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Randy,s Posts

Mite Control While Honey is on the Hive

Mite Control While Honey is on the Hive Part 1 First Published in ABJ November 2020 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com   During our hot, dry California summers most of our nectar flow may be over by early July, but if we’re lucky, our hives may still put on some harvestable honey.  In any case, to control...

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Mite Control While Honey is on the Hive: Part 2

Mite Control While Honey is on the Hive Part 2 First Published in ABJ December 2020 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com   Last month I covered the setup of my field trial of summertime mite treatments, including experimental extended-release oxalic acid in glycerin.  I’ll now share the results.     The Results and Discussion Due to space limitations,...

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Mite Control While Honey is on the Hive: Part 3

Mite Control While Honey is on the Hive Part 3 First Published in ABJ January 2021 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com   In my two previous articles in this series, I showed the formal results of my field trial comparing summer mite treatments.  We also have additional findings from other yards in which we applied extended-release OA. ...

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Mite Control While Honey is on the Hive: Part 4

Mite Control While Honey is on the Hive Part 4 First Published in ABJ February 2021 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com   In the three previous articles in this series, I showed the results of my field trial of summer mite treatments. Now let’s go a little further with extended-release oxalic acid (OAE).   A Note on...

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Oxalic crystals on bees after vaporization

Crystals from oxalic acid vaporization on bees’ bodies Randy Oliver February 2020 In order to determine how OA crystals settled on bees’ bodies after an OA vaporization, I set a graduated microscope slide and a number of dead bees under a 16-oz inverted plastic cup.  I injected OA vapor briefly into a hole at the...

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A Test of Thermal Treatment for Varroa: Part 1

Beekeeper-funded Research A Test of Thermal Treatment for Varroa: Part 1 First published in ABJ March 2021 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com   Last month I wrapped up the report on my testing of mite treatments suitable for application during a honey flow.  A number of beekeepers have also asked me about using thermal treatment.  I found...

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Calculation for nosema spore count using a hemacytometer

calculation of nosema spore counts using hemacytometer Randy Oliver, ScientificBeekeeping.com From Cantwell 1970, assuming that each sampled bee is diluted with 1 mL of water.         Average spore count per bee is then: Average count per single small square x 4,000,000. Total count per large square (16 small squares) x 250,000. Or...

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A Test of Thermal Treatment for Varroa: Part 2

Beekeeper-funded Research A Test of Thermal Treatment for Varroa Part 2 First published in ABJ April 2021 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com Last month I covered the theory of using thermal treatment (hyperthermia) to control varroa, and some of the designs of devices on the market.  I’d like to now answer some questions regarding thermal treatment. I...

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A Field Trial of Probiotics

A Field Trial of Probiotics Beekeeper-Funded Research First published in ABJ May 2021 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com   In recent years, we’ve learned that the honey bee gut hosts a microbiome consisting of several core groups of bacteria (Figure 1), which if disrupted, may have detrimental effects upon bee health [[1]].   Many beekeepers, in the hope...

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Randy’s Amino Acid Calculator

Always use the most current version, as I continually improve, correct, and update the calculator  — many thanks to beekeeper Yannis Petrakis from Crete, Greece for testing it and pointing out errors and improvements! Current version (updated 6 May 2025)  Randys-amino-acid-ratio-calculator-V2025b In my research on pollen subs, I’ve come to find that some outperform others.  Based...

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A Comparative Trial of the Pollen Subs 2020: Part 1

A COMPARATIVE TRIAL OF THE POLLEN SUBS 2020 Part 1 Beekeeper-Funded Research First published in ABJ July 2021 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com California has been in a “mega-drought” for a decade. In many areas, there is not enough natural forage in late summer for building colonies back up to cluster sizes large enough to supply strong...

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Observations on Pollen Subs

Observations on Pollen Subs Part 1 First published in ABJ July 2021 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com I get a lot of questions about what the bees do with pollen subs, why, when, and how to feed them, or even if it’s worth the effort. Since I’ve done a goodly amount of investigation on this subject, allow...

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de Groot 1953

Thanks to Google for scanning this pioneering and widely-cited study.  Since this study is monumentally important to understanding honey bee nutritional requirements, I’ve unsuccessfully attempted to track down any copyright holder for permission to share it.  But as I understand copyright law, since this reprint does not contain any indication of this pre-1978 publication being...

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Where does fed pollen sub go?

I gave this presentation at the Calif State Beekeepers Convention in 2013. 2013 Where does fed pollen patty pdf  

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A Comparative Trial of the Pollen Subs 2020: Part 2

A COMPARATIVE TRIAL OF THE POLLEN SUBS 2020 Part 2 First published in ABJ August 2021 Vincent Riciglianoa and Randy Oliverb aUSDA-ARS, bScientificBeekeeping.com   Last month I described how we set up our comparative trial of several pollen subs. Now it’s time to bring in my collaborator, Dr. Vincent Ricigliano, to show the results of...

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