Working with Horizontal Layens Hives

Working with Horizontal Layens Hives Feral Hive in a Natural Tree Hollow Layens horizontal hives were designed to imitate how the feral bee colonies live in natural tree hollows. Layens horizontal hives with deep 16″ frames have been in continuous use since the 19th century, as they are easy to manage with minimal disturbances to […]

Raising Good Bees in Horizontal Hives. Swarm Traps, Queens & VSH Genetics

Raising Good Bees in Horizontal Hives At ForestBeehive apiary we are miles away from industrial & agricultural pollution, we have sufficient Spring-to-Fall foraging resources for our bees and we don’t use any supplemental sugar feedings. We also don’t use any human engineered chemical treatments or even organic pest control substances in and around our beehives.  […]

Spring, Bees and Lucy the Beekeeper

Spring, Bees and Lucy the Beekeeper Easy Beekeeping in Horizontal Hives. 1st Spring Inspection. Today we’ll talk about our Spring inspection and feeding the bees in case their honey stores are low but first, just a brief note What Natural Beekeeping IS and What it IS NOT.   Natural Beekeeping IS just Beekeeping WITHOUT ANY UNNATURAL chemical […]

Using Honeybees to Pollinate Conventional Agricultural Crops

Using Honeybees to Pollinate Conventional Agricultural Crops photo from: entomologytoday.com In the US the honeybees in conventional vertical beehives get transported by the truckloads all over the country for pollination of conventional agricultural crops. Unfortunately, conventional agricultural crops are usually replete with agrochemicals such as pesticides and herbicides affecting both the bees and their honey. […]

Clean Natural Habitat – the most important factor for natural beekeeping

What’s Most Important for Natural Beekeeping In his seminal book “Keeping Bees with a Smile”, its author Lazutin lists 3 main ingredients for successful beekeeping, listed in order of their importance:(1) Nectar & pollen resources(2) Using locally adapted bees(3) The design of the hive and beekeeping system Despite the fact that there’s much debate among bee […]