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Bee Breeding Index

Methods, techniques, information, etc

Bee breeding and queen rearing are not the same, but many beekeepers think they are. Queen rearing is the process of producing queen honey bees by whatever method is chosen by the beekeeper, whereas breeding is the process of selection that brings about the lines to be propagated by queen rearing and any culling that is carried out. Even when the queens are reared, there is still further selection required to ensure that the progeny are up to the 'correct' specification. Bee breeding is a continuous process. Drone rearing is also of prime importance, but is often not properly considered. Many beekeepers get a mental block about "bee breeding" and "queen rearing", because they automatically think it is difficult. I much prefer the term "Bee Improvement" as it sounds less difficult.

This page of links to various bee breeding items should enable beekeepers to navigate this website more easily.


Queens - Index
Instrumental Insemination
Assessment of Colonies
Microscopy
Manipulations
Bee Types
Distribution of Races
Queen Rearing
Supersedure
Bee Improvement
Bee Improvement - Basic
Bee Improvement - Advanced
Queens - Poor Performance
Requeen with a Queen Cell
History of Bee Breeding

Queen Banking
Making Bee Kit
Record Keeping
Morphometry
DNA testing
Brood Nest Shape
Clipping & Marking
Pollen Trapping
Drone Raising
Making Increase
Miller Method

Transporting Queencells
Egg Transplanting
Cell Plug Boxes
Grafting Notes
Grafting Tools
Grafting Timetable
Starting Queencells
Swarm Boxes
Finishing Queencells
Using Queencells
Alley Method

Appraisal of stock (Record Cards)
Queen Introduction
Re-Introduction of II Queens
Mating Nucs
Breeding Bits
Testing Queens
Holding Nucs
Finding Queens
Cell Punches & Cell Punching
Measuring Quantities of Bees
Requeening a Colony

Dave Cushman.