Leo Sharashkin

Thank you all for a great week of bee talk!  We are at the peak of the spring bee season, so I'm signing off to go back to my bees (and to the wood shop to make another hundred of hives!)  I won't be monitoring this forum anymore or replying to posts, but you can learn more about natural beekeeping by reading Keeping Bees with a Smile and my other books, visiting my website HorizontalHive.com, and coming to my two-day natural beekeeping seminars at my apiary in the Ozarks of southern Missouri - or at one of the many other events across the US.
THANK YOU and best wishes,

Leigh,
Absolutely - that complete procedure is for the "deep cleanup" in case of infectious disease, or when you buy equipment you know no history of.
If the colony dies of non-communicable-disease causes, you can do moderate cleaning. (E.g., the conventional bees most commonly die of Varroa mites - the viruses they carry, which kill the bees, are not transmittable through the bee equipment).  Note that bees are as concerned about the sanitary condition of their hive as you are; they apply the anti-bacterial and anti-viral propolis to surfaces.

Finally, how much cleaning is needed depends on what strain of bees you use, too.  When I visited a natural beekeeper Kirk Webster in Vermont with his 800 hives (and no treatments in 20 years), I was amazed to see that in case of colony death, he's reusing the equipment without any precautions! (But he's using his own survivor stock of bees that he's been selecting for 20 or more years.)

Kate,
No matter what region/climate, #1 most important thing is to be working only with local stock of bees adapted to your conditions and with high level of disease resistance.  All other principles will still apply, too - including, importantly, refraining from any treatments so that natural selection can take its course and weed out the non-adapted colonies.  However, since queens mate in open flight miles away from their own hive, maintaining the local strain is something that can only be done in isolation (remote areas with no other beekeepers) or when all or most of the beekeepers within 5 miles of you use local stock.  The latter explains why natural beekeeping is a challenge in many areas - too much non-local genetics is being brought in every year, diluting the adaptation of even the local bees that are out there.
Given the moist climate of the Pacific Northwest, I would put the hive in full sun; make a roof overhang of at least 4" so it sheds water away from the hive box; and I would insulate my hive very well at the time on construction to prevent condensation on the inside walls and ceiling.  (If further "drying" is necessary, some beekeepers successfully attach a little "greenhouse" (enclosed porch covered with glass) to the south-facing front of the hive - like a solar drier - to preheat and dry the air before it enters the hive.

Ted - I fully agree with Gregory - build an insulated hive (I recommend at least 1.5" or 4 cm of natural wool between the walls) and they winter successfully outdoors. If you have not yet read Keeping Bees with a Smile, 2020 Edition, please do as it is the most comprehensive resource on natural beekeeping in cold climates using horizontal hives. The author is from central Russia (Zone 4) with climate similar to southern Canada or Wisconsin. By the way, in the north it is REALLY important to use horizontal hives with EXTRA-deep frames (e.g., Layens 16" deep) - I do NOT recommend a "horizontal Langstroth" hive (using standard American frames just 9" deep), no matter how well you insulate it. There are free plans for double-wall insulated Layens horizontal hive at HorizontalHive.com

Leigh - I've used the following method to even disinfect equipment (hives, frames) from colonies with European foulbrood. When equipment was then used to house other colonies, none of them got the disease, which shows that the disinfection was effective. This method is widely used in Russia.

1. Scrub the frames and hive walls. Remove any remaining comb or foundation from the frames and melt it (I use solar wax melter).

2. Scorch the hive walls with a blowtorch until it starts slightly burning/darkening the wood. Pay special attention to the corners.  (Do not scorch the frames or they can be easily damaged by such high temperatures.) This is described in Keeping Bees with a Smile.

3a. Using a paint brush, "paint" the walls and the frames with 6% ("cleaning") vinegar.
3b. Using the same paint brush, without waiting for the vinegar to dry, paint over it with 10% hydrogen peroxide (the "regular" h. peroxide is much weaker - don't use it. You can either buy 30% h. peroxide and dilute it, or buy 12.5% h. peroxide sold in pharmacies - usually in bright red containers - the 12.5% stuff will work as good as 10%, you don't have to dilute it).  What happens is that vinegar reacts with h. peroxide to form peracetic acid, which is a very strong disinfectant.
3c. Let dry for 2 hrs.
3.d. Repeat 3.a and 3.b one more time and you are done.

Conrad,
In your cold climate I'd recommend building a double-wall insulated Layens hive from the get go.  OR build a solid-wood hive, put it inside an enclosed shed, and connect the entrance to the outside with 2" air hose (incidentally, this would also offer protection from bears).  Finally, adding insulation in the fall is possible (like 1" of styrofoam) - but it needs to be done well and be waterproof so water/melted ice does not get into the insulation / between the insulation and the wood box.

Louis - there's a variety of horizontal hive models, so as you choose one to build, note that after many years of comparisons, I recommend the LAYENS hive over Lazutin or Long Langstroth - as explained in this new edition of Keeping Bees with a Smile.

Pearl, there were actually several articles in American Bee Journal (the most recent in Aug. 2019 issue) about keeping bees in Layens horizontal hives in Florida - beekeepers really love them.
You are correct, good insulation is as important in hot climates as in cold ones. I'm finding that the best design in Southern Missouri conditions is a double-wall Layens hive with 1.5" of natural wool insulation in the walls and bottom, and with ventilated attic space (filled with a wool pillow for the winter, the Layens way). In the Layens hive, the air gets into the attic space through a small gap after the last frame (which you should not close - it is beneficial for ventilation.  The wintering setup is shown in Chapter 24 in Layens's Keeping Bees in Horizontal Hives and also in Keeping Bees with a Smile. These techniques have worked very well for me.

Margie,
Inasmuch as this information is not encoded in the bees' genetic code, calling what you describe a "genetic memory" would not be accurate. The bee's behaviors that may even look magical at first glance actually have some very good biological explanations (that are even more amazing than any mythical explanations humanity has come up with). I highly recommend the books by Dr Tom Seeley (in this order): Honeybee Democracy,  The Lives of Bees, and The Wisdom of the Hive - for a glimpse of how these biological mechanism work, while creating an impression that there is a "spirit of the hive".    

Jenni,

Yet have you found that as your beekeeping style has evolved, certain artificial enhancements have made the endeavour more easy or enjoyable? Do you think that the practice of keeping bees and making honey will continue to evolve, and will that evolution result in something somehow simpler, or more complex? And in what ways?

Of all kinds of beekeeping I've personally experienced, I actually feel that skep beekeeping is the most harmonious and perfect one there is. It's truly cosmic and extremely Earth-friendly - like a song, I'd call it "beekeeping of the heart". The hives are built by hand from grasses and vines without ANY machinery required. They further require no resources such as lumber (=trees), metal (nails, steel wire), and other man-made materials that the modern hives and frames are made of. No sound of table saws; no harmful dust and noise - just you sitting there surrounded by the singing of birds and the rustling of leaves, meditating and making a basket in which the bees shall live. Indeed, the resulting hive is excellent for the bees and when it outlives its useful life, it returns to the earth and disappears without a trace - a microcosm of a natural journey on this planet Earth. But, despite all its beauty, the skep is not compatible with the modern way of life: too slow to make and the management of it (sitting and watching for swarms etc.) requires the kind of patience that most people no longer have in today's "developed" world...  I published the book "Honey From The Earth: Beekeeping and Honey Hunting on Six Continents" showing skeps and many other traditional modes of beekeeping - but these are dying out in most places.  I do foresee, however, that there will be a renewed interest in skep beekeeping by a small minority of beekeepers.

How do children seem to take to beekeeping? Are they generally excited but scared of the bees? Can you envision a children's program of looking after bees, or might that be more for the brave adults to try in evening workshops? How many people could contribute to activity of making their own hive, or have you found it mostly a satisfying solitary pursuit?

Children love it and - in my family - have little fear, as long as they see their parents interacting lovingly with bees and the non-invasive management and hive models do not stir aggression from the colonies. I think the best way to teach beekeeping to children is experiential - through apprenticeships & by example rather than any special programs. The adults, though, can benefit from an intensive course - in fact, I teach two-day natural beekeeping workshops at my apiary several times every year, and they are always full, with people coming from all over the US, Canada, and even from other countries.  As far as hive-making, it depends on your taste - it can be anything you envision: from doing it on your own, having a hive-building party in your local community (we've done that very successfully using free plans from HorizontalHive.com) - or even an entire factory.

I'm sending you an email with answers to your other, more intimate, questions. With best wishes of good health, Dr Leo