thomas,
The books and history of beekeeping is littered with the "tried and true" methods.
Replacing swarm queens and breeding for low swarming, which goes against what nature desires for survival.
Breeding for low propolis producing colonies, which is now questionable for hive health.
Using wood in hives, especially 1 inch (or less) wooden telescoping covers that have an r-value of 1, which is drastically different that almost all selected cavities in nature.
These are three "tried and true" beekeeping items, that over time is changing. there are many more.
Back 30 years ago, you could almost do anything to bees, and they would survive. Beekeepers did little more than put supers on, take them off, and treat for AFB. If you lost 10%, that was a bad year.
Unfortunately, things have changes. Many more compounding factors effecting bees health.
And with yearly losses across the country, I think understanding the bees traits and abilities, their preferences to what they want in the wild, can benefit beekeeping.
"tried and true" gave us, and continue to give us, old queens as beekeepers think having 5 year old clipped queens is good, thinking that no propolis in the hive is good, that 1 inch tops are good for hives, and continued chemical contamination of hives is the only solution. Sorry, the bee clubs are full of old-timers still stating "We have been doing the same thing for 40 years!", when asked about natural comb, SBB, treatments, and many equipment options.
Fact is, studies by T. Seeley that date back to the 70's, have shown that bees prefer cavities with lower entrances. Why do you think this is? Bees do in fact benefit from trapped air for brood rearing in the upper chamber. that is what they seek in cavities for feral colonies.
30 years ago, many things did not matter. The bees survived. Today, I want to give them all the advantages that they can be given. And for me, I start by understanding what bees do in nature, like propolis the interior of the hive, replace queens almost every year, mostly live in thicker wooden cavities in oak tress with a greater r-value, and select a lower entrance site.
Now do we manage bees in a very unnatural way with our beekeeping goals of honey production, etc. Sure. Most feral bees never reach 50,000 strong. and nobody is placing supers on top of the hive. So can bees benefit from propping the hive open a bit for the summer? Sure. But is seems that this "tried and true" method of placing a simple stone under the cover, went to a top entrance when a few perhaps "lazy" beekeepers thought taking the stone back out was too much work. Or maybe they wanted to be different and decided to "build a better mouse trap", and the next thing you know, top entrances were being promoted. Bees may need some ventilation in mid-summer, but not all year round by top entrances.
"Tried and true" worked for about anything years ago before all the problems came round. Today, tried and true, has been found to be a detriment to colonies by many things. Many of which are still being touted by old beekeepers who would never consider changing a thing in their hives.