Introducing Hall Apiaries

Troy Hall is the owner and operator of Hall Apiaries. His land is nestled among the rich foraging terrain of the Upper Valley Region of New Hampshire and Vermont. 

By today’s standards, Troy has a unique beekeeping philosophy – Hall Apiaries has not used chemical treatments for Varroa mites and other pests on their hives in over a decade.       

Read on for some context and to learn more about Hall Apiaries’ beekeeping practices. 

Background 

In 1987, United States beekeepers were first exposed to the 1.5mm long arachnid that would transform the industry. Varroa destructor, aptly named though more commonly referred to as Varroa mite, is a parasitic arachnid, much like a tick, that infests honey bee colonies. Varroa mites feed on honey bee fat body tissues, weakening the honey bees and spreading viruses, like the Deformed Wing Virus, that shorten the honey bee lifespan.

Before Varroa mites, beekeepers would lose around 10% of their colonies each season. But once the mites spread through the U.S. beekeepers were reporting staggering losses. In February of 2007, many beekeepers reported 70% to 100% loss of their colonies. Later that year, Benjamin Oldroyd coined the term Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) to name this effect and its unknown causes. The industry reeled from the impact.

Today many suspect CCD is caused by multiple and interacting factors. The Varroa mites weaken the honey bees which are subsequently exposed to pesticides and other harmful environmental factors that lead to the death of adult honey bees while foraging in the fields. (See: Maral Spivak’s Ted Talk, Why Bees are Disappearing)

The industry needed solutions to survive. As often is the case in agriculture, the most expedient and short-term economical way to steady the ship and to save the domestic honey bees proved to be chemical treatments that protect honey bee colonies against the Varroa mite. Unfortunately, Varroa mites are adaptive and have developed resistance to several chemical treatments that were once popular tools to eliminate the mites. Varroa mite resistance and other concerns around overuse of chemical treatment in agriculture and beekeeping has led some beekeepers to explore alternative philosophies and beekeeping methods.

Troy Hall is one of those beekeepers.

Q & A with Troy Hall

Q: Could you (Troy) describe your beekeeping practices and pest management philosophy?

Troy: We are a diversified, small commercial apiary set up around honey production, queen breeding, and propagating honey bee genetics ideal for the northern climate … We use as little chemical input as possible. It has been over a decade since I treated the bees with any chemicals for Varroa mites or other pests. 

Troy Hall first started down the path of chemical free beekeeping when he met his mentor Kirk Webster. Kirk runs a blog detailing his beekeeping methods and the journey of building his own chemical free apiary. Troy was in disbelief when he first read Kirk’s posts: “Everything you read says you have to treat with chemicals, and if you don’t, you’re just destined to fail.”

But when he went to visit Kirk’s apiary for himself, Troy saw first hand how special Kirk’s operation was, and he was inspired to do it himself. 

Q: Can you speak a bit more to your queen breeding program? 

Troy: We don’t know enough about nature and how adaptive insects are … Honey bees are not removed from that. We have to let the bees stand on their own, but at the same time not subject them to complete failure. Give them a place where they can walk on their own and develop genetic mutations to deal with mites … I let the bees present themselves from one season to the next and propagate those that are showing promise.”

Hall Apiaries is focused on selective queen breeding. It may be helpful to think of Troy’s strategy as speeding up natural selection just a bit. In other words, Troy takes the bees that have successfully survived the Varroa mites and the harsh northern winters and breeds them to produce more queens of that same hardy stock that might be more likely to survive parasites and climate than stock from another queen. 

Q: What unique challenges have you faced as a treatment free apiary? 

Troy: I have to be adaptive to risk. If you set yourself up for risk, you have to be able to absorb it. We see higher mortality rates than if we were using organic miticides or hard chemicals. I’m always prepared to lose 50% [of colonies]. I’ve managed to be sustainable with that. My average is around 35%. The numbers have worked in my favor so far. . . If I were a beekeeper in another state, I’m not sure I would be so successful. We live in a clean environment without a lot of commercial agriculture, so there’s good forage. 

Q: Do you recommend treatment free beekeeping to other apiaries or beekeepers?

Troy: I’m always humbled. This is not the solution for everyone. I don’t go around and tell beekeepers you have to do it this way. This is a unique thing, and it’s a testimony to those around us that it can be done. 

Troy recognizes that there are a range of circumstances, business models, and environments that are not so compatible with treatment free beekeeping. He learned from observing Kirk in the early days that beekeeping without chemical treatment required an “advanced relationship and wisdom of bees, because you can be setting yourself up for failure.” 
Even so, Troy suggests that if things were different, if the industry thought more about the long-term health of the bees and the sustainability of beekeeping, both the bees and the environment may be better off.

Troy: The sad thing is that more and more commercial keepers gave up because they didn’t think you could have your business if you didn’t treat bees, and there’s truth to that, but I think we could have had greater success if people stuck to the treatment free paradigm and kept fewer colonies. . . I do think we [the industry] can do it, and the more we can do it without chemical input the better for the environment. 

Q: I know many folks are suspicious of beekeepers claiming no chemical treatment. They just don’t think it’s possible. How do you react to that? What inspires you to keep at it?

Troy: You have to believe in it. The proof is in showing up on the farm and saying, “wow, there is something different here, a vigor.” It’s getting people to see, taste, smell and experience it, to want to replicate it. You have to have integrity. People just believe you.