Mission & Principles

Mission:

Workers are bringing in Cedar & Hazelnut pollen

January workers bring in Cedar & Hazelnut pollen

  • Sustainable beekeeping for the bees
  • Sustainable beekeeping for the beekeeper
  • Sustainable beekeeping for the community

2013 revision to Principles:

  1. Honey is too precious to sell.  I will only give it away.
  2. Wax is harvested with the honey
    1. Wax is the “liver of the hive” and this is my comb rotation plan
  3. Respect and Trust for the bees
    1. Facilitate a bee friendly space for the hive to live.
      1. Facilitate heat retention, and allow the bees to control the airflow.  (allow the bees to seal the bee-space above the top comb)
      2. Keep all hives at least 18 inches off the ground
      3. Respect the broodnest
      4. Facilitate naturally sized comb, minimize use of foundation
      5. Feed only natural food (honey), but do feed when necessary
  4. Reproductive swarming is a good thing
  5. Place late season swarms (after July 1st) in the same neighborhood they are collected from
  6. Allow successful bait hives to remain in place as long as possible (relocate them in the winter)
  7. Manage them to facilitate stable, “nativized” genetic pool
  8. Minimize hive moves.  (Ideally there would be none)
  9. Document my progress
    1. Keep up with Apiary journal and hive notes
    2. Photograph all events
    3. Record swarm calls via Twitter feed

Nathan’s list of Nots:

  1. No starving hives
  2. No sugar, or syrup feeding
  3. No hive splits
  4. No hive combines
  5. No plastic in the hives
  6. No long metal objects or wires (nails/staples/screws are acceptable) in the hive
  7. No essential oils
  8. No powdered sugar treatments
  9. No re-queening
  10. No pollen, nor pollen substitute feeding

2013 Goals:

  1. Fit this enterprise into my overall holistic goal
  2. Place no two hives next to each other (50 yard separation minimum target)
  3. Spread my hives throughout the neighborhood, but near enough to be within mating distance of each other
  4. Each host location receives a bait hive, and a mason bee block
  5. Make increase
    1. Swarms
    2. Cut-outs
    3. Bait hives
    4. Mason bee blocks
  6. Build resources
    1. Multiple hives as resource bank of brood, nectar, and pollen to share among hives
    2. Feed young and growing hives to keep population high through July 4th
    3. Use drawn comb on 4.9 mm foundation for regression tool
  7. Record quarterly inventory of equipment and resources
  8. Prototype the future
    1. Continue to perform cut-outs
    2. Expand Warre hive management experience
    3. Expand bait hive experience
    4. Plan for nucleus hive sales in 2014
    5. Test tree mounted hives
    6. Live collection/freezing of wasps for medical labs
  9. Share knowledge and experiences
  10. Make positive cash flow.   This business will support its own growth.
  11. Maintain web site
    1. Document my year with photos and blog entries
  12. Winter review: Set goals and limits for 2014 and revise long term target

2013 Limits

  1. Cut-out limit of 1/week
  2. Equipment is in place before accepting swarms or doing cutouts
  3. Bee business work time displaces time only from my “day job” hours not from family & farm commitments.

2013 Products and Services:

  1. Swarm collection
  2. Hive cut-outs
  3. Poison free wasp removals
  4. Consultant work by the hour

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2012 Principles:

  1. Honey is too precious to sell.  I will only give it away.
  2. Wax is harvested with the honey
    1. Wax is the “liver of the hive” and this is my comb rotation plan
  3. Respect and Trust for the bees
    1. Rarely open a broodnest, and then only with hesitation
    2. Regress incoming bees and facilitate naturally sized comb
    3. Treatment free
      1. No plastic foundation
      2. No chemicals
      3. No essential oils
      4. No powdered sugar treatments
      5. No invasive treatments or procedures
    4. Natural feeding
      1. Only honey
      2. Only pollen
      3. No High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
      4. No sugar (neither syrup nor dry)
      5. No pollen substitutes
  4. Reproductive swarming is a good thing
    1. Reproduction is a sign of success and sustainability
    2. Capture and house swarms of increase (includes splits with queen cells)
  5. Manage apiary to facilitate stable, “nativized” genetic pool
  6. Stationary hives
    1. No migratory pollination
    2. No trips to follow mountain nectar flow
    3. Hive relocation done on a case-by-case basis
  7. Use hive stands.  Bees are creatures of the sun, and should be off the ground
  8. Document my progress
    1. Keep up with Apiary journal and hive notes
    2. Photograph all events
    3. Record time, swarms, and phone calls on calendar

2012 Goals:

  1. Perform monthly inventory of equipment and resources
  2. Increase hive count
    1. Swarms
    2. Cut-outs
  3. Build resources
    1. Split overwintered hive into spring Nucs as source for own queens
    2. Multiple hives as resource bank of brood, nectar, and pollen to share among hives
    3. Feed young and growing hives to keep population high through month of June
    4. Drawn comb on 4.9 mm foundation for regression tool
  4. Prototype the future
    1. Expand into cut-outs
    2. Warre hive management testing
    3. Swarm lure testing
    4. Live collection/freezing of wasps for medical labs
  5. Maintain web site
    1. Document my year with photos and blog entries
  6. Winter review: Set goals and limits for 2013 and revise long term target

2012 Limits

  1. Cut-out limit of 1/week
  2. Equipment is in place before accepting swarms or doing cutouts
  3. Bee business work time displaces time only from my “day job” hours not from family & farm commitments.

2012 Products and Services:

  1. Swarm collection
  2. Hive cut-outs
  3. Poison free wasp removals
  4. Consultant work by the hour

 

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