Breeding the Honeybee Brent Nixon

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 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 
Email - brent@nixonqueenbees.com.auInstagram: www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/Facebook: www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@nixonqueenbeesWebsite: www.nixonqueenbees.com.au
Episode Music
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)

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 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 
Email - brent@nixonqueenbees.com.auInstagram: www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/Facebook: www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@nixonqueenbeesWebsite: www.nixonqueenbees.com.au00:00 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

Episode Music

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 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 
Email - brent@nixonqueenbees.com.auInstagram: www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/Facebook: www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@nixonqueenbeesWebsite: www.nixonqueenbees.com.auEpisode Music

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 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 
Email - brent@nixonqueenbees.com.auInstagram: www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/Facebook: www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@nixonqueenbeesWebsite: www.nixonqueenbees.com.au00:00 Intro
2:18 Bringing in breeding stock 
5:30 When Ian started raising his own stock
8:30 Cell builders 
21:00 Mating nucs 
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 
Email - brent@nixonqueenbees.com.auInstagram: www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/Facebook: www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@nixonqueenbeesWebsite: www.nixonqueenbees.com.auMusic: www.audionautix.com

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 
Email - brent@nixonqueenbees.com.auInstagram: www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/Facebook: www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@nixonqueenbeesWebsite: www.nixonqueenbees.com.au
Episode Music: www.audionautix.com