Published by Brent Nixon
All about bee breeding. Episodes range from: bee genetics, stories about bee breeding, analysis of research and interviews with people in this field.
Listen on Apple PodcastsRaf 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 influence 10:54 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/breedingthehoneybee Podcast proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia) https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/ Music by https://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 - kereruqueenbees@gmail.com If you are interested in reading a nice book about Amy's Grandfather growing up with the bees you can email Amy's mother - jenny-dobson@xtra.co.nz 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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au 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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au 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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au 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 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/
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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au
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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au 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 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/
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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au 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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au 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 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/
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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au 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 Foothillsfarmnc@gmail.com 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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees https://audionautix.com/ Episode Music
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 The biggest English black bee breeder in the world 7:50 Total Natural Immunity 9:45 Varroa and Willie’s bees 10:30 Working with black bees 11:30 Black bee reserves 12:15 The future of the black bee in the UK 13:12 Willie’s favourite part about beekeeping 14:15 Chain Bridge Honey Farm showroom 16:30 Advice to new beekeepers 17:30 Brother Adam Check out willie’s business website https://www.chainbridgehoney.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/
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 nucs 23:57 double screens with mating nucs Brad’s YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/FaithApiaries-ThatBeeMan Brad’s Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FaithApiaries 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/
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/