Knowledge Hub
Everything you need
to know about bees
Evidence-based guides, in-depth articles and practical advice — from first-time beginner to seasoned beekeeper.
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Honey
Looking for the honey?
This page is about bees and beekeeping. Everything about the honey itself — the varieties, the crystallisation, the heat and honey in the kitchen — is gathered with our own honey.
Still here: Honey for Coughs & Sore Throats: What the Research Says
Starting Beekeeping in Sweden: What to Do, in Order
A complete checklist with links — the course you book in winter, the association that gets you your first bees, the Länsstyrelsen notification that is a legal requirement, and what a first year actually costs and looks like.
Probiotics and prebiotics for bees: what the gut flora does, and where the evidence stops
A bee carries a gut flora of five to nine core bacteria that help digest pollen and prompt its immune defences. That much is well studied. Whether the supplements sold to support it work is a separate question — and the field studies are not encouraging. Both halves, plus what we do in our own apiary.
Nordic Beekeeping: The Whole Season, Winterising to Spring
The harvest is taken in summer but decided in autumn. A full-cycle guide for Sweden: winterising, the cluster, the spring assessment at +10 °C, the trade words for what you actually buy, and where a complementary feed fits — including what we do and do not claim about the Dr. Gost range we import.
Why Turkey Is the World's Second Honey Producer, and What That Means for Bee Nutrition
Second in the world for honey, third for hives, first in Europe, and up to 92 per cent of all pine honey. Five native subspecies of Apis mellifera live in Anatolia, beekeeping is a university degree with a state research institute behind it, and one near-lost local ecotype was rescued by a university and a beekeepers association working together. This is our answer to a fair question: our honey is our own, so why are the supplements Turkish?
Winterising Hives in the Nordic Climate: What Autumn Actually Decides
Five months of confinement, decided in September. The winter cluster, damp, insulation, mouse guards and the mesh floor — and an honest answer to what colonies actually die of.
Bifor: What Is Actually in the Bucket, and What Is Not
Most Swedish beekeepers winter their colonies on Bifor, and so do we. What it is, why the 25 % water figure matters, how the bucket arithmetic works, what a ready-made inverted sugar does not contain — and what our labels say about adding to it.
Winter Feed for Bees: How Much, When and How to Feed Before the Cold
Winterising decides the winter. How many kilos of winter feed a normal colony needs, why you start straight after the final harvest, why thin syrup in September is a mistake, which feeder to use — and when to stop.
Natural Varroa Control: What Actually Works, and What Only Sounds Like It Does
Thyme, mint, eucalyptus, nettle, organic acids, mesh floors and drone brood — a Nordic beekeeper’s honest sorting of the natural varroa methods into what the evidence supports, what is folklore, and what the Swedish rules say. And, separately, what we do in our own apiary and what we see there.
Carniolan or Buckfast: Choosing a Bee for a Swedish Season
One of them is a natural subspecies and the other was built by a monk — and that difference, not temperament or yield, is what decides your second season. Spring behaviour, swarming, wintering above 59° N, and the honest answer on mite resistance.
Wax Moth in Stored Comb: What Actually Works
Wax moth rarely beats a colony — it beats the frames you took out of one. What the larvae are really eating, why August and September are the whole risk window in Sweden, and the four methods worth using.
The July Honey Harvest: Knowing When It's Ripe in a Nordic Summer
A practical Nordic guide to the summer honey harvest — how to tell when honey is truly ripe, why water content decides everything, how to extract and keep it raw, and how much to leave the bees for winter.
Summer Varroa Monitoring: Your July Mite Check Decides the Winter
A practical Nordic guide to July varroa monitoring — why mites peak late summer and damage winter bees, how to test with alcohol wash, sugar roll and natural drop, what thresholds mean, and how the count sets up your August treatment.
Honey for Coughs & Sore Throats: What the Research Says
Honey is an evidence-backed soother for cough and sore throat, performing comparably to OTC syrups — but never give it to infants under one year. Here is how to use it safely.
Spring Build-Up: Feeding & Boosting Colonies After a Nordic Winter
Foderdeg, drivfoder or stödfoder — which one, and when. A practical Nordic guide to spring build-up: when to start feeding, why early brood needs pollen protein before the willow opens, and why the window falls in late February.
The Demaree Method: My Favourite Way to Prevent Swarms and Triple Your Honey Yield
Developed by George Demaree in 1892, this elegant two-box manipulation tricks the colony into thinking it has already swarmed — keeping every forager working the nectar flow while you harvest up to three times more honey. Essential reading for anyone managing around 10 hives in Sweden's short but intense summer.
Top 10 Bee-Friendly Plants for Swedish Gardens
The right plants can make the difference between a thriving apiary and a struggling one. Here are the best nectar and pollen sources for the Swedish season.
Setting Up Your First Hive: A Complete Beginner's Guide
Everything you need to know before your first bees arrive — from choosing the right hive type to understanding bee behaviour and staying safe.
Understanding Swarms: Prevention, Capture and Rehousing
A swarm is a natural sign of a healthy, thriving colony. Learn how to read the signs early, prevent unwanted swarms and safely capture them.
Varroa Mite Control: Approved Methods in Sweden
Varroa destructor remains the biggest threat to honeybee colonies worldwide. This guide covers all approved treatment methods under Swedish regulations.
The Waggle Dance: How Bees Communicate Food Sources
Karl von Frisch's Nobel Prize-winning discovery — the waggle dance encodes distance, direction and quality of food sources into a remarkable bee language.
Queen Rearing Basics: From Cell to Colony
Raising your own queens is one of the most rewarding skills in beekeeping. Start with the fundamentals of cell grafting, timing and queen introduction.