Published - 31 October 2023 By Nadine Chapman, Professional Beekeepers CoP Who is Professional Beekeepers for? The Professional Beekeepers Community of Practice has been established to meet the needs of rural and regional Australians for the extension of beekeeping knowledge and … Read More biosecurity, breeding, hive management, Plan bee, queen bees, varroa Agrichemicals, Beekeeping on public land, Biosecurity, Breeding, Code of Practice, Disaster relief, Genetics, Honey, Managing your hives, Nutrition, Pests and diseases, Plan Bee, Policy and compliance, Pollination, Registration, Training & resources
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 - 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 - 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
Published - 9 December 2022 By Nadine Chapman, University of Sydney Update on Plan Bee genetic testing Free genetic testing is being offered to Australian queen bee breeders. We sincerely thank everyone who has responded by providing samples or requested assistance to collect … Read More breeding, colony evaluations, DNA, genetic testing, Plan bee, queen bees Breeding, Genetics, Plan Bee
Published - 18 November 2022 By Nadine Chapman, University of Sydney 2021 Plan Bee survey In 2021, 109 beekeepers responded to a survey about queen replacement strategies, satisfaction with purchased queens, trait desirability, and attitudes to the Plan Bee honey … Read More breeding objective, Plan bee, queen bees, traits Breeding, Pests and diseases, Plan Bee, Pollination
Published - 26 October 2022 By Nadine Chapman, University of Sydney Plan Bee queen distribution Tocal queens Plan Bee established a research and development population at Tocal Agricultural College. Queens were donated by Australian bee breeders and bees by NSW beekeepers … Read More breeding, breeding objective, EBV, Plan bee, queen bees, Tocal Plan Bee
Published - 11 October 2022 By Nadine Chapman, University of Sydney What does Plan Bee need to produce EBVs? Plan Bee is Australia’s honey bee genetic improvement program. This will provide bee breeders with Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs), a tool to aid with the … Read More breeding, EBV, pedigree, phenotype, Plan bee, queens, traits Breeding, Plan Bee
Published - 4 August 2022 By Nadine Chapman, University of Sydney What difference does animal breeding make? A breeding program for Apis mellifera carnica has been ongoing in Germany since the 1970s, expanding into surrounding countries. From 1970-1989 the program increased honey … Read More breeding, EBV, genetics, Plan bee Breeding, Genetics, Plan Bee
Published - 15 July 2022 By Nadine Chapman, University of Sydney How bees fight Varroa Varroa destructor is an ectoparasitic mite that feeds on adult and developing bees. This weakens the bees, reduces body weight, decreases flight performance, causes learning … Read More biosecurity, uncapping, varroa, VSH Biosecurity, Pests and diseases, Plan Bee