Randy,s Posts
Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance Part 3: The Equipment Required
Contents INTRODUCTION – SOME ARTICLES FROM 2017 1 MY OBJECTIVE 2 LET’S PUT TO REST TO A COMMON MISCONCEPTION 3 DEVELOPMENT OF THE MITE WASH TECHNIQUE 3 DEVELOPMENT OF A DEVICE TO DO THOUSANDS OF MITE WASHES 4 A SYSTEM TO AVOID CONFUSION IN THE FIELD 5 DEVELOPMENT OF PORTABLE IN-FIELD AGITATORS 7 NEXT MONTH...
Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance Part 4: How We Do It
Contents NOTE TO OUR COUNTRY’S QUEEN PRODUCERS 2 IT’S NOT A “ONE AND DONE” 2 HOW WE DO IT 2 PICKING OUR QUEENS TO BREED FROM 3 ELIMINATING UNWANTED ALLELES WHILE MAINTAINING GENETIC DIVERSITY 4 PROPAGATING OUR BREEDERS 4 MANAGING OUR DRONE POOL 5 START THE VARROA RACE! 7 OUR MITE-RESISTANCE ASSAY 8 FOLLOW UP...
A Plant That Attracts Thirsty Bees
Contents How Can We Not Love Swimming Pools?………………………………………………………………………………1 Providing Bees with Alternative Water Sources ………………………………………………………………………2 Fabricating Artificial Water Sources………………………………………………………………………………………4 So What Have I Learned?…………………………………………………………………………………………………..11 Water Collectors are Different than Nectar Foragers ……………………………………………………………12 What Have I Found to Work Best? ……………………………………………………………………………………..14 It Doesn’t Appear to be the Flowers or the Scent …………………………………………………………………16 Wrap Up ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….18 Disclaimer………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..18...
The How and Why of Oxalic Vaporization: Part 2
Contents TESTING THE VARROX 2 WOULD MAINTAINING A LOWER TEMPERATURE REDUCE DEGRADATION? 6 THE LEIDENFROST EFFECT 8 SECOND-BY-SECOND OXALIC ACID OUTPUT 9 SUMMARY OF OUR FINDINGS 13 HOW MUCH FORMIC ACID IS IN THE OUTPUT? 15 SO WHAT’S THE OPTIMAL START-POINT TEMPERATURE? 20 HOW DO THE OXALIC OUTPUTS OF VARIOUS VAPORIZERS COMPARE? 22 IT’S IMPORTANT...
Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance: Part 5–It’s Your Turn
Contents SUPPLY FOLLOWS DEMAND.. 4 SOME SUGGESTIONS. 4 SO HERE’S A LIST OF SOME OPTIONS: 4 Option #1 (Take your breeders from Nature) 4 Option #2 (Rolling the dice) 5 Option #3 (the one that we took) 5 Option #4 (the easiest) 6 HOW MANY COLONIES DO I NEED?. 6 HOW SHOULD I CONTROL...
Randy’s Varroa Model
I feel that our industry and research community has long needed a useful, accurate, and user-friendly varroa population model–so I spent a year of early mornings and weekends creating this one. You can use this model to predict what sort of mite management strategy will work in your area. For those who don’t have Excel...
Residues from Oxalic Vaporization
Contents ACID RESIDUES FOLLOWING OA VAPORIZATIONS. 1 EXAMPLE OF A 1-GRAM OAV “DOSE”. 2 IS THE DOSE PROPORTIONAL TO THE RESIDUES ON THE BEES?. 4 SO HOW MUCH OA TO USE?. 6 FOR BROODLESS COLONIES. 7 FOR COLONIES WITH BROOD. 7 TAKING SOME ACTUAL MEASUREMENTS. 7 PROVAP 110. 9 INSTANTVAP. 12 VARROX. 15 CONCLUSIONS. 17...
OAV Temperature Follow-up, a Call to Action, and an Update on Thymol Blocks
Contents A CALL TO ACTION! 1 HOW IMPORTANT IS A VAPORIZER’S SETPOINT TEMPERATURE?. 3 UPDATE ON THYMOL BLOCKS. 6 CITATIONS AND NOTES. 7 OAV Temperature Follow-up, a Call to Action, and an Update on Thymol Blocks Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ February 2026 I’ve previously written about oxalic vaporizer setpoint temperatures; a...
Creating a Model for Oxalic Acid Vaporization: Part 1
Contents THE EFFECT OF OAV UPON MITES. 2 EXPECTED MITE DROP AFTER AN OA TREATMENT. 4 ADVERSE EFFECTS UPON THE BEES AND BROOD.. 6 DOSE AND EFFICACY FOR BROODLESS COLONIES. 7 OAV FOR COLONIES ENGAGED IN BROOD REARING.. 8 SO HOW MANY OAV APPLICATIONS ARE NECESSARY?. 9 SO WHAT’S THE OPTIMAL OXALIC DOSAGE FOR AN...
Creating a Model for Oxalic Acid Vaporization: Part 2
Contents DEVELOPING A MODEL. 2 THE NECESSARY PARAMETERS. 2 INPUTS BY THE USER. 3 THE QUESTION OF OA DOSAGE and EFFICACY. 4 OUTPUTS. 5 VALIDATING THE MODEL. 5 USING THE MODEL. 7 REMAINING QUESTIONS. 13 ROTATE TREATMENTS! 14 WHAT’S IN OUR TOOLBOX?. 15 WRAP-UP. 15 MY APPRECIATION TO OUR “CITIZEN SCIENTIST” BEEKEEPERS! 15 CITATIONS AND...
Testing Varroxsan: Part 1
Contents SO HOW WELL DOES IT WORK?. 2 A NOTE ON MITE REDUCTION VS. EFFICACY OF TREATMENT 2 THEIR CONCLUSIONS. 2 MY OWN ANALYSIS OF THEIR RESULTS. 3 THEIR CONCLUSIONS. 4 MY ANALYSIS OF THEIR RESULTS. 4 WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ SCIENTISTS! 4 TIPS FOR RUNNING A FIELD TRIAL. 4 TWO FIELD TRIALS FROM...
Video of yellow-legged hornets at John Kefuss’ hive in France
My friend , Dr. John Kefuss, from France (the guy who coined the term “the Bond method” for breeding mite-resistant bees) heard about our lack of progress on eradicating this invasive, so sent me video of what it’s like for a hive of bees in France, now that the hornet is established there, and suggested...
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ScientificBeekeeping is a not-for-profit enterprise, and I’m happy to receive notes of thanks for how information on this site has contributed to my readers’ success at beekeeping (and sometimes saved them hundreds or thousands of dollars). It is your support that allows me to devote my life to this site. All donations go towards website maintenance, bee research costs (typically tens of thousands of dollars per year), re-donations to fund research by others, and a small amount to partially offset the huge number of hours that I spend in research and writing. I guarantee that every penny is pinched and well spent!
I appreciate the notes of support that I receive from all over the world. Seeing who is donating, their locations, and the little notes that come with contributions help to let me know how I should direct my research and writing. In appreciation, and in order to show who is supporting my research and writing, I honor below those who have recently made substantial donations:
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