There are fewer and fewer unpolluted lands in the US that are far removed from agricultural and industrial pollution where the bees can freely forage in pristine forests and meadows uncontaminated with pesticides or herbicides. ForestBeehive natural beekeeping apiary was inspired by this beautiful unspoiled land adjacent to a wildlife sanctuary with its rich Spring-to-Fall nectar resources for our honeybees. Just as this land is unspoiled by chemical pollutants, we keep our honeybees unspoiled by any conventional chemical treatments or conventional sugar-feedings.
In Organic Beekeeping, common synthetic honeybee treatments like pesticides, antibiotics are not allowed but organic-approved acids like oxalic acid, formic acid and essential oils are allowed.
Essentials oils and natural acids, however, disrupt the bees’ pheromone-based communiction and kill many beneficial micro-organisms in the hive and, in the case of acids, cause a dramatic shift in pH affecting the bees’ beneficial gut bacteria and health. See Study: Honeybees are negatively affected by essential oils.
Treatment-free Beekeeping is a widely used but often misunderstood term. Treatment-free does not actually mean hands-off beekeeping, it’s most often just beekeeping without medicating the bees i.e. even organic-approved mite treatments are not used.
In Natural Beekeeping, just like in treatment-free beekeeping we do not medicate the bees in any way. No synthetic or organic poisons pollute our beehives and our honey products. Natural Beekeeping, however, adds to treatment-free beekeeping the following important bee-centric elements that put the bees’ needs first: