Breeding the Honeybee

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 Since then the strain has almost entirely been replaced by other strains such as the Italian strain.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 

[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/

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 

[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/

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 

[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/

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 

[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/

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

[email protected]

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 

[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/

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 working in commercial beekeeping.

1:20 Paul’s history in beekeeping

5:50 Bee eating bird

8:05 AI only Apiaries in the Philippines 

12:00 Raising queens in the Philippines 

14:00 Types of bees in the Philippines 

16:00 Grafting in the ute

17:40 Paul’s business

 
Contact Paul: www.facebook.com/hhbeesnbeeks

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 

[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/

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 both the north and south American continents. 

3:40 - Apis mellifera scutellata

4:40 - Apis mellifera capensis, the cape bee

9:45 - How to work with scutellata

12:50 - Scutellata and Varroa

14:50 - Mauritz’s queen raising 

17:35 - Mauritz’s business

You can find Mauritz at the Facebook group, Honey Badger Bees

https://www.facebook.com/groups/669877944204931   

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 

[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/

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 discovered in Australia

11:30 - Breeding over treating

12:55 - Corinne’s breeding program (Using UBeeO)

14:07 - The challenges of establishing a breeding program in Australia

17:20 - How to get involved 

18:00 - Funding required 

19:05 - Corinne’s history of breeding queen bees

20:19 - Cordovan bees 

Find Corinne here
www.beegenetics.com.au

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 

[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/