Improving your bee genes

[ladaok]

How would you select hives to rear Q's from ?

What are you looking for as a priority > then moving down the list

I have 12 + apiaries over a 40 km radius ... should I be looking for what I think are the best in each api and slowly combining ?

Of course the only bee in the ointment is the drones qualifications Y/N ?

 

[Beefriendly]

How would you select hives to rear Q's from ?

Rather than spending a lot of time writing the same old...worth reading Brother Adams books where he puts his ideas about what he selected for.

 

[ladaok]

Rather than spending a lot of time writing the same old...worth reading Brother Adams books where he puts his ideas about what he selected for.

Is he worth reading ? ..as our bees and attributes we seek have changed Y/N

So you would strive for exactly what this chappy B A sought ?

 

[B+.]

worth reading Brother Adams books

Absolutely....if you want a historical perspective. It seems to be the "British" way to recommend books that are almost 100 years old, so, go for it Just remember that he died over 20 years ago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Kehrle) so' they're not exactly current.

 

[Beefriendly]

Yes he is very worth reading.
I don't strive in that direction ...I buy queens that were bred to his standards.
Have a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCfJJZMSaV0

 

[simonf]

I’ve just ordered the principles of bee improvement, hoping for some good pointers

 

[ladaok]

I’ve just ordered the principles of bee improvement, hoping for some good pointers

will this be up on goggle ?

 

[oliver90owner]

will this be up on goggle ?

Look and see, for yourself? If I want something, I look for it myself.

 

[mbc]

I found the quickest way to improve my stock was to produce way over my needs and cull heavily any queens representing the unproductive tail of the operation, m7ch much quicker results than merely propagating from the best.

 

[For want of a better word]

I found the quickest way to improve my stock was to produce way over my needs and cull heavily any queens representing the unproductive tail of the operation, m7ch much quicker results than merely propagating from the best.

Works for me.... and next season double up on the drone comb!

 

[ladaok]

Look and see, for yourself? If I want something, I look for it myself.

Yeah !.... good luck with that one, ....your attitude matches your dismal and overcast country, ... go and see a taxidermist

 

[ladaok]

Thanks mbc & cheers that's a good idea..... i'm not really that interested in what BA did. ... undoubtedly not a noddy, but things move forward and locations vary .. so down here it is probably a different kettle of fish ?

The original question was:

How would you select hives to rear Q's from ?

What are you looking for as a priority > then moving down the list

 

[Beefriendly]

How would you select hives to rear Q's from ?

What are you looking for as a priority > then moving down the list

As I mentioned in my original reply I'm not going to write down the criteria for you. (it would take too long).
Despite your stated lack of interest in Br. Adam....I still suggest you read his works where all the priorities are laid out in primary characteristics, secondary considerations and so on. The books might be old but the priories for selecting hives and breeding good queens hasn't changed.
I'm puzzled why you are asking these questions, most of the desired characteristics are quite obvious.

 

[mbc]

I like to imagine the characteristics of colonies as bell curve graphs, then the rule of thirds comes in, anything lagging behind in the first bit of the bell curve for any given characteristic (e.g. honey gathering or defensiveness ) is market for queen replacement, anything sat in the middle third gets to live out it's usefulness and anything in the top third(I'm not all that concerned if it's the very best) gets market as a potential queen mother. It's not particularly meticulous but it works for me.

 

[ladaok]

Despite your stated lack of interest in Br. Adam....I still suggest you read his works where all the priorities are laid out in primary characteristics, secondary considerations and so on. The books might be old but the priories for selecting hives and breeding good queens hasn't changed.

Well I spent 12 milli seconds reading BA ... that was enough thanks, & f... BA

" I'm puzzled why you are asking these questions, most of the desired characteristics are quite obvious. " ..... Yeah ? ... you want to learn how to READ a question, so far all you've done is suck up to BA ... try broadening your horizons mate

So far, only mbc & cheers have come back with some thing of use

The bell curve mbc, didn't come to mind, but thinking about it, I regularly use the 80 : 20 rule, seems to work on nearly every aspect of life ... so 20 % of Q's are ok, and the rest are crap ... or is it the other way around ?

HOW WOULD YOU SELECT HIVES TO REAR Q's FROM

 

[B+.]

HOW WOULD YOU SELECT HIVES TO REAR Q's FROM

There is a big difference between phenotype and genotype, so, if you are interested in selecting stock, you have to test groups of sister queens mated to the drones from the same mother/grandmother (as described here https://gsejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12711-014-0053-9) or geneticaly (like this https://www.researchgate.net/public...s_for_genomic_selection_in_honey-bee_breeding).

Typical tests include:
1. Honey production
2. Lack of aggression
3. Stabiity on the comb during inspection
4. Reluctance to swarm
5. Varroa resistance
6. Disease resistance
7. Overwintering ability
8. Spring build-up
but this is not an exhaustive list

I suggest that you start here http://www.coloss.org/standard-methods-for-rearing-and-selection-of-apis-mellifera-queens/

As mbc suggested, you will see a distribution for any population (not necessarily a normal distribution though) so, if the mean performance (100%) is set in the centre of the curve, some will be above and some will be below.You can select those at the far right of any distribution (normal or skewed) for further propagation.

 

[Beefriendly]

.. you want to learn how to READ a question, so far all you've done is suck up to BA ... try broadening your horizons mate

[/B]

Where are your shoes, Bro?

 

[masterBK]

Why can't we all just be polite to one another. Looks like we have a newish extremely rude forum member from the other side of the world. Time for the ignore button or banishment?

 

[Finman]

.
He is only one among others.

 

[Stiffy]

Why can't we all just be polite to one another. Looks like we have a newish extremely rude forum member from the other side of the world. Time for the ignore button or banishment?

With none as the number of hives he has, I suspect he is just trolling for an argument.
time to ignore
S