News
Artificial Insemination Event- Penn State, Purdue, & PA Queen Improvement Project 2023 November 29 2023
A partnership between Penn State EPIQ, Purdue Harpur Lab, and Pennsylvania Queen Bee Improvement Project Inseminated over 60 queens! Artificial insemination was performed by several experienced technicians from Missouri, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania who mentored several new students from the EPIQ class. Cory Stevens also brought some of his genetics to share with the group. This year, as part of the Penn State EPIQ grant, we will be merging...Insemination Fest for HHBBC and EPIQ projects held in Slippery Rock for 2023! February 10 2023
The Heartland Honey Bee Breeders Coop (HHBBC) meets once a year to artificially inseminate our best queens from across 8 states. We then use these inseminated breeders for the next season to create new daughter queens, then evaluate them for an entire season and winter. This year, as part of the Penn State EPIQ grant, we will be merging the best locally adapted survivor stock from a 2-year 400-hive scientific...New Hardy Genetics! June 28 2021
We are part of the PA Queen Improvement Project, which owes it origins Indiana Queen Breeders Assoc. and the WV Queen producers. David Shenefeld and Dan O'Hanlon were very generous in helping us to organize our state organization. This is a picture of David ( Third from R ), as they are distributing Artificially Inseminated queens to the over 40 IQBA members in the state of Indiana. David has worked...Mite Maulers are now Martha Carpenter Mite Maulers April 03 2019
Bill and Martha Carpenter developed the Mite Mauler bee which chews the legs off of the Varroa mites. They started looking at the mites and noticed they were dimpled/dented, and under a microscope they are totally chewed up! In honor of Bills late wife, we call the Martha's Mite Maulers.Purdue Leg-Chewers- GREAT results! January 08 2019
Well we just finished up a 2 year project with the Purdue Leg-chewers, and they had better winter survival by 69% and higher honey production by over +35%. here is an excerpt from USDA SARE report FNE17-863. "The results showed that Group 1-MBB [Purdue] colonies, bees that chew mites, were significantly heavier than the Group-3-control group. Also, Group 2-feral bees, were similar to the control group. Statistics proved a positive...Mite Maulers- Bees that protect themselves from parasites March 21 2018
Mite Maulers and Purdue Leg Chewers-BONAFIDE BITERS!We won the USDA award! We have been funded by the USDA for Mite-biting and feral bees. April 15 2017
We have been awarded grant money to continue the study and development of bees that have 'Mite-biting Behavior' for 2017: Mite-biting behavior in feral swarms: The Pennsylvania Queen Improvement Project FNE17-863 We will capturing wild/feral swarms in PA, OH, and WV and compare them to our current Purdue 'leg chewers' aka Mite Maulers, and a control group. There will be several field days for people to be able to obtain these...USDA funding Mite-biting bees, aka Purdue leg chewers! November 17 2016
GREAT NEWS FOR THE BEES! We have been funded for another year of field research from the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Department. Here is the project title and description: Pennsylvania queen bee program and Heartland Honey Bee Breeders Cooperative: Mite-biting behavior and overwintering success Research from the North Central SARE region has identified a genetic trait that triggers varroa mite biting behavior in honeybees. The farmer will measure this...Building a Better Honeybee- Mite-biters on NPR January 09 2016
Here is the interview that NPR did with Penn State and Always Summer Herbs about the Purdue Leg-chewers bees that Dr. Hunt bred.NPR's Lou Blouin interviews Jeff Berta about mite-biting bees. September 21 2015
Lou Blouin came to Pennsylvania State Beekeepers picnic and found us exchanging queen bees which have the "Mite-biting" genetic trait. We think he did a great job covering a complex topic. see link http://www.alleghenyfront.org/story/building-better-honeybeeLocal TV station WTAE reports our groundbreaking genetics! August 12 2015
Reporter Michelle Wright from WTAE spent to day looking at our Purdue Mite-biting bees. She was captivated how they chew the legs of off so many of them we could not find any mites to film while they were here-WOW, imagine that as problem! http://www.wtae.com/news/local-beekeeper-working-to-save-honey-bees/34538670?src=appSharing Purdue Mite-biting Behavior Genetics July 29 2015
On June 27, 2015 beekeepers from Pennsylvania and Ohio met at Slippery Rock to exchange queens, as part of the USDA SARE outreach. Instead of exchanging fully mated queens, we exchanged queen cells that are only 48 hours old. The beekeepers then go back to their bee yards and finish raising the queen, and then she open mates with locally adapted drone stock. This is a quick and inexpensive way...
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