The bee-year was not as hard as the previous one.  Due to varroa mite pressure the total losses from autumn 2008 to midsummer 2009 were about 40%.
From the 10th of July, nucs were made to compensate the losses.  One or two nucs were made from each hive.  Nucs were not made from the breeder hives 139, 149, 85 and 71 and the Haukkamaa mating station’s drone colonies.

The 2008 free mating worked well in the centre of our beekeeping area, but in the edges this resulted hives, that did not cope.  Therefore the mating stations were taken to use again.

Fifty queens (all born 2009) were sent to varroa resistance test to various beekeepers in Finland and Europe.  A group of 10 queens was sent to MTT, the Finnish Agricultural Research Institute.  All these queens were put into hives that are not given any varroa treatment.

Some other remarks:

• There was no varroa treatment in 2009.
• B105: the five daughters were sent to test, no daughter left home
• In Kurjenkylä, only 9 daughters of B139 were mated with B89 because there was found another beekeeper’s yard with one stronger hive and one nuc. These hives were very gentle and of buckfast origin.
• GD-B101(JL) means drones supplied by grand-daughters of B101(JL)
• Pay attention: the breeder B101(JL) is not the same B101(JL), grandmother of the drones
• The drone colonies in italic died during the summer because of Varroa or/and AFB