Beginner’s Pages and Pollinator Helpers
First Year Beekeeping
I continually update this page, so please refer to the current version. For mite treatment options, search “Varroa Mite Management” Update April 2026: This page is a conglomeration of tips over the years, and I realize that it needs a rewrite, which I hope to do soon! Here’s a link to the slides for a...
The “Rules” For Successful Beekeeping
Note: I stuck my neck out a bit with this article, and if you’re easily offended perhaps you should skip it. However, the feedback on this article has been overwhelmingly favorable. The few that were offended apparently missed my point—which is that there are no rigid rules as to how you must keep bees! Beekeeping...
The Rules Redux
My recent article, “The Rules for Successful Beekeeping,” got more response (overwhelmingly favorable) than all my previous articles combined! (I’ve received requests to reprint it in several foreign countries, including a translation into Serbian!). What I also discovered is that there are a few beekeepers suffering from advanced cases of HDD—Humor Deficit Disorder. This is...
Wheelchair beekeeping
I recently had the pleasure of meeting Idaho beekeeper Randy Geile, who has come up with a clever home-built modification of Langstroth hives that allows those who are wheelchair bound to practice beekeeping. View his video here. Thank you, Randy!
Monitoring varroa
The concepts of monitoring pest population levels, and taking action as such pest levels approach seasonally-adjusted treatment thresholds is integral to integrated pest management, no matter whether we are speaking of varroa or any other agricultural pest. When brood is present in a hive, varroa increase is nearly always exponential from Day 1–in non resistant...
Modeling Nuc Buildup
Contents The Players and the Numbers. 1 A Simple Model 4 Wrap up. 11 Acknowledgements. 11 References. 12 Modeling Nuc Buildup First Published in ABJ June 2018 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com My sons and I sell a lot of nucs each spring. But after a couple of months, not all have built up to...
Resources for beginners and those wishing to help pollinators
Your donations not only support our own research; we redirect a substantial proportion of donations to Scientific Beekeeping to organizations who we see making the most impact towards helping pollinators – notably those who work with farmers and landowners, or preserve critical habitat. The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else...
Nuc, package, and queen sales and pick up instructions
Scientific Beekeeping does not promote or endorse any particular stock 2024 Announcement: Golden West Bees is collaborating with Olivarez Honey Bees to produce queens from our chosen breeders, mated in a dedicated isolated mating yard stocked with our own drone mother colonies. Please contact them for large orders. For nuc sales, you can decide if...
The Evolution of a Beekeeper
I liked this article by Ernie, since it well reflected the typical learning curve of a newbee. The article originally appeared in the Summer 2023 edition of BeesCene, the journal of the BC Honey Producers’ Association, and is here included by permission.
Natural Beekeeping: A Reckoning
There is a great deal of argument about how “naturally” we beekeepers should manage our colonies. But the mere act of “keeping” bees implies that it is unnatural. Truly natural “beekeeping” would be to set out empty cavities (hives or other hollows) for swarms to move into (but not more cavities than would “naturally” exist...
Beginning Beekeeping Class Notes
I’ve taught beginning beekeeping classes for many years. Over those years, I’ve made an outline of notes. I’ve put them into pdf format for your viewing or printout. These are rough notes, but are searchable for subject matter, as well as having a table of contents. (more…)
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Thank you and happy beekeeping!
Randy