It all started with a simple problem: honey-sticky hands, soaked hive books, and a smartphone you'd rather not touch with propolis-covered fingers. None of the known methods for documenting work with the bee colony were really practical.
Out of this situation, we developed the PSK – a robust, weatherproof tool that works even with gloves and sticky fingers. The idea: all important information is marked with small pins on a clear card. Fast, simple, and reliable.
From the first DIY attempts with stickers and diabolo pins to today's UV-resistant professional version, it has been an exciting journey. The first tests with beekeeping associations already showed: with the PSK, a bee colony can be documented six times faster than with conventional methods.
At the same time, the PSK Beekeeping app was created, which digitizes each card and thus creates a complete history of the bee colonies. This combines the best of both worlds: practical work at the apiary and digital evaluation in the office.
Behind PSK are two friends: Marco Ringel, teacher, author, and creative mind, and Christoph Ludwig, master carpenter, craftsman, and shipping expert. Together, we have built a company from an idea at the apiary that is now known in many countries across Europe and beyond.
Our motto: “The coolest way to document a bee colony.”
And our vision: making beekeeping easier for people all over the world.
Our story begins long before the first honeycomb
A teacher and a master carpenter have been close friends for over 25 years. They met through their wives, who were already friends in kindergarten. From this connection, a friendship developed that still forms the foundation of PSK Beekeeping today. When Marco took over beekeeping from his father Hanni, a new passion began for him – and at the same time a big annoyance. He was immediately fascinated by working with the bees, but documenting the colonies was tedious and impractical. Paper hive books got wet, stuck together, or disappeared somewhere between hives and tools. And the smartphone? Hardly usable with fingers stuck together with propolis. Many methods were tried: paper cards, spreadsheets, apps – but no solution ever felt quite right. Marco was looking for a system that works quickly, reliably, and directly at the hive without constantly having to reach for the phone. That’s how an idea was born: a form of documentation as simple as a glance at the colony itself. This is where Christoph came into play. With his craftsmanship perspective and Marco’s beekeeping experience, the two began tinkering – first with simple materials, many experiments, and even more discussions. From these attempts, the foundation was finally developed for something that many beekeepers use today: the PSK.
The first trade fair and the step into the digital world
The first PSKs were initially an experiment. Marco and Christoph tested materials, improved the scales, and tried out new variants again and again. But at some point, they wanted to know: Does the idea also work outside their own apiary? The answer was to come at a trade fair. At EuroBee in Friedrichshafen, they presented the PSK to a larger audience for the first time. For the two founders, this was a special moment because suddenly experienced beekeepers stood before them, took the cards in their hands, asked questions, and tried the system themselves. Many visitors understood the idea immediately. They took the pins, looked at the scales, and said, "That actually makes total sense." The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and confirmed Marco and Christoph in their assumption: The PSK solves a real problem in beekeeping. At the same time, a new idea emerged at this fair. Many beekeepers found the analog system excellent but also wished for a way to store the data digitally and analyze it long-term. This led to the next major development step. A third man joined the team: Tim, a computer scientist from Göttingen. He developed an app that can automatically recognize the position of the pins on the card. With a simple photo, the PSK can be scanned, and the app transfers the information directly into a digital history. This created the system that defines PSK Beekeeping today: a robust analog documentation directly at the apiary and intelligent digital analysis in the background.
New ideas about beekeeping
More than just a single product gradually developed from the PSK. Around the work at the beehive, new ideas kept emerging, many inspired by direct exchange with the beekeeper community. A special project is “Beekeeper – The Game”, a board game for the whole family. In it, two to four players manage their own beehive through a complete beekeeping year. It involves decisions, events, and typical challenges from beekeeping – presented playfully and with a lot of humor. The game quickly became a popular product for beekeepers and everyone interested in bees.
Another project is the Beekeeper Advent Calendar. The idea behind it was a calendar that not only contains small surprises but truly useful and creative products for the beehive. That’s why the calendar was designed with multiple layers, so larger items can also fit inside – from tools to accessories to special small gift ideas for beekeepers. During the development of this advent calendar, a new product line also emerged: the Holy series. Originally, a special scented smoke material for the smoker was developed, which provides pleasant, aromatic smoke blends. The idea was so well received that it became an independent brand, which is now being further developed independently of the advent calendar.
Alongside these product ideas, interest in the PSK itself also grew. More and more beekeepers from other countries discovered the system. Therefore, the card was gradually translated into more and more languages and offered internationally. Today, it is available in more than ten languages and is used in many countries across Europe and beyond. What started as a small idea at the home beehive has thus gradually developed into a growing range of products around modern and practical beekeeping.
