Advertise on podcast: Breeding the Honeybee

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 - [email protected] If you are interested in reading a nice book about Amy's Grandfather growing up with the bees you can email Amy's mother - [email protected] I have a copy of this book which my family read in one sitting and loved it.  Check out Amy's dad queen cell carriers here https://www.carricell.com/ An interview with Amy's grandfather from 2015 https://knowledgebank.org.nz/audio/berry-ian-interview/ Comment or leave feedback on the episode post in the Facebook group for this podcast  https://www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee Podcast proudly brought to you by  Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia) https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/ Email Brent  [email protected] Episode Music https://audionautix.com/ 0:00 Intro and family 6:10 Kinds of bees  9:35 UbeeO 11:00 Randy Oliver 12:05 Kirk Webster 12:55 Ray Butler 13:10 AFB 15:35 Mating nucs 19:03 Cells  25:00 Fun facts 

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 Australia. Email Brent at [email protected] 0:00 Family 7:59 Shipping queens internationally 12:40 Old way of beekeeping in Canada 16:10 Wintering  18:55 Ezy Loader Episode Music https://audionautix.com/

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 Monika’s work here.  https://www.facebook.com/akademiapszczelarza https://pasieka-szeligow.pl/ Join the podcast Facebook community group - This is a great place to comment on the episode, share some of your own tips or just say hi! https://www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee Podcast proudly brought to you by  Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia) https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/ Email Brent  [email protected] Special thanks to Marc Hillen and Anita Long for helping to set up this interview. Photo by Marc Hillen Episode Music https://audionautix.com/

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 [email protected] Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/ YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees Episode Music https://audionautix.com/

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 great place to comment on the episode, share some of your own tips or just say hi! Podcast proudly brought to you by  Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia) https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/ Episode Music https://audionautix.com/

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 Facebook group for this podcast. It's a great way to leave feedback, get notifications on new episodes and participate in live sessions. Podcast proudly brought to you by  Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia) https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/ Email Brent  [email protected]  

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 Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees in Ballarat Australia. Email Brent at [email protected] Episode Music https://audionautix.com/

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 as before he first came across varroa.  You can read more about Kirk's work here https://kirkwebster.com/ 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 Australia. Email Brent at [email protected] 3:52 Why people should raise their own queens  4:58 Kirk’s start raising queens  8:04 Kirk’s mating nucs  10:50 Beekeeping at Buckfast Abbey 11:34 Feeding mating nucs  16:18 Early experiencing with selective breeding  19:11 Selection for varroa  23:57 Starting the treatment free route  26:45 Nucs that survived winter  28:28 Survivor stock 29:29 Last treatment in 2002 31:47 Mite counts  35:02 Open apiary  Episode Music https://audionautix.com/

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  16:38 Rea Butler 17:23 VSH drone lines  19:34 Selling queen cells  22:01 What Nick sells  23:00 Nick’s other business - Backyard Bees  27:04 Where to find Nick online https://backyardbees.nz/ https://buyqueenbees.nz/ Guide to shipping queen cells as discussed in the episode  https://www.projectapism.org/resources You’ll find the download link if you scroll down.  Join the podcast Facebook community group - This is a great place to comment on the episode, share some of your own tips or just say hi! https://www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee Podcast proudly brought to you by  Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia) https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/

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 working together 3:14 Rottnest breeding program 5:14 Gretchen Wheen and Mathilde 'Tilly' Kühnert 7:14 When Ron Learnt Instrumental insemination  7:52 Sue Cobey visits Australia in 2009 9:33 Challenges of Instrumental insemination 12:00 Joe Horner’s drone rearing system 14:02 Drone drift 15:37 Queens you can get from Rob and Ron 19:20 Rob’s book on the Karri forest in Western Australia  22:29 Baiting  Comment or leave feedback on the episode post in the Facebook group for this podcast  https://www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee Record a soundbite about your queen rearing here  https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/pages/podcast  This podcast is proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees in Ballarat Australia. Email Brent at [email protected] Episode Music https://audionautix.com/

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.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee Record a soundbite about your queen rearing here  https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/pages/podcast  This podcast is proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees in Ballarat Australia. Email Brent at [email protected] 00:00 Introduction 1:50 Guest question - Matt Crane - Is there a correlation between colour and VSH? 3:20 Guest question - Steve Sammut - Is there a correlation between UBeeO and VSH? 5:00 Guest question - Paul Roder - Is there a correlation between bald brood and VHS? 7:00 Cory’s commercial program in which he sends out breeders and gets back high performing F1s 8:50 How the F1s in the program are assessed  10:07 UbeeO and overwintering  12:53 Harbo Assay 13:42 Are F1s in the program treated? 17:16 What traits are desirable in returning F1s? 19:10 Colour and VSH - Harbo Episode Music https://audionautix.com/

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 offering in her business this season 17:57 Where to find Mary Mary’s Facebook https://www.facebook.com/beecoapiaries Mary’s Website  https://www.beecoapiaries.com/ Mary’s Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/beecoapiaries/ Join the podcast Facebook community group - This is a great place to comment on the episode, share some of your own tips or just say hi! https://www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee Podcast proudly brought to you by  Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia) https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/ Email Brent  [email protected] Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/ YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees Episode Music  https://audionautix.com/

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://www.gofundme.com/f/support-shibu-rajs-tornado-recovery?attribution_id=sl:c3f0948f-fdba-4966-8209-8dcf623c6040&utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook  https://www.facebook.com/2RiversHoneyBees https://www.tworivershoneybees.com/ Contact Brent  [email protected] Episode Music

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 Introducing AI queens 14:16 Drones 16:00 AI - Is it worth it? 17:13 Being treatment free for mites  19:40 1500 chicken egg incubator for queen cells  21:20 Where you can find Brandon online 22:05 Sting Stoppers (A bee suit suit company Brandon is affiliated with) Email Brandon [email protected]  https://www.facebook.com/foothillsfarmandapiary/  Sting Stoppers Bee Suits https://stingstopper.buzz/?sca_ref=5347826.Bpf4wrrNuN Join the podcast Facebook community group - This is a great place to comment on the episode, share some of your own tips or just say hi! https://www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee Podcast proudly brought to you by  Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia) https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/ Email Brent  [email protected] Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/ YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees https://audionautix.com/ Episode Music