Local Beekeeping Group Hästveda

I visited my local beekeeping group in Hästveda and even became a member :) Fine people but all are into conventional beekeeping so many things I can not apply in my natural top bar beekeeping. But I did learn from the bee inspector (who sold me the 2 colonies I now keep) how to check for disease. He told me to always open capped cells which are on their own and see if inside is a dark jelly-like liquid. That would be American Foulbrood. This is a good lesson learned indeed.

 The local beekeeping inspector inspecting hives, those in suits are beginners, including me.

 Most beekeepers here cull drones for Varroa control and Varroa counting. I am against this, in my opinion, brutal technique. My bees are allowed to have as many Drones as they wish, Varroa or no Varroa. Bees have raised Drones for more than 40 million years, I'm sure they have a good reason for having so many Drones.

 All beekeepers in this group treat every year with Oxalic Acid for Varroa control. I still didnt decide if Im going to treat or not. I'm most definitely not going to treat every year but most likely only if I notice "deformed wing virus" which which comes from Varroa.

Checking the brood pattern  ....

 ... which is very spotty. Not a great sign.

 the huge hive is the traditional swedsih hive called Trågkupa. It is a horizontal hive with frames.

 This too is a Trågkupa which they use for splits.

Peters Stuga is where this local group meets. They have a group's apiary there for raising Queens which are then sold very cheap to the members.