Natural beekeeping

Alex is practising natural beekeeping. He doesn't bother the bees all the time. He doesn't steal all their honey and feed them sugar water instead. He doesn't fumigate the hives or treat for varroa. His philosophy is to encourage the bees to stay on our land to pollinate our crops because they like it here.

I'm all for it. The bees collect honey from a range of plants that have different medicinal properties. If they get sick or unwell, they will choose the right honey to cure themselves. Feeding them sugar water affects their health. As does agitating them daily. Small wonder the bees are dying off. We take a small amount of honey as compensation for providing a great place to forage and leave the bees to take care of themselves. 

Last year, we had two swarms. One got away as they formed way up in a tree, and the second swarm he gave away because he didn't have a spare hive or a means to collect the swarm. We were such newbies then. Now we know what to do. 

Gate to stop people from going too near the hive.

We have a deep bucket to collect the swarm in. Alex is building natural log hives to populate with bees. Our bees are the native Irish black honeybees. They are much less aggressive than the commercial variety. We have re-wilded a meadow behind the house and planted loads of pollinator-friendly native trees, shrubs and wildflowers. The field has loads of clover, a Sally tree, lots of other trees including willow and flowering hawthorn as well as apple, cherry, plum, crabapple, pear, peach and soft fruit and berries, Fuschia hedging, and loads of wildflowers. The Sally tree was loudly abuzz with bees in the spring. All of this leads up to the vineyard which we hope the bees will frequent when the time comes. 

Bees in nature choose a dead tree that has a hollowed core to inhabit. They build their combs to fit the space. Alex's natural log hive is a hollowed-out monkey puzzle log. It will have a sloped roof and a tall stand to get it off the ground by about 2.5 metres. I can't wait to have a swarm. 

Hollowed out monkey puzzle log

Sloping roof cap, to be slated

Stand in the wildflower meadow

Honeybee swarm

We had lots of excitement in the garden yesterday. Alex was carrying the polytunnel supplies up the hill when he heard loud buzzing. He looked up and saw thousands of bees leave the hive and swarm above the trees. He yelled, "Daria, come quickly, we have a swarm!" I walked over and started to videotape them. Then I noticed they were moving toward us. I said, "Alex we have to get out of here."

We walked away but Alex's fascination kept taking him back. He called an experienced beekeeper friend who suggested putting a spare hive high up nearby so that maybe they decided to call it home. So Alex climbed up and put the heavy spare box on top of the steel frame we have in the garden. By then, the bees had formed a tight ball around the queen, high up in a tree -- pretty close to the same spot our previous bees had swarmed several years ago. 

Another beekeeper suggested banging metal pots together directly underneath the swarm to bring them down. That did nothing. Scouts were appearing everywhere searching for their new home. I ran upstairs and closed the bedroom balcony door so they wouldn't choose our bedroom as theirs. About an hour later, they were gone. Someone will find a new bee colony on their property, lucky folks. I hope they found a nice hollow tree to live in naturally. 

Meanwhile, the remaining colony is buzzing happily along in the old quarters. We've done our job in repopulating the native honeybee in Mayo. 

All this while the vineyard was happily leafing and the orchard was happily blooming. What a lovely sunny and warm exciting April day. I'm scheduled for vaccination tomorrow, so things really are looking up. 

Cooking apple

Ancient cooking apple

Donkeys are back