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Your bees - stronger

Strengthen colony-level defense against mites and disease with UBeeO™

UBeeO™ is a groundbreaking new tool designed to accurately predict a colony’s ability to self-manage mites and disease through hygienic behavior – a vital aspect of colony health.

What is hygienic behavior?

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Brood stressed by mites, viruses, or other diseases emit special pheromones through the wax cap 

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Patrolling nurses detect the pheromones and locate the unhealthy brood for further inspection

 

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The nurses uncap and remove the unhealthy brood to prevent the spread of mites and disease, protecting the colony

Hygienic behavior is a heritable trait that beekeepers can selectively breed for. Colonies that are more hygienic are more sensitive to unhealthy brood pheromones, and thus more resistant to mites and disease. 

Breed resistant bees with

UBeeO™

Optera’s UBeeO™ mix contains naturally occurring brood pheromones. To test a colony’s sensitivity, the UBeeO™ mix is applied to a small area of capped brood. The colony’s hygienic response to the treated brood cells after two hours indicates its ability to resist mites and disease throughout the season. 

Here's how it works:

Apply UBeeO™

Spray the UBeeO™ mix onto a small test area of capped brood and return the frame to the colony

Let the bees work

Hygienic worker bees will respond to UBeeO™ by uncapping brood cells in the test area 

Calculate UBeeO™ Score

After just two hours, the colony’s UBeeO™ response is ready to be graded

 

The UBeeO™ Score is the percentage of cells uncapped by the end of the testing period – the more cells uncapped, the higher the score 

UBeeO™ Scores can fall into three categories:

Low UBeeO™ Scores

0-39%

Medium UBeeO™ Scores

40-59%

High UBeeO™ Scores

60-100%

Peer-reviewed data show that untreated High UBeeO™ colonies are able to maintain mite loads below treatment thresholds and are more likely to survive winter.

Low UBeeO™ colonies may require additional mite monitoring and treatment to improve survival chances.

UBeeO™ in the beekeeper's toolbelt

Combined with skilled management and beekeeper intuition, UBeeO™ can guide you in improving apiary management through achieving and maintaining mite and disease resistance. 

Improve colony health

 Reduce disease loads and increase overwintering success with queens bred to self-manage mites and disease

Select desirable traits with precision

Produce breeder queens, drone stock, and splits from top performing, mite and disease resistant colonies

Reduce operating costs

Maximize cost-saving potential by reducing the need for mite treatments and preventing overwintering losses

Reduce time & labor input

Streamline management and selective breeding processes with simple UBeeO™ application and rapid same-day results 

Increase customer satisfaction

Improve customer success and ensure queen quality by verifying mite and disease resistance of daughter queens 

Strategize your season

Plan out mite management, migratory pollination, mating yard layout, and winter preparation earlier in the season

Ready to put your colonies to the test?

Our research is proudly supported by

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