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THE UPDATED BESTSELLING GUIDE TO LAID-BACK
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BEEKEEPING FOR ALL, NATURALLY!
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This book should be on every beekeeper’s bookshelf.
— HANK WILL, author, Plowing with Pigs, Editorial Director, Mother Earth News
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Learn about natural methods of beekeeping with minimal work u
and no boxes to lift. P
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— MICHAEL BUSH, author, The Practical Beekeeper
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IN THE SECOND EDITION of the bestselling beekeeping guide Keeping Bees with a
Smile, Fedor Lazutin, one of Europe’s most successful natural beekeepers, shares the a
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bee-friendly approach to apiculture that is fun, healthful, rewarding, and accessible to all. s
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This new edition includes dozens of color photographs, new hive management techniques,
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and an updated version of “Lazutin hive” plans. Additional coverage includes: l
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• Keeping bees naturally without interfering in their lives
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sustainable living in Russia. ra V N
Leo Sharashkin, PhD, is a full-time natural beekeeper and founder of HorizontalHive.com. He has ashkzutin Re dEd
edited numerous books on natural beekeeping, writes for major magazines, and speaks internationally on in w • •
bee-friendly beekeeping. He keeps bees in the Ozarks of southern Missouri. it
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To help bring you the very best inspiration and information about greener,
more sustainable lifestyles, Mother Earth News is recommending select
New Society Publishers books to its readers. This book is one of them.
Fedor Lazutin i Leo Sharashkin
www.newsociety.com
Praise for Keeping Bees with a Smile
In Keeping Bees with a Smile, author Fedor Lazutin proposes that we take
a more humane and holistic look at our relationship with the European
honey bee. And while the established beekeeping industry doesn’t want to
hear it, Lazutin’s approach is one that mimics nature and is more humane
for the bees and humans alike — leading to a healthier life for both. This
second edition, as beautifully translated and edited by Dr. Leo Sharashkin,
has been revised and updated with many additional color illustrations
and photos, as well as appendices packed with more information. I had
the opportunity to hear master beekeeper Sharashkin speak several years
ago and have found great success by using the methods he and Lazutin
promote. We no longer medicate, we no longer lose colonies (and sleep),
and we populate our new home-built hive boxes with feral swarms that
we attract. This book should be on every beekeeper’s bookshelf as it rep-
resents a paradigm shift, worthy of consideration by everyone that calls
herself a beekeeper.
— Hank Will, author, Plowing with Pigs,
and Editorial Director, Mother Earth News
Keeping Bees with a Smile — 2nd Edition is an updated version of Lazutin’s
wonderful book on natural beekeeping in a horizontal hive. If you want
to learn about natural methods of beekeeping with minimal work and no
boxes to lift from someone with a lot of experience, an optimistic view,
and a natural philosophy, you should read this book.
— Michael Bush, author, The Practical Beekeeper, www.bushfarms.com
At its core, Keeping Bees with a Smile offers an appreciation for all forms
of life and a glimpse of how beautifully all can work together if we allow
the rules of nature to be our guide. The decline of honeybee health in
the last decade has helped renew interest in beekeeping, and this book
provides a blueprint for creating a harmonious relationship between bees
and their human partners. These foundational principles can be adapted
and applied in different geographical areas and climates, helping us build
more resilient and sustainable communities and reconnect with the nat-
ural world.
— Bonnie Morse, Director, Bee Audacious
Keeping Bees with a Smile has already shaken up the thinking of the
independent- minded beekeepers in North America and Europe.
Fedor Lazutin, one of Russia’s foremost natural beekeepers, describes
a beekeeping system based on a trust of a bee colony as a living being
capable of solving life’s challenges without human assistance. Be-
ginner friendly and complete with fascinating photographs, it is a
valuable guide for independent-minded beekeepers who are seeking
ways to keep bees without treating them with chemicals, disrupting
their homes, and otherwise intruding on their lives.
— Dr. Thomas D. Seeley, Professor, Cornell University,
author, Honeybee Democracy and The Lives of Bees
This book is a reminder that bees can thrive on their own if we just
allow them to do so. It is also a fascinating story of how beekeepers
from another culture solve their own problems by using their histori-
cal wisdom and just letting the bees be themselves. Instead of making
beekeeping part of industrial agriculture, simple and straightforward
solutions to the bees’ health problems still exist — a nd the clear guid-
ance of Keeping Bees with a Smile is great help in this direction. It also
emphasizes that we must do our part to restore a clean and diverse
environment, and shows ways to do so. If honey bees can thrive in
the future, we will, too.
— Kirk Webster, treatment-free beekeeper, Vermont
Keeping Bees with a Smile carefully sets out a natural beekeeping ap-
proach based on horizontal hives and minimal colony manipulation.
Keep only bees of the local race; nurture their natural means to stay
healthy; use extra-deep combs; propagate colonies by swarming — the
book is full of important lessons for all beekeepers. It also includes
numerous insights and excerpts from Russian beekeeping texts oth-
erwise unavailable to English readers. Fedor Lazutin’s nature-based,
simple method ensures vigorous and productive bees, while also sav-
ing time and money. Thorough and well written, with excellent color
pictures — we love Keeping Bees with a Smile!
— Dr. Nicola Bradbear, Director, Bees for Development
Keeping Bees with a Smile
KEEPING BEES
with a smile
principles and practice of
NATURAL BEEKEEPING
SECOND EDITION
by Fedor Lazutin
Translated from the Russian by Mark Pettus, PhD
Edited by Leo Sharashkin, PhD
Copyright © 2020 by Elena Lazutina and HorizontalHive.com
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Diane McIntosh. Cover image © iStock.
All photos © Elena Lazutina unless otherwise indicated.
Printed in Canada. First printing April, 2020.
This book is intended to be educational and informative. It is not intended
to serve as a guide. The author and publisher disclaim all responsibility for
any liability, loss or risk that may be associated with the application of
any of the contents of this book.
Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of Keeping Bees with a Smile,
Revised Edition should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address
below. To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North
America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com
Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:
New Society Publishers
P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada
(250) 247-9737
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Keeping bees with a smile : principles and practice of natural
beekeeping / by Fedor Lazutin; translated from the Russian by Mark
Pettus, PhD ; edited by Leo Sharashkin, PhD ; artist, Andrey Andreev ;
technical drawings, Fedor Lazutin, Alexander Razboinikov, Leo Sharashkin ;
hive drawings (version 4), Chris Bloom.
Names: Lazutin, Fedor, author. | Pettus, Mark, 1978– translator. |
Sharashkin, Leonid, editor.
Description: Revised and updated 2nd edition. | Previously published under
title: Keeping bees with a smile: a vision and practice of natural apiculture.
Ithaca, New York : Deep Snow Press, 2013. | Includes index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190206543 | Canadiana (ebook) 20190206551 |
isbn 9780865719279 (softcover) | isbn 9781550927207 (PdF) |
isbn 9781771423168 (ePub)
Subjects: lcsh: Bee culture. | lcsh: Honeybee.
Classification: lcc sF523 .l398 2020 | ddc 638/.1 — dc23
New Society Publishers’ mission is to publish books that contribute
in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society,
and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment,
in a manner that models this vision.
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Foreword — The Bee Book That Makes Sense:
A Roadmap to Natural Beekeeping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Part I:
A Path to Natural Apiculture
A Brief Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
How It All Got Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
A Small Side Note. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Industrial and Natural Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Bee Colony’s Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The Goals of This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Tree Hollow as the Bees’ Natural Home . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Some Useful Facts about Comb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The Bee Colony’s Developmental Cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
A Year in the Life of a Bee Colony. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
A Word or Two on Wintering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
The Ideal Comb: How Deep Is Deep Enough? . . . . . . . . . . 30
Winter Ventilation of the Beehive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Bee Races. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
The European Dark Bee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Bee Diseases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Symbiosis in Nature (A Philosophical Digression). . . . . . . . 54
Bees and Their Enemies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
A Bit of History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
The History of the Frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Modern Systems of Industrial Beekeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
vii
viii Contents
Bees in the Industrial Hive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
A Word or Two about Swarming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
“Little to Smile About” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Is There a Way Out? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
The History of Horizontal Hives with Extra-Deep Frames. . . 79
The Modern Horizontal Hive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
The Horizontal Hive with Extra-Deep Frames . . . . . . . . . . 87
Using the Extra-Deep Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Part II:
The Practice of Natural Apiculture
A Description of the Horizontal Hive
with 25 Extra-Deep Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
How to Keep Bees in a Horizontal Hive
with Extra-Deep Frames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
The Central Commandments of Natural Beekeeping. . . . . . 100
A Beekeeper’s Tasks in Spring and Summer. . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Fall Procedures: Pulling Honey and Preparing for Winter . . . 107
How to Make Extra-Deep Frames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Brushstrokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
How to Capture a Swarm in a Swarm Trap . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Responsibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Questions and Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Epilogue to Parts I and II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Part III:
The Finer Points of Natural Beekeeping
Three Years Later. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Principles of Natural Beekeeping Revisited. . . . . . . . . . . . 134
The Recipe for Success in Beekeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Nectar Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Bee Race and Colony Strength. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
On the Mean Bees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
The Queen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Contents ix
The Vital Rhythms of a Bee Colony. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
The Death of Bee Colonies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Various Approaches to Natural Beekeeping. . . . . . . . . . . . 160
More on Supersedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Swarming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
How to Collect a Swarm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
The Hive Entrance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Spring Inspection of Bee Colonies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Spring Buildup of Bee Colonies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Preparing for the Main Honeyflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
The Main Honeyflow and the Second Half of Summer . . . . . 191
Pulling Honey and Preparing for Winter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Questions and Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Part IV:
How Bee Colonies Winter,
And How to Make Wintering as Successful as Possible
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
The Facts: What You Must Know about the Wintering Process
of an Individual Bee and of the Colony as a Whole. . . . 215
The Colony’s Main Job During the Winter . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
The Thermal Physics of a Wintering Colony . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Bee Respiration in the Winter Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
The Role of Water in the Wintering Process . . . . . . . . . . . 228
The Search for the Ideal Home for a Bee Colony. . . . . . . . . 235
The Physiological Condition of a Colony
as It Enters the Winter Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Winter Reserves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
The Location of Winter Reserves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
The European Dark Bee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Wintering Indoors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Conclusions to Part IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Afterword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Afterword to the Second Edition:
Natural Beekeeping Accessible to All . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
