Brian Fredericksen: “every variable we have added for different reasons to
manage bees and make a living moves us further and further away from
nature.”
When it comes to things like plastic in the hive I have to agree with
Brian. Plastic foundation in honey supers is one thing, but plastic comb
in the brood chambers? It just seems like we’re trying awfully hard to
keep a bee from doing what a bee does. What’s the future in that? One of
the things a bee does and has done for thousands of years is build comb.
They build it and they tear it down. They arrange it and rearrange it to
fit their needs. They obviously like to have a fair amount of flexibility
when it comes to what they do with wax. How in the world does it make sense
to take something as fundamental as that away from them? I am sure that
the really seasoned veterans of beekeeping, the ones who have a sort of
sixth sense about bees, can read a lot about the state of a hive just by
looking at the brood comb. The less you let your bees do what bees are
designed to do the more clueless you’re going to be when nature says to
hell with this.
Steve Noble
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