A practical, experience-based look at keeping backyard bees with fewer or no treatments. This talk focuses on bee biology, observation-driven management, and simple adjustments that reduce stress on colonies while supporting long-term health and survivorship.
Natural comb, small-cell foundation, wax foundation, plastic foundation—which is best? This presentation explores the biological and practical differences between today's most common comb-building systems, examining their influence on nest organization, cell size, comb renewal, wax contamination, management, and beekeeper objectives.
Rather than advocating a one-size-fits-all approach, attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the advantages, limitations, and tradeoffs of each system to make more informed decisions for their own beekeeping.
For decades, beekeepers have relied on proxy measurements—mite counts, hygienic tests, VSH scores, and other indicators—to evaluate colony health. But what if the most meaningful measure has been in front of us all along?
This thought-provoking presentation explores why long-term colony survivorship may be the most comprehensive assessment of resilience, integrating genetics, environment, behavior, and adaptation into a single outcome.
Honey bees evolved for millions of years before humans ever managed them. This presentation explores the power of natural selection, locally adapted survivor stock, and colony-level survivorship, while examining the beekeeper's role in either reinforcing—or interrupting—the evolutionary processes that build resilient populations.
Few topics generate more debate than mite monitoring. In this candid presentation, Nathalie explains why she abandoned mite counts after a single attempt sixteen years ago and instead relies on long-term colony survivorship as the foundation of her management philosophy.
Whether you agree or disagree, you'll leave with a fresh perspective on one of beekeeping's most controversial subjects.
Sometimes the most effective management decision is knowing when not to intervene. Discover how reducing unnecessary manipulation can better preserve nest organization, colony stability, and natural bee behavior while simplifying beekeeping and allowing biology—not habit—to guide management decisions.
Most conversations focus on how to control mites. This presentation asks a different question: what makes some colonies capable of thriving despite them? By shifting the conversation from parasite control to colony resilience, attendees will explore a broader biological framework for understanding honey bee health.
What happens when every colony is kept alive, regardless of its ability to survive on its own? This presentation examines the evolutionary consequences of reducing natural selection, exploring how management decisions can shape the long-term resilience, adaptation, and genetic future of managed honey bee populations.
Is hygienic behavior the answer—or just one piece of a much larger puzzle? This presentation explores the complex, interconnected nature of honey bee resilience and why no single trait, assay, or breeding target can fully capture the biology of a successful colony.
From chemicals and genetics to mite counts and management techniques, beekeeping has repeatedly searched for "the answer." This presentation explores why complex biological systems rarely yield simple solutions—and why embracing complexity may be the key to building healthier, more resilient colonies.
What if evolution became your most valuable management tool? This presentation explores how working with natural selection, local adaptation, and colony-level survivorship can reshape the way we think about genetics, resilience, and the future of beekeeping.
Modern beekeeping often assumes that more equipment, more intervention, and more management lead to better outcomes. This presentation challenges that assumption, exploring how simpler systems that better align with honey bee biology can reduce costs, lower labor, and promote more resilient colonies.
Treatment-free beekeeping is often misunderstood as simply choosing not to apply treatments. This presentation explores a broader philosophy centered on bee biology, natural selection, colony-level survivorship, and long-term resilience, offering a fresh perspective on what treatment-free can—and should—mean.