Why Swabees Is a Treatment-Free Apiary
At Swabees, we want to encourage naturally resilient honey bee colonies. That’s the main reason we’ve chosen to run our family apiary in the Lincolnshire Wolds without using Varroa treatments.
It’s a choice about how we keep our bees and the long-term direction we want to take. It isn’t a claim that our bees are immune to problems, or that our honey is healthier than honey from other apiaries.
What treatment-free means at Swabees
When we describe Swabees as treatment-free, we mean that we don’t use treatments against Varroa mites in our hives.
Varroa is a serious challenge for honey bees. Choosing not to use treatments doesn’t make that challenge disappear, and treatment-free should never be confused with mite-free.
Our aim is to encourage colonies that can cope with that challenge through their own natural resilience. That is our goal, not a guarantee that every colony will thrive without treatment.
Thinking beyond a single season
Beekeeping connects us to the changing seasons, but our ambitions reach further than the next honey harvest.
We’re interested in the long-term resilience of our bees. Our decision to avoid Varroa treatments reflects that outlook: we want natural resilience to be central to the future of our apiary.
This is not a quick fix or a promise of easy beekeeping. It is a direction we have chosen thoughtfully, with an understanding that keeping bees involves uncertainty and responsibility.
Our approach, not a rule for every beekeeper
There are different ways to manage an apiary, and beekeepers work in different circumstances.
We don’t share our treatment-free approach to criticise those who use Varroa treatments. We share it because we believe customers deserve to understand the choices behind the products they buy.
For Swabees, encouraging naturally resilient colonies is the reason for this choice. Other beekeepers may take a different approach to supporting their bees.
What this means for your jar of honey
Our seasonal British honey connects you with our family apiary and the landscape of the Lincolnshire Wolds. Its story begins with the bees and the flowers they visit.
Being treatment-free is part of that story, but it isn’t a health claim. We don’t suggest that avoiding Varroa treatments makes our honey safer, more nutritious or medicinal.
Instead, we want to offer something straightforward: honey with a clear origin, made by bees kept by a family you can get to know, with an honest explanation of our approach.
Looking to the future
Our hope is to build an apiary whose future is rooted in naturally resilient bees. Working without Varroa treatments is the path we’ve chosen towards that goal.
We’ll keep sharing our story openly, without pretending that nature comes with guarantees.
Thank you for supporting Swabees and taking an interest in the bees behind every jar.
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