Breeding the Honeybee – Details, episodes & analysis

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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au
www.nixonqueenbees.com.au

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/

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 of the things that you can see in this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouifrZvFn1U

00:00 Intro

2:18 Bringing in breeding stock 

5:30 When Ian started raising his own stock

8:30 Cell builders 

21:00 Mating nucs 

You can follow Ian’s work on his YouTube Channel or on his website - https://www.stepplerfarms.com/ 

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 

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

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 

14:00 How to find Laurence online

15:25 What is Laurence selling 

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.au/

Email Brent 

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

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 was the first stain of european honeybee in Australia. Since then the strain has almost entirely been replaced by other strains such as the Italian strain. To my knowledge Leigh's apiary is the only one remaining with a pure AMM strain. The current official status as well as the future of this preservation is currently unclear. 

Special thanks to Matthew Crane, Anita Long, Mick Palmer and Laurie Cowen for helping me put together this episode. 

1:00 When Leigh started beekeeping

4:13 Preserving the black bee

7:05 taking the strain back to England

9:30 Attributes of the black bee

12:00 The Tasmanian program

15:30 Leatherwood honey

17:00 Ideal honey boxes 

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.au/

Email Brent 

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

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 honey bee

9:40 AMM nucs 

10:00 Peter Donovan

11:30 Meeting Brother Adam

15:20 Peter Donovan’s photo book

17:10 Buckfast bee

20:10 Mating nucs

26:30 Dadant Hive

30:00 Patsy Bennett and the Teagasc Research Centre in Wexford

33:20 Where to find Terry

Terry's Website 
https://wicklowbeesandhoney.wordpress.com/

Podcast proudly brought to you by 

Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia)

https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/

Email Brent 

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

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 the cages 

10:45 Wax mounts

12:30 Merrill tool box

14:25 Day tripper

19:50 JZBZ set

20:10 Queen catcher

22:30 Cell bars 

23:10 Dan’s website

24:15 North American Honey Bee Expo vendor 

EZPZ Website

https://ezpz.buzz/

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.au/

Email Brent 

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

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 Using a swarm as a cell builder   
9:20 Variation in queen colour
10:20 Selection of queens
11:15 Stacking mating nucs
12:40 Moving a Comfort hive
15:00 Queen raising classes
16:00 Where to find Tucka online

Tucka's Istagram
https://www.instagram.com/tucka.bee/?hl=en 

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.au/

Email Brent 

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

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 has changed our approach to varroa from eradication to management. 

Thanks to:

Matt Petersen

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083143661962

Richard Sims 

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067550281602

Corinne Jordan

https://beegenetics.com.au/

Paul Roder

https://rockhamptonbees.com.au/

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 commercial and hobbyist beekeepers. 

1:14 Paul’s Swarms 

1:43 What Paul looks for in his queens 

6:30 How long Paul worked on his bees until he was happy with them

7:20 How Paul got into breeding

9:20 What mating nucs Paul uses

10:40 Paul’s small amount of introduced stock

12:30 Diversifying genetics 

12:45 Drones

13:10 The rearing system Paul uses

17:50 Paul’s climate  

21:00 Where you can find Paul

21:44 Paul’s honey

23:20 Varroa

paul@valleybees.nz

https://www.facebook.com/ValleyApiariesNZ/

https://valleybees.nz/

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.au/

Email Brent 

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/