Beekeeping Through the Eyes of a Biologist
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Contents Testing Hypothesis #2. 2 Let’s Do the Calcs! 11 Conclusions 11 Why Would Mites Prefer Drones?. 12 Acknowledgements. 12 Citations and Notes 12 Drones and Varroa Part 2 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ November 2023 In the May issue of this journal, Dr. Zac Lamas presented some findings of […]
Read MoreContents The Proposed Hypotheses 2 Monitoring of the Mite Infestation. 3 How Best to Obtain a Representative and Consistent Sample?. 3 Testing Hypothesis #1. 4 Field Observations. 5 Results. 9 The Take Home. 15 Citations and Notes 16 Drones and Varroa Part 1 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ October 2023 […]
Read MoreContents Distance that Worker Bees will Drift 1 Effect of Distance upon Bee Drift 4 Hive-to-Hive Variation in Captured Tags 7 Validating our Methodology. 8 Mite Immigration: Results of the Stickyboard Counts. 10 Cumulative Mite Immigration. 11 Next Month. 12 Acknowledgements. 13 Citations and Notes 13 A Study on Bee and Mite Drift: […]
Read MoreContents The Donor Colonies 1 Tagging. 1 Results and Discussion. 2 Did the Tagged Bees Behave Normally?. 2 Progress of the Colonies. 4 Answering our Questions 4 Observations from the Donor Hives. 5 Correlation With Varroa Infestation. 6 Tag Recovery by Date. 8 Timelines of Recovery of Drifted Bees 9 Relevance to Mite Immigration. 10 […]
Read MoreContents 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 […]
Read MoreContents 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 […]
Read MoreContents 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 […]
Read MoreRefining the Mite Wash- Part 2 Mite Release Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ in August 2020 The high efficacy of hand dishwashing detergent at getting mites to release their grip on bees bestirred me to investigate this finding more deeply. What I’ve come to realize is that there are four steps involved between […]
Read MoreSuggested protocol to determine amount of mite immigration I’ve updated at the link below: @Citizen Science Mite Drift Instructions
Read MoreTips for Designing Bee Research Projects Beekeepers are known for being of curious and experimental minds. Since factors affecting beekeeping are continually changing, new unanswered questions are bound to arise; the beekeeper “citizen scientist” can often answer them himself by performing a well-designed experiment, and then share those results to the benefit of everyone. But […]
Read MoreThe Bee Convention Circuit 2009 Randy Oliver Scientificbeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ in March 2009 Winter brings us beekeeper conventions, both at the state and national levels. Conventions present scientists the opportunity to present their current research, marketers of new products to make their pitches, and for beekeepers to share their practical experiences. The […]
Read MoreResearch Note A Test of Using Synthetic Pheromones to Initiate Midwinter Broodrearing Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ July 2010 Objective: to determine if the addition of either ethyl oleate (EO) or synthetic brood pheromone (BP) to colonies prior to the winter solstice would stimulate broodrearing, with the potential practical application towards producing stronger […]
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