Breeding the Honeybee

38) Amy Dunn (NZ)

Brent Nixon — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 22:01:12 +1100

Amy is a queen breeder. Her business is called Kereru Queen bees, which she runs with her two sisters and their husbands. The business was originally started by Amy’s father John over 40 years ago. The business is based in Kereru, a small farming district 60 km's southwest from Napier/Hastings on the eastern foothills of the northern Ruahine ranges in Hawkes Bay.

Contact Amy - kereruqueenbees@gmail.com

If you are interested in reading a nice book about Amy's Grandfather growing up with the bees you can email Amy's mother - jenny-dobson@xtra.co.nz
I have a copy of this book which my family read in one sitting and loved it.

Check out Amy's dad queen cell carriers here https://www.carricell.com/

An interview with Amy's grandfather from 2015 https://knowledgebank.org.nz/audio/berry-ian-interview/

Comment or leave feedback on the episode post in the Facebook group for this podcast

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

0:00 Intro and family

6:10 Kinds of bees

9:35 UbeeO

11:00 Randy Oliver

12:05 Kirk Webster

12:55 Ray Butler

13:10 AFB

15:35 Mating nucs

19:03 Cells

25:00 Fun facts

37) Chris Bartel (CA)

Brent Nixon — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 23:09:59 +1000

Chris is a 3rd generation beekeeper from Canada. His family specialise in imports of packages and queens. You can find the family’s business at https://www.bartelbeeco.ca/

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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

0:00 Family

7:59 Shipping queens internationally

12:40 Old way of beekeeping in Canada

16:10 Wintering

18:55 Ezy Loader

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

36) Monika Leleń (PL)

Brent Nixon — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 20:52:40 +1000

Monika is a polish queen breeder. Together with her team they produce a staggering 35000 virgin queens for sale each year. This is a popular way to purchase queens in Poland. They also produce mated and instrumentally inseminated queens. Monika’s team uses a range of techniques that lead them to achieve incredibly high levels of efficiency in the production of quality queens.

You can follow Monika’s work here.

https://www.facebook.com/akademiapszczelarza

https://pasieka-szeligow.pl/

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Special thanks to Marc Hillen and Anita Long for helping to set up this interview. Photo by Marc Hillen

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

35) Chris Werner (US)

Brent Nixon — Sat, 17 May 2025 20:27:47 +1000

Chris is a queen breeder and honey producer who has a family based bee business that operates between Florida and Wisconsin in the US.

Chris's Website
Chris's Business Facebook Page

Join the 'Breeding the Honeybee' Facebook group to be apart of future live streams

This podcast is proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees in Ballarat Australia.
Email Brent at brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

34) Krispn Given (US)

Brent Nixon — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 22:47:54 +1000

Krispn is an Apiculture Specialist at Purdue University’s Department of Entomology in West Lafayette Indiana USA. He runs a program breeding mite biting bees. Krispn is also the co-owner of a company that produces high quality instrumental insemination equipment made in the US.

Apis Engineering's Website
Krispn's profile at Purdue University

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!

Podcast proudly brought to you by

Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia)

https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

33) Marc Hillen (NO)

Brent Nixon — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 00:21:14 +1100

Marc is a queen breeder and uses instrumental insemination to produce every queen in his apiary. In this episode we cover some of the challenges of II and the interesting way in which they handle varroa in Norway.

Norwegian beekeepers can purchase Marc’s queens from his website. Marc can also be contacted through his Facebook page

If you liked this episode you might want to consider joining the Facebook group for this podcast. It's a great way to leave feedback, get notifications on new episodes and participate in live sessions.

Podcast proudly brought to you by

Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees (Ballarat VIC, Australia)

https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/

Email Brent

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

32) AQBBA Breeding Program 2024-29

Brent Nixon — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 22:22:44 +1100

In this live podcast with Peter Czeti, we discuss the Australian Queen Bee Breeders Association AQBBA breeding plan from 2024-2029. This live session included a QandA. If you would like to hear that part you can watch is on the 'Breeding the Honeybee' Facebook group.

If you would like to be part of the program please contact Peter on the AQBBA website.

This podcast is proudly brought to you by Brent Nixon at Nixon Queen Bees in Ballarat Australia. Email Brent at brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

31) Rerun of the Pollen Nation Podcast (US)

Brent Nixon — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 22:45:30 +1100

This is a rerun from 'The Pollen Nation Podcast' with Matt Walker. In this episode Matt covers the issue with raising queens too early in the season.

30) Kirk Webster (US)

Brent Nixon — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 00:26:14 +1100

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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au
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

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

29) Nick Milne (NZ)

Brent Nixon — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 21:15:43 +1000

Nick Milne is a third-generation beekeeper and owner-operator of Blue Sky Queen Bees and Backyard Bees in Nelson, New Zealand.

2:31 Working in Canada

4:05 Kids and bees

6:08 Getting into queen rearing

8:21 Queen breeding in New Zealand and colour

12:55 Pyramid structure for queen breeding

14:50 Bringing in mated queens for genetic diversity

16:18 Bringing in cells for genetic diversity

16:38 Rea Butler

17:23 VSH drone lines

19:34 Selling queen cells

22:01 What Nick sells

23:00 Nick’s other business - Backyard Bees

27:04 Where to find Nick online

https://backyardbees.nz/

https://buyqueenbees.nz/

Guide to shipping queen cells as discussed in the episode

https://www.projectapism.org/resources You’ll find the download link if you scroll down.

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/

28) Ron Clarke and Rob Manning (AU)

Brent Nixon — Sat, 17 Aug 2024 21:26:22 +1000

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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

27) Cory Stevens (US)

Brent Nixon — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 21:26:48 +1000

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 brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

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

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

26) Mary Lacksen (US)

Brent Nixon — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +1000

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

25) Shibu Raj (US)

Brent Nixon — Fri, 17 May 2024 21:39:57 +1000

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.gofundme.com/f/support-shibu-rajs-tornado-recovery?attribution_id=sl:c3f0948f-fdba-4966-8209-8dcf623c6040&utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

https://www.facebook.com/2RiversHoneyBees

https://www.tworivershoneybees.com/

Contact Brent

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Episode Music

24) Brandon Michael Simmons (US)

Brent Nixon — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 23:18:02 +1000

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 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 (Ballarat VIC, Australia)

https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/

Email Brent

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

https://audionautix.com/

Episode Music

23) Willie Robson (UK)

Brent Nixon — Sat, 16 Mar 2024 22:32:51 +1100

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

22) Brad Hogg (CA)

Brent Nixon — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 10:47:00 +1100

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.

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 (Ballarat VIC, Australia)

https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/

Email Brent

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

21) Ian Steppler (CA)

Brent Nixon — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 15:27:48 +1100

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 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouifrZvFn1U

00:00 Intro

2:18 Bringing in breeding stock

5:30 When Ian started raising his own stock

8:30 Cell builders

21:00 Mating nucs

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 (Ballarat VIC, Australia)

https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/

Email Brent

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

20) Laurence Edwards (UK)

Brent Nixon — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 07:48:40 +1100

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 (Ballarat VIC, Australia)

https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/

Email Brent

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

19) Leigh Slater (AU)

Brent Nixon — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 22:28:42 +1100

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

18) Terry Meakin (IE)

Brent Nixon — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 07:24:11 +1100

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

17) Dan Long (US)

Brent Nixon — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 22:56:02 +1100

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

16) Tucka Saville (US)

Brent Nixon — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 21:33:25 +1000

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

15) Varroa and VSH Australia

Brent Nixon — Sun, 03 Sep 2023 00:32:59 +1000

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/

14) Paul Densem (NZ)

Brent Nixon — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 23:38:02 +1000

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

paul@valleybees.nz

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

13) Paul Rafosala (PH)

Brent Nixon — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 23:21:41 +1000

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

12) Bees with Ben

Brent Nixon — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 23:17:40 +1000

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

11) Mauritz Verster (ZA)

Brent Nixon — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 01:49:14 +1000

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

10) Corinne Jordan (AU)

Brent Nixon — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 23:40:44 +1000

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

9) John Donovan (UK)

Brent Nixon — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 23:40:19 +1000

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

8) Duncan Simmons (UK)

Brent Nixon — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 22:42:06 +1100

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

goldwinguk@aol.com

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

7) John Jacobs (US)

Brent Nixon — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 21:40:31 +1100

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

6) Aidan Wing (US)

Brent Nixon — Sun, 06 Nov 2022 00:00:27 +1100

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

5) Adam Finkelstein (US)

Brent Nixon — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 22:19:43 +1100

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

4) Rae Butler (NZ)

Brent Nixon — Sat, 24 Sep 2022 00:27:48 +1000

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

3) Laurie Cowen (AU)

Brent Nixon — Sun, 04 Sep 2022 11:37:33 +1000

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

2) John Berry (NZ)

Brent Nixon — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 22:23:56 +1000

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@NixonQueenBees

Episode Music

https://audionautix.com/

1) Buckfast Abbey (UK)

Brent Nixon — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 22:11:22 +1000

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

brent@nixonqueenbees.com.au

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nixonqueenbees/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nixonqueenbees/

YouTube: