Breeding the Honeybee

Paul Densem is a queen breeder based south-east of Christchurch in the Port Hills of Banks Peninsula New Zealand. Paul has created his own line of bees descending swarms that he caught when he first started beekeeping. Paul’s line of Italian bees have been selectively bred to produce high yields of honey and display calm temperaments. Paul’s business is Valley Apiaries. He offers queen bees for co...

Did you know that in the Philippines some people run full AI apiaries? Hear all about that and other great stuff in this episode with Paul Rafosala. Paul is part of a family business called Rafosala Bee Farm, based in Tagum, Philippines. Paul’s business produces queens, supplies pollination services and training and provides colonies for sale. Paul has done season’s in the USA and in Australia wor...

This is kind of a bonus episode in which Brent Nixon was interviewed by Ben Moore, a very well known Australian beekeeper, who also has a podcast.  Ben's Podcast  https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/bees-with-ben/id1512755530 Ben's Website  www.bensbees.com.au Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BensBees

Mauritz is a beekeeper from South Africa who works with Apis mellifera scutellata, aka, the killer bee, aka, the Africanized honey bee, aka, the East African lowland honey bee. These bees are native to the lower parts of Africa and are well known for their honey gathering ability and extreme aggression. Scutellata was accidentally introduced into Brazil in the 1950s and has since spread across bot...

Corinne Jordan operates the bee lady apiaries in Brisbane Australia. She specialises in Italian bees. Recently Corrine has started beegenetics.com.au, a program that will focus on breeding bees for varroa resistance in Australia. 4:35 - Leading up to Varroa 5:16 - Liquid nitrogen testing  6:30 - Bringing in genetics to Australia 7:52 - Deformed wing virus  8:27 - Rea Butler  9:46 - Varroa gets dis...

Peter Donovan started working at Buckfast Abbey in 1939 when he was only 12 years old. Peter worked with Brother Adam during his teenage years and then returned to Buckfast in 1972 and remained there until 2004. He is said to be the person who knew Brother Adam the best. Peter kept bees with a passion until he passed away in 2013. Today I am speaking with his son, John Donovan, who, as a child, sp...

Duncan owns and runs Simmons Apiaries, a business based in Trematon in south west England. Duncan has been keeping bees for over 50 years and for 35 years as a professional. He produces queens, honey, offers training and sells equipment for dealing with varroa.  0:56 - Duncan tells a funny beekeeping story 2:43 - The Buckfast bee 3:51 - Peter Donovan  5:51 - Home apiary at Buckfast Abbey 6:36 - Th...

John is a queen breeder from Rogue River, Oregon, USA. He has a business called Old Sol Apiaries. Starting in 1997 with a degree in Biology, John’s goal has been to produce  productive, hearty, pest and disease tolerant bees that are also a pleasure to work with. John prides himself on selling well vetted bees and even has a motto “A queen that has been through a thorough vetting, is a queen on wh...

Aidan owns and runs Wings of Nature, a company based in San Mateo County, California, USA, that produces honey, nucs, queens and provides education and pollination services. Aidan’s line of queens has been sourced partly from his surrounding area, preserving locally adapted traits.  0:45 How Aidan got into queen breeding 3:55 Establishing lines of bees suited to your own area 7:11 The traits Aidan...

Adam is a VSH queen breeder. He has been breeding queen bees since the late 80s. Together with his wife, Kelly, who he met in Entomology class at university, they run a business called VP queen bees which is based in Iva, South Carolina, USA and specialises in the production of VSH breeder queens.  1:30 Getting into bees 7:00 Working as a bee inspector  12:00 Getting to know varroa 18:20 Thoughts...

Rae is a VSH (Varroa Sensitive Hygiene) specialist queen breeder from New Zealand. She operates the Bee Smart Breeding program which produces VSH bees. Rae has spent time with VSH breeding programmes in Baton Rouge, Arista Bee Research in the Netherlands and the Bee Informed Partnership based in Maryland University.  Join the podcast facebook community group www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehone...

Laurie is well known in Tasmania, Australia for mentoring new beekeepers and producing nucleus colonies and queen cells. Listeners from Tasmania would know Laurie from his work in the Tasmanian Junior beekeeping club and with sisters hives Australia. Join the podcast facebook community group www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee Podcast proudly brought to you by  Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen B...

John is part of the Berry family, which is a very big name in the New Zealand beekeeping industry. The Berry family own Arataki Honey, a large honey packing company located in Hawke Bay on the eastern side of the north island. At certain times in the history of this company the Berry family have had 4 generations working alongside each other. These days John runs his own business called Berry Bees...

In this episode I talk briefly about the life of Brother Adam and I also speak to the head of bees at Buckfast Abbey, Clare Densley, about what Buckfast Abbey is up to with the bees these days.  Join the podcast facebook community group www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee Podcast proudly brought to you by  Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia) https://nixonqueenbees.com...

Join the podcast Facebook community group www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee Podcast proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees  Email - brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au Instagram: www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/ TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@nixonqueenbees Website: www.nixonqueenbees.com.au Music: www.audionautix.com