Ask Why: The Hobbyist Beekeeper

I’m seeing a lot of beekeepers online asking questions, which is great…keep it up, but they seem to be wrestling with topics that have a lot more to do with running a commercial business than keeping a few hives in their backyard. Yes, both the commercial and backyard or hobbyist beekeeper keeps bees but equating the processes a commercial business must use to run their business with what you may need for your backyard hives can lead to confusion, frustration and possibly doing more harm than good.

Over the years I’ve come to believe that the UK is well ahead of the US when it comes to communicating this difference, especially since their commercial honey production is very small compared to the US.  Also, given the negative results of years of bee and queen importation the UK has focused a lot of time and energy into supporting critical topic related to free-living local bees and local management practices.  One person of mention in the UK is Roger Patterson who has been beekeeping since 1963 and part of the UK BIBBA organization since 1969.  He’s a great advocate of testing and challenging age-old methods knowing that sadly, many no longer work or are not appropriate for today’s situations. In his book Beekeeping: Challenge What You Are Told (YouTube video on the topic) Roger covers many ideas and practices while humbly pointing out that asking “why” often leads to improved management processes and understanding.

Let’s dig into this topic a little and I think you will begin to understand how asking “why” might be the best thing you can do for your bees.

Who are you listening to and Why

I often warn those I help to beware of becoming a YouTube beekeeping expert.  Not to say there isn’t good information on the platform BUT there also should be a big sign saying “danger”.  So why do I say this? First, it’s always wise to know as much as you can about the person you’re receiving advice from and that is about impossible when watching someone on YouTube who lives states away from you.  You should know things like where they are from, what their background is, how big their operation is, what their goals are compared to yours, and what they are getting out of it.  Yes, gone are the days of free anything on the internet and these details can drastically change whether this is just something interesting to watch or if you can really apply it in your apiary.

Lots of questions there but when you do this it will begin forming the foundation needed before accepting guidance from anyone no matter if it’s the book you’re reading, the person teaching the class, the YouTuber who recorded that interesting video, or even the scientist who wrote the research paper.  Information is always biased.  It’s human.  It always comes from a particular perspective and has a particular goal it’s trying to achieve.  Investigating this can greatly help you filter out what is not appropriate for you and better yet apply what is.

Sorry, not every expert will be helpful.

Information Influences Goals

• YouTube

As I mentioned above, YouTube is a great learning platform but what you learn may not always be great.  Beekeepers are often dealing with issues that are timely for their situation and location.  Seeing someone in Georgia completing their spring inspections in February is not helpful to those up north.  Management schedules and practices are very specific to your area, and you should watch out for those trying to instruct you on what to do especially when your environment is nothing like theirs.  It really isn’t apples to apples.  Find resources that are from your state and manage apiaries similar to yours.

• Clubs

Local clubs are great, and I strongly suggest you get connected with one.  This is where you will hear the local gossip, find out when area swarming is starting, discuss local foraging, equipment and management practices that actually are working in your area.

• Conferences

These are festivals for like-minded people and can be a lot of fun but beware what you’re getting yourself into.  From the vendors trying to sell you every gadget under the sun to speakers who not only may have come from another state but also maybe sharing from a commercial perspective conferences can have you doubting everything you’re doing by the time you leave.  If you want to attend a conference I suggest coming with a clear and small list of goals.  What do you want from the conference?  Is there a particular gadget you’ve wondered about buying that you can look over before shelling out your money?  Set a cash allowance and stick to it. Review the speakers and do a little homework on them before attending their talk.  Is this really someone you want to mimic your apiary after?

• Universities

I’m sure we all think that universities are altruistic and always neutral in their research but that can’t be farther from the truth.  Great artists and scientists have always had patrons who want something in return for their investment whether they are college donors, national beekeeper organizations, or the FDA.  To be sure there is a tremendous amount of great research going on in just the last 20 years regarding honey bees and every beekeeper should become familiar with the topics being studied but you must try to understand what the question being asked is and who will benefit from the answer to understand if the research will be relevant to you and your apiary.  If you’re interested in reading some of the most recent research, check out our over 30 research-based blog topics HERE.

• Beginner Classes

If you are just thinking about becoming a beekeeper, I highly suggest attending a local class before buying even one piece of equipment.  This will give you the greatest freedom to ask all the “why” questions without getting anyone upset since they will know you are new and they shouldn’t feel threatened.  This is also when you can consider and question your own goals without the burden and pressure of already spending a lot of money on equipment and bees.  Maybe, like myself, you will decide to wait and do a little more research before jumping in.  Remember, bees are like a puppy…you can’t just give it back when it’s not fun anymore.

• Books

There are a lot of good beekeeping books out there but to be honest most don’t have ‘beginner’ or ‘dummy’ in the titles.  Good beekeeping books are usually written by well-known scholars with many years in the field.  They normally come after years of research, correction, and countless presentations.  I would not buy books from the popular YouTuber or even the most popular commercial speaker at the latest conference unless it had a very specific topic focused on exactly something you wanted to know about or replicate in your apiary.  You will likely hear about good books from other beekeepers you trust or on discussion boards where the books validity can be challenged a bit before you buy.

Goals Drive Action

So, what are your goals for your new hobby?  I say hobby because the vast majority of beekeepers just want a couple hives and a few bottles of honey to enjoy or share each year.  They want to be more like the old farmer than the corporate farm. This is an important question and one best pondered at the beginning rather than under the pressure of money spent on equipment and dead colonies coming out of winter.

Why do you want to be a beekeeper?  Maybe a great way to investigate that question would be to visit a club member’s apiary and actually see what it’s like sticking your head over a hive with your veil on in the middle of the summer.  What a first experience and how informative.  I’ve known a few who once they had the bees all around them, the buzzing and smells, they either dropped the idea all together or jumped in with both feet.  Remember you can always get honey from your favorite beekeeper without having your own hives.  I’m also sure this same beekeeper might appreciate a little help from time to time.  Sometimes the best pets are the ones you visit at your neighbors house.

Management Processes Result in Specific Outcomes

Many new beekeepers fall into following practices that frankly have their basis in supporting very large commercial operations that have hundreds or thousands of colonies across multiple states where constant colony increase and maximum honey productions are required to keep the business financially afloat.  This also includes management practices to build up colonies in the late winter to be trucked cross-country for spring pollination contracts and massive colony impacts from creating bee packages and raising queens for sale.  These practices, whether wanted or not by the business owner, have become common place and considered required to achieve success.  New beekeepers quickly come into contact with people who, though good-hearted, may simply be sharing management practices that are required for a commercial business and not what might be a better path for someone with a couple hives in their backyard.

Commercial beekeepers have a very load and influential voice in this industry/hobby.  Also, I would suggest that most beekeepers, after a few years of experience, get locked in a management style which is very hard to break.  So, let’s look at a few areas that you might want to begin asking more “why” questions about before settling on exactly what you plan to do.

• Feeding

It is often said that honey bees “must” be fed for them to survive.  On the surface this might be the case given the management practices that are popularly used.  Commercial businesses are trying to maximize their profits by taking as much honey as they can from the colony and then back feeding with sugar syrup when foraging is limited or unavailable such as in the winter because their resources have been depleted.  More money is made off the honey sales than the cost of sugar syrup.  This might be how a commercial business must work but it’s not what a hobbyist beekeeper needs to do.

In fact, if you limit your removal of their resources the colony can weather through dearth or winter just fine without feeding at all.  Also, if you save some frames of honey in the fall you could also offer that back to the colony in early spring if your inspections show they need help coming out of winter.

So, by simply asking, why do bees need to be fed, you might find that the solution can be found within your own management practice and results in a shared benefit for both you and the bees.

• Treatment

Now here’s a topic where asking “why” will certainly get you multiple answers.  Many will forcefully say that treating is the only answer but after a deeper discussion with a few other beekeepers you will likely find that some do, some sort of do, and some don’t do it at all, but they don’t want to tell anyone because they feel they will be sadly ostracized.

Most commonly mentioned treatments are focused on killing some level of Varroa mites in the colony though a beekeeper will never really kill them all.  This is a big topic with a lot of research over the last 50 years, but the one constant is that no matter the treatment the Varroa are still here and continue to grow resistant.

Because of this a growing group of beekeepers with a growing level of research behind them have decided not to treat with the hope of allowing the bees to gain their own resistive behaviors and immune responses but there is a great fear of significant colony loss by commercial operations in taking this approach. That is truly understandable because of the equally significant financial consequence in taking such a chance but the hobbyist is not in this situation and so you have a choice.

• Hives

Most of those reading this blog will likely be in the US and in the US the Langstroth hive is king but is it the best hive for bees?  As with most inventions competition and market needs cause changes and the Langstroth hive design is a great example of that.  Frankly Rev. Langstroth would likely speak poorly about the hives he would see today but their current design reflects the needs and demands of an ever-growing commercial market and competition.  Today’s hives must be portable with easy access to honey stores and likely as cheap as they can be.  They represent the minimum of what may be required to keep colonies alive with all the negative consequences on health and immunity you can expect over time.

For someone with a business and hundreds of hives that are required to produce as much honey as possible I can certainly understand why this style of hive is used but again the hobbyist has a choice.  There are plenty of other hive styles out there that promise improved colony health and/or try to mimic the honey bee’s natural habitat, a tree cavity.  It might take a little more effort. You may have trouble finding mentors.  You may even need to make the equipment yourself, but the truth is you have a choice, and you can ask yourself why am I just doing what everyone else is doing?

• Colony Sources

So, the question every new beekeeper’s face is where do I get my first honey bees?  The answer is usually order, order, and order early.  Generally, these packages of bees come from southern states that as mentioned above have been building up colonies in the late winter for spring pollination purposes.  There is really no quality assurance in what you are buying, no test certificates, and certainly no assurance you’re not getting a box of bees full of Varroa mites. To be frank, repeat business is expected and a required part of the business model sustainability. This is also where commercial businesses get their colonies to quickly replace winter losses which are required to keep the wheels of industry rolling.

Does a hobby beekeeper need to buy into this or is there a different way?  The answer to that question is yes, there is a different way.  You certainly don’t have a business that will fail if you don’t get your bees this year.  Many hobbyists are turning to swarm collection as a way of starting and maintaining their apiary.  Not only are the bees free each year, it’s also fun to learn and practice.  If you can be patient with your hobby, it might be the perfect solution and a way to save a lot of money.

What are your goals and why are you doing what you are doing?

The list above could continue but maybe the best person to ask your questions of is yourself.  Remember that beekeeping is a hobby and some might also consider it an art.  Remember that you are working with living things and no one to date has all the answers no matter how big their operation is.  You will also find that every year brings different ideas, learnings and consequences which you will integrate into your style of beekeeping.  So, keep learning, keep asking, and keep trying to be a better beekeeper.  I leave you with this statement as a way for you to keep questioning.  Do you feel this is true? What does it mean to your beekeeping?

“We cannot improve beekeeping by going farther and farther away from the bees’ natural tendencies,” ~ Georges de Layens