Apicultural Review Letters

What is the point with the new Apicultural Review Letters? You’ll find peer-reviewed old and new texts around beekeeping considering the charakter of bees but also nature and environment, peer-reviewed old and new practice in apiculture. At last after all critical overview over the present situation we nedd to keep en eye on the "longlasting fertility in apiculture".

The founder of the Waldorfschool and biologic-dynamic agriculture (Rudolf Steiner/Phd) considered Apiculture to be so important that he started 1923 lectures "on the charakter of bees".

For him it was a matter of "longlasting fertility in apiculture" in contrast to success for a short time in artificial beekeeping. As generally in agriculture, also here apply that it is something different if one gives free play to nature and only bring it on correct tracks or if one carry something artificially in this matter.

You can find interesting comparisons in these lectures, for instance worker bees and bloodcells, drones and nerve cells, bees and wasps (bees as in ancient times breeded wasps); he tells us about the importance of insects in nature (more important than pollination is the distribution of natural formic acid); about swarming, which is a crucial need of the bees (linked to bee poison and three infinitesimal eyes on the forehead, about which science didn't find out the meaning until now - but it's not surprisingly as for the time being only 1 % of the bee's behavioral repertoire has been dicovered and documented by scientists).

He speaks about the relation between brain and formic acid (which can be found in honey and bee poison), and if there is not enough formic acid in the human body, soul and spirit were not able to be cept together.

In other words: Everybody should be very much interested in beekeeping, "because more than one thinks human life depends on beekeeping."

Some apiaries suppose to improve the quality of their products by an „organic label", for others it is more likely a change for the worse.

They think the national „organic label" is good for deceiving oneself and customers, as there is an increasing tendency to weaken the nation's organic food standards in response to pressure from large-scale food manufacturers: „Recently Republican leaders in Congress attached a rider to the 2006 Agricultural Appropriations Bill to weaken the nation's organic food standards in response to pressure from large-scale food manufacturers. The process was profoundly undemocratic and the end result is a serious setback for the multi billion dollar alternative food and farming system that the organic community has so painstakingly built up over the past 35 years. Now are allowed: Numerous synthetic food additives and processing aids, including over 500 food contact substances, to be used in organic foods without public review. Young dairy cows to continue to be treated with antibiotics and fed genetically engineered feed prior to being converted to organic production. Loopholes under which non-organic ingredients could be substituted for organic ingredients without any notification of the public based on "emergency decrees." (OB #68)

Regarding honey labeled according the national „organic label" it is similar or even worse. A large company in Germany who offers this kind of honey is the importer „Honigimporteur Walter Lang GmbH". He is able to store more than 5000 tons honey of different kinds and origins. He is specialized in importing of honey in socalled „organic quality". The products are being labeled with the national German „Bio-Siegel" or the „Bioland-seal". The honey may be produced in it’s country of origin somehow naturally; here in Germany the honey needs go through a trial of „homogenisation" or in other words: it gets through a bad period: In two large production halls are waiting „gigantic double wanded and heated stirring machines for treatment and homogenisation of imported honey" (iT-Magazin 3/05, p. 28). If the honey has passed this procedure, it’ll receive rather unceremoniously the magisterially enacted national German „Bio-Siegel".

Imported honey which got through a bad period in a large industrial plant can of course be offered rather cheap at market: „We have a relaxing effect on honeymarket - Allos cuts prices" (S&K10/05)

Why has there been „overload problems" and a production bottleneck regarding honey since the year 2002? The reason is: groceries (meat from pork and poultry, honey) imported from China are sometimes so contaminated with ecologically harmful chemicals and animal medicine like Chloramphenicol in honey, that the EU needs to stop the import of animal produce, especially honey from time to time. Now as the EU abolished the restrictions, Allos is able to cut prices.

Newly the apiary „Sonnentracht", an affiliated company of „Honigimporteur Walter Lang GmbH", has been founded. With truck and a fork lift truck firm owner Gerrit Lang drives together with his 600 beecolonies across Germany. Extraction will be done at home in a full automatically extraction street combined with uncapping machine, working with heated knifes. There is almost no possibillity to check each comb before uncapping and extraction. But it is important, as there might be some small brood areas on the comb which can be easily overseen and thus honey is extracted together with brood - and honeyquality is derogated.

A „Sonnentracht-honey-expert" is being bred and labeled within a few minutes anyhow: Some customers and vistors who happened to be there at the time of an open house day could „apply their impressions in a blind-tasting and prove their taste perception. Only very few people did find out all kinds and are allowed now to call themselves a Sonnentracht-honey-expert" (Dbj 11/05, S. XV).

Other technical advisers and experts tell us how to produce beewax without residuals - for magazin beekeepers a not so easy task, as it turned out in an article issued recently in „Deutsches Bienenjournal (Dbj)".

Is it any wonder that an expert sometimes passes as a wise one? However, the technical adviser J.-D. Bunsen from Bioland in parts really knows a lot about beewax: „For storing honey you won’t find a cleaner medium than natural combs. That beewax never had been influenced by any processing procedure and saves a natural taste". Nevertheless he uses wired frames with foundation wax at least in the brood area of the hive. However, when he now recommends a socalled „uncapping-wax-melting-tub" for gaining uncapping wax effectively, not only beginners may think: maybe he is a „Sonnentracht-honey-expert? He wrote in his article: „They are a useful and inexpensive alternative to centrifugal machines. These uncapping-wax-melting-tubs are able to gain back the cristalized honey". But parts of the harvested honey are damaged to such a degree, that it can only be sold as lower quality honey. (Dbj 11/05, p. 478-479)

More abstruse is however a beekeeper, who is working with twirling frame hives. As if honeybees haven’t to bear enough manipulations! That beekeeper uses the twirling frame hive for swarmprevention. „In a 7-day-cycle the brood combs are being rotated for 180°, then the queen cell stood head first and was destroyed by the bees. ... After finding the first long maggots in the twirling frame hive, I started to rotate the frames once a day for 180°. In order to make this rotation slow as much as possible, I took a small electric motor with battery" (Dbj 11/05, p. 507).

This twirling or rotating frame hive was invented by the ungarian beekeeper Mr. Konya, who introduced it at Apimondia 2003 in Ljubljana. It is said he has 400 colonies in 10 vehiculars. In each vehicular you’ll find an electric motor working with rechargeable battery and a complicated machinery which is able to rotate the twirling frames once a day for 180° over the complete brood saison (Dbj 11/04, p. 474).

A true word from the ancients which is practised very little nowadays: Much pains are taken and time bestowed to teach us what to think; but little or none of either to instruct us how to think.

Let’s have a look if „organic beekeepers" or members of the Bioland-beekeeping-group see the point regarding beekeeping considering the character of bees. At least they are good in creating new words: „Professional beekeeping competence" , „Beekeeper’s cultivation", „Beekeeping according specific species, but easy to handle", „Broodnest as a oneness ".

Mr. Franz Jung, member of the Bioland-beekeeping-group says about himself that he wants to „discuss organic beekeeping fruitful" (Dbj 7/05, p. XX).

Let’s listen to him: „organic beekeeping is resting on three pillars, who stand together in an inner connection". One pillar is: „it is good practice in beekeeping to consider the Broodnest as a oneness".

You may ask, how many follies need to be headquartered in a head until this one may find a place?

Neither non-organic nor organic beekeepers consider the broodnest to be a oneness. It’s a pity but it’s a fact. Actually it is the merit of Mr. Gerhard Liebig/PhD that he established this fact. (Dbj 5/05, p. 204-207). „In numerous points the standards of organic associations differ only little from conventional beekeeping" The usage of wired frames and foundation wax is generally allowed - also by Demeter. What does it mean? Wired pieces of wood together with moulded wax foundations is given to the colony. Only Demeter tries to work with large frames which are completely nonpractical and not solely according beekeeping considering the charcter of bees. Demeter lays down in their standards that „Combs and brood need to grow according the developement of the colony by combs drawn out naturally, without being disturbed by frames", nevertheless the combs do not end naturally, they are enclosed in wire and frames.

More according beekeeping considering the character of bees can be called the building of natural combs for instance in a straw hive or in a Top-bar-hive (movable combs), as it can be found at the Centre for Ecological Apiculture.

Mr. Jung wants organic beekeeping to appear in an especially rosy light, in order to differentiate himself from conventinal beekeeping „clearly and dare to go the step towards the organic beekeepers". He defines the organic apiary as „Beekeeping according specific species, but easy to handle". In case of need you only have to visit him and see everthing in it’s greatness. Everybody is invited to visit his apiary so as to „make oneself a capaciously picture about an organic apiary". However, it is not all roses.

A Commander of the British Empire and Nobel prize winner once warned of those authors who show very clearly their altruism, helpfulness and greatness. Usually you should find characters where nothing but stereotyped ideas and emty definitions can be found.

Only emty definitions? Everything dulcet and not a word of truth in it? Franz Jung, author from the Bioland-beekeeper-group speaks about „Beekeeper’s cultivation" but in truth he is meaning „making artificial swarms". He talks very nice about the „Bien" and the „poetry of agriculture" but according his wishful thinking he is meaning artificial insemination, grafting or unnatural swarm prevention. He differenciates between organic and conventional beekeeping, where no differences can be found, and makes generalizations where distinctions needs to be made.

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