Michael Bush, a beekeeper in Nebraska, thinks we should change our attitudes and our practices about beekeeping.

He has written a number of books including The Practical Beekeeper: Beekeeping Naturally. He has also put together many of his thoughts into a website that you can find at this address: http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm

Bush thinks that many beekeepers are so focused on treating bees against pests – and doing it in one particularly way – that they have lost sight of what might be some viable alternatives.

What he says can sometimes go against the grain of what we have been taught:

“The only way to have a sustainable system of beekeeping is to stop treating. Treating is a death spiral that is now collapsing. To leverage this, though you really need to raise your own queens from local surviving bees. Only then can you get bees who genetically can survive and parasites that are in tune with their host. As long as we treat we get weaker bees who can only survive if we treat, and stronger parasites who can only survive if they breed fast enough to keep up with our treatments. No stable relationship can develop until we stop treating.”

There’s more at the site. http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm