Tag Archives: queen breeding

Laying worker, new queen, or both?

Posted on June 4, 2019 by Ron Miksha

Following on yesterday’s post about laying workers, I thought I should add this important caveat.  If you have a new queen (from a split which was given a young caged queen, for example), you may occasionally find multiple eggs in … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Beekeeping, Queens | Tagged , | 5 Comments

One Week with a Queenless Hive

Posted on July 8, 2017 by Ron Miksha

Over a week ago, I brought a nuc into my back yard. Twelve days have passed, so there should be an emerged virgin queen inspecting the neighbourhood, looking for boys. My little nuc was intentionally built as a queenless hive. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Queens | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments

Return to PolliNation

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Ron Miksha

Last month, I mentioned a great new podcast, PolliNation. It’s produced by Andony Melathopoulos, a university professor at Oregon State. The PolliNation podcast series is very nicely produced and Andony has a voice made for podcasting. As a bonus, he … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Friends, Outreach, Pollination, Queens | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Miel Carlota – Once the World’s Biggest Bee Farm

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Ron Miksha

One of the world’s largest honey farms was a Mexican outfit started by a couple of guys on holidays from Germany. The Second World War broke out while they were rambling around the Mexican coast, so they stayed for an … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Books, Commercial Beekeeping, History, People, Queens | Tagged , , , , | 25 Comments

The Place to Pair (and pair and pair) with a Bee?

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Ron Miksha

Maybe I should have written this blog in Latin.  When I was a kid, I saw a bee biology book where the author switched to Latin when he got to the part about how queens and drones get together to make … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, History, Queens, Science | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Clumsy Beekeeper

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Ron Miksha

When I was much younger, my brother and I visited a world-renowned bee breeder who produced thousands of queens every spring. I don’t remember much about that trip to the north-Florida panhandle where every town had some elegant white clapboard … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Queens | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Does Royal Jelly Make Royal Queens?

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Ron Miksha

The kids in the Grade 5 classroom knew all about royal jelly. “The bees feed it to their babies and they turn into queens.” And so it is. We think. Royal jelly – countless journal articles (and Wikipedia) tell us … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Genetics, Queens | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments