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David Heaf, Michael Bush : Experience with and results of treatment-free beekeeping, and the contribution made by biome in the colony’s ecology

4. June 2022 @ 18:00 - 20:15 CEST

18:00 – 20:15 (Geneva – Zurich)
For other time zones use this time zone converter ( link )

David Heaf
David Heaf will present his method of beekeeping, explain why he went ‘treatment-free’ (TF) vis-à-vis acaricides in 2007, describe his colony losses, including those of a few other UK TF beekeepers, mention the Deformed Wing Virus (DWV), recapping and varroa reproduction studies on his colonies and suggest ways of risk minimisation for those considering going TF.

David Heaf was born in 1947 in Liverpool, grew up in Sheffield and obtained his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in biochemistry at the University College of North Wales, Bangor. After a career in research biochemistry he settled in north-west Wales where he works as a translator and, with his wife Pat, manages a large vegetable garden.

Affiliation :

Northern Bee Books, Welsh Beekeepers’ Association (WBKA), Treatment-free Beekeeping Wales

Publication ( link )
The Bee-friendly Beekeeper (reprinted 2012), Natural Beekeeping with the Warré Hive — A Manual (2013), Treatment-Free Beekeeping (2021), The Modified Golden Hive (Einraumbeute) (2021), La Ruche Warré — Une ruche respectueuse des abeilles, ‘Treatment-Free Beekeeping’ is being translated into German.

Michael Bush

Michael Bush will present the ecology of the bee colony and the impact of beekeepers’ treatments on this ecology, such as mites, insects, microbes, fungi, and bacteria.
Some of these we know are essential: pollen fermentation. Some are very important: gut bacteria on immunity. Some require further study to know the exact effects, but they live in complex interdependent communities. They likely fill niches that would otherwise be occupied by pathogens.
Treatments of the colony have effects on this ecology of mites, insects, microbes, fungi, and bacteria. Artificial food provided to the colony also has an effect on this ecology.
In this talk we have only looked at the ecology within the colony, while the 8,000 acres (3240 hectares) around the colony has its effect as well.
“What Michael reminds us of, is that beekeeping is a dynamic art. And that like most things of beauty and meaning, they are part of a system, a dance of relationships that requires as much or more intuitive insight as hard science to understand.” –Scott Klein

Publication

He is the author of The Practical Beekeeper and The Practical Beekeeper: Beekeeping Naturally, which has been published in five languages. He has an extensive web site on beekeeping at www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm.
“His writing, like his talks, has more content, detail, and depth than one would think possible with such few words… his website and PowerPoint presentations are the gold standard for diverse and common sense beekeeping practices.”–Dean Stiglitz

To attend this conference, please buy a ticket.
You decide how much you would like to pay for a ticket for the online conference. The price of a ticket to help cover the costs of the online conference is 39 Swiss Francs (CHF 39). We encourage you to make a larger financial contribution, if you can, to support financing the future events and the conservation and safeguarding of wild-living honey bees.
You will receive a link on Zoom in good time before the conference.

Details

Date:
4. June 2022
Time:
18:00 - 20:15 CEST

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