No, actually it's the workers who determine how many eggs get laid, who eats and who doesn't and when they should swarm and where they'll go!!!

Technically, as a medical professional I can tell you there's no such thing as "treatment free".  You may manage your bees "chemical free", but even feeding is a treatment for starvation.  So if you get a minor cut on your finger, you apply a bandage, although you might not put on antibiotic cream or wash it out with hydrogen peroxide, you're still managing the wound with a covering.  Manipulating colonies for their benefit is the same thing.  There are plenty of ways we manage the bees without chemicals, but we're still changing their environment for their benefit - we are animal caretakers and we should do that as a minimum no matter what our individual philosophies are about chemicals.

The regulatory agencies that control food quality (FDA), do not have a category for "organic" honey.  The bees are not controlled as other livestock are in pens and confinement areas where they're feeds can be monitored and controlled to only allow them to consume "organic certified feed" and live in an environment where there are no adverse chemical residues that can contaminate the food produced from them.  A honey bee will fly miles for a meal and along the way you have no idea where they go or where they might stop.  Anyone in their path could be treating a yard or garden with chemicals and you wouldn't know it.  Even in minute amounts those chemicals are contaminants to the food called honey.   So no organic honey here in the U.S.

A dearth is any time of the "bee season" that there isn't any resources in their area for them to collect - sometimes that's the carbohydrate component or nectar, and sometimes that's the protein portion of their needs in the form of pollen.  That's why sometimes you'll hear that "we're in a nectar dearth" or a "pollen dearth".  Sometimes they occur independently and sometimes together (especially in the fall when nothing is blooming).  Even if there are flowers blooming sometimes if it's dry enough the plants aren't putting nectar in the flowers to attract pollinators and they still are not getting what they need and the beekeeper needs to feed them.

Absolutely.  We can modify your membership level at anytime that you're feeling ambitious and want even more bee learning.  It's just a matter of contacting support and they'll manage your changes in record time!!