SchifferTree Live Cam
2020: Naturally migrated swarms, untreated, unfed & untouched!
Authorized manufacturers:
Germany:
tree cave Sirid Henneberger, Leipzig
Caritas Werkstatt Pocking, bei Passau
Austria:
Hoiz.Tirol, Hopfgarten
Switzerland:
SchreinereiPlus, Oey-Diemtigen
The book about the SchifferTree:
Evolution der Bienenhaltung - Artenschutz für Honigbienen, Ulmer Verlag 2020 (german)
Installation of the Schiffer-Tree, but how? - Click here for the video!
Important notice: The one-piece SchifferTree® is a wildlife shelter, which is hung up empty and populated by a wide variety of animals. In addition to bats, hornets, bumblebees and birds, the SchifferTree® is also frequently colonized by wild swarms of honeybees. Hanging up wild animal houses is absolutely legal and does not require registration with the german veterinary office, nor is this form of species protection subject to german livestock laws. Incidentally, a swarm of bees will not be stopped by a bird occupation.
In the case of active colonization, the situation with the legislation is completely different. In this case, the swarm has been taken into possession and is subject to mandatory reporting (german law). We advise against active colonization!
ATTENTION:
Would Sea Shepherd sell harpoons?
The Swiss company Nova-Ruder and the Swiss organization FreeTheBees have been selling a modified SchifferTree® as "SwissTree" for some time. They aggressively promote this as literally a "significantly improved SchifferTree®". For this purpose, the species protection concept of the SchifferTree® has been transformed into a " hive system" by, among other things, incorporating inspection openings. In addition, a frame system consisting of stacked rings is offered as a "BeekeeperTree". FreeTheBees becomes thus "KeepTheBees" (...). Therefore it has lost its purpose of the liberation of the bees. Here numerous possibilities for managing and manipulating the bees are created. A direct contradiction to the protection of species! In addition, there is no sensible installation possibility for the Swiss Tree. However, the ground or the proximity to the ground is a so-called "selective factor" for honey bees. Bee swarms always choose the height to live (see Thomas Seeley). This behavior originates from thousands of years of natural selection and must be taken into account in species protection. Bee colonies that inhabited caves close to the ground fell victim to natural selection. If bee health is a priority, such criteria cannot be ignored.
In addition, unnatural and potentially emitting materials are used (e.g. large plastic disks with direct bee contact). Thus, the Swiss Tree hive is far from meeting the maximum and uncompromising quality standards of a SchifferTree® tree cavity simulation. Remarkably, Mr. Herzog (Managing Director of Nova Ruder) refused to implement the improvements made to the SchifferTree® by the latest findings. The sold cavities do not reflect the current state of knowledge and we advise against buying from this company! In addition, we have forbidden the company Nova-Ruder to sell SchifferTrees® in the future.
The flat statement that the Swiss Tree is a (considerably) improved SchifferTree® is simply wrong, because the conversion creates a large number of physical weak points. What is true is that a tree cavity simulation intended for species protection has been reconfigured to loot ("to exploit") and at the cost of loss of physical integrity. In short, a tree cavity simulation for species conservation, was converted into a barn for livestock. In principle, the improvement of housing conditions in farm animal husbandry is absolutely desirable, necessary and long overdue. It is gratifying that the original SchifferTree® has now become a trendsetter and is laying the foundations (see also "bee gum" and "Zeidlerstock"). The fact that this conversion is titled as an "upgrade" by André Wermelinger (managing director of FreeTheeBees) shows that the organization does not adequately differentiate between species protection and farm animal husbandry and furthermore prioritizes the second, contrary to its own public representations. The flat claim "considerably improved SchifferTree®" is therefore likely to be a comparative advertisement intended to exploit the good reputation of the SchifferTree® to increase sales of the comparatively little sought-after "Swiss Tree hive" (Nova Ruder 2020: only 37 Swiss Trees sold against 128 SchifferTrees®) and, moreover, does not correspond to the facts. Both violate the Swiss law against unfair competition. We very much regret that this path has been taken and that we are thus forced to make a public counterstatement!
The Swiss Tree hive based on the SchifferTree® was built for livestock/beekeeping and not for bees! Furthermore, the Swiss Tree is not a species-appropriate hive, as presented on the Nova Ruder website (as of 04.04.2021). Species-appropriate are always only those conditions to which a species has adapted in the course of evolution. Undoubtedly, bees have not evolved to live in wood/plastic composite hives, which are also located directly on the ground or near the ground and are also managed. The proximity to the ground alone is already an exclusion criterion for keeping honey bees in a species-appropriate manner.
The SchifferTree®, on the other hand, was built and developed to free bees from all the criteria of livestock farming, to protect them from the manipulative interventions of humans and to provide a species-appropriate home for many other endangered, tree-hollow-dwelling animal species! The SchifferTree® thus answers the needs of the many idealistic animal and species protectors who simply want to do something good for bees, nature and wildlife. Anyone can hang empty tree cavity simulations in their home and give endangered wild animals a species-appropriate home. No beekeeping training is required to do this, unlike for keeping livestock!
If you would like to purchase a "State of the Art" Schiffertree® in Switzerland, we recommend our new cooperation partner, Schreinerei+. The business of Barbara Schranz (Managing Director) is a non-profit, authorized manufacturing company that gives people with handicaps a job and does excellent work: https://www.schreinereiplus.ch/
Authorized manufacturers:
Germany:
tree cave Sirid Henneberger, Leipzig
Caritas Werkstatt Pocking, bei Passau
Austria:
Hoiz.Tirol, Hopfgarten
Switzerland:
SchreinereiPlus, Oey-Diemtigen
The book about the SchifferTree:
Evolution der Bienenhaltung - Artenschutz für Honigbienen, Ulmer Verlag 2020 (german)
Installation of the Schiffer-Tree, but how? - Click here for the video!
Important notice: The one-piece SchifferTree® is a wildlife shelter, which is hung up empty and populated by a wide variety of animals. In addition to bats, hornets, bumblebees and birds, the SchifferTree® is also frequently colonized by wild swarms of honeybees. Hanging up wild animal houses is absolutely legal and does not require registration with the german veterinary office, nor is this form of species protection subject to german livestock laws. Incidentally, a swarm of bees will not be stopped by a bird occupation.
In the case of active colonization, the situation with the legislation is completely different. In this case, the swarm has been taken into possession and is subject to mandatory reporting (german law). We advise against active colonization!
ATTENTION:
Would Sea Shepherd sell harpoons?
The Swiss company Nova-Ruder and the Swiss organization FreeTheBees have been selling a modified SchifferTree® as "SwissTree" for some time. They aggressively promote this as literally a "significantly improved SchifferTree®". For this purpose, the species protection concept of the SchifferTree® has been transformed into a " hive system" by, among other things, incorporating inspection openings. In addition, a frame system consisting of stacked rings is offered as a "BeekeeperTree". FreeTheBees becomes thus "KeepTheBees" (...). Therefore it has lost its purpose of the liberation of the bees. Here numerous possibilities for managing and manipulating the bees are created. A direct contradiction to the protection of species! In addition, there is no sensible installation possibility for the Swiss Tree. However, the ground or the proximity to the ground is a so-called "selective factor" for honey bees. Bee swarms always choose the height to live (see Thomas Seeley). This behavior originates from thousands of years of natural selection and must be taken into account in species protection. Bee colonies that inhabited caves close to the ground fell victim to natural selection. If bee health is a priority, such criteria cannot be ignored.
In addition, unnatural and potentially emitting materials are used (e.g. large plastic disks with direct bee contact). Thus, the Swiss Tree hive is far from meeting the maximum and uncompromising quality standards of a SchifferTree® tree cavity simulation. Remarkably, Mr. Herzog (Managing Director of Nova Ruder) refused to implement the improvements made to the SchifferTree® by the latest findings. The sold cavities do not reflect the current state of knowledge and we advise against buying from this company! In addition, we have forbidden the company Nova-Ruder to sell SchifferTrees® in the future.
The flat statement that the Swiss Tree is a (considerably) improved SchifferTree® is simply wrong, because the conversion creates a large number of physical weak points. What is true is that a tree cavity simulation intended for species protection has been reconfigured to loot ("to exploit") and at the cost of loss of physical integrity. In short, a tree cavity simulation for species conservation, was converted into a barn for livestock. In principle, the improvement of housing conditions in farm animal husbandry is absolutely desirable, necessary and long overdue. It is gratifying that the original SchifferTree® has now become a trendsetter and is laying the foundations (see also "bee gum" and "Zeidlerstock"). The fact that this conversion is titled as an "upgrade" by André Wermelinger (managing director of FreeTheeBees) shows that the organization does not adequately differentiate between species protection and farm animal husbandry and furthermore prioritizes the second, contrary to its own public representations. The flat claim "considerably improved SchifferTree®" is therefore likely to be a comparative advertisement intended to exploit the good reputation of the SchifferTree® to increase sales of the comparatively little sought-after "Swiss Tree hive" (Nova Ruder 2020: only 37 Swiss Trees sold against 128 SchifferTrees®) and, moreover, does not correspond to the facts. Both violate the Swiss law against unfair competition. We very much regret that this path has been taken and that we are thus forced to make a public counterstatement!
The Swiss Tree hive based on the SchifferTree® was built for livestock/beekeeping and not for bees! Furthermore, the Swiss Tree is not a species-appropriate hive, as presented on the Nova Ruder website (as of 04.04.2021). Species-appropriate are always only those conditions to which a species has adapted in the course of evolution. Undoubtedly, bees have not evolved to live in wood/plastic composite hives, which are also located directly on the ground or near the ground and are also managed. The proximity to the ground alone is already an exclusion criterion for keeping honey bees in a species-appropriate manner.
The SchifferTree®, on the other hand, was built and developed to free bees from all the criteria of livestock farming, to protect them from the manipulative interventions of humans and to provide a species-appropriate home for many other endangered, tree-hollow-dwelling animal species! The SchifferTree® thus answers the needs of the many idealistic animal and species protectors who simply want to do something good for bees, nature and wildlife. Anyone can hang empty tree cavity simulations in their home and give endangered wild animals a species-appropriate home. No beekeeping training is required to do this, unlike for keeping livestock!
If you would like to purchase a "State of the Art" Schiffertree® in Switzerland, we recommend our new cooperation partner, Schreinerei+. The business of Barbara Schranz (Managing Director) is a non-profit, authorized manufacturing company that gives people with handicaps a job and does excellent work: https://www.schreinereiplus.ch/
