Koss Russian bee setup

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109
75
Russia
Experience
International
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Hello everyone. I have completed the instrumental insemination program for this season. Completed the insemination of queens for the VSH project. Now only test, test and test... In the photo, the queen is still under anesthesia in the machine. The circled circles in the photo are suckers with which bees can move on a smooth vertical surface. It happens that bees, when they do not accept the queen well, gnaw these suckers, and then they try to change the queen. Although she looks absolutely normal.
 
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Reactions: Alastair
109
75
Russia
Experience
International
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I want to show the equipment for the apiary. Honey is not the main product for me, but a nice bonus)) Recently finished pumping honey. The honey pot is an ordinary radial with 14 frames. I like the honeydew drive - it's programmable, but you can also use it in manual mode. One of the functions is to adjust the pumping speed and time. and movement to the right and left. Power supply is 12 volts, from the battery. the engine - from the stove of a passenger truck - if it breaks down, you can buy it at any car store. Now pumping out honey has become more pleasant, compared to when I turned it manually.
 
3
0
Auckland
Experience
Beginner
if you are interested, I can tell you about my beekeeping.
I have a multi-body system for 1/2 dadan. 8 frames in 1 case.
I keep a buckfast bee and a carnic.
Every bee has its drawbacks, and buckfast has such a bad reception of larvae
for education. ( compared to other breeds I've worked with) I am working with the starter application.
For grafting, I use a homemade 0.8 mm wide spatula and a microscope. The real quality begins with a larva that is less than 12 hours old
I give the load to the colony - educator of 16 larvae.
This year I have mastered artificial insemination. The percentage of those who died was about 10%, the remaining ones feel well and work hard. This year I inseminated about 10 queens, but using different dosages of sperm and the multiplicity of insemination, I mastered the technology.
Looks an interesting setup
 
109
75
Russia
Experience
International
IMG_20220822_235222.jpgtoday I did an inspection of the colonies. And I took a photo. This is a clear example of good hygiene in the colony. There is a wax moth hunt going on here. Of course, the main purpose of identifying hygienic behavior is the detection and timely destruction of a sick brood in the early stages of the disease, and not arranging a moth safari))) This is for me an indirect sign that bees have this characteristic.
 
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Reactions: LQB Apiary
109
75
Russia
Experience
International
Hi everybody. There was more free time and I decided to write a post. In the fall of 2022, I finally completed testing some colonies for the ability to resist the varoa tick. One colony showed very good results, despite the fact that it was not treated during the season and was additionally infected with varoa ticks. And I decided that I would be engaged in breeding varoa-resistant bees. This is just the beginning of the road, there is a lot of work to be done, ups and downs, but it really works. And I was convinced by my own experience . In the photo, a form with dolls, so as not to lose count.IMG_20221202_103843_843.jpg
 
109
75
Russia
Experience
International
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Spring. The installation time of the building frame for the drone. I prefer them to build the honeycombs themselves.
I would like to ask a question. Do queen breeders pay attention to the cultivation of drones in New Zealand?
 
109
75
Russia
Experience
International
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Some photos of the 2023 season. Last year I focused on VSH. The main part of the apiary has VSH genetics, and a control group without this trait. The difference between them is strongly felt.
For myself, I consider it a success that the colonies were left without treatment for a whole year. Only in November I underwent treatment with amitraz. (end of season)
The photographs show the process of collecting ticks to infect test colonies
 
109
75
Russia
Experience
International
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An interesting fact from the biology of tick reproduction. The founder female produces a fecal spot in the cell. (highlighted in red oval) If she does it on the wall of the cell, then the reproduction process is happening correctly and offspring will be produced. (in the top photo, the mite reproduction process occurred correctly, until the bees felt that the cell was infected, opened it, and ate the bee pupa, thereby disrupting the mite’s reproduction cycle)
Another option is when, for some reason, the founding female makes a fecal spot on the pupa itself. In this case, the cell with the mite will not have reproductive success...
 
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Reactions: Alastair

Alastair

Founder Member
Platinum
8,753
9,966
Auckland
Experience
Semi Commercial
Do queen breeders pay attention to the cultivation of drones in New Zealand?

Most do not. Part of the reason for this is the last few years we have had a very dense hive population in this country and there are normally enough drones in an area for the number of queens that will be mating. However there is anecdotal evidence of some breeders selling queens with a high incidence of them going drone layer within a year or so, and these guys may be mating thousands of queens in one area with no attention to drone production.
 
109
75
Russia
Experience
International
Winter this season is quite difficult - large temperature changes. A week of frost down to -10°C, the next week up to +11°C. The average temperature is, of course, -1/+3 °C. Today I watched the bees, the clubs disbanded, they even flew around. There is still a month of winter and can make an audit and evaluate the winter hardiness of the colonies. Looking forward to an active season
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