Breeding the Honeybee

Peter Donovan started working at Buckfast Abbey in 1939 when he was only 12 years old. Peter worked with Brother Adam during his teenage years and then returned to Buckfast in 1972 and remained there until 2004. He is said to be the person who knew Brother Adam the best. Peter kept bees with a passion until he passed away in 2013. Today I am speaking with his son, John Donovan, who, as a child, spent time at Buckfast with his father and Brother Adam. John lives in Buckfast to this day.

2:57 - Peter’s early life

10:25 - Peter’s Military service 

14:10 - Keeping bees while on service 

16:50 - Returning to Buckfast

17:26 - Brother Adam and Peter, a funny military story

22:08 - John’s memories of Brother Adam’s mating station

27:50 - Brother Adam’s trips looking for bees

28:40 - John remembers the Buckfast bee

32:00 - The honey yields and extraction room

35:50 - Ordering honey from Buckfast

39:50 - Peter loved teaching people about bees

42:30 - Peter’s book about beekeeping

46:10 - John’s collection of Buckfast photos 

47:20 - How Brother Adam maintained his hive 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/

Duncan owns and runs Simmons Apiaries, a business based in Trematon in south west England. Duncan has been keeping bees for over 50 years and for 35 years as a professional. He produces queens, honey, offers training and sells equipment for dealing with varroa. 

0:56 - Duncan tells a funny beekeeping story

2:43 - The Buckfast bee
3:51 - Peter Donovan 

5:51 - Home apiary at Buckfast Abbey

6:36 - The British native bee

9:51 - Brother Adam’s mating station

11:14 - Varroa 

13:11 - InstantVap

16:54 - The hive boxes Duncan runs 

18:54 - Nicot system

23:10 - Duncan’s work in St. Lucia
25:12 - Wax queen cups vs plastic 

27:43 - Priming cells cups 

29:17 - The mating nucs Duncan runs 

31:04 - The benefits of feeding mating nucs 

33:07 - The push in queen introduction cage

39:13 - How long should queen be in mating nucs  

42:12 - Staying at Duncan’s farm to learn queen rearing

Get in touch with Duncan 

[email protected]

https://www.facebook.com/SimmonsApiaries/

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/

John is a queen breeder from Rogue River, Oregon, USA. He has a business called Old Sol Apiaries. Starting in 1997 with a degree in Biology, John’s goal has been to produce  productive, hearty, pest and disease tolerant bees that are also a pleasure to work with. John prides himself on selling well vetted bees and even has a motto “A queen that has been through a thorough vetting, is a queen on which you should be betting!”

0:55 Varroa in Australia

3:02 Dealing with varroa with mite treatments 

4:12 VSH lines past and present 

5:50 Bee informed partnership  

7:10 John survivor stock

8:40 Washington State University importing Caucasian bees from Georgia 

11:30 What John selects for

13:11 Oxalic acid

13:33 John mating nucs

16:50 John’s work with solar energy companies

18:20 Mead

https://oldsolbees.com/

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/

Aidan owns and runs Wings of Nature, a company based in San Mateo County, California, USA, that produces honey, nucs, queens and provides education and pollination services. Aidan’s line of queens has been sourced partly from his surrounding area, preserving locally adapted traits. 

0:45 How Aidan got into queen breeding

3:55 Establishing lines of bees suited to your own area

7:11 The traits Aidan is looking for when bringing in breeding stock

9:23 Maintaining lines

11:26 Using all colonies as potential breeders

14:29 Queen raising with kids

16:55 Mating nucs

19:10 Aidan’s recommendations for resources 

21:56 Aidan’s grant to establish a breeding program

24:35 Where to find Aidan online

Aidan's Website 
https://www.wingsofnaturebees.com/

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/

Adam is a VSH queen breeder. He has been breeding queen bees since the late 80s. Together with his wife, Kelly, who he met in Entomology class at university, they run a business called VP queen bees which is based in Iva, South Carolina, USA and specialises in the production of VSH breeder queens. 

1:30 Getting into bees

7:00 Working as a bee inspector 

12:00 Getting to know varroa

18:20 Thoughts on treating varroa

22:10 What are VSH bees
26:30 Adam’s hive setup

30:30 Adam’s bee lines

36:00 History of the Pol line 2.2

39:30 Artificial insemination classes

40:25 Books on queen breeding

Get in touch with Adam at vpqueenbees.com

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/

Rae is a VSH (Varroa Sensitive Hygiene) specialist queen breeder from New Zealand. She operates the Bee Smart Breeding program which produces VSH bees. Rae has spent time with VSH breeding programmes in Baton Rouge, Arista Bee Research in the Netherlands and the Bee Informed Partnership based in Maryland University. 

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/

Laurie is well known in Tasmania, Australia for mentoring new beekeepers and producing nucleus colonies and queen cells. Listeners from Tasmania would know Laurie from his work in the Tasmanian Junior beekeeping club and with sisters hives Australia.

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/

John is part of the Berry family, which is a very big name in the New Zealand beekeeping industry. The Berry family own Arataki Honey, a large honey packing company located in Hawke Bay on the eastern side of the north island. At certain times in the history of this company the Berry family have had 4 generations working alongside each other. These days John runs his own business called Berry Bees and produces comb honey for the local market. John has also been involved with the Varroa sensitive hygiene program in New Zealand and has had experience testing and breeding from VSH queens.

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/

In this episode I talk briefly about the life of Brother Adam and I also speak to the head of bees at Buckfast Abbey, Clare Densley, about what Buckfast Abbey is up to with the bees these days. 

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/

Join the podcast Facebook community group

www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee

Podcast proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees 

• Email - [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/
• TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@nixonqueenbees
• Website: www.nixonqueenbees.com.au

Music: www.audionautix.com