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 9:19 European influence10:54 Isolation Cages 12:09 Isolation queen bank 14:30 Custom queen excluders 16:15 Raf’s business Check out Raf's business here. https://www.manaqueen.co.nz/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/breedingthehoneybeePodcast proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia)https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/Music byhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL0pcAGV4g67jCxGIPWv9iQ

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] 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/breedingthehoneybeePodcast proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia)https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/Email Brent [email protected] Musichttps://audionautix.com/0:00 Intro and family6:10 Kinds of bees 9:35 UbeeO11:00 Randy Oliver12:05 Kirk Webster12:55 Ray Butler13:10 AFB15:35 Mating nucs19:03 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/breedingthehoneybeeThis podcast is proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees in Ballarat Australia. Email Brent at [email protected]:00 Family7:59 Shipping queens internationally12:40 Old way of beekeeping in Canada16:10 Wintering 18:55 Ezy LoaderEpisode Musichttps://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/akademiapszczelarzahttps://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/breedingthehoneybeePodcast proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia)https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/Email Brent [email protected] thanks to Marc Hillen and Anita Long for helping to set up this interview. Photo by Marc HillenEpisode Musichttps://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 streamsThis podcast is proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees in Ballarat Australia. Email Brent at [email protected]: https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBeesEpisode Musichttps://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 Musichttps://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 pageIf 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] Musichttps://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 linkFacebookYouTube

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/breedingthehoneybeeThis podcast is proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees in Ballarat Australia. Email Brent at [email protected]: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 Abbey11:34 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 stock29:29 Last treatment in 200231:47 Mite counts 35:02 Open apiary Episode Musichttps://audionautix.com/