natural beekeeping

Lake Vessel is located in an area where native bees are struggling to find enough hollow logs where they can build homes. Swarming bees are known to steal nests from birds. This often happens in spring, when chicks are hatching or are very young. Here we have a bee friendly garden providing plenty of food for bees all year round. 

Natural beekeeping differs from other methods in the following ways:

• it allows the queen to roam around the entire hive
• it provides beeswax starter strips for bees but then lets them build their own cells
• it is a method where the bees are disturbed as little as possible
• the focus is more on colony happiness and health than measuring production quantities

Once a person works through their fear of bees (and they are not allergic), close to the hive is a restful place to relax. Hoky thinks so too (is this photo he is sitting on top of the hive). Much can be learnt from the way bees relate with each other and maintain the health of the colony.