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. 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...

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.  Check out willie’s business website  https://www.chainbridgehoney.com/ Join the podcast Facebook community group - This...

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.   What we chatted about  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...

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 - Small Scale Commercial Queen Rearing You can follow...

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...

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...

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. Join the podcast facebook community group www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee Podcast proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees  Email -...

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.  EZPZ Website https://ezpz.buzz/ Email Brent - [email protected] SUPPORT & CONNECT Instagram: www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/ Website: www.nixonqueenbees.com.au 4:00 Dan’s business 4:30 JZBZ system  5:10 First 3D printer 5:35 First attempt at making...

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. https://www.instagram.com/tucka.bee/?hl=en  Email Brent - [email protected] SUPPORT & CONNECT Instagram: www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/ Website: www.nixonqueenbees.com.au 1:20 What a Comfort hive is  2:48 Feeding  3:10...

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.  Thanks to: Matt Petersen https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083143661962 Richard...

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. You can contact Paul by email...

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. Contact Paul: www.facebook.com/hhbeesnbeeks SUPPORT &...

Ben's Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/bees-with-ben/id1512755530 Ben's Website www.bensbees.com.au Facebookhttps://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.  You can find Mauritz at the Facebook group, Honey...

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...

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 -...

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.  Get in touch with Duncan  [email protected] https://www.facebook.com/SimmonsApiaries/   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...

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!” https://oldsolbees.com/ 55 Varroa in Australia 3:02 Dealing with...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...