Randy Oliver started beekeeping in the mid 1960s and now runs around 1000 colonies in California with his two sons. He owns one of my favourite beekeeping websites Scientific Beekeeping. Don't be put off by the title, as anyone can understand what Randy Oliver writes. This website is full of little gems that are presented in a thoughtful manner.

Being a practical and observant beekeeper myself I appreciate the approach that Randy has. I have never met him and all I can do is to form an opinion based on his writings. That opinion is pretty positive. He doesn't appear to blindly accept what the scientists and researchers come up with, but he thinks things through and evaluates them based on his own vast knowledge, that has been gained by managing a large number of colonies. I quote from the website........."What I try to do in my articles and blogs is to scour scientific papers for practical beekeeping applications, and to sort through the advice, opinion, and conjecture found in the bee magazines and on the Web, taking no positions other than to provide accurate information to Joe Beekeeper".

On the Home page the first two paragraph sum up for me what Randy Oliver's website is all about. I quote.......

"This is not a "How You Should Keep Bees" site; rather, I'm a proponent of "Whatever Works for You" beekeeping.

In short, this site is a record of my learning process as I try to understand aspects of colony health and productivity, and the reasons why various management techniques work (or don't). My writing is a digestion of the scientific literature, relating it to my day-to-day hands on experience and observations in my 40+ yards of bees, and then sharing what I've learned about the biological processes happening in the hive with other beekeepers. I then leave it to each beekeeper to make their own informed management decisions."

That is a pretty good description and I encourage you to spend a little time reading it. There are a huge number of beekeeping websites, many with very dubious information, but for me this one stands out as being a bit special.

Roger Patterson.