The reintroduction and diffusion of forest-ancestral beekeeping

Thanks to this project, not only trunk hives (hollowed out tree trunks) and hives in living trees have been created, but above all dozens of beekeepers from all over Europe have been trained who in turn pass on their knowledge in courses in their region or simply create other habitats for bees and other forest-dwelling species within the framework of ancestral forest beekeeping. The FREETHEBEES pilot project has led to a number of beekeeping courses in Switzerland, as well as several and in some cases very large beekeeping schools in Germany, such as the Bienenbotschaft in Frankfurt or the Sa Bienen Imkerei at Schloss Hamborn. We provided the hives, which served as a basis for research by bee researcher Torben Schiffer on the climate of the tree cavity.

The ancient forest beekeeping is to be passed on through courses and workshops. On the one hand, the old cultural heritage must be preserved and passed on. On the other hand, the ancient forest beekeeping (the medieval Zeiderlei) should also be modernized, e.g. by using modern tools or techniques of tree climbing (e.g. by using arborist equipment).

Recently, the ancestral forest beekeeping ( Zeidlerei) has been modified in such a way that the trees are no longer oriented to the original purpose of honey extraction, but to the needs of the hollow tree species. We build tree cavities for a large number of species and species communities, and we use techniques learned from forest beekeepers (Zeidlers) to build tree cavities.

We have recently been able to collaborate in several disciplines with many other nature conservation organizations, including forest biodiversity, bird conservation, bat conservation, etc.