I am a small-time beekeeper and I think my brief experience in beekeeping chemical free may help you.
In the spring of 2011 I started my first hive. I want my bees chemical free and managed as organically as feasibly possible. I ordered one colony and put the bees in my home-made Warre hive. The package of bees arrived early April and by mid-summer I was regretting that I could not easily inspect the colony for any pests or diseases because of my choice of hives. So I changed my philosophy. Instead of allowing the bees to do whatever bees do without any "supervision" (I use this term lightly), I decided it would be OK to allow bees to do whatever it is that they do but that I would need to be able to monitor their progress and be prepared to intervene when necessary.
A Warre hive is a poor choice for top bar hives in Kansas. Especially when you consider our hot summer weather. I removed the contents of the quilt, and inserted an object between the top cover and the quilt to help create air circulation. Those poor girls were so hot, even in a site that is naturally shaded all afternoon. My adjustment seemed to provide little relief. A better choice would be the Kenyan style top bar. At least with the Kenyan style you have more room to work and the top bars are more easily removed for inspection.
Bees are an expensive hobby and I felt that the investment I made in the bees required some insurance plan, and that plan had to be me. So I ordered Langstroth equipment and did my first cutaway in late summer 2011 when I transferred my only colony from the Warre to the Langstroth. It was hot!
I still keep my bees chemical free and haven't noticed any Varroa, yet. However, I do have a beetle infestation so a friend of mine and I installed traps laden with mineral oil and apple cider vinegar about 6 weeks ago. I'm not sorry I did that and I still consider my bees chemical free, because the oil won't be transferred to the brood, comb or honey.
I do feed sugar water as needed, and this is the first year I have ever fed during the fall. You see, last winter (2012, 2013) I entered the winter with four hives (my original package from 2011, two new packages from 2012, and a colony I purchased). The two packages I purchased in 2012 were housed in single deeps. Now that was a stupid mistake, there wasn't enough room for food stores and I lost both colonies, one to starvation and the other just left, they flat disappeared (they left a full super in the process, but the brood area was cleaned out). In the future I will feed in the fall as much as is necessary or take less honey. But not all colonies perform equally well and some will need help just to make it.
But still, no fall feeding the first two winters, only candy and Spring feeding. And still no chemicals or supplements. My first segue into treatments were the beetle traps last month. I think beekeeping can be managed chemical free, a person just needs to pay careful attention to the bees and the bee management calendar for this region.
Experiment and have fun! I performed my first split this last summer and expect to do the same this coming season. I hope to double my apiary with a combination of splits and new packages in the spring.
The long and short of it is. Over the last three years I purchased three packages and two complete colonies. I lost two of the packages last winter, but I gained a colony from a split this last spring so I am entering this winter with four colonies. One of them is a little weak, they just re-queened about 3 or 4 weeks ago and today my wife and I confirmed the presence of the new queen. Exciting stuff! I am pretty sure I will need to pay very careful attention to them this winter because of their low stores.
