Recently I developed a fascination for monk-beekeepers and consequently decided to read Brother Adam's well-known book Beekeeping at Buckfast Abbey.
There was a lot of interesting information in this book, but one thing in particular caught my attention and had me pondering the mystery of past and present health crises that beset bees.
Brother Adam wrote how in 1916, the native bees of England were struck down by the Isle of Wight disease which was otherwise known as Acarine.
According to Wikipedia, "the mystery illness known as Isle of Wight Disease was not identified as being caused by a parasite until 1921.
It quickly spread to the rest of Great Britain.
It was regarded as having wiped out the entire bee population of the British Isles (although later genetic studies have found remnants that did survive) and it dealt a devastating blow to British beekeeping.
" Brother Adam said that of 46 hives that over-wintered at Buckfast, only 16 hives were alive come spring.
Before reading Brother Adam's account, I hadn't realized that bees had suffered crises that decimated their populations in numbers similar to what we face today.
This new information about the 1916 bee health crisis got me wondering.
Could it be that bee diseases are cyclical in nature? Was it the industrial revolution and changing human interactions with bees that started an era of crises for bees? And is a continued association with human beings placing bees at risk? More importantly, what could we learn from the wisdom of the monks/beekeepers of yesterday? Brother Adam recommended two practices for disease prevention that are similar in scope to what my beekeeping teacher, Serge Labesque, preached (no pun intended): 1) Queenlessness-In effect, what Serge calls broodlessness.
At Buckfast Abbey, the monks always requeened their hives in the early spring.
Requeening creates a period when the hive is without brood--eggs or larvae.
Mites reproduce in brood.
Serge taught that in winter when the queen stops laying eggs, a healthy colony of bees can clean up, combat the mites and control their numbers.
2) Sterilization of frames and removal of old wax-In Brother Adam's book, there was a picture of a boiling vat where frames could be sterilized.
Serge told us that when beekeepers reuse the same frames over and over, they unknowingly harbor disease.
He recommends sterilizing frames by taking a propane torch and flaming them, thereby killing any infectious organisms that might be living on those surfaces.
And both Serge and Brother Adam advocate the removal of old comb.
Brother Adam advised removal at 2-4 years and Serge recommended removal at 2 years.
In this day and age, I would go with the latter number myself.
Brother Adam spoke of the negative impact of humans on bees.
He eloquently expressed in his book that: "great value was placed on certain particular methods of management, based on a complete disregard of the truly marvelous organization and wisely balanced interactions regulating the activities of a colony of honeybees.
However, experience has shown that all such intrusions and lack of elementary considerations not only usually fail to achieve the intended results but in fact prove positively harmful to the well-being of the colony...
The task of the modern beekeeper might be more aptly described as a 'service'; in fact we are more truly servants than masters.
" This recommendation to see ourselves as servants rather than master seems like a necessity if we are to avert a total collapse in bee populations today.
If you liked this article, please feel free to favorite or share it.
There was a lot of interesting information in this book, but one thing in particular caught my attention and had me pondering the mystery of past and present health crises that beset bees.
Brother Adam wrote how in 1916, the native bees of England were struck down by the Isle of Wight disease which was otherwise known as Acarine.
According to Wikipedia, "the mystery illness known as Isle of Wight Disease was not identified as being caused by a parasite until 1921.
It quickly spread to the rest of Great Britain.
It was regarded as having wiped out the entire bee population of the British Isles (although later genetic studies have found remnants that did survive) and it dealt a devastating blow to British beekeeping.
" Brother Adam said that of 46 hives that over-wintered at Buckfast, only 16 hives were alive come spring.
Before reading Brother Adam's account, I hadn't realized that bees had suffered crises that decimated their populations in numbers similar to what we face today.
This new information about the 1916 bee health crisis got me wondering.
Could it be that bee diseases are cyclical in nature? Was it the industrial revolution and changing human interactions with bees that started an era of crises for bees? And is a continued association with human beings placing bees at risk? More importantly, what could we learn from the wisdom of the monks/beekeepers of yesterday? Brother Adam recommended two practices for disease prevention that are similar in scope to what my beekeeping teacher, Serge Labesque, preached (no pun intended): 1) Queenlessness-In effect, what Serge calls broodlessness.
At Buckfast Abbey, the monks always requeened their hives in the early spring.
Requeening creates a period when the hive is without brood--eggs or larvae.
Mites reproduce in brood.
Serge taught that in winter when the queen stops laying eggs, a healthy colony of bees can clean up, combat the mites and control their numbers.
2) Sterilization of frames and removal of old wax-In Brother Adam's book, there was a picture of a boiling vat where frames could be sterilized.
Serge told us that when beekeepers reuse the same frames over and over, they unknowingly harbor disease.
He recommends sterilizing frames by taking a propane torch and flaming them, thereby killing any infectious organisms that might be living on those surfaces.
And both Serge and Brother Adam advocate the removal of old comb.
Brother Adam advised removal at 2-4 years and Serge recommended removal at 2 years.
In this day and age, I would go with the latter number myself.
Brother Adam spoke of the negative impact of humans on bees.
He eloquently expressed in his book that: "great value was placed on certain particular methods of management, based on a complete disregard of the truly marvelous organization and wisely balanced interactions regulating the activities of a colony of honeybees.
However, experience has shown that all such intrusions and lack of elementary considerations not only usually fail to achieve the intended results but in fact prove positively harmful to the well-being of the colony...
The task of the modern beekeeper might be more aptly described as a 'service'; in fact we are more truly servants than masters.
" This recommendation to see ourselves as servants rather than master seems like a necessity if we are to avert a total collapse in bee populations today.
If you liked this article, please feel free to favorite or share it.
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