The conservatory apiary of the ELBA is located in the village of Norante, Alpes-de-Haute- Provence (south of France), a natural setting favored and free of any agrochemical pollution.
The apiary was founded in 2014 and is composed of 18 hives placed in 3 different sites so as not to saturate the foraging areas.
The hives used are horizontal hives, studied to be as closely as possible to the biological needs of the bee. These hives are made of Douglas pine 34 mm thick. They are equipped with a window over their entire length that allows to observe the life of the colony without disturbing them. They are exclusively populated by bees of the local subspecies, the “little Provence black blee”, adapted to their environment and representing a harmonious evolution with their biotope.
Our beekeeping respects the reproduction mode of bees by swarming. The colonies are used to produce native swarms that reseed nature to find wild bees in its heart.
OUR COURSES
The AEAV organizes regular courses to share our experience and passion for bees. Courses generally take place over 4 days in order to offer the most complete teaching possible.
Indeed, we offer several types of courses:
- Living apiculture courses whose approach is to accompany bees in their natural cycle. These courses are intended to get to know the basics of the working and needs of the colony so as to to minimize interventions and take only the surplus.
- Apitherapy courses (reserved only for therapists) intended to know beehive products, their mode of harvest and their therapeutic application.
- Mixed courses that combine living beekeeping and apitherapy.