Ask 10 bee keepers and you will get 11 opinions on any bee keeping related topic. Thats not far from the truth and it is equal true that you can manage you bees in many ways and they will still do well. However, we beleive there are some methods that are more optimized and gives healthy bees that are stronger and hence produces more.
When we started some 8-10 years ago there were several “rules” that didnt need explanation – we were told it was the only way. As a rookie you dont question but as we gather more experience and also carried out some studies we start to question if it is really the best practice that are commonly used among many beekeepers. And the more we question the more we realize that many of the rules are a mix of strong opinions, old myths and expired knowledge. We are going to take a holistic approach and check some of the most used myths and go through the general opinion, latest science and also what “Bertha the bee” might think;)
Here are the 10 commands that we will check, hope you enjoy it
Winter on Honey vs sugar
Winter on Heather
Winter on 1 vs 2 boxes
Ventilation of the hive during winter
Dont touch my smoker
Varroa managment
Swarming
Collect the honey
Usage of Acid to control Varroa – efficiency
Free mated queens gives aggressive bees
DoD's bisyssla 