Beekeeping at FiveApple

Today it's about the bee's most awful behavior: ROBBING. I found a tip on reducing robbing while doing inspections and it works great!!

The PerfectBee.com website I mentioned. The article was from their email newsletter but here's a link to an article on robbing on their blog.

BetterBee's article on robbing and prevention

Rusty of HoneyBeeSuite.com on robbing and another post on preventing it.

May your season be blessedly free of robbing among your bees! kind regards, Leigh

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You are warmly invited to become a Friend of Five Apple on Patreon and join the folks who make the podcasts possible, who keep the archives available and who keep it all advertising-free.

https://www.patreon.com/fiveapple

In addition to huge gratitude, you get:

Detailed show notes with links, tips, comments

Access to Patreon blog posts including tips and videos

Occasional bonus podcasts and early access episodes

Commenting on posts (and DMs) allows me to answer questions

Input on the podcast topics

Shout-outs on the show because I appreciate you! 

If you can support the show  please sign up today: https://www.patreon.com/fiveapple

Beekeeping at Five Apple — talk, tips, and how-to on sustainable beekeeping from the Blue Ridge mountains of Southern Appalachia.

Host Leigh Wilkerson brings sixteen years of hands-on experience from her self-sustaining apiary since 2010. The podcast explores colony health, natural bee biology, and organic to chemical-free approaches. Episodes go deep on seasonal management, swarm control, queen rearing, hive biology, nutrition, and sustainable genetics. Designed for beekeepers ready to go beyond the basics, with episodes for newer beekeepers too.

Leigh is a popular Zoom presenter for bee clubs and associations. Topics include specialty splits so you never buy a package again; requeening approaches; simple frame-based queen rearing; building VSH genetics in your yard; and topics by request.

Today Episode:

July bee yard update

William's tips on honey harvest (see Williams letter here)

Tip on making bee boxes last longer "painting with glue" — this whole presentation is well worth watching! ( YouTube Link)

Invitation to see Julia Mahood present on drones (see below for info)

Reminder to take care in the heat with electrolytes

Thoughts on "Chasing Sourwood" and the impacts on stationary beekeepers (AR apiary law. See section 3B for the provision I mention.)

See LINKS and a copy of Williams letter here! (free and available to everyone)

Thank you to the patrons who keep this podcast available to all (and they also get extra goodies as a thank you for the support). Not a patron yet? Please join us at https://www.patreon.com/fiveapple

July 28, 2026

July Monthly With Guest Speaker Julia Mahood / ToeCane Beekeepers

Julia Mahood is a Georgia Master Crafts Beekeeper who has been keeping bees since 2004. She is currently president of the Georgia Beekeepers Association.  She will discuss honey bee drone behavior, drone congregation areas, and why drones matter. Meetings begin at 6:00 p.m. with official business starting at 6:30. Meetings are held at Trinity Episcopal Church, 15 Hemlock Ave., Spruce Pine NC 28777.

Beekeeping at Five Apple — talk, tips, and how-to on sustainable beekeeping from the Blue Ridge mountains of Southern Appalachia.

Host Leigh Wilkerson brings sixteen years of hands-on experience from her self-sustaining apiary since 2010. The podcast explores colony health, natural bee biology, and organic to chemical-free approaches. Episodes go deep on seasonal management, swarm control, queen rearing, hive biology, nutrition, and sustainable genetics. Designed for beekeepers ready to go beyond the basics, with episodes for newer beekeepers too.

Leigh is a popular Zoom presenter for bee clubs and associations. Topics include specialty splits so you never buy a package again; requeening approaches; simple frame-based queen rearing; building VSH genetics in your yard; and topics by request.

UBO, PKB, FKB, mite washes, Harbo assays... It's an alphabet soup out there of ways to test your bees for hygienic traits and resistance to varroa. You may be testing to find out when to apply mite treatments or a brood break to a colony and in that case a simple mite wash is usually enough. But you may be testing to find out your very best genetics you have to raise next years queens for your yards and in that case, you probably need need more information than a mite wash provides. Or do you?

Do these assays work, how reliably do they work and which one is the most reliable, if any? Ang Roell and Bi Kline of They Keep Bees are working to find out with a new NE SARE grant comparison study. Today Ang and I talk about the cornucopia of testing methods that each have their complications and limitations. We'll also find out what Ang and Bi will explore in this ongoing study. Plus, we chat bees, of course. :-) Hope you enjoy this weeks episode! kind regards, Leigh

The Study (read the full grant proposal and study design here)

In 2025 national honey bee losses exceeded 60% in commercial beekeeping operations. Miticide resistance was discovered in 100% of tested samples, highlighting an urgent need for biology-based strategies that reduce chemical dependence while strengthening colony resilience.

This project evaluates the reliability and heritability of four major hygienic behavior assays, in order to determine which methods best predict mite resistance and overwinter survival. We will compare assay performance in twelve breeder colonies (six selected, six controls) and their untreated F1 daughters. Across two seasons, all colonies will undergo standardized rounds of UBO, PKB, and FKB testing, as well as mite washes and Harbo assays. By analyzing correlations among assay scores, mite loads, reproductive mite presence, and overwinter survival, we will identify which tools reliably capture heritable Varroa-resistant traits and which factors influence assay consistency.

This project addresses a documented need for effective selection tools that help beekeepers identify and propagate Varroa-resistant stock. Results will be shared through a report, digital outreach, and a presentation at Cornell's Dyce Lab. A hands-on workshop at They Keep Bees will train beekeepers to practice each assay method. By providing evidence-based guidance to at least 100 beekeepers, the project aims to enable measurable improvements such as higher overwinter survival and reduced reliance on miticides.

Project objectives from proposal:
Primary Research Questions

Do pin-killed brood (PKB), freeze-killed brood using liquid nitrogen (FKB), and unhealthy brood odor (UBO) assays provide predictive measures of heritable mite-resistant traits in F1 daughter queens?

Are these assays also predictive of overall colony mite loads and winter survival outcomes? Winter survival will be defined as survival from August of year 1 until March of year 2.

Thank you to the patrons who keep this podcast available to all (and they also get extra goodies as a thank you for the support). Not a patron yet? Please join us at https://www.patreon.com/fiveapple

In this episode I share my own process for getting honey from the hives to the jars. It's quirky but it works for me and I'm hoping you might find ideas for your own process or just enjoy hearing how someone else does it. That's what I did when researching this episode!

For supporting patrons, I've also collected a few videos (with video summaries included)  you might enjoy and for newer beekeepers, a PDF with a list of tips and links that may help you figure out your own process. If you aren't a supporting patron yet, please join and find that post here: https://www.patreon.com/fiveapple/posts/ep160-honey-162052074

 

 

__________________________

Not a patron yet? You are warmly invited to become a Friend of Five Apple on Patreon and join the folks who make the podcasts possible, who keep the archives available and who keep it all advertising-free.

https://www.patreon.com/fiveapple

In addition to huge gratitude, you get:

Detailed show notes with links, tips, comments

Access to Patreon blog posts including tips and videos

Occasional bonus podcasts and early access episodes

Commenting on posts (and DMs) allows me to answer questions

Input on the podcast topics

Shout-outs on the show because I appreciate you! 

If you can support the show  please sign up today: https://www.patreon.com/fiveapple

Beekeeping at Five Apple — talk, tips, and how-to on sustainable beekeeping from the Blue Ridge mountains of Southern Appalachia.

Host Leigh Wilkerson brings sixteen years of hands-on experience from her self-sustaining apiary since 2010. The podcast explores colony health, natural bee biology, and organic to chemical-free approaches. Episodes go deep on seasonal management, swarm control, queen rearing, hive biology, nutrition, and sustainable genetics. Designed for beekeepers ready to go beyond the basics, with episodes for newer beekeepers too.

Leigh is a popular Zoom presenter for bee clubs and associations. Topics include specialty splits so you never buy a package again; requeening approaches; simple frame-based queen rearing; building VSH genetics in your yard; and topics by request.

So you have a caged mated queen and a colony that needs requeening, how to make that happen (so that your special queen actually survives the process!) is what we cover today!

As a thank-you, Patrons got this episode a day early and also get a bonus portion covering the vertical requeening methods that Ryan mentioned last episode plus tips and resources on introducing virgin queens. Supporting patrons keep this show on the air and keep it advertisement free! 

__________________________

Not a patron yet? You are warmly invited to become a Friend of Five Apple on Patreon and join the folks who make the podcasts possible, who keep the archives available and who keep it all advertising-free.

https://www.patreon.com/fiveapple

In addition to huge gratitude, you get:

Detailed show notes with links, tips, comments

Access to Patreon blog posts including tips and videos

Occasional bonus podcasts and early access episodes

Commenting on posts (and DMs) allows me to answer questions

Input on the podcast topics

Shout-outs on the show because I appreciate you! 

If you can support the show  please sign up today: https://www.patreon.com/fiveapple

Beekeeping at Five Apple — talk, tips, and how-to on sustainable beekeeping from the Blue Ridge mountains of Southern Appalachia.

Host Leigh Wilkerson brings sixteen years of hands-on experience from her self-sustaining apiary since 2010. The podcast explores colony health, natural bee biology, IPM from organic to chemical-free approaches. Episodes go deep on seasonal management, swarm control, queen rearing, hive biology, nutrition, and sustainable genetics. Designed for beekeepers ready to go beyond the basics, with episodes for newer beekeepers too.

Leigh is also a popular Zoom presenter for bee clubs and associations. Topics include specialty splits so you never buy a package again; requeening approaches; simple frame-based queen rearing;  alternative hives including Layens; building VSH genetics in your yard; and topics by request.