Built on Survivability. Proven by Selection.
We've kept bees since 1992, and we're the third generation to keep them. Texas from about 1942 for the generation before us, and Oklahoma for the one before them. We select hard, manage practically, and never let intervention stand in for good genetics.
Our Priority Stack
Survivability
A colony that can't carry itself through the Texas heat, the dearth, and the pressure isn't worth breeding from, regardless of what else it does well. Everything starts here.
Varroa and Disease Resistance
Resistance has to live in the genetics, not the treatment schedule. We select for it directly, and a colony that only holds up because it's on chemical support doesn't stay in the program.
Queen Quality and Veracity
The queen is the genetic engine of the colony. We evaluate on clear criteria and replace when a queen fails to meet them. Optimism is not a breeding standard.
Honey Production
Production is a real genetic trait. Some bees are built to generate excess stores. Others aren't. That capacity matters, both for carrying a colony through prolonged Texas dearth without intervention, and for operations where production is the primary goal. It comes fourth because it only means something after the first three are real.
What Good Bees Actually Look Like
Good bees are a cluster of behaviors and characteristics that hold up under real conditions, in hard seasons as much as favorable ones.
Hygienic behavior is non-negotiable. Workers that detect and remove compromised brood, whether the problem is disease, chalkbrood, or a mite, hold the pathogen load down without any help from us. We select for it because it compounds. Colonies that clean themselves need less from us.
Varroa Sensitive Hygiene, or VSH, is a narrower trait aimed at one pest. VSH workers pick out the capped cells where a varroa mite is actively reproducing and open them, pulling the pupa before she can raise a full crop of daughters. The mechanism is removal. What gets scored is the share of mite-infested cells a colony clears, and that is a different question from general hygienic behavior, so it gets its own test.
Varroa resistance shows up in mite counts and in what the assay finds, not in how a colony responds to treatment. A colony that tests clean because it was treated recently tells us very little. A colony that tests clean because its workers are clearing the cells where mites breed tells us something worth building from.
Temperament matters, but it sits behind hardiness. Our stock runs roughly standard Buckfast temperament, manageable and functional in a working operation. We don't breed toward extreme softness at the expense of performance. A colony that's pleasant to work but can't hold its own through a Texas summer isn't useful to anyone.
Our foundation stock traces to the BeeWeaver line out of Navasota. By BeeWeaver's own account that hybrid was built in part on Buckfast, alongside Weaver Italian, SMR, and hives that survived without chemicals. SMR is what Harbo and Harris at the USDA lab in Baton Rouge later renamed Varroa Sensitive Hygiene. We've selected it for Texas heat, dearth performance, and disease resistance, evaluated together.
Three Protocols, Three Different Questions
Mite Load Monitoring
Alcohol Wash
The primary tool for measuring mite infestation across the apiary. A defined sample size is washed and counted. If mite load exceeds 2% at any point, we vaporize the colony and pull the queen the same day, then set in a caged mated queen from known good stock after a short brood break. No threshold negotiation. No waiting to see if the numbers come back down.
Removal of Reproducing Mites
VSH Assay
Evaluates whether workers detect and remove the pupae where varroa mites are actively reproducing. Cells with known mite infestation are marked against non-infested controls, the frame goes back in the colony, and the share of infested cells cleared over a set interval is scored against those controls. A colony scoring well clears most of the cells where mites are breeding. Colonies are scored on a defined scale, and the result informs breeder selection.
Hygienic Behavior
Pin Test
Evaluates whether workers detect and remove compromised brood. A separate question from VSH, and a separate test. Our pass bar is about 90% removal in roughly 24 hours. A colony can show strong general hygienic behavior without scoring highly on VSH. Both traits matter, and both are evaluated independently.
Thresholds, Tools, and What Triggers Action
Threshold-based intervention is the operating principle. We treat when the numbers demand it, not on a calendar schedule, not out of precaution, and not to mask genetics that should be leaving the program.
The 2% alcohol wash is the trigger, and treating and requeening are the same job. Oxalic acid vapor knocks the phoretic mites down and the queen comes out the same day. After a three to five day brood break, a caged mated queen from known good stock goes in, and the hive gets a VarroxSan treatment. VarroxSan is an extended-release oxalic acid strip, the same acid the vaporizer delivers, and it keeps killing through the weeks the last of the old brood hatches out.
One strike. A colony that hits 2% gets treated and requeened, and there's no second treatment. We don't nurse underperforming colonies along and we don't wait for a second data point. The threshold exists because ambiguity is how weak genetics stay in a breeding population.
We do not use hard chemical pesticides. Anything that masks the underlying genetic picture makes the next generation of selection less accurate.
Requeening is our default response to underperforming colonies across the board, not just mite load. Weak brood pattern, documented temperament issues, poor dearth performance. Any of these can trigger a requeen decision. We're building a breeding population, not running a rescue operation.
Inspection cadence is regular and documented. Mite counts, brood pattern assessment, temperament notes. That's the record the selection program runs on.
Stock and Selection
We graft our own queens. That means we're selecting from our own evaluated breeders, colonies that have earned that status through documented performance across multiple criteria, rather than buying and reselling queens from someone else's selection program.
The genetic foundation is the BeeWeaver line, selected for Texas conditions. Heat tolerance, dearth performance, and disease resistance are evaluated together. A colony that excels in one area but fails another doesn't move forward in the program.
Breeder selection follows a defined order. Hygienic behavior first, brood pattern second, temperament third. That order reflects what we're actually building for. A colony with a beautiful brood pattern and poor hygienic scores is not a breeder. A colony with strong hygienic scores and an average brood pattern is worth a conversation.
Stock availability reflects where the selection program actually is. When we sell queens or nucs, it's because the colony earned it. We're not selling what we won't stand behind.
When We Do It and Why
We feed under two conditions. Extreme dearth, and winter build-up.
Winter build-up feeding aims at one thing, entering the cold months with very large populations. Colonies need to be strong enough to absorb natural winter die-off and still come out with the numbers to work early Texas blooms. Feeding to that end is practical management rather than a crutch.
We do not feed to compensate for weak colonies or to prop up populations that wouldn't hold on their own. Feeding a colony that can't maintain itself through normal conditions only delays the selection decision you should already have made.
When we do feed, the syrup goes out supplemented. We feed to position strength, not to manufacture it.
Work With Us
Interested in Our Stock?
Queen and nuc availability is limited and seasonal. If you're looking for Texas-adapted stock with documented standards, reach out.
Get in TouchYour Land Might Qualify.
We place and manage hives on Texas properties between 5 and 20 acres for the 1-D-1 agricultural use valuation. Placement, documentation, and the inspection records your appraisal district wants to see. We run the numbers with you before anyone commits.
See If Your Land Qualifies