Treatment-free beekeeping now Now that we have had treatment-free beekeeping for a number of years in our town of Hallsberg, the microbiome, the collection and mixture of microbes on and in the bees, has become healthier and supports the immune
Small cell bees are hygienic A research team at the University of Lublin, Poland, has been studying bees on small cells. One of the experiments concerns the clearance of dead capped brood (needle-killed pupae), a trait that is important for
Hallsberg annual conference 2023 In November 2023, the fifth annual conference on treatment-free/varroa-resistant bees was held in Hallsberg. The number of beekeepers with treatment-free bees is increasing in the Hallsberg area and elsewhere in Sweden. This time Dr. Melissa Oddie
Treatment-free beekeeping On november 12, 2022, the 4th Annual Conference on resistance to the varroa mite was held in Hallsberg. The goal for us participating in these conferences is to be able to conduct a more trouble-free beekeeping without chemicals
Selection and no chemicals but a too close to treatment bees In 2019, Sibylle and Wolfgang bought 3 Elgon colonies from me. They were all treated for varroa with half a dose of thymol that year. Since then, they have
Finally! No treatment! One loss! I have had a long journey to achieve treatment-free bees. I’m obviously thinking of the varroa mite. In 1989, breeding material was retrieved in Kenya: https://www.beesource.com/threads/exploring-monticola-efforts-to-find-an-acceptable-varroa-resistant-honey-bee.365571/#post-1843973 It took until 2007 before the varroa mite was
Strong Varroa resistant bee colonies Some suggest that one important trait for varroa resistance is smaller brood nest and less brood rearing. That may be so for some stock resulting in lower growth rate of varroa mites. It’s also resulting
Traits for Varroa resistance We have found in our Varroa resistant project in our local bee club that when you begin a project like this, checking the varroa level is the most important tool, if you plan to treat colonies
Resistance against intruders One of my bee colonies (Elgon, combinationof Buckfast and Monticola) started to superseed their queen, but the new queen evidently got lost. The colony ended up with egg-laying workers. I discovered that in August. It had several
Varroa Resistant Bees Get $1 Million In Norway Published in Bee Culture, May 2020, pages 75 – 77 Dr Melissa Oddie, a Canadian researcher, will continue her research for at least two years based on the Varroa resistant bees with