> I am not certain what 'traditional' means here Peter????? 

from the paper:

The research was conducted on 120 apparently healthy, commercially kept colonies in DB hives and 24 traditionally kept colonies in primitive, so-called trmka hives ... Bees kept traditionally (feral-like bees) live in conditions similar to those of feral bees, being reared in a special type of primitive hives made of woven wicker, called trmka hives in the southwest of Serbia. They are made of natural materials (top of pine trees, hazel wood) and do not differ substantially from natural habitats in which the bees have optimum conditions for development.  This study was aimed to detect differences in the occurrence of pathogens between bees reared in traditional hives and those reared for commercial purposes. Our results show that there is a significantly higher prevalence of bee pathogens in commercially reared colonies than in those reared traditionally (Table 2).

Our findings confirmed the presence of V. destructor
in commercial hives, whilst in trmka hives not a single
bee mite was detected. This may well be the reason for
higher prevalence of the causative agents of brood and
adult bee diseases in colonies reared for commercial
purposes than in those kept in traditional hives.

It can be concluded
that traditional, natural way of beekeeping provides
significantly better conditions for maintenance of
bee health and their resistance to pathogens.

Traditional hives are certainly not suitable for
productive beekeeping, but beeskept in them are better
adapted to local environmental conditions and present
an important genetic resource for future bee breeding
programs (Stanimirovic et al., 2005; Stanimirovic,
Stevanovic, & Andjelkovic, 2005).

Taric, Elmin, et al. "Occurrence of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) pathogens in commercial and traditional hives." Journal of Apicultural Research (2019): 1-11.

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