Treatment Free Beekeeping

What is treatment free beekeeping all about?

Treatment free beekeeping is all about breeding vigorous, healthy bees. Bees that can take what nature throws at them without needing endless support from the beekeeper with medications, feeding and manipulations. 

Until recent years this was the way beekeeping had always been done. When a disease came along the bees adapted and rebounded. With the arrival of varroa the paradigm changed. Beekeepers threw stronger and stronger chemicals at their hives to treat the mites, but year on year the problems persisted. Why hasn't the rebound happened? 

How treating for diseases interferes with evolution

With previous diseases the rebound of bee populations, and beekeeping, came about because the bees evolved to the new threat. Evolution depends on natural selection, and a fundamental part of that process is that unfit members of the population do not reproduce. The lion that isn't as strong doesn't get a mate, the finches that have the wrong beak shape can't get as much food. The bees that are most susceptible to the mites die... and the less susceptible colonies survive and breed. When we medicate our hives we allow unfit colonies to survive and breed. When many beekeepers do this, across a large area, the population as a whole loses it's ability to adapt.

On the other hand, in wilderness areas where bees are not managed, and so are never treated, populations rebound over the course of a few years. The individual colonies show indications of being able to thrive in-spite of varroa. And in more and more cases, beekeepers who stop treating are finding that their own bees are evolving varroa resistance as well. The process isn't always easy, but it is happening.

The Fundamental Principle of Treatment Free Beekeeping

Thus the guiding principle of treatment free beekeeping is that the actions of the beekeeper should complement natural selection, and never hinder it. In this way each beekeeper can become part of the long term solution to the problems caused by varroa, and by any future diseases bees may face.

This simple rule is enough to guide all decision making, but it can be hard to see what the implications of a given course of action might be. Is feeding a newly made split ok? What about feeding established colonies to get them to build earlier in the spring? Artificial brood breaks? Making splits?

Clearly, principles alone are not sufficient, because beekeeping is so complex. This site offers practical strategies for managing TF apiaries, the science behind TF beekeeping, case studies of beekeepers who manage their colonies in this way, and more. There is no one-size-fits all approach, every beekeeper faces different challenges, but there are methods here which have been proven to work.

Join the community on Facebook

This website has grown out of the vibrant community of people following the path of treatment free beekeeping in our busy Facebook group. At the time of writing it has nearly 30,000 members and is continuing to grow rapidly. If you are not already a member please do join the discussion.

And lastly, good luck! Remember, beekeeping is supposed to be fun. Enjoy the stings, take the rough with the smooth, and join the thousands of other treatment free beekeepers who are taking steps to be part of the solution, not the problem.