In this video Laurence Edwards explains why he created the Black Mountain Honey YouTube channel and outlines the core philosophy behind his "No‑Nonsense Beekeeping" approach. Frustrated by outdated, jargon‑heavy books, he began learning by hands‑on experimentation, documenting both successes and failures in a visual, honest style. He critiques rigid beekeeping dogma—such as blanket bans on Buckfast bees, polyhives, Flow hives, queen purchases, sugar feeding, or varroa treatment—by sharing his own trials: using Buckfast bees improved temperament and honey yield; treating varroa reduced overwinter loss from 30% to 5%; adding insulation and ventilation boosted winter survival; concrete hives worked in fire‑risk areas but were heavy and less productive in the UK. He emphasizes transparency, openly showing disease outbreaks, colony deaths, and autopsies to teach viewers what went wrong. Edwards collaborates with manufacturers for product reviews and discount codes, and he features other professional beekeepers to broaden perspectives. Acknowledging his own imperfections, he promises to retract bad advice and correct mistakes. The video concludes with a call to subscribe and an invitation to become a channel member for ad‑free, early‑access videos, positioning the channel as a practical, evolving resource for beginner and hobbyist beekeepers.
Chapters
When I first started beekeeping, I found it really difficult to find information on how to manage my bees. The books I found were either outdated or just didn't make sense in the written form. I struggled to understand the diagrams because I'd never really kept bees before. As I progressed to learn about bees, I found the best way that I personally learnt was through managing my own bees. Trying new things, seeing what worked, seeing what didn't work, and documenting my successes as well as my various failures. I thought, wouldn't it be cool if I could document this in an interactive visual way to help other beekeepers who are starting their beekeeping journey and kind of having the same struggles, finding books that are outdated and not really understanding what's going on? The Black Mountain Honey YouTube channel was born. In the early days of the channel, people would often comment on what they liked about the videos and what they didn't like about the videos. But let's focus on the positive. What people generally liked was the no-nonsense style of video, cutting out all of the jargon and trying to kind of demyth and debunk and break down some of the difficult beekeeping processes. There was no fancy terminology that wasn't explained, but more than that, it wasn't just explained, it was shown in a really visual way. Hi, I'm Laurence Edwards from Black Mountain Honey. Welcome to another episode of No Nonsense Beekeeping. So that used to be my opening gambit until YouTube made me realize that A lot of people turned off during that point, and it probably didn't really align to the No-Nonsense Beekeeping style, which is, let's just get on with it, let's jump straight into the beekeeping. I'm constantly learning, I'm constantly adapting and trying new things. Some things work, some things didn't, but the gambit had to go. But I like to think that the No-Nonsense Beekeeping style still remains. No-Nonsense Beekeeping is beekeeping made simple, without any of the distractions or misunderstandings, without a rigid fixed approach or indoctrined views. Don't use Buckfast bees. Don't use polyhives. Don't use flow hives. Don't buy queens. Don't feed your bees that sugar. Don't treat for varroa. Do treat for varroa. Not using that treatment though. Don't ventilate your hive. Do ventilate your hive. You're doing that wrong. I've been doing this for 30 years and I know best. This is the only way that works, etc., etc. You get the point, and you've probably stumbled across a number of people with those views. These are all things that I was told were bad. Don't do them, your bees will die. They will fail, they'll get aggressive, it's not good for them. Now, it's not that I'm necessarily stubborn and didn't want to follow people's advice. Quite the opposite, actually. I did follow their advice and my bees didn't thrive. I saw other people doing things differently and I thought, you know what, I'm just going to give it a try. Much to my relief, the gamble paid off and some of these things worked. And they ultimately transformed my bees and transformed my beekeeping. Using Buckfast bees versus the local mongrels around here improved the temperament and drastically improved the honey production. Treating for the varroa mite meant I didn't have 30% overwintering loss, I had about 5% overwintering loss. Removing all of the ventilation from the top of the hive and replacing it with insulation again improved my overwintering rate and meant that the bees were nice and warm and cozy over winter. Using concrete beehives as opposed to wooden ones meant that— oh yeah, maybe I shouldn't do this one. Wait, that is exactly what No Nonsense Beekeeping is about. It's an honest interpretation of what's going on. People told me concrete beehives, you're absolutely mad, they're not going to work, the bees are going to fail in them, the bees aren't going to thrive in them, do not use them, that is a stupid idea. And again, it's not because I'm stubborn and I know best, but it's more because they'd never tried concrete beehives. And I thought, well, you know, I've tried all of these other things and they worked, so I'm going to give the concrete beehives a go. And the concrete beehives in the UK is probably not the best idea. My bees haven't died in them, but they definitely haven't thrived in them. And for me, they're just a bit too heavy to manage the bees. They do have their uses elsewhere, like in places where there's a real risk of fire. Brilliant, put a concrete beehive there. But without trying it, I just can't say firsthand that it's either a good thing or a bad thing. So I try new things. If they work, I tell you they work. If they don't work, I'll show you why they fail. If we get disease in our apiary, I don't hide it from everyone for fear of the retributions. I openly proclaim we have got disease in our apiary and try and use that as a learning platform to help other people in that situation. If a colony dies over winter, I don't just brush it under the carpet and say, oh yeah, that colony never existed. I do a full colony autopsy and show you why I think that it died. Was it a poorly mated queen? Did I not give them enough sugar? Was it isolation starvation? There's loads of different reasons, and unless I've kind of gone in there and had a look, I don't know what I'm doing wrong, and I'm kind of humble enough to show you when things go wrong, as opposed to like letting my ego take over and only showing you my successes. Beekeepers can sometimes be very protective over their methods, especially people who have been doing it for a rather long time. They think, well, I've had to go through the difficult process of finding what works for me, and why should I give you my competitive edge because it's taken me so long to find it? But sometimes these beekeepers have only really tried doing it one way, and they say, well, My bees are doing well. My bees aren't dying, so I'm going to stick to that method. And sometimes you find that they haven't really tried anything else, but because their bees haven't been dying every single year, they just stick to that single method, where there might be like a superior method just around the corner or a different way of doing things that are going to give them some improvements. And this kind of leads on to one of the most frustrating things that I see in beekeeping, and the Flow Hive is the perfect example of this, which is do not buy a Flow Hive. Flow Hives are rubbish. They don't do well for the bees. Your bees are going to swarm. The honey's going to set in the frames. And I always question it and say, well, have you tried it? Like, what was your experience with Flow Hives? And they say, I've never used them. And I just get really frustrated as to how you can have such a rigid view on something without actually having experienced it yourself. So on the Flow Hive, I tried it, I loved it. It's one of my favorite beehives to use. It's not for everyone, it's not for commercial bee farmers, but in your back garden, Flow Hives are absolutely brilliant. And if I'd have just listened to other people and their views, I definitely wouldn't have got a Flow Hive because they got such a bad rap. So this channel changes all of that. I go into every single year with a completely open mind. There is no new product or new process or methodology that I will shun without giving it a really, really good go first. I document this journey so everyone can see in really great detail what works and what doesn't work. I team up with a wide range of beekeeping manufacturers to show you how things are made, maybe offer you some discount codes along the way, and test and review their products. This isn't just about me and my beekeeping style. I go to other beekeepers, I share what they do, and I try and use this channel to share information effectively as best as I possibly can. I'm not the best beekeeper in the world. I'm far from the best beekeeper in the world. I am just an amateur beekeeper in front of the camera. That's why I go to other beekeepers to show you what real professional bee farmers can What I do have, though, is a natural intuition to try things and break things and fail, and just generally see how things work. I then do my very best to try and simplify these complex processes and visualize hard-to-explain methodologies. I am far from perfect. The methods that I use and the equipment that I use will evolve over time, and if I give you bad advice, I will retract it and I'll take it back and I'll say I'm sorry. And yet definitely do not go and catch swarms using blackcomb in trees. It is a massive disease risk. Again, I'm sorry about that one. If I get stung in the face, I show you. Like, we pride ourselves on the calmness of our bees, but I also pride myself on honesty. So if I get stung, you're going to see that I'm getting stung. If I stumble across an innovative product or an innovative way of doing something that gives me a competitive edge, I'm not going to hide it and not show you it. I'm going to double down and I'm going to do the best video ever so that everybody is let in on this secret. I never judge a product or a technique before I have the personal experience to actually back that up. And the reason that I do all of that is because I genuinely revel in your successes and I take personal pride in your achievements. There is genuinely nothing better than someone coming back and saying, I bought a nuc off you, they're the calmest bees I've ever had, they produce loads of honey. I split them 4 times and it's gone from 1 nuc into 4 nucs over winter. Thank you, your bees are great. Like, I just love that. That for me is the absolute pinnacle of beekeeping and what this channel is all about. So you've made it to the end of this video. I hope you can see the value in subscribing to my channel. I focus on making beekeeping simple and helping you make the right decisions along every step of the way of your fascinating beekeeping journey. If you're interested in becoming a channel member where you get advert-free early access to all of my beekeeping videos, you can hit the join button in the top right-hand corner of the YouTube homepage.
