Will be interseting to see this. From a practical take on the commercial side i think this product is an item looking to solve a problem that doesnt exist. Though thorough selction of breeder queens that are 95% hygeinic or more the prevelance pf AFB, EFB, and chalkbrood is defacto zero. Just a small effort on the genetics front eliminates the need for the vaccine. Absolutely does.
Hi Bob, I'm so glad that this showed up in my feed. Dr. Delaplane was my first and most significant source of information on keeping honey bees when I got started. I have the DVD titled - A year in the life of an apiary. It has no date of publication on it, sometime in the '90s. It was the best out there at the time for backyard beekeeping. I'm grateful for Dr. Delaplane and all the information he's shared. I'm so glad you interviewed him. :)
@@bobbinnie9872 Hi Bob, you never know! I found it on the BetterBee site at $45.00 with a book. So, apparently, it's increased in value already. Thank you for the response!
If you ask me, these types of videos might be your natural evolution of your channel presentation. Just look at your comment interaction, quite impressive Mr. Rock Star
Probably the best information I have obtained so far on genetic variation that nature has been able to accomplish even without human intervention. Thank you both for bringing up this topic, I am surprised that nature can allow a queen bee to mate with 60 or 70 drones, being only limited by the queen's storage capacity. All this can only result in ever evolving genetic combinations to make the super hybrids if that's a true word, bringing together a mix of different traits and combinations in the same hive. Truly amazing, thank you.
Loved this! So very interesting and explanatory. Keith Delaplane is a great speaker and has a wealth of information. Thank you for doing this video Bob.
WoW, what an awesome video Bob!! I've watched many of your videos. I am just a sideliner. But, no matter how much I've learned from your videos, there is so much more to learn. Now you bring something completely new to the table..... Polyandry amazing!
I really enjoyed this. Informative and thought provoking. Unfortunately most beekeepers never see, read or hear about research of any kind. Thanks Bob for getting this out there.
Thank you for producing the video, Bob. We have some of our bees in one of Brother Adams old fields, where he took queens for isolated mating, and each Queen from other beekeepers had to arrive in mating nucs with glass sides, so he could see that no other drones were being introduced to the area, or to mate with his own queens. I've been aware of diversity being a good thing, but this has now changed our own plans for this year's mating and drone production. Lots to pick out from this video, and more to delve into now, regarding Brother Adams reasoning. Thanks again,
I’m speechless this is exactly what I’ve been doing in my operation, minus AI I have invested in queens of many kinds mixed into my yards something has always told me this was important in the evaluation of our bees and will be the key that unlocks the mite resistance door . I’ve found in doing this I have healthier yards and hives . I knew there was something to this !
What a great discussion and food for thought for those fixed on a certain way to breed a "better" bee! In a previous life I spent decades breeding marine worms and we saw similar things!
Hi Bob! I met you shortly at Hive life. Your knowledge sharing has made me such a better bee keeper. I built a hot room in my garage because I had 80 gallons of honey in my living room and one bucket was blowing up lol. You made it so clear to me how to harvest nectar faster and produce higher quality honey. Thankyou for sharing your tricks and trades
Thanks so much for doing these videos. So much to glean from the researchers who are doing work on the cutting edge of these topics. Never an end to what we have yet to learn.
A couple questions from a novice keeper. 1. Is there a way to force extra drone production from a colony? 2. Can you explain what a "Drone Congregation Area" is?
Easy way to explain may be drones and queen bees meet at a mating club, the drones die after mating, they meet somewhere higher than at ground level, the drones get attracted to the queen bees pheromones, and queen bee gets fertilized by multiple drones. Hope the above helps answer your question.
04:35 The debate that popped into my mind was Genesis 11:1 "Now the whole world had one language and a common speech." God interrupted our super organism. 25:16 too much of a good thing, old but replayed out story Proverbs 25:16 "If you find honey, eat just enough- too much of it, and you will vomit." 40:27 It's easy, mix it up when breeding Honey Bees for same results
Great video Bob! It really gets the old rusty gears in my mind turning. This subject is so much deeper than most average beekeepers will ever think about but so interesting and plays a role in how successful or just how good that beekeepers stock (bees) will be. It was good to see and talk to you at HL.
Brilliant video Bob, Keith is excellent and I find the whole topic fascinating. We had him on one of our zoom meetings during Covid and was it was great.
THIS! Great contribution to understanding the very big puzzle that is the nature. And that we must use the methods of nature itself. Interesting to increase diversity by mixing brood frames, expect that to be an established method.
I am curious how brood mixing may have negative effects and if the trade offs are worth doing it. Should we mix bees and brood? Mixing bees could create temporary disruption of caste workflow... nurses, foragers, etc. Perhaps it's easier to shake the bees and simply mix as many frames of capped brood as possible. As usual, two really smart guys talking together leads to a lot of questions 🤣 Maybe call the new queen line "Poly Queens"
Hi Bob When Keith talked about brood mixing, would that be done after 9 am when the field bees have left the colony? Seams like a very interesting and simple experiment. As long as there wasn't a dearth and robbing wasn't a problem would you just put them straight in or Spritz everyone down with sugar water?
Personally I would just put them in, bees and all, unless there was an uproar in the yard like robbing. If it was a lot of bees I might splash a little syrup on the top bars. And yes, it would work better if the field force was gone.
An important video Bob. I really like it when you connect science/biology/chemistry in your videos. Your knowledge is huge!! Thank you....Been a beekeeper for over 30 years and always have been focusing on strong hives and diversity. The Holy Grail ??does it exist?? That is also my concern with mite resistent bees. So it si not my focus.
As always thanks for the great information. It's pretty interesting, especially in respect to drone mating numbers and coinciding with varoa resistance! Thanks Bob
Hey Bob, did Keith use a centrifuge to mix the 30/60 sets of drone semen or just allow it to mix in the capillary tube? Very interesting conversation and great video. I greatly appreciate the time you take to produce these videos. Thank you.
Hi David. I don't know the answer to that question. Search "Keith Delaplane" and his contact info is easy to find. He's a nice guy and would probably answer you.
Instead of trying to propogate a desirable trait through queen selection it sounds like I should be cherishing the drone layers (instead of shaking them out) for their contribution to neighborhood dca's! Also, it appears that exchanging frames of brood when equalizing colonies in the spring pays unexpected dividends in genetic diversity within colonies in addition to the boost it provides to colony population. Fabulous material Bob and Keith! Thanks so much!
Great video Bob and certainly very informative!!! I talked with Dr. Deleplane about this very topic at last year's GBA spring conference.....very interesting stuff!
This is such an intriguing concept, Bob. Thank you for sharing this conversation with us. This information will help us in our queen rearing this coming season. I've shared this with our local association to help others benefit.
Bob and Keith , Thank you! Bob, Questions: 1. What real evidence do you have that there was inbreeding ? Can you provide an example of how you were able to determine that there was inbreeding? 2. If the 6:100 ratio is not enough for ideal mating , what ratio would you recommend?
No scientific proof actually, just casual observation. I had several yards that were isolated from other apiaries and where I continually split and re-queened from within those yards, always letting them raise their own queens. I did this for experiments that I won't get into here. In every case the general temperament of those yards got worse and worse over time ( seven years) which led me to believe that inbreeding was causing it. Again, no scientific proof.
Another thought I had was related to the importance of needing more drones for mating. Could the reduction in queen longevity be traced back to the popularity of plastic worker sized foundation? Should we be encouraging beekeepers to be including one or two foundationless frames in each colony? I use foundationless, and I see 20 to 30% drone comb on most frames. I also do not see any drone comb on the bottoms of frames like I see in most videos.
My understanding is that colonies in the wild build the majority of their drone comb on the periphery of the nest. I'm sure managed colonies are being forced to alter their natural inclinations.
Great video! However, varroa resistance and VSH in particular is not a recessive trait, it is an additive trait. With this fact most of the talk in this video about varroa resistance is not valid.
Wow...consider my mind officially blown! Bob this is a great video and I think it's your best most interesting one yet. Can't wait for part 2. You know it just goes to show you that nature always has it right. Don't get me wrong I'm all for science but I love it when it comes full circle right back to nature. Very interesting...good stuff!
Good stuff. What I heard is that the best way to spread beneficial traits is to increase drone production off of those prized queens more so than grafting with them. I am wondering if anyone is taking queens with undesirable characteristics and insiminating them with multiple drones with desirable characteristics.
One of the best videos to date. Keith is a wealth of information! Thanks for sharing Bob. Haven't seen an email from you yet regarding the old pics. If I don't hear from you, I will call the store on my next day off.
Interesting back door support for the benefits of polyandry. Wondering if such cross-fostering of brood might have a benefit for say an apiary undergoing an epizootic or even perhaps commercial Beekeepers bringing their colonies to almonds where we know there will be significant pathogen exchange. 🤔😮
It could also foster significant pathogen exchange by mixing. I do still think it'd be better overall, even if you spread more pathogens. It could equalize the load and ability to withstand it.
Certainly fascinating subject matter. I would have liked to hear a little more elaboration about the science behind “the majority of our evidence is that the sperm mixes”. How specifically does that ‘mixing’ happen? Are the sperm cells proposed to be individually altered genetically at some point within the queen’s spermatheca?
Concerning the number of drones in the drone containment area, is the practice of using the green frame to purposely collect drones and their mites on a frame to then destroy, reducing the number of drones in the containment area, or reducing the number of drones with mites in the containment area?
Some beekeepers do use drone frames for simply freezing and killing mites as a part of an IPM (integrated pest management) program. I use them to insure ample drone production for mating purposes and to help keep my brood comb primarily worker comb. If you don't give the bees a place to rear drones they can often put patches of drone cell anywhere in your primary worker comb.
Dear Bob, thanks for such wealth of information. I can attest to the brood mixing in queen acceptance. Over a span of 2 months I requeened and split 30 colonies last year with several different breeds, as I'm observing each breed during the seasons and select for specific traits and mix the different breeds; the requeening and acceptance sucess was 100% of all 30 queens. I mixed brood from at least 3 breeds and introduced the queen. I did it because a commercial beekeper, dear friend of mine who also breeds quees, said that the different breeds smell different and sucess was low, so I decided that all the colonies will be mixed to avoid an homogeneous smell, and want all the colonies to benefit from all the traits while it last. Thanks for providing a scientific perspective to that. Also I saturate Caucasian and Cordoban starters (gentle) with Russians and Carniolan (swarmy) nurses and capped brood thinking that their swarm instinct helps select and raise more/better queen cells.
Thought- when I use newspaper to combine 2 colonies, those colonies are generally much stronger than non-combined colonies. The strength seems to endure and I attributed this to sheer numbers as a result of combining. Maybe it is increased polyandry.
@@wishicouldspel no assumptions- only thinking- if 2 colonies are combined, then the resulting population must be more genetically diverse. If so, does that result in different nurse bee rearing and if so, then result in different offspring behavior… nurse bees being just one track this could go down. Question- are behaviors changed by population diversity or are all outcomes and resulting behaviors purely genetic??
So practical application would doubling drone numbers in your DCA, increase this possibility outside of AI. Would 2 green frames in a double increase your numbers enough? perhaps certain colonies with several frames of drone cone surrounding you mating yards! Many questions!
Many questions I agree. Although increasing the number of drone combs would probably increase the number of drones produced by a colony I don't know what the percentage would be.
Part two of this interesting conversation with Keith will be on the involvement of the University of Georgia with the new vaccine for AFB.
Will be interseting to see this. From a practical take on the commercial side i think this product is an item looking to solve a problem that doesnt exist.
Though thorough selction of breeder queens that are 95% hygeinic or more the prevelance pf AFB, EFB, and chalkbrood is defacto zero.
Just a small effort on the genetics front eliminates the need for the vaccine. Absolutely does.
How can you judge the productivity or quality of a virgin queen mated to one drone?
By comparing with other one drone inseminated queens?
thanks Bob... super interesting conversation - wonder what the high rate of genetic recombinationing has to do with trait specializing?
@@fredselby9990 They would both come from queens with the traits desired or you could test the colony reared by the new queen for the traits desired.
Hi Bob, I'm so glad that this showed up in my feed. Dr. Delaplane was my first and most significant source of information on keeping honey bees when I got started. I have the DVD titled - A year in the life of an apiary. It has no date of publication on it, sometime in the '90s. It was the best out there at the time for backyard beekeeping. I'm grateful for Dr. Delaplane and all the information he's shared. I'm so glad you interviewed him. :)
Hi Fred. I have that video set too. Perhaps it will be a collectors item some day.
@@bobbinnie9872 Hi Bob, you never know! I found it on the BetterBee site at $45.00 with a book. So, apparently, it's increased in value already. Thank you for the response!
Rewatched this…again 🤔 need to dig out my “Year in the Life…”VHS tapes and book…again 🤷♂️
If you ask me, these types of videos might be your natural evolution of your channel presentation.
Just look at your comment interaction, quite impressive Mr. Rock Star
It helps when the person you're interviewing is this smart. It makes me look better. 😉
Probably the best information I have obtained so far on genetic variation that nature has been able to accomplish even without human intervention. Thank you both for bringing up this topic, I am surprised that nature can allow a queen bee to mate with 60 or 70 drones, being only limited by the queen's storage capacity. All this can only result in ever evolving genetic combinations to make the super hybrids if that's a true word, bringing together a mix of different traits and combinations in the same hive. Truly amazing, thank you.
Loved this! So very interesting and explanatory. Keith Delaplane is a great speaker and has a wealth of information. Thank you for doing this video Bob.
Thanks Richard.
Talk about knowledge and loads of information. Thank you Keith and Bob
Bob this is the most interesting talk I’ve seen in a while! Easy wins with potentially big impacts.
Thanks Nathan.
WoW, what an awesome video Bob!! I've watched many of your videos. I am just a sideliner. But, no matter how much I've learned from your videos, there is so much more to learn. Now you bring something completely new to the table..... Polyandry amazing!
I really enjoyed this. Informative and thought provoking. Unfortunately most beekeepers never see, read or hear about research of any kind. Thanks Bob for getting this out there.
Thank you for producing the video, Bob. We have some of our bees in one of Brother Adams old fields, where he took queens for isolated mating, and each Queen from other beekeepers had to arrive in mating nucs with glass sides, so he could see that no other drones were being introduced to the area, or to mate with his own queens. I've been aware of diversity being a good thing, but this has now changed our own plans for this year's mating and drone production. Lots to pick out from this video, and more to delve into now, regarding Brother Adams reasoning.
Thanks again,
Brother Adam was a smart man and I quote him often.
Thanks for sharing interesting content Bob 👍
That was a very good interview. I never received that level of information in my college genetics or entomology courses.
Well done Bob & Keith! Many take aways to chew on after watching. Appreciate this conversation!
Thanks Greg.
Love this. Just more on the genetics and science behind bees. I think this is more of what is needed. Great video Bob.
I’m speechless this is exactly what I’ve been doing in my operation, minus AI I have invested in queens of many kinds mixed into my yards something has always told me this was important in the evaluation of our bees and will be the key that unlocks the mite resistance door . I’ve found in doing this I have healthier yards and hives . I knew there was something to this !
What a great discussion and food for thought for those fixed on a certain way to breed a "better" bee! In a previous life I spent decades breeding marine worms and we saw similar things!
Really good Bob and Keith
Very interesting interview l believe one of the best
Thank you Bob and Keith
Thank you.
Really bringing the best thought provoking videos. Enjoyed it. Thanks.
Awesome thanks gentlemen!!
What a super informative video
Thanks again Bob
Great video!!
Thank you gentlemen for sharing this interesting topic of conversation.
Hi Bob! I met you shortly at Hive life. Your knowledge sharing has made me such a better bee keeper. I built a hot room in my garage because I had 80 gallons of honey in my living room and one bucket was blowing up lol. You made it so clear to me how to harvest nectar faster and produce higher quality honey. Thankyou for sharing your tricks and trades
Wooooowwww a ton of impressive important information thanks
Thanks so much for doing these videos. So much to glean from the researchers who are doing work on the cutting edge of these topics. Never an end to what we have yet to learn.
Bob and Keith, thank you. Mendelian genetics well explained.
Great stuff, thanks for sharing! I think I’ll need to rewatch this one.
I have Keith’s book on crop pollination, it was great info too.
Hi Gus. Keith is well spoken on a variety of subjects.
I agree Gus. I will definitely have to rewatch tonight when I am not so busy.
Fascinating conversation. I really appreciate the content on your channel, Bob.
Great video! Very interesting and thank you for the discussion of the practical application. Really great advice for small queen breeders.
Wow. What an interesting discussion. I particularly like the concept of mixing the brood to get better queen acceptance. Thank you for sharing.
A couple questions from a novice keeper. 1. Is there a way to force extra drone production from a colony? 2. Can you explain what a "Drone Congregation Area" is?
Easy way to explain may be drones and queen bees meet at a mating club, the drones die after mating, they meet somewhere higher than at ground level, the drones get attracted to the queen bees pheromones, and queen bee gets fertilized by multiple drones. Hope the above helps answer your question.
One of the most interesting videos I’ve watched for a long time, thank you!
Beekeepers must start taking science more seriously. This discussion is great. I never knew why inbreeding tends to produce problems.
Really enjoy these academic discussions and practical applications; good food for thought. Thank you for sharing Bob 😊
Thanks Gabino.
04:35 The debate that popped into my mind was Genesis 11:1 "Now the whole world had one language and a common speech." God interrupted our super organism.
25:16 too much of a good thing, old but replayed out story Proverbs 25:16 "If you find honey, eat just enough-
too much of it, and you will vomit."
40:27 It's easy, mix it up when breeding Honey Bees for same results
Great video Bob! It really gets the old rusty gears in my mind turning. This subject is so much deeper than most average beekeepers will ever think about but so interesting and plays a role in how successful or just how good that beekeepers stock (bees) will be. It was good to see and talk to you at HL.
Hi Don. It was great to see you too. and yes this stuff really makes one think.
Brilliant video Bob, Keith is excellent and I find the whole topic fascinating. We had him on one of our zoom meetings during Covid and was it was great.
Keith is always well spoken on any topic. Thanks.
THIS! Great contribution to understanding the very big puzzle that is the nature. And that we must use the methods of nature itself. Interesting to increase diversity by mixing brood frames, expect that to be an established method.
I am curious how brood mixing may have negative effects and if the trade offs are worth doing it. Should we mix bees and brood? Mixing bees could create temporary disruption of caste workflow... nurses, foragers, etc. Perhaps it's easier to shake the bees and simply mix as many frames of capped brood as possible. As usual, two really smart guys talking together leads to a lot of questions 🤣
Maybe call the new queen line "Poly Queens"
very interesting, I never thought about it that way.
Very intriguing interview! Thanks again Bob much appreciated!
Amazing, one of the most interesting talks about bees.
Thanks!
39:50 so simple and yet revolutionary :)
Wonderful help and many great videos= thanks tons for your kindness and teaching all of us, makes our efforts to save the bees easier.
One of the VERY best things I've ever seen !!! Thanks Bob!!!
Extremely interesting stuff. The more you learn about bee's, only increases the questions and curiosity.
Totally agree.
That was one amazing interview! Thank you.
I really enjoyed this. Thank you for putting out such great videos.
Super video so much information.ill have to watch it again to let it all sink in. thank you
Great conversation! Thanks for these videos.
Fascinating Bob! Wonderful content!
Excellent Bob. Keep them coming especially the interviews.
Fascinating! Do you think the use of drone comb for varroa control is having a negative impact on the number of drones available for mating?
It would if that's your goal.
Hi Bob
When Keith talked about brood mixing, would that be done after 9 am when the field bees have left the colony? Seams like a very interesting and simple experiment. As long as there wasn't a dearth and robbing wasn't a problem would you just put them straight in or Spritz everyone down with sugar water?
Personally I would just put them in, bees and all, unless there was an uproar in the yard like robbing. If it was a lot of bees I might splash a little syrup on the top bars. And yes, it would work better if the field force was gone.
I like the brood mixing. More work but seems worth the effort. Look forward to the next one with the Queen Pimp.
This video answers a lot of questions which I have been wondering about for years. Thank you for the video.
Anyone interested in honeybees should watch this amazing conversation! Thanks for sharing gentlemen! The Yellow Frog Community
Very informative. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Keith!
Thanks for this interview, Bob… fascinating and makes sense.
An important video Bob. I really like it when you connect science/biology/chemistry in your videos. Your knowledge is huge!! Thank you....Been a beekeeper for over 30 years and always have been focusing on strong hives and diversity. The Holy Grail ??does it exist?? That is also my concern with mite resistent bees. So it si not my focus.
Great Information live and learn the bees business. Thank You Bob
As always thanks for the great information. It's pretty interesting, especially in respect to drone mating numbers and coinciding with varoa resistance! Thanks Bob
Thank you Bob and Keith very interesting.
Hey Bob, did Keith use a centrifuge to mix the 30/60 sets of drone semen or just allow it to mix in the capillary tube? Very interesting conversation and great video. I greatly appreciate the time you take to produce these videos. Thank you.
Hi David. I don't know the answer to that question. Search "Keith Delaplane" and his contact info is easy to find. He's a nice guy and would probably answer you.
fascinating talk. Thanks for making this video.
Can't wait for part 2, Thanks Bob
Great job Bob, nice chat you guys did! Take care Bob
Wow what a bunch of information.
Good video Bob really enjoyed it have a great week
I like it. I like it alot. Kinda blows up the queen bee industry to know that muts r best for diversity.
Instead of trying to propogate a desirable trait through queen selection it sounds like I should be cherishing the drone layers (instead of shaking them out) for their contribution to neighborhood dca's! Also, it appears that exchanging frames of brood when equalizing colonies in the spring pays unexpected dividends in genetic diversity within colonies in addition to the boost it provides to colony population. Fabulous material Bob and Keith! Thanks so much!
Great video Bob and certainly very informative!!! I talked with Dr. Deleplane about this very topic at last year's GBA spring conference.....very interesting stuff!
Thanks.
Great stuff! More content like this please.
excellent video Bob, thank you!
That makes so much sense. Love it.
This is such an intriguing concept, Bob. Thank you for sharing this conversation with us. This information will help us in our queen rearing this coming season. I've shared this with our local association to help others benefit.
Thanks Brad.
Marvellous!!! Not even Avatar 2 got my attention like you guys did! Thank you! 🤗
Bob and Keith , Thank you! Bob, Questions: 1. What real evidence do you have that there was inbreeding ? Can you provide an example of how you were able to determine that there was inbreeding? 2. If the 6:100 ratio is not enough for ideal mating , what ratio would you recommend?
No scientific proof actually, just casual observation. I had several yards that were isolated from other apiaries and
where I continually split and re-queened from within those yards, always letting them raise their own queens. I did this for experiments that I won't get into here. In every case the general temperament of those yards got worse and worse over time ( seven years) which led me to believe that inbreeding was causing it. Again, no scientific proof.
Excellent talk, so glad I caught it. I am going for XL DCA'S!
Another thought I had was related to the importance of needing more drones for mating. Could the reduction in queen longevity be traced back to the popularity of plastic worker sized foundation? Should we be encouraging beekeepers to be including one or two foundationless frames in each colony? I use foundationless, and I see 20 to 30% drone comb on most frames. I also do not see any drone comb on the bottoms of frames like I see in most videos.
My understanding is that colonies in the wild build the majority of their drone comb on the periphery of the nest. I'm sure managed colonies are being forced to alter their natural inclinations.
Great video! However, varroa resistance and VSH in particular is not a recessive trait, it is an additive trait. With this fact most of the talk in this video about varroa resistance is not valid.
Pretty funny ending cut.
Great vedio bob
Thanks.
Wow...consider my mind officially blown! Bob this is a great video and I think it's your best most interesting one yet. Can't wait for part 2. You know it just goes to show you that nature always has it right. Don't get me wrong I'm all for science but I love it when it comes full circle right back to nature. Very interesting...good stuff!
Thanks. Part two will be much shorter than this one and is only about the new vaccine.
Good stuff. What I heard is that the best way to spread beneficial traits is to increase drone production off of those prized queens more so than grafting with them. I am wondering if anyone is taking queens with undesirable characteristics and insiminating them with multiple drones with desirable characteristics.
That would be an interesting experiment.
One of the best videos to date. Keith is a wealth of information! Thanks for sharing Bob. Haven't seen an email from you yet regarding the old pics. If I don't hear from you, I will call the store on my next day off.
Hi Bob. After searching through my email history for some reason I can't find an email with the pictures. Could you please resend. Thanks.
Nice, I just watched his video on Polyandry last week.
Great information. 😀
Interesting back door support for the benefits of polyandry.
Wondering if such cross-fostering of brood might have a benefit for say an apiary undergoing an epizootic or even perhaps commercial Beekeepers bringing their colonies to almonds where we know there will be significant pathogen exchange. 🤔😮
I learned a new word today. I had to look epizootic up. After listening to Keith I believe the answer would be yes.
It could also foster significant pathogen exchange by mixing. I do still think it'd be better overall, even if you spread more pathogens. It could equalize the load and ability to withstand it.
Certainly fascinating subject matter. I would have liked to hear a little more elaboration about the science behind “the majority of our evidence is that the sperm mixes”. How specifically does that ‘mixing’ happen? Are the sperm cells proposed to be individually altered genetically at some point within the queen’s spermatheca?
“Randy Queens” great talk very interesting approach the chemical route is not working very interested in another possible solution.
Concerning the number of drones in the drone containment area, is the practice of using the green frame to purposely collect drones and their mites on a frame to then destroy, reducing the number of drones in the containment area, or reducing the number of drones with mites in the containment area?
Some beekeepers do use drone frames for simply freezing and killing mites as a part of an IPM (integrated pest management) program. I use them to insure ample drone production for mating purposes and to help keep my brood comb primarily worker comb. If you don't give the bees a place to rear drones they can often put patches of drone cell anywhere in your primary worker comb.
A practical way to double the genetic diversity would be to have 2 queen hives.
Would that be as useful as mixing brood frames? It would last longer
I believe you're totally correct.
Dear Bob, thanks for such wealth of information.
I can attest to the brood mixing in queen acceptance. Over a span of 2 months I requeened and split 30 colonies last year with several different breeds, as I'm observing each breed during the seasons and select for specific traits and mix the different breeds; the requeening and acceptance sucess was 100% of all 30 queens. I mixed brood from at least 3 breeds and introduced the queen. I did it because a commercial beekeper, dear friend of mine who also breeds quees, said that the different breeds smell different and sucess was low, so I decided that all the colonies will be mixed to avoid an homogeneous smell, and want all the colonies to benefit from all the traits while it last. Thanks for providing a scientific perspective to that. Also I saturate Caucasian and Cordoban starters (gentle) with Russians and Carniolan (swarmy) nurses and capped brood thinking that their swarm instinct helps select and raise more/better queen cells.
Great insight. thanks.
AWESOME NEWS!! My hillbilly husbandry is the way to go! Mix em up👍thank you gentlemen for all the work you do!!!!
Excellent!
Delaplane vhs videos “ a year in the life of an apiary “done in the 80s, got me into beekeeping
Thought- when I use newspaper to combine 2 colonies, those colonies are generally much stronger than non-combined colonies. The strength seems to endure and I attributed this to sheer numbers as a result of combining. Maybe it is increased polyandry.
you assuming both queens live
@@wishicouldspel no assumptions- only thinking- if 2 colonies are combined, then the resulting population must be more genetically diverse. If so, does that result in different nurse bee rearing and if so, then result in different offspring behavior… nurse bees being just one track this could go down. Question- are behaviors changed by population diversity or are all outcomes and resulting behaviors purely genetic??
@@wishicouldspel Should have said “no”, only one queen is included in the combining of 2 colonies.
So practical application would doubling drone numbers in your DCA, increase this possibility outside of AI. Would 2 green frames in a double increase your numbers enough? perhaps certain colonies with several frames of drone cone surrounding you mating yards! Many questions!
Many questions I agree. Although increasing the number of drone combs would probably increase the number of drones produced by a colony I don't know what the percentage would be.