Read Mel’s articles about natural, gentle, colony-rearing techniques designed for colony survival, colony increase, and beekeeper success

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Babydoll Specialty Honey: Back to the Future of Honeybees and Babybolls
Vernal Equinox 2012 (Download PDF file)

Queen Rearing Without Grafting and Miticide-Free
Indiana Beekeepers Association Turkey Run Convention
Autumnal Equinox 2011
Download PDF: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V

OTS Research Report
Vernal Equinox 2011 (Download PDF file)

OTS: Honeybee Husbandry Mating Moments
Winter-Spring 2011 presentations to Western Pennsylvania Beekeeping Seminar, Indiana Bee School, Michigan Beekeepers Association
Download PDF: Part I, Part II

July Starts in Progress: What to Expect Come Fall, Presentation to the Holland Area Beekeepers Association
September 21, 2010 (Download PDF file)

Update from Mel
May 8th, 2010 (Download PDF file)

2010 Spring Splits Part Two
May 1st-8th, 2010 (Download PDF file)

2010 Spring Splits Part One
May 1st-8th, 2010 (Download PDF file)

Going North: Powerbeekeeping in Pennsylvania, Western Pennsylvania Beekeeping Seminar
February 19-20, 2010
Download PDF: Part I, Part II, Part III

Going North: Presentations to the Indiana Beekeepers Association
November 7th, 2009
Download PDF: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V

Mel Disselkoen Field Days: Colony Rearing for Survival
September 2009 (Download PDF file)

Artificial Supersedure: A Beekeeper's Strategy for Leveraging the Honeybee's Built-In Survival Mechanism to Overcome Varroa
July 2009 (Download PDF file)

Frequently Asked Questions About On-The-Spot Queen Rearing
April 2009 (Download PDF file)

On-The-Spot Queen Rearing Utilizes Simple Techniques To Direct Your Colonies To Rear Their Own, Quality Queens Without Grafting
February 2009 (Download PDF file)

Achieve Productive Honey and Pollination Hives without Medication through Flexible and Cost-Effective Nuc Management
January 2009 (Download PDF file)

Visit Research Archives

DR. C. C. MILLER: "Give them larvae of all ages from which to select, and they always choose that which is two days old, or younger . . . . . I have never known bees to start a cell after the larvae were too old."

Source: Quote: Fifty Years Among The Bees (pages 237-238); Photo: Frank C. Pellett's Practical Queen Rearing used with permission from Dadant and Sons'

MEL DISSELKOEN: "Now any brood frame in the world can be used as a queen-rearing Miller frame by notching brood frames containing 36-hour-or-younger larvae, inserting notched frames into a queen-less cell builder, and then, when the queen cells are sealed (one week later) using each of those frames to queen new colony starts."

Overwintering Success