Breeding the Honeybee
Brent Nixon
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Top 10 Breeding the Honeybee Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Breeding the Honeybee episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Breeding the Honeybee for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Breeding the Honeybee episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
24) Brandon Michael Simmons (US)
Breeding the Honeybee
04/16/24 • 25 min
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 [email protected]
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
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/
YouTube:
26) Mary Lacksen (US)
Breeding the Honeybee
06/16/24 • 20 min
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
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees
Episode Music
23) Willie Robson (UK)
Breeding the Honeybee
03/16/24 • 23 min
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
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/
YouTube:
28) Ron Clarke and Rob Manning (AU)
Breeding the Honeybee
08/17/24 • 23 min
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 [email protected]
25) Shibu Raj (US)
Breeding the Honeybee
05/17/24 • 26 min
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.facebook.com/2RiversHoneyBees
https://www.tworivershoneybees.com/
Contact Brent
16) Tucka Saville (US)
Breeding the Honeybee
09/27/23 • 17 min
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
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/
YouTube:
5) Adam Finkelstein (US)
Breeding the Honeybee
10/31/22 • 61 min
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
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/
YouTube:
27) Cory Stevens (US)
Breeding the Honeybee
07/16/24 • 22 min
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 [email protected]
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
17) Dan Long (US)
Breeding the Honeybee
10/21/23 • 25 min
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
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
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/
YouTube:
30) Kirk Webster (US)
Breeding the Honeybee
10/16/24 • 38 min
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 [email protected]
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
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FAQ
How many episodes does Breeding the Honeybee have?
Breeding the Honeybee currently has 31 episodes available.
What topics does Breeding the Honeybee cover?
The podcast is about Genetics, Beekeeping, Nature, Podcasts, Education and Science.
What is the most popular episode on Breeding the Honeybee?
The episode title '27) Cory Stevens (US)' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Breeding the Honeybee?
The average episode length on Breeding the Honeybee is 29 minutes.
How often are episodes of Breeding the Honeybee released?
Episodes of Breeding the Honeybee are typically released every 28 days, 11 hours.
When was the first episode of Breeding the Honeybee?
The first episode of Breeding the Honeybee was released on Jul 16, 2022.
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