Welcome to another update from my ForestBeehive apiary—this time from a newly relocated horizontal Layens hive now nestled in the heart of EarthSong Wildlife Protection Area in Somerville, Maine.

Surrounded by almost 600 acres of wild meadows and untouched habitat, this is ideal natural forage country for my treatment-free Russian honey bees. No pesticides. No sugar. No industrial or agricultural pollution.

🐝 Beekeeping vs. Bee Hosting

Rather than managing bees like livestock, I practice natural beekeeping—or what I call “bee hosting.” Think of it as an AirB-n-B for bees! My Russian bees are free to swarm, forage, and mate naturally. Just like my human Airbnb guests pay rent, my honey bees pay me a small honey-rent in surplus honey—if they have any.

🌼 Key Concepts Covered in This Video

✔️ Treatment-Free (TF) beekeeping without human-engineered chemicals, without any acids or oils

✔️ Sugar-Free beekeeping – no supplemental sugar feedings as the bees need to have sufficient natural foraging and the total number of bee colonies in the area should be small, commensurate with available natural forage (low density of beehives)

✔️ Using horizontal Layens hives vs Langstroth hives

✔️ Raising survivor queens and promoting natural mating over artificial insemination

✔️ How to make equal splits in Layens hives as a method of mimicking natural swarming

✔️ swarming behavior, drone brood, and queen-right vs queen-less colony behavior

✔️ The ethics of treatment of bees, hive density, sugar feeding, and the concept of habitat stewardship

🐝 Why Russian Bees? Russian honey bees (RHBA-certified or pure Russians) are known for their mite resistance, strong overwintering ability, frugality and resilience in harsh climates. This video features a winter survivor Russian queen and walks you through how I prepare my colonies for spring splits and natural queen rearing. 

🛑 NO treatments with synthetic or human-engineered chemicals or any acids or oils

🛑 NO migratory stress

✅ Just bees, behaving as bees should — free and natural

📍Location: EarthSong Conservation Area, Somerville, ME – next to Pumpkin Vine Family Farm