Posts By: Peter Brezny

We’ve got one hive with a queen that’s not nearly as strong as we’d like–spotty brood pattern, no VHS traits, progeny susceptible to deformed wing virus, etc…  Sticking with our chemical free, strong genetics, beekeeping plan we’ve started rearing queens from our strongest hive to replace her, and get a few nuc’s going to over-winter… Read more »

What’s the bottom line? Encourage good honey bee genetics in your apiary by raising queens from your strongest hives. It seems obvious, but on the flip side, helping weak colonies ‘limp along’ with mite treatments and antibiotics is actually encouraging weak genetics among the bees, and strong genetics among the mites!  How do you test… Read more »

A concise and informative article from Bee Culture magazine on using splits to help manage varroa: http://www.beeculture.com/splits-varroa-more-colonies-fewer-mites-new-queens-what-could-be-better/  

We track honeybee insect colony populations because they are a valuable monetary asset to humanity.  I’d venture to say that we know a lot about insects in general because of the honeybee. The beeinformed partnership tracks colony loss, and this past year was a hard one: Nation’s Beekeepers Lost 44 Percent of Bees in 2015-16… Read more »