Published - 19 June 2023 By Michael Holmes, University of Sydney How does Varroa spread between hives, and what can we do about it? While we are hoping for a successful eradication of Varroa in New South Wales, beekeepers should prepare for the possibility of living with the pest. … Read More biosecurity, drift, robbing, varroa Biosecurity, Code of Practice, Managing your hives, Pests and diseases
Published - 21 April 2023 By Rod Bourke, NSW DPI Bee Biosecurity Officer What to do if a slime-out occurs Small hive beetle (SHB) is a pest that causes issues in many parts of Australia. In some cases, SHB can contaminate honey with Kodamaea yeast, … Read More American foulbrood, biosecurity, managing your hives, slime out, small hive beetle Biosecurity, Managing your hives, Pests and diseases
Published - 3 April 2023 By Nadine Chapman, University of Sydney Why you should choose 100% Australian honey Given the rising cost of living pressures, you may be tempted to buy the cheapest honey on the shelf. Here’s why you should think twice … Read More honey, labelling, pollination Honey
Published - 30 March 2023 By Nadine Chapman, University of Sydney Update on Plan Bee genetic testing: getting good quality DNA Plan Bee aims to produce Estimated Breeding Values that will give an indication of how a queen performs for a trait in comparison to other … Read More breeding, estimated breeding values, genetic testing, Plan bee, samples Breeding, Genetics, Plan Bee
Published - 14 March 2023 By Erica Mo, University of Sydney Are robotic bees the future … not for now Flying robotic bees A glimpse of that future was seen in the Netflix show ‘Black Mirror’ episode ‘Hated in the Nation’ in which autonomous mechanical bees … Read More artificial pollination, mechanical pollination, pollination, robotic bees Pollination, Training & resources
Published - 22 February 2023 By Nadine Chapman and Elizabeth Frost 2022 Plan Bee Survey results: breeding objectives Plan Bee, Australia’s national honey bee genetic improvement program conducts an annual survey of beekeepers and breeders to determine attitudes and opinions surrounding honey bee … Read More breeding, honey, Plan bee, queen bees, temperament Breeding, Genetics, Pests and diseases, Plan Bee
Published - 2 February 2023 By Emily Remnant, University of Sydney Developing safer, selective insecticides to preserve honey bee health Most currently used pesticides in agricultural applications contain broad-spectrum chemicals, which are harmful to a wide range of insects. However, the majority of insects are … Read More agrichemicals, hormone receptor, insecticide, pesticide, safer chemicals, small hive beetle, varroa Managing your hives, Pests and diseases
Published - 11 January 2023 By Nadine Chapman (Sydney University) and Kim Bunter (Animal Genetics & Breeding Unit, University of New England) What makes an effective target for selection There are countless traits that beekeepers may be interested in selecting for, however, not all these traits are actually effective targets for selection. There are 6 … Read More breeding, evaluation, heritability, queen bees, varroa resistance Breeding, Plan Bee
Published - 22 December 2022 By Nadine Chapman and Sam Walkom Plan Bee evaluations: what colonies, traits, and when? Plan Bee is Australia’s honey bee genetic improvement program. Participating bee breeders will perform colony evaluations and submit the data to the database. Once there is … Read More bee biosecurity code of practice, breeding, breeding objective, colony inspection, disease, EBV, pest, Plan bee, traits Breeding, Code of Practice, Pests and diseases, Plan Bee, Uncategorized
Published - 20 December 2022 By Elizabeth Frost and Nadine Chapman What is the size of Australia’s queen bee industry? A great beekeeping business depends on great colonies, and having great colonies depends on having queens. Therefore, you could view queen breeders as the backbone … Read More breeding, export market, package bees, queen bees, queen prices, queens Plan Bee
