Breeding the Honeybee

Raf is a queen breeder based in New Zealand. He makes his own mating nucs that are based on the sizes used in Europe.  0:45 Mating Nuc Design  3:15 Using mating nucs as cell raisers  3:30 Using mating nucs for breeder queens  3:47 Using mating nucs as queen banks  3:57 Fixing failing mating nucs  4:30 Comparisons to poly mini nucs  5:00 queen quality in larger nucs  6:06 Full size mating nucs  9:1...

Amy is a queen breeder. Her business is called Kereru Queen bees, which she runs with her two sisters and their husbands. The business was originally started by Amy’s father John over 40 years ago. The business is based in Kereru, a small farming district 60 km's southwest from Napier/Hastings on the eastern foothills of the northern Ruahine ranges in Hawkes Bay. Contact Amy - kereruqueenbees@gmai...

Chris is a 3rd generation beekeeper from Canada. His family specialise in imports of packages and queens. You can find the family’s business at https://www.bartelbeeco.ca/   Comment or leave feedback on the episode post in the Facebook group for this podcast  https://www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee This podcast is proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees in Ballarat Au...

Monika is a polish queen breeder. Together with her team they produce a staggering 35000 virgin queens for sale each year. This is a popular way to purchase queens in Poland. They also produce mated and instrumentally inseminated queens. Monika’s team uses a range of techniques that lead them to achieve incredibly high levels of efficiency in the production of quality queens.   You can follow Moni...

Chris is a queen breeder and honey producer who has a family based bee business that operates between Florida and Wisconsin in the US.  Chris's Website  Chris's Business Facebook Page  Join the 'Breeding the Honeybee' Facebook group to be apart of future live streams This podcast is proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees in Ballarat Australia. Email Brent at brent@nixonqueenbees...

Krispn is an Apiculture Specialist at Purdue University’s Department of Entomology in West Lafayette Indiana USA. He runs a program breeding mite biting bees. Krispn is also the co-owner of a company that produces high quality instrumental insemination equipment made in the US.  Apis Engineering's Website Krispn's profile at Purdue University  Join the podcast Facebook community group - This is a...

Marc is a queen breeder and uses instrumental insemination to produce every queen in his apiary. In this episode we cover some of the challenges of II and the interesting way in which they handle varroa in Norway.  Norwegian beekeepers can purchase Marc’s queens from his website . Marc can also be contacted through his Facebook page If you liked this episode you might want to consider joining the...

In this live podcast with Peter Czeti, we discuss the Australian Queen Bee Breeders Association AQBBA breeding plan from 2024-2029. This live session included a QandA. If you would like to hear that part you can watch is on the 'Breeding the Honeybee' Facebook group.  If you would like to be part of the program please contact Peter on the AQBBA website.  This podcast is proudly brought to you by B...

This is a rerun from 'The Pollen Nation Podcast' with Matt Walker. In this episode Matt covers the issue with raising queens too early in the season. Matt's Website Podcast link Facebook YouTube

Kirk has been keeping bees for over 50 years and has not treated for varroa since 2002. His methods are inspired by his experiences with organic farming. Kirk’s approach to varroa is very hands off. He maintains the colonies by producing nucs that he overwinters. Apart from some issues resulting from modern agriculture, Kirk feels as though his beekeeping experience at present is almost the same a...

Nick Milne is a third-generation beekeeper and owner-operator of Blue Sky Queen Bees and Backyard Bees in Nelson, New Zealand.  2:31 Working in Canada  4:05 Kids and bees  6:08 Getting into queen rearing  8:21 Queen breeding in New Zealand and colour  12:55 Pyramid structure for queen breeding  14:50 Bringing in mated queens for genetic diversity  16:18 Bringing in cells for genetic diversity  16:...

Rob and Ron have been working together in the West Australian bee industry for many years. Together they run a breeding program using instrumental insemination which Ron learnt from Gretchen Wheen and Sue Cobey. In this episode we discuss bee breeding, the Rottnest program, Joe Horner’s drone rearing and the story of the Karri tree, which Rob is writing a book about.  1:30 When Rob and Ron started...

Cory Stevens is a VSH queen breeder from Missouri, USA. He has a business called Steven’s Bee Company which offers AI VSH breeder queens, VSH virgin queens and raw honey free of miticides and antibiotics. Cory's Website and Facebook https://www.stevensbeeco.com/ https://www.facebook.com/stevensbeeco Comment or leave feedback on the episode post in the Facebook group for this podcast  https://www.f...

Mary is in Sparta Georgia and has a business called BeeCo Apiaries. Together with her daughter, Mary sells honey, nucs and small scale locally mated queens.  2:17 Getting into queen rearing  5:25 Lines of queens Mary uses  7:30 Survivor stock  8:15 Cell raising method  11:30 Mating nucs  13:30 Advice to people who are thinking of getting into queen rearing as a sideline  15:50 What Mary is offerin...

Shibu is a Queen breeder in Columbia Tennessee. He sells queens, nucs and AI equipment, which he also offers training for. At the time of releasing this episode Shibu had just had a tornado go through his property and cause a lot of destruction. Below is the link to the gofundme which you can follow if you would like to support Shibu in rebuilding his business.  Help Shibu get back on track https:...

Brandon is a queen breeder and the 3rd generation beekeeper from North Carolina USA. His business, Foothill Farm and Apiary offers nucs, production queens and breeders. In this episode Brandon tells us what it was like starting a breeding program with artificial insemination. 0:00 Introduction 2:00 A family of beekeepers  4:00 Brandon’s breeding program 4:35 Allogrooming 7:58 Learning AI 9:54 Intr...

Willie Robson is the biggest keeper of the old English black bee in the world. His family business is Chain Bridge Honey Farm, which was established in 1948 by Willie’s father. Willie has been working in the business since 1962 and now works alongside his wife and children. Chain Bridge Honey Farm is based in Horncliffe which is in the UK but right on the Scottish border.  00:00 Introduction 2:18...

Brad is a Canadian honey producer. He raises many of his own queens and makes the majority of his hardware. You can find Brad online at Faith Apiaries. Make sure to check out his YouTube channel where he does instructional videos and weekly vlogs.   6:00 Brad’s apiary setup 6:50 2 queen systems  11:04 3 nucs over 2 10 frames  13:14 Zombie colonies  16:44 OTS queen rearing 22:12 Wintering mating nu...

Ian Steppler is a Canadian beekeeper who breeds his own line of bees. Ian has unique cell raising and mating nuc styles that are well suited to short season commercial beekeeping. In this episode Ian goes into his cell raising process and mating nucs as well as explaining why he raises his own queens. Ian has a YouTube channel called A Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog . In this episode we discuss a lot o...

Laurence Edwards is a beekeeper based in Northern Wales. He runs a business called ‘Black Mountain Honey’ which produces honey, nucs and queens as well as other services. https://www.blackmountainhoney.co.uk/ https://www.youtube.com/@BlackMountainHoney 0:46 YouTubing 4:00 Buckfast and AMM 6:51 Duncan Simmons queens 8:47 UK mated queens 10:21 Variation in Buckfast lines 11:30 Cell building methods ...

Leigh Slater is a queen breeder and honey producer in Tasmania, Australia. For 63 years Leigh has been preserving a pure strain of the old English black bee (Apis mellifera mellifera). Back in the 70s Leigh aided beekeepers in England by helping them reestablish the line by sending queens from his protection zone. The black bee was first brought to Australia over 200 years ago by the English and w...

Terry has been keeping bees in Ireland since he was 7 years old and has over 30 years experience. Early in his career he spent time working with Peter Donovan at Buckfast Abbey, learning the methods of Brother Adam. Terry has a business called Wicklow Bees and Honey which provides queens, nucs and honey. County below Dublin. 4:00 Feeders and Brother Adam 6:30 Started queen rearing at 14 8:00 Irish...

Dan Long has a business making 3D printed queen cages and other beekeeping applications. Dan’s business is called EZPZ. His main product is a cage suitable for the JZBZ cell cup.  4:00 Dan’s business 4:30 JZBZ system  5:10 First 3D printer 5:35 First attempt at making cages  6:07 Queen introduction 6:45 Candy plug 7:20 Queen cage trays 8:03 Banking 8:30 Different styles of cages 9:45 Writing on th...

Tucka Saville lives in Florida, USA. She raises queens, provides classes for queen catching and grafting and is a common public speaker at bee events and clubs. Her business can be found on Instagram @tucka bee. 1:20 What a Comfort hive is 2:48 Feeding 3:10 Comparison to Warre hives 3:37 Working frames in a Comfort hive 4:06 Top feeders 5:45 Sam Comfort and Michael Palmers’ cell builders 8:26 Usin...

Varroa has been detected in the almond pollination in Australia. In this episode I interview Matt Petersen, Richard Sims and Corinne Jordan about Varroa and VSH. The interviews that are in this episode were recorded on the 1st and 2nd of September 2023. It's likely that the situation will change quickly after the release of this episode.  UPDATE - Since this episode aired the Australian government...