varroa mites, scant forage, and scarce high-quality package bees and nucs.
Conventional approaches focus on beating back or defeating these challenges, but the search for a silver bullet to every problem seems only to unearth new problems. This workshop approaches the problem from the other side: What can we do to help our bees thrive and flourish in the present-day environment? Starting from an understanding of the honeybee colony as an organism unlike any other found in nature, we will consider:
- Swarming as an expression of the bees’ vitality;
- Healthy rhythms of life in the hive, and how to support them;
- When to intervene and when to let your bees manage on their own;
- Increasing your apiary naturally with splits and swarms while breeding better, locally-adapted queens;
- Alternative hive designs;
- Gardening to support your bees;
- Varroa control through acid treatments and brood interruption;
- And more.
Weather permitting, we’ll visit the Pfeiffer Center’s apiary, where techniques discussed in the classroom will be demonstrated.
