Why I Choose Natural Beekeeping

Patrick Gaudin
May 25
3 min read

It never fails. Whenever you visit various beekeeping forums, you inevitably

come across heated discussions regarding whether or not to treat your honeybees,

and also which methods are the most effective.

Often times you'll hear individuals blame those who refrain from using treatments as "irresponsible" or "spreading disease" or "spreading mite bombs" and a number of other negative terms or phrases in an attempt to spread fear and shame those who refuse to treat into submission.

This vilification process has no effect on me and numerous others who have 'seen the light', so to speak, and have experienced incredible success with natural beekeeping, and for many individuals, for several decades.

As for my personal results, my losses are extremely minimal, although admittedly, I live in Florida with no harsh winters, but we still must contend with small hive beetles in the South. However, a strong hive with good population and strong feral genetics can keep hive beetles in check with no major problems, as well as varroa mites, wax moths, etc.

But most importantly, who has time and money for all of that extra CRAP and labor?

Let the bees do all the work. They are very well equipped to do so and don't need to be micromanaged into the dirt.

Regarding beekeepers I know of who have great success in extremely cold conditions, those would include Michael Bush in Nebraska, Sam Comfort all along the East Coast as well as Elizabeth Sequeira who has successfully overwintered bees naturally in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

There are dozens besides myself who have been trailblazers in natural beekeeping, including Sam Comfort, Dee Lusby, Michael Bush, Philip Chandler, Kirk Anderson, Valerie and Michael Sims, Elizabeth Sequeira and so many more of whom I cannot think of at the moment.

Natural beekeeping usually includes (besides the withholding of poisonous treatments) allowing the bees to build natural comb (as opposed to using plastic foundation), not feeding bees unless it's an emergency, not allowing your bees to be transported for the purpose of pollination, using feral genetics instead of purchasing nucs or queens from major suppliers, avoiding areas where heavy commercial agriculture exists which comes with heavy spraying of pesticides, and just a general leaving the bees to exist as they would in nature and giving them a good home to live and inspecting them in a very responsible manner.

As for myself, I've had great success with raising and keeping bees in a natural manner for approximately 14 years. As my web site explains, I do removals from homes and sell honeybee nucs. My customers would surely attest that my methods have not only served myself well, but them as well.

If anyone would like to reach out to me in order to learn more about the art of natural beekeeping, be sure and visit the contact info on my page.

In closing, I would like to list some links to videos and other resources of which I usually give to new customers who are beginning this journey of natural beekeeping. Michael Bush is a wealth-of-knowledge when it comes to natural beekeeping.

Here's his main site which has answers to just about anything you'd want to know:

http://bushfarms.com/bees.htm

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Here's an 8-minute video by Michael Bush where he succinctly and beautifully

explains the philosophy of natural beekeeping:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DFKqgWuCBA

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Michael Bush, Four Simple Steps to Healthier Bees:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3qniBf7_U0&spfreload=10

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Here's Don "The Fat Bee Man" explaining how to light a smoker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwEnri6lNNI