Holistic Approach to Colony Colapse Disorder

The first Apiary I went to was in Haifa, this is the northern part of Israel. The apiary was located at the top of the Carmel Mountain; all around there were various fruit trees, figs, dates, olives. The apiary was located behind the Ba’haim garden where the gardeners meticulously care for the many species of flowers. This was where I found out about taking care of bees in an anthropological way. This method of beekeeping was written and lectured by Rudolf Steiner. I was able to inspect this hive. I asked the basic questions, how long has the hives been around for? Have there been any issues? What’s the percentage of loss/ year? Are there any other beekeepers in the area? She had three hives one had completely died a few weeks before. A second hive she said was her strongest hive and has been there for the last 2 years. Her third hive was a swarm she had just caught. In this area she was dealing with a major pest; the Mediterranean wasp. These wasps would completely wipe out a colony, eat the larvae. Though the concept of anthropological beekeeping is nice, I personally don’t see how it can be advantageous to other forms of beekeeping. The no-treatment of a hive most likely caused varroosis, deformed wing virus, and Sac Brood; all of which were seen in the first few frames we had pulled out of the hive.