NEWSLETTER #35 (English) from Urs & Izzy: Protecting bees from all angles!
- Izzy the busy bee....
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
October 2025 (Issue #35)
Dear honey lovers, our bees have now retreated to their yearly wintering...which lasts until mid February! And, while they are resting, we tell you everything about their protection; how humans protect them from wild animals, from mites, from other bees...and from humans themselves! An ongoing effort, that helps them thrive during the whole year!
Are you enjoying the newsletter? Don't be shy, tell us at baerenhonig@gmx.ch , or WhatsApp us, if you prefer. We'd love to hear from you!
News from the Beehives
The same than humans, that slow down when days get shorter, bees, after the fall equinox, also slow down and start preparing for their 'wintering', a period of time when the queen stops breeding, and they start feeding on the honey reserves that they stored. It is then, after the harvest of the honey, that we need to make sure that they are healthy and strong to survive the winter.
The main problem today for the bees during the winter is a mite, called varroa destructor, an invasive species from Asia that arrived to Europe in the early 70s. They attach to the bee (like lice to human hair!) and they make the bee sick and weak. Remember that we already talked about them on our newsletter here.
To assure that they don't have mites, we protect them using two organic acids approved for this purpose by the Swiss authorities; formic acid, which is naturally produced by ants , and oxalic acid, which can be found in many vegetables, such as rhubarb or spinach. In both cases, we use vapor to treat the hives, because it is better for the bees. You can compare it to eucaliptus vaping when we (humans) have a rough throat. The bees are ok with the treatments, as neither of the natural acids bothers them, and the mites get killed safely and cleanly. And, before you ask ... no, the frames and boxes that hold honey for human consumption are NOT in the hive, they have been removed earlier -- that is why this 'cleaning' task is performed only after the honey has been collected, and the whole honey boxes have been stored away until next year.
Where is my Honey...?
Your honey is waiting for you in our cellar!! According to the latest reports by the swiss local experts, the winter might be long, cold, short, mild, snowy and not snowy... all together! Well, whatever it is, we have the honey ready for you -- for very cold snowy evenings with fondue and hot teas, or for mild sunny mornings, enjoying breakfasts with bread and butter.
Spring honey (crystallized), Forest honey (liquid), and Melezitose -baking- honey (thick and tasty) wait for you in 500g and 1000g glasses - as long as they last!
This year, we have also patiently collected propolis, so, if you get cold sores, or have blisters on your feet because of the snowboots, don't hesitate in asking us for some raw solid propolis, or tincture in 98 proof alcohol. What, you don't know what propolis is? Then you will have to wait for your next newsletter, where we tell you everything about this interesting bee-glue, which happens to contain a very high concentration of goodies, thanks to the sap of the trees where they get it. But I'm already telling you too much!
Facts & Figures
If you like walking on the countryside, you will notice that almost any area in rural Switzerland is fenced with some electrical device, to contain cows. And if you try to pass through them, and touch one of the lines, you'll get a reminder of why they are there, a briefly painful electrical sting. That is about 2,000 - 3,000 volts.
Shepards use similar devices in Italy & Slovenia (Alps), Slovakia & Poland (Tatras) and France & Spain (Pyrenees) to avoid wolf attacks to their flocks....and now also in Wallis and Ticino (and probably in other cantons). But they are not exactly the same - they have higher voltage (4,000 - 5,000 V), as it needs to deter a strong predator instinct.
Well, beekeepers top the ranks here. The electrified fences that beekeepers have on these countries to deter bears around the hives are powered with 6,000 - 8000 Volts. That's a LOT of volts! are they dangerous? would they kill the animal (or an unsuspecting human)? NO, they are NOT dangerous, because, contrary to the classical electricity that we use at home, these currents have very low amperage (100 - 150 milliamperes). But, even if they are not dangerous, they can be extremely painful!!!
And even with all human brain power, animal ingenuity shows why they are here with us! Check these 2 videos, so you see how smart and persistent bears can be....
Did you know that...?
when there was no electricity, beekeepers found creative ways to avoid bears destroying the beehives to eat the honey.
There has always been brown bears about everywhere in Europe- from Spain to the Urals -- and also here in Switzerland (until 1904, when the last one was brown bear was shot in Engadin).
During the middle ages, the beekeepers in the north of Spain (where Izzy is from) protected the hives building almost medieval castle-walls for them. On a time where honey was as basic as bread and butter, being the only sweetener and preserver (sugar was very expensive, and only from beetroot), and wax as a basic stapler for providing light in the houses... what wouldn't you do!
The abellarizas (from 'abella', = bee in old Spanish!), were round fortresses with stone walls that were at least 1 meter thick, and minimum 2 meters high -- with an overhang at the top. But, instead of protecting people settlements from invasors, they were protecting beehives from bears. And, whereas the one in the photo is located in pretty flat ground, they were also set in cliffs and very steep terrain, making the access seriously difficult....even for humans! Because of all of the difficulties at that time (there were also abundant wolves on the zone), the activity has been called "heroic apiculture". Thanks Gonzalo (one of our old-young customers) for the original article in Spanish!
Swiss Bees
On September 2025, the city of Zurich announced new legislation concerning wild bee protection areas, that is already impacting a lot of beekeepers which run their hives in the city. Remember that we spoke several times about the large growth of hobby beekeepers in roofs and gardens, that, during the last 10 years, that has negatively impacted biodiversity due to the massive competition for small amount of resources, and that it was impacting even the survival rates and odds of honey bees. You can see here above, a map of the city of Zurich, each yellow dot is a 'registered' bee stand. And each stand hosts on average of eight bee colonies.
The legislators have been approached by various organizations, presenting the last years' studies that we referred in our newsletters, and a very last one, from 2025, lead by two scientists that applied AI to understand the dynamics of insect populations -- and they now have acted very quickly. From September 1, 2025, no more bee stands will be allowed in the protection zones (see map), and any stand on public grounds will need to be dissolved, as soon as the contract for the rental of the public grounds expire.
That is unfortunate for a lot of hobby beekeepers -and the 2 or 3 professional ones that have hives in the center of town-- yet, we have been lucky! Our bees live in a beehouse (which is almost 100 years old), some 100 meters on the outside perimeter of one of the designed protected areas. oufff! when we saw the map published (see here below), we were reaaaaaaally stressed!
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