We are the Preservation Beekeeping Council, a new non-profit organization centered in southwest Washington state with a mission: we advocate for new and sustainable methods of beekeeping.  Our goal is to develop and promote practices that put the bees' health, comfort and well-being first.  We are interested in the newest science on wild bees and management principles that enable bees to live as close to their wild state as possible; our hives are not for honey production, but for the simple goodness of caring for bees.  We have created a very special project to offer anyone the opportunity to adopt a bee-friendly hive where bees may live wild and thrive.  In this way, we hope to create a large, international village of bee stewards: some who keep bees, and many who - through adopting a BeeHaven Hive - provide safe, secure housing for wild honeybees.

     What has created this need?

• Annual honeybee losses currently are about 40%.
• Bee species are fighting a battle against a toxic combination of: habitat loss, insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides that have migrated into our soils and plants, bee diseases and parasites, and some conventional beekeeping practices that disrupt their immune defense systems.
• Our native pollinators are also becoming scarce and some are now endangered.

     Plants require pollination to produce fruits and vegetables.  Bees are an integral part of nature, and an indicator species whose failure warns us when our environment is degrading.  Preservation beekeeping methods promote consciousness of and respect for the delicate interrelationships maintained among all living things; we listen to "the wisdom of the hive."

Click on the link below to watch Susan Chernak-McElroy lovingly recover a swarming group of bees...

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_bv9uMZiXpFU0FVLTNRLWRvVzQ

     Our work is shared locally and internationally through workshops, classes, online websites and blogs, community and school programs, conferences, written materials and discussion groups.  We communicate regularly with many local, national and worldwide groups that focus on bees, and the BeeHaven Project is a concerted effort to bring together all that we know and teach under one umbrella.

     To provide what we believe is a safe home for honeybees, we have designed a hive box that can be mounted to trees (or other locations, at least 3' up) in approved locations, has a round insert that mimics a tree trunk, has extra insulation added to the interior, and has its interior monitored by PBC volunteers. Our purpose is not to collect honey, but rather to increase likely nesting sites for honeybee swarms in safe locations that can provide nutritional forage, potential long term survival of the colony, and educational opportunities for the public.  The hive boxes are designed for the safety and comfort of the bees, the materials used are low cost and readily available, and we have reconfigured the design numerous times taking in mind the suggestions of multiple like-minded beekeepers.

    $200 enables us to build and place a BeeHaven hive structure where a honeybee colony can potentially thrive and be respectfully monitored three times during the active season (Spring, Summer, Fall), as well as when needed additionally.   Your generous donation is start-up support towards our effort to provide bees a chance to live relatively undisturbed, the way Nature intended.  We hope to place between 10 to 20 bee homes in the coming year (50+ in the next 5 years), with engraved names of the sponsors on the boxes, educational signage, and provide online progress reports and photos so you can see your bees in action.  We will also be encouraging plantings of bee-friendly forage in some of the locations where needed.  Please join us!

BeeHaven Habitat

General Information/Requirements

• Hive is roughly 20" in diameter and 30" in height.  It is hexagonal shaped with a square tilted top.  Empty hive weighs ~ 40 lbs.
• Hive needs to be  3' plus in height off the ground, the higher the better.  It can be mounted and secured onto a tree or on a rooftop in most cases.  
• Hive should be placed out of direct area of where people may be present or where there is lots of activity, sound, or possible exposure to smoke, flood water, and fumes.
• A camera port on the bottom of the hive will need to be accessible.
• There needs to be a constant supply of water available near the hive. This can be a pond, stream, or a shallow dish or basin with rocks, twigs so the bees have a place to land while getting water. Bees will use the closest water source to their hive, and you want to make sure that is not your water feature or drinking fountain!
• The hive should be placed where is will get  afternoon shade, and entrance should be out of direct line of the prevailing winds and rain.  The more shielded it is the better.
• Will be best located in a place where there is a very diverse plant habitat, NO MONOCULTURES, and where there is little to no use of pesticides/herbicides.

Barry explains the construction of the BeeHaven

Once the Hive is in Place

• The hive may be placed with no bees; it will however have enticing aspects to attract a swarm.
• If swarms are available, the hive will be placed with bees already inhabiting the hive.
• The hive should be left relatively undisturbed except for monitoring purposes.

     We need you, our allies, to sponsor the BeeHaven Hive Project. Love pollinators and honeybees, but don't feel like becoming a beekeeper?  The BeeHaven Project offers you a unique opportunity to adopt your very own bee hive, and get updates and photos about your bees throughout the active season!

      Importantly, the BeeHaven Project will be using small and larger donations on a one-time or continuing basis to purchase expendable and supplementary equipment, materials and supplies:

table saw, circular saw, pneumatic nailer, wood clamps, cordless drill/driver, picture frame clamps, exterior wood glue, burlap, 20' & 8' ladders, corrugated plastic sheets (roof material), exterior wood screws (1 1/4" - 1 5/8"0, utility knives, ratcheted tie-downs, and an inscription wood-burning tool kit.

     We also need endoscope inspection cameras (see photograph), which we will insert in the bottom of the hives (for least disturbance) to monitor health of the colonies.  Our intention is to post photographs for donors to connect with the lives they have influenced!  Funds may also pay for need-based fuel expenses of volunteers that will be driving many miles within the Pacific Northwest to monitor our hives in Spring, Summer and Fall.

      Join the excitement in making our dream a reality:  beekeeping for the bees!