The BeeHolder, January 2011

The Bee-Friendly Beekeeper - A Sustainable Approach. Author: David Heaf
Published by: Northern Bee Books ISBN 978-1-904846-60-4

This book although not by the same author is perhaps best seen as a follow on from the book written by P J Chandler, The Barefoot Beekeeper. It gives much information on the ideology and practical techniques to be used with a top-bar hive, in particular the Warré Hive of the type currently placed in MBKA’s training apiary at Gregynog. It invites the beekeeper to examine some of the accepted practices of modern beekeeping techniques.

“In recent years, beekeepers on several continents have been suffering heavy losses of colonies. If we systematically investigate factors causing the losses, we can justifiably ask whether the way in which honey bees are kept is part of the problem. Could hive design, frames, foundation, intrusion, artificial queen breeding, drone suppression, queen excluders, artificial feeding, medication, transhumance and overstocking – all elements of modern beekeeping - be reducing the vitality of bees?”

This book examines the issues surrounding these practices, drawing where possible on the primary literature in bee biology and apiculture, in order to identify an approach to keeping bees that is more appropriate. It also analyses the fundamental attitudes underlying the different ways in which we chose to keep bees"

Our “traditional” ways are only a little over a hundred years old and mankind has kept bees for many thousands of years. Honeycomb is now known to be much more than just the skeleton of the bee colony super-organism. A case is presented for making natural comb the centre of a way of beekeeping that better respects the nature of the honey bee by allowing its species specific behaviours to be expressed.

Among the hives based on relatively natural comb, the author presents the top-bar hive of Emile Warré as a practical and economical alternative to frame hives and describes the bee friendly features of it’s operation. The book includes construction plans and modern tips for its management."

If the beekeepers sole intent is to maximise honey production at the expense of all else, then this approach to beekeeping will probably not appeal. If however the beekeeper has the health and welfare of the bees as a prime objective and is content to share the honey harvest with the bees then this methodology has much to commend it. In time to come the bee-friendly ethos may turn out to be the accepted way in which we are recommended, or even able, to sustainably keep bees at all – only time will tell.

I can recommend this book to any beekeeper interested in looking at alternatives to the accepted norms of modern beekeeping. It will certainly help to lift the veil of mystery and suspicion which sometimes seems to be evident when discussing the Warré hives in our club apiary, it answers almost every question I have ever heard asked about them. Definitely a recommended winter read, and who knows we might well have a few more top bar hive enthusiasts next summer.

Noel Eaton