The Practicality of the Practical Beekeeper: Adopting Michael Bush’s Practices in Ontario

Let’s first begin by pointing out what this is not about. It is not about proving Michael Bush incorrect, nor about taking a stab at him. I have a great deal of respect for the man, he dedicates a tireless amount of time to helping out people with questions on forums; he offers the information in the book for free on his website; and (from personal experience) willing to dig up information and references (which he has a wealth of) even if it contradicts his statements. This is not about attacking treatment free beekeeping; some people are successful with it –live with it. At the heart of it, he is a beekeeper with many years of experience, fought wars with both tracheal and varroa mites, and is successfully treatment free. That deserves the outmost respect. Nor for the most part, is this a treatment free versus chemical debate.

The purpose is to take the general framework presented in The Practical Beekeeper and critically analyse Michael Bush’s method and how it relates to beekeeping in Ontario –with a general eye towards new beekeepers or conversion to said method. Following the same framework as the book (as key issues are presented,) we can identify problems and difficulties associated with each topic.

The equipment Bush chooses to use can be outlined as follows:

• ·         Eight frame boxes
• ·         All Medium boxes
• ·         Narrow frame
• ·         Small Cell / Natural Cell (foundationless)
• ·         Top Entrances

Many of his equipment choices focus around the ability to manage the weight of the boxes. Beekeeper back is laughed about, but until experienced is a cause for concern –especially if you live in the United States and do not profit from the same health care system we do. Bush elects to use eight frame, medium equipment for this reason and frankly I cannot blame him. One benefit of this setup is the ability to perform walkaway splits.

Traditionally to perform a split we would take our two deep brood boxes, and divvy up the frames so each received an equal amount of eggs, open brood, capped brood, honey, and pollen. In this way we can assure that no matter which box has the queen, the other has the ability to make a new one. This is fine if the amount of colonies you must perform this on is limited. Bush’s method is simply to put down a new bottom board and divvy up the four medium boxes. This is time saving and because the bottom boxes probably have eggs in them, the odds are likely that the outcome will be positive. 

This also allows the ability to be able to “micromanage” bee resources better. All the boxes use the same frames so everything is interchangeable. On the contrary a typical two deep brood box plus medium honey super setup does not allow this. 

The downside to this method is the cost. You require more boxes, and more frames to achieve the same goal. In the United States many of the major bee suppliers offer very competitive pricing, and free shipping. We do not. Shipping from the US is extremely cost prohibitive (usually much more than the cost of the order). To combat that many of the larger suppliers in Ontario will hire drivers to pick up product from the States, and resale it at a higher mark-up. This also brings up the topic of availability –it’s not there. I have not found a single supplier of eight-frame equipment in Ontario.

Barring having someone fabricate you eight frame equipment (and for the right price I will) we have to immediately eliminate eight-frame equipment. Our second choice will then have to be whether or not to go with all mediums. This we can do.  

First let’s compare pricing between several US retailers, and several Ontario retailers. For sake of comparison we will use Select hive bodies (no knots), and Plastic foundation (uncoated) in wooden frames –per unit price.

Bearing in mind, marginal differences but comparable product, we can discover that Canadian prices are about 20 percent higher than those of the states. In addition to this we have to factor in our higher sales tax and shipping/cost of pick up, whereas the American companies both offer free shipping.

Now let’s say we are just starting out. Using these averages (well stick to the Ontario prices as they are more relevant,) and factoring out bottom boards, top cover, inner cover, etc. The difference between using all mediums and standard setup is:

·         3 Medium brood box – $134.25

·         2 Deep brood box – $98.96

·         Difference of $35.29

This works out to being 70% cheaper using deep brood boxes. It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to realize the cost savings over multiple colonies.

Another point worth considering is your bee stock. Unless you specially ordered, all Ontario bees come in four frame deep nucs. In order to overcome this hurdle, you would have to start out in deeps slowly expand downwards with medium boxes, and then take the deep off at the end of the season filled with honey. This somewhat negates the lifting principal, and leaves you with a deep box you don’t plan on ever using again. Or, conversely you can treat your nuc like a package, and shake them into medium undrawn boxes. This approach would deprive your bees of the resources the nuc provided (and you paid for), you run the risk of damaging your queen, and you run the risk of those bees absconding.

As far as boxes are concerned you can conclude based off the evidence that: the lack of availability of eight frame equipment negate the possibility of using it; and using an all medium setup is cost prohibitive, and would likely involve some difficulties in achieving (both time, and money).

The subject of frames is multifaceted. Bush attempts to solves three different conditions with his: firstly, he is trying to regress his bees to 4.9mm small cell; secondly, he is trying to achieve a more natural environment for the bees allowing them to build their own cells; and finally by using foundationless he can diminish the amount of contaminated wax in his hives.

It would be a ludicrous argument to propose that the current chemical laden wax supply is anything but a detriment to the bees and the beekeepers. It is also equally ludicrous to think that you are going to negate it out of your operation. The bees you purchase will come on contaminated comb, the foundation you buy will be coated with it, and unless you have a supply of chemical free wax the foundation/starter strips you coat with it will have it present as well. This will not happen overnight for you, unless like previous stated, you treat your bees like a package, without waxed starter strips of any kind (I don’t suggest it). As Bush puts it, “Having an area of the hive that is the only part there when chemicals are applied is a nice idea, but it's a lot like a no-peeing section in a swimming pool.”

This means that although you can mitigate the amount, and not contribute to the contaminated wax it is a reality you will have to come to terms with.

Foundationless frames can be created quite easily from existing frames using inexpensive materials. It does however involve more dedication and vigilance on part of the beekeeper. Your hives must be level from side to side, easy enough. The problem is that it is very illegal in Ontario to not have “moveable comb hives,” and bees love to build crazy comb. Having experience in this, it is much easier to start with foundation and insert foundationless  frames between drawn comb. Michael Bush contests this but from personal experience it is not overly successful carte blanche. Use foundation first.

Based on historical data Bush recommends a comb spacing of 1 ¼ inches. To achieve this you would have to plane down your own frames. Historically this is a bit of a half-truth. There have been observations of 1 ¼ inches in brood comb, this is true. It is equally true that the people who made those same observations noticed a spacing of 1 ½ inches in comb used for honey storage. Historically many cut the difference and used a comb spacing of 1 3/8.  This is also dependent on cell size, type of bee, climate, many different factors. However if there is one thing we know about how bees manage the brood nest it is that they keep brood on the inside and honey towards the outside. Logically speaking that means that the spacing suggested by Bush would be in agreement with only the centre frames.  If however four or five middle frames were at the smaller spacing there would not be extra room for an eleventh (or ninth frame in eight frame equipment). The narrow spacing will work however if you are inclined to try it.

The small cell argument is beekeeping is nothing but exhaustive. There is enough evidence out there to suggest that it probably will not help with your varroa problem, however it will not hurt your bees either. Without opening that can of worms, let’s look at the practicality of it and how it affects us. Only a few people in Ontario carry MannLake small cell foundation: Munro Honey, and Dancing Bee. Its expensive ($3.00 @ Munro, $2.35 @ Dancing Bee). It comes unwaxed, so you will have to buy that chemical laden wax to brush onto it (counterproductive). Finally, they only stock deeps. You cannot go all medium AND small cell in Ontario. The shipping of one case from MannLake is over 135 dollars, which is four times then the cost of the product itself.

Top entrances are actually encouraged in this area for overwintering practices. It is not quite accomplished in the same way as Bush (he wedges up migratory covers, and uses exclusively top entrances) and we tend to have a small upper entrance and full bottom entrance. Nevertheless it is an idea worth adopting, and will help keep moisture out of the hive during winter.

*you will be cutting plastic

** serves no purpose

As you can see, utilizing the equipment choices laid out in The Practical Beekeeper are very difficult for those of us living north of the border. Most of this is due to availability of the product (it is available with cost prohibitive shipping). This is in no way meant to detract from the reasoning behind Bush’s equipment choices, as they are well thought out and logical; but more to understand the reality of the logistics involved in making that happen.

Instead of being pessimistic, begin by accepting this truth. Once it is understood that the Bushian model of beekeeping is out of reach for the first year (but still attainable), it is important to think of what can be done.

Wax contamination is a problem; we can start reducing the residual chemicals in the hives by incorporating foundationless into our hives. Done gradually, we can achieve natural cells both in the brood box, and create a marketable comb honey. These combs can also be crushed and strained (you didn’t want to fork out for an extractor this year anyway), the wax rendered, and used next year.

It is also possible to start small cell. The nucs you bought are on deeps, instead of wasting valuable resources why not embrace using deeps? Deep brood boxes aren’t even close to the weight of a deep filled with honey. You might not be able to do a walkaway split, but chances are in your first year you weren’t going to do that anyway. Wait a few years until your deep boxes start rotting, and your bees are regressed! By then you will feel comfortable with migrating to the mediums, and chances are youll have more laying around from your honey production.

Alternatively if all mediums is important to you –consider a top bar if it’s a weight issue- there is an easy albeit a little manipulative way for a first year beekeeper to attain it. You buy a deep brood box for every hive. Once your nuc has filled out 8-9 of the ten frames, put a medium filled with foundation underneath of it. Once that is filled out add another medium. The queen will naturally want to move downward and they will start filling the deep with honey. When it is filled with honey (we don’t want to waste honey), remove it. Now your hive is on all mediums, you have a heavy box filled with honey, and you have removed a great deal of contaminated wax.

Once you have extracted a honey crop, made a few bucks, have a bunch of empty boxes with frames laying around… that’s a decent time to consider your eight frame equipment (narrow frame fits in here as well). Its winter, the off season; get access to a table saw. Take them apart and cut them down eight frame equipment. The following spring simply take the survivors and move them into new boxes.

Michael Bush’s method is not impossible, it is just not practical (no pun intended) for us to achieve in one year. You must weigh what is important to you, and demonstrate patience. It is a goal to work towards, concentrate on keeping your bees alive first.

Edit, Beekeeping Story (draft)

I am a Chef by trade, though I don’t do fancy fine dining shenanigans anymore I still make my living cooking. I spent ten years or so in the woodworking field, gone to college for it, did everything from working in a cabinet shop to framing houses. The recession hit, there was no work, so I took the chance to goto culinary school. After culinary school I worked at a few very high end restaurants, kicked ass, and took names. However, what I learned was that I liked the process of creating fine food products more than slinging the plates. I started learning more about how curing meats worked, how to brew wine and beer, and even how to identify wild edibles and mushrooms. After several years I simply burned out. It’s a pretty common occurrence. I did however realize I wanted to do something more agricultural. Bees became quite the obsession. It was affordable, profitable, knew there was a ton to know about it, and it combined my two skill sets –food and carpentry.

So I did some searching on the Internet, learned a bit there, but didn’t find it quite as absorbing as a book. Meandered to the library, took all the books out, and very obsessively read. Drove to chapters, bought every book they offered. Now up until this point I started to grasp how beekeeping worked, but something seemed really strange to me. I never realized so many chemicals went into the hive. Frankly, it never occurred to me. I couldn’t understand how working at ‘farm to table’ restaurants, watching a million food documentaries, reading an endless amount of literature, how not once had I not known chemicals went into bee hives. Sure, I think I recalled something about sugar syrup in a CCD documentary but that’s about it. So I bought the idiots guide, already had the dummies one, figured it was the same thing. Then the whole treatment free/organic beekeeping world opened up to me, and I realized I had a great deal more learning to do! Long story short, months of research I decided this is what I was doing, and that was how I was going to do it. Boy was I wrong.

I was going to be treatment free, all medium, foundationless, narrow frame, and small cell. Oh, and I was going to make all my equipment myself!

Having decided to go down this path, and adopting support and enthusiasm from my father, it was time to start getting this in motion for the upcoming spring. First, I had to prove it was going to be profitable, so I spent a month or so crunching some numbers, calculating costs, generally seeing it was going to be a viable business. Initially I was going to start very small in my backyard to test the waters. Although I would fail the minimum requirements in the provincial laws, I learned that they were kind of lacks and I could “get away with it”. Unfortunately, the municipal bylaw was not. Two hives in the backyard was going to be out of the question. So the search for land started. My father working for the county, and being generally more bureaucratically savy then myself decided to approach the local conservation authority. Turns out the conservation authority was very enthusiastic about this idea as they had just retired an old field and repopulated it with wild flowers. However in order to sign a lease with them I needed liability insurance. Now, I didn’t know shit about insurance. But I learned that the Ontario Beekeepers Association actually sold it as part of their membership. So signed up for that! In order to have colonies in Ontario you have to register them. So here I am… in April, waiting for my insurance paperwork to come in, to get a hold of the guy to sign the land lease, to register bees. Nightmare of paper, and I needed to get bees shortly. Well that got done; it wasn’t pretty, it was frustrating, and was very glad to have my Dad sort it all out. By the time everything was kosher and sorted out I had to pick bees up in two weeks.

Now to find some bees! I did a great deal of research on the different varieties, genetics, etc. I even by chance ran into a cute beekeeper girl who I expressed an interest with in getting into beekeeping who suggested catching swarms, letting weak colonies die, and other ideas I had never heard. This was pre learning about treatment and whatnot. Frankly, I think I made an ass of myself… having never actually talked to another beekeeper I was pronouncing nuc like a popular swearword instead of “nuke”, and I can’t even remember how I pronounced Carniolan! Learning curve. Did I mention she was cute? Damn.

In Ontario we are kind of blessed with some very great breeders, and a proactive academic community. I knew I wanted something locally acclimated, and something disease resistant. I decided honey was not quite as important as genetics. I ruled out Italian, they just didn’t really seem my style. There is a Russian breeding program in Ontario, I heard they were aggressive, but they would survive the winter. So I looked into Russians only to find out the only breeder I could find was way up north and their website was defunct. Ontario has probably one of the best Buckfast breeding programs in the world, and frankly after reading about the bees, and the history, I was sold. Now I did some more research and learned that the former University of Guelph head of apiculture (the guy who helped bring the Russian and Buckfast stock to Ontario) had his own business with his son selling bees. So I looked into Szabo bees, and found they were breeding a locally acclimated, mite resistant “Ontario bee”. Frankly, I can’t even tell you what kind of bees they are, but if a guy spent a lifetime developing a bee less than an hour away from my house I was totally sold. So I noticed on his website something I’ve never seen before, they would sell a whole hive body instead of a four frame nuc (yes four frame up here). So I called him up and placed an order for six colonies.  Now I was committed.

PS: I know you Americans are reading this, and before you lynch me I am already setting plans in motion to set up a Buckfast yard using Ferguson stock next spring. Yeah… I saw your eyes rolling a minute ago ;)

Well push came to shove, realized probably didn’t have the room to make my own equipment, and was a little nervous because I didn’t even have a template to work from. Lent my table saw out, came back broken, and now that was out of the question -Which was a blessing in disguise. I now had to look up where I could locally buy equipment, and realized I drove by a place on my way to work every day. This introduced me to John, the local beekeeper, supplier, teacher. I will say this once: go meet local beekeepers, you WILL learn a great deal. Now that blessing in disguise came in the form that although most literature, online suppliers, and plans indicate ¾” pine, that is not the case in Canada! I would not have known that in Ontario they use 7/8” pine to help with overwintering if I had not met that local beekeeper. So if I had made boxes myself, or ordered online, I would have learned the hard way and wasted time, cash, and equipment. I bought a bunch of medium boxes with some frames, and no foundation –don’t want any of that nasty contaminated wax. Oh, and this was days before I had to pick up my bees, so naturally this equipment HAD to be built. Many tired eyed days at work. Note, there are some great plans for building jigs for putting stuff together, I really suggest you take the time to build them. Crown stapler is a great idea as well. At least that worked out right! Well kind of, didn’t have “time” to build a jig to assemble frames, God those were long nights.

So fast forward, time to get some bees! Borrowed an Avalanche off a friend figuring my open top pickup probably wasn’t a great idea, and really had no idea what to expect. I show up at Tibor Szabos places, and we drive out to one of his yards. I brought all my equipment with me: suit, gloves, veil, smoker, brush. He gets out, lights a smoke, get his smoker going and makes small talk. Talk about one cool guy. After some questioning finds out I am new and asks if I did the course. I said it filled up too fast (and they do fill up really quickly so keep that in mind). OK. So smoker going, cigarette hanging out, no protection, starts getting to work and giving me a bit of a schooling. So naturally I figured if he could do it, so could I. So never seen a colony, no protection, I start helping loading stuff up, and find out to learn you DO NOT want them covered. These things need air! Take the detachable tonneau cover off, load up the hives, shoot the shit for a while, pay the man, and we are off!

I got the bees to my yard, and realized… I’ve never lit my smoker before! Well I got kind of lucky with that, there was some cardboard in the truck, some pine needles; it stayed lit as long as I needed it to. But it occurred to me… maybe I should practice lighting a smoker, and maybe become even proficient at it. So every day before work I lit the smoker, played with different fuels, and finally got something that worked. Sounds like a stupid mistake eh?

Anyway, dropped the bees on the stands, made sure everything was level, let em out, and went home. One or two days later I REALLY couldn’t help getting inside of them, which was about that time I also learned… I didn’t really know how to manoeuvre that damn hive tool! It’s a glorified paint scraper, how hard can it be? Well let me tell you, people on Youtube videos, and old hands at it make it look a lot less awkward then you WILL be.

A week later it was about time to super a few, and a thought occurred to me. I have a box full of deep frames, and only medium boxes with no foundation to super with. I read it should be ok, the little 90 degree wedge turned and stapled in should be enough of a guide. Well, I wasn’t feeling that comfortable with this idea, and decided to ask on the forums.

 It was too late to put some cut up plastic foundation in as a guide, they were already made. Someone mentioned putting a medium foundationless into the deep, let them draw that out, and put that in the super as a bit of a guide. Well a few hives had not fully drawn out frames 1 and 10, so I wouldn’t be sacrificing too many of their resources by taking one out. So I tried it, and it worked! The weaker hives I did that on have ended up drawing out more comb then the ones without, and have been more productive! A technique I highly recommend.

Through sheer unpreparedness, when I supered the last hive, I was a frame short, I only had nine. This was also the time it occurred to me, all my deeps were nine frame brood boxes, if I made a nine frame super would they draw it out better? Sure enough they did, but not by much. Out of the six hive, two drew it out great, two needed moderate fixing, and two were screwed.

A lesson about fixing up that crazy comb: I watched Kirkobeeo of the Backyard Beekeepers do a million cut outs on Youtube. I couldn’t find much in the way of rubber bands, but I did have lots of string. Out to the bee yard I go. I elected to actually wear protection this time; until now I haven’t used any, and haven’t had to. But I figured messing with their comb might get them riled. Suit on, gloves, on I open the first one up, get my string, cut the comb. Then I realized, it is basically impossible to tie a knot with the gloves on. Imagine this, you are trying to hold a frame, hold the comb that’s supposed to go in that frame, there are bees everywhere, you trying to be gentle, and you can’t perform a basic knot. You feel like a kid who cannot tie their shoes, an adult who needs an extra set of hands, and like a monkey screwing a football, because yes, it is that awkward. What did I learn? Go buy some damn rubber bands you lazy bastard.

So treatment free is working out, because nothings gone wrong in that sense yet. Foundationless has been a bit of a fun learning curve, and still is until I have some great guide combs.

How are all mediums going? So far alright, but how am I going to phase out that deep brood box? In Ontario everything comes as a four frame deep nuc (or box in my case), there are not any packages available, and never bothered to ask if he would do mediums. Well that is an interesting quandary if I do say so myself. Having been a beekeeper for all of one month, with the better part of a year of planning, yet another thing I failed to think about. Back to the good old Beesource forum!

Bees like to keep things organized. They will keep their brood in the middle, at the bottom; it is just their nature. They keep frames of honey and drone closer to the outside, and above when we trick them by adding supers –basic bee behaviour. So it was suggested to me that if I add the mediums to the bottom, underneath the deep brood box it should coax them to move the brood down. Consequently, they will fill the top deep with honey which can be harvested. Then cut down the deep box and frames into a medium over the winter. You needed something to do anyway.  Presto! All mediums accomplished, and moving both large cell foundation, and contaminated wax out of the hive! This is too good.

But how is this small cell thing going? So I measured some of the new foundationless comb, not so small, not much of a difference at all. It will come right? It just takes more work, and more time. Since you are currently still reading this, it is safe to say you have bee fever. Its night, maybe raining, maybe it is just over casted; In other words, not good weather to go play with the bees. You are at home, on the computer reading more about bees. If you weren’t doing that you are reading a book, watching a movie, or in the workshop, but all having to do with bees. Well that’s how I feel, and that’s what I was doing when I learned something new. Many proponents of treatment free beekeeping will indicate that small cell is imperative to the survival of your bees. In order for this to work you need to get them down to 4.9mm! Well foundationless has been slow so far; maybe I should just order up some PF-120s from Mann Lake and get them regressing faster. No problem, I just got paid, and have some money to spend on the bees. Boy I was about to learn something!

Well here is a lesson to those not living in the lower forty eight. Total up the amount for a few cases of frames, about fifty bucks give or take, not too shabby right? So go and send off an email for that shipping quote. Grin. I sent off a quick email for a shipping quote and word for word:

Hi Andrew,

Postage for 1 box of each is about $165.00.

Jesus Christ! That quadruples the price! What the hell! I have ordered tons of things out of the states and shipping is never that bad! Well that was clearly not a feasible option.  The nice fellow at Mann Lake was kind enough to give me a list of some local suppliers that “might” carry it so I start calling. One of them is close by, out of business. One is way too far up north. Finally get a positive response from the last possible option. Yes they have them, an hour and a bit away, I have a day off coming up, great. Well something you learn about Canada is that we don’t use the terms medium and deep. They use Dadant terms, you have hive bodies, and supers. So when I say I am going with mediums for a brood box I can get weird looks. Keep this in mind.

So I am as happy as a pig in shit. They have PF-120s. I am saved! Gas up the truck, get coffee, and I am spending my day driving, it’s worth it right? So I pull up to the place, and mention to the very nice lady at the counter I had emailed about these small cell frames. At which points she gives me the most confused look ever. She then pulls out a PF-100 (deep) frame, and asks if it’s those ones. I pull out a ruler, double check to make sure, get all excited when it measures out to 4.9, “Yes! That is exactly what I want, just in mediums,” “oh.. Well, we only have them in this size. “She says. Well kind of dejected I buy em. They are my only option for small cell in Canada, without paying an arm and a leg. On the plus side they were also a meadery, and the nice lady offered us many samples. We also left with many bottles.

So now I have drive to my local supplier, ask to by some deeps, and explain to him why I don’t need frames in them. I felt like shit, but being an awesome sport we got into a great talk about regression and cell size. On a side note, a few weeks later I was in there and he introduced me to another guy as a natural beekeeper. I never told him, I suppose he figured it out on his own. Hilarious.

So now we are up small cell, down all mediums, added more plastic, and now I needed some wax so brush onto the plastic frames. Well guess what guys? Treatment free wax really doesn’t exist…and you just started out so you don’t have any… back on the chemical treadmill. This treatment free thing is fun right? Also its worth noting your 5.4 bees will muck up 4.9 a bit drawing it out. Be prepared.

So what have we learned about my experience so far?  The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry. Your own personal goals are important to set out in the beginning, but they are something to strive for. If you have the means to make it work from the beginning, by all means best of luck. I do not regret my mistakes, miscalculations, and experiences. Conversely, I feel in this very short time of having bees by virtue of confrontation, and complication it has imbued me with a better understanding of them, and a larger conviction to achieve my goals.