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Randy,s Posts

Walking the Walk Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance; 2022 Update, Part 1

Contents Resistance vs. Tolerance or “Survival” 1 Managed apiaries vs. natural evolution. 2 Background. 3 The necessity of Mechanical Agitators 3 The resistant colonies 6 So what’s our progress so far?. 10 A built-in lag inherent in open mating programs 13 Exhibit A: Mite-count tracking for our 2022 breeders 14 Coming. 16 References. 16  ...

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Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance, Part 2; Mite Resistance and Genetic Expression

Contents The Achilles’ heel of varroa. 2 Genotype vs. Individual- or colony-level phenotype. 2 gene regulation. 3 An example of the differential expression of genes in the honey bee. 4 What Is our own bees’ mechanism(s) for Resistance?. 6 Testing for Uncapping behavior 9 Is there a Cost to the colony for resistance?. 10 Our...

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Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance, Part 3; Shifting the Genetics of a Breeding Population

  Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance, Part 3 Shifting the Genetics of a Breeding Population Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com   The alleles necessary for varroa resistance already existed in my stock of bees, so I didn’t need to “create” anything new. What I’m attempting to do via strong selective pressure is to (1) eliminate from our...

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Formic Pro and Queens in Hot Weather

Contents Formic for mite management 1 A trick for using formic pro on weak colonies 2 Queen loss in hot weather 5 Why would queens be more susceptible to formic than workers?. 6 A test of queen loss in tiny colonies. 7 Taking advantage of opportunity. 10 Trial #1 — Would foil covers reduce queen...

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Formic Pro in Hot Weather — Slowing the Rate of Vapor Release

Contents Hard “Flash Treatment” vs Slow-Release. 1 Flash Treatments 1 Extended-Release Application. 2 our Follow-up experiments. 3 But Did the Wrapped Strips Kill Mites?. 8 Discussion. 9 Citations and Notes 9   Formic Pro in Hot Weather — Slowing the Rate of Vapor Release Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ in October 2022  ...

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Thymol — a New Application Method? Part 1

Contents “Off-Label” use of thymol 4 Thymol products for varroa control 5 Understanding Thymol 6 Reaction to the delivery matrix by the bees 6 Thymol in Shop Towels. 7 Removal and dispersion of thymol matrices by the Bees 9 Extended-Release Thymol?. 11 A Thicker Matrix. 11 moving ahead to 2022. 15 Citations and notes 15...

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Thymol — A new application method? Part 2

Contents Extended-release thymol 1 The optimal release rate and placement of thymol 1 What’s The Optimal Dose?. 2 Our Field Testing. 3 The Dose-Response Curve. 12 Discussion. 12 Citations and notes 13   Thymol — A new application method? Part 2 First published in ABJ in December 2022 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com   I do a...

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About Randy

About me To start with, among other things, I’m a honey bee researcher, so if you’re not comfortable with honey bees being around, read no more I’m a healthy, youthful, happy, high-energy, and loving guy, finally over the heartache of losing my beloved wife.  So I’m now looking for a new life partner and soul...

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A Survey on Robbing at Collapse

Contents Robbing is Governed by Olfaction Back to what happens upon colony collapse A Survey on Whether Robbing Takes Place at Collapse My Conclusions From the Survey Responses Relationship to Bee and Mite Drift A humorous anecdote regarding training bees to a scent Acknowledgements Citations and notes   A SURVEY ON ROBBING AT COLLAPSE Randy...

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Testing Cotton Matrices for OAE

Contents The Fabrics to Test Preparation A Field Trial Results Discussion   TESTING COTTON MATRICES FOR OAE Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ January 2023   I continue to look for improved methods for application of extended-release oxalic acid (OAE), and thought that perhaps there might be an inexpensive, fully biodegradable all-cotton fabric that...

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Concepts in varroa management 2023

2023 Concepts in varroa management

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Screenshots of hive weights

Supplementary material for A Study on Bee and Mite Drift, Part 5 Due to unfamiliarity with data preservation for the scale hives, we lost all our raw data when we removed the batteries from the scales at the end of the trial. Luckily, I had been following the weight data during the course of the trial,...

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A Study on Bee and Mite Drift: Part 2

 Contents Questions to Answer 1 Materials and Methods 2 Placement of the hives 2 Preparation of the Mite Donor Colonies. 3 Tagging the bees 3 The Control Group. 7 Preparation of the Mite Receiver Hives 7 Eliminating the mites. 7 Magnetic tag recovery. 9 The stickyboards. 10 The hive scales. 10 Layout of the Donor...

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A Study on Bee Drift and Mite Immigration: Part 1

  Contents Introduction Was Another Field Study Justified? Background Research The Biology Behind Mite Transfer Between Hives How Much Mite Immigration Actually Occurs? How Do the Mites Get Transferred? How Important is the Drifting of Drones? How Much Drift is There of Worker Bees? How Important are the Guard Bees? Do Mites and Viruses Cause...

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Suggested wording and pitch for an Own Use Exemption

DRAFT IN PROGRESS updated 24 June 2023 Suggested Text for an Amendment to FIFRA I have zero legal background, but suggest that we pitch a short and sweet amendment to be placed in the Farm Bill.  There is already a section in FIFRA 40 CFR 152.25 regarding exemptions. § 152.25 Exemptions for pesticides of a character...

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