It snowed at the Baton Rouge USDA Honey Bee Lab at the beginning of December 2017.
A naturally mated Pol-Line queen (derived from VSH) laying an egg, marked with a yellow dot. This queen is slated for an experiment of 300 colonies, comparing Pol-line queens to commercial queens, in a commercial bee operation.
We spend many man hours collecting and recording data. Bob Cox (left) and Dr. Mike Simone-Finstrom (right) counting frames of bees, brood pollen and honey.
We collect samples of pollen and nectar to analyze for pesticide residue in some of our experiments.
Honey production is important for American beekeepers.
Commercial beekeepers provide us with honey bee hives to preform large scale experiments.
The Lab here in Baton Rouge maintains over 400 colonies in more than 15 apiaries for breeding and experimental work.
Breeding honey bees with large populations needed for the demands of pollination.
Breeding bees for resistance to mites and diseases.
We use controlled breeding via Artificial (Instrumental) Insemination, Isolated Island mating stations and drone saturation. To perform the different crosses needed for experiments.
