Beekeepers in the US have been fighting the Varroa Destructor mite with treatments for over 30 years, with no appreciable advancement. Meanwhile, we've learned that bees can quickly develop mite resistance and/or tolerance through natural selection. I discuss this and some suggestions for those wishing to keep bees treatment-free in this video.

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Bee-mindful's treatment-free resource map can be accessed at https://www.bee-mindful.com/treatment.... I also encourage you to check out their channel: ‪@beemindful1027‬.

Studies regarding the adaptation and survival rates of feral honeybees:
Mikheyev, A., Tin, M., Arora, J. et al. Museum samples reveal rapid evolution by wild honey bees exposed to a novel parasite. Nat Commun 6, 7991 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8991

Seeley, T.D. Life-history traits of wild honey bee colonies living in forests around Ithaca, NY, USA. Apidologie 48, 743–754 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-017-05...

I grew up on a farm on the edge of the Nebraska sandhills. A cattle ranch that bears our family name, founded in the late 1800s by my ancestors, is still owned and worked by my cousin. Life events have put me in the suburbs of a major metropolitan area in middle America, where my wife and I have raised our two kids. It's in this environment that I work to make as sustainable a life as I can, converting much of our backyard to grow food, including a garden, fruit trees and bee hives.

I attempt to use natural methods, as much as is possible, in my gardening and beekeeping. I garden organically and continue to learn to work with the soil and the plants, without the use of chemical supplements, herbicides or pesticides, to improve our harvest. Our honey bees are sourced from local colonies through swarms, trap-outs and cut-outs, and are kept, using treatment-free, natural methods, in Layens horizontal hives.

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