# BWeaver queens, mite tolerant yes, aggressive yes, make good crosses yes



## camero7 (Sep 21, 2009)

Some up here have had problems wintering them in our cold winters


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## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

Thanks for this report. The big variation between the 3 queens is a bit surprising for me. I would have thought that an established, long line commercial TF queen producer would be able to sell more uniform stuff. But 3 is not big enough sample to judge them properly, but tells something.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Yes, after a few generation of the daughters crossing with
your local drones they will be more tamed. But you have to
get through the selection and Africanized genes first. Whatever
the drones are will be the base for your selection after a few generation.


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

> Whatever the drones are will be the base for your selection after a few generation.


As long as I have multiple apiaries to mate queens, I can exercise a bit of selection over the drones. I have one apiary that has pure queens of my strain. I intend to keep it that way.


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## NickAdams314 (May 19, 2016)

I am getting back into beekeeping after a long hiatus, and just got a nuc of Bweaver bees at the end of April. 

Mine are definitely hotter than italians I had ten+ years ago, but dont seem too tempermental so far.

They dont seem to be building up very fast, though. I got three frames of brood, one of stores, and one largely empty frame. In five weeks they have filled the empty frame with nectar, drawn out one frame of foundation and put brood in one side of it and nectar in the other, and not touched a two other frames of foundation.

I fed them two gallons of syrup in the first three weeks to get them started, but stopped feeding after that, as there are lot of flowers around. (I am in Central TX).

I guess there are too many variables to say for sure, but that is seeming like a fairly slow build-up to me.


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## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

Slow buildup is very typical for genuine varroa resistant bees. 

Here is a quote of JWChesnut from another thread: "Hygienic behaviour is killing your own larvae, and over-enthusiasm with this action causes slow growth. The "bloodlines" selected systematically and offered as breeding stock have sought to balance VSH with desirable productivity. Balance and nuance.

I maintain a "pure" VSH queen in a Ulster-type observation hive (to watch the VSH action). Use of pure type VSH has the added benefit that the 5 frame Ulster base grows very slowly. A production queen will outgrow the 5 frame base in weeks. I had the same queen in the Ulster since August '15 with no appreciable growth. A natual "dwarf", a Bonsai honeybee. "

There are of course other treatment free mechanisms than VSH, but so far I have not come up with TF bees with fast buildup and big brood areas. Maybe in 20 years.


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

> fast buildup and big brood areas.


 I'm getting fast spring buildup and fairly large brood areas, but it comes with the price of heavy swarming. I am going to get some Buckfast queens from Canada and mate them with drones from my mite tolerant line. I know I will lose most of the mite tolerance in the first generation, but I hope to retain the reduced swarming tendency and heavier brood production of Buckfast. With 3 or 4 generations of selection, I think I have a good chance of stabilizing high production potential combined with mite tolerance.


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## NickAdams314 (May 19, 2016)

Juhani Lunden said:


> Slow buildup is very typical for genuine varroa resistant bees.
> 
> Here is a quote of JWChesnut from another thread: "Hygienic behaviour is killing your own larvae, and over-enthusiasm with this action causes slow growth. The "bloodlines" selected systematically and offered as breeding stock have sought to balance VSH with desirable productivity. Balance and nuance.
> 
> ....


Thanks Juhani! That makes perfect sense. I appreciate the insight, and will endeavor to be patient!


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

Carnica mutts in spring on two Dadant Brother Adam deep with 8-12 brood combs before main flow.



























>Slow buildup is very typical for genuine varroa resistant bees.<


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## talkingamoeba (Feb 15, 2008)

Fusion_power said:


> I'm getting fast spring buildup and fairly large brood areas, but it comes with the price of heavy swarming. I am going to get some Buckfast queens from Canada and mate them with drones from my mite tolerant line. I know I will lose most of the mite tolerance in the first generation, but I hope to retain the reduced swarming tendency and heavier brood production of Buckfast. With 3 or 4 generations of selection, I think I have a good chance of stabilizing high production potential combined with mite tolerance.



Do you have a contact number for the Canadian Buckfast queen seller? They used to run an ad in one of the magazines, haven't seen it lately and am considering ordering.


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

http://fergusonapiaries.on.ca/


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## Brad Bee (Apr 15, 2013)

If you wanted some mite resistant, really mean bees, you could have got some of mine.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Mean and mite resistant = the AHB!


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## talkingamoeba (Feb 15, 2008)

Fusion_power said:


> http://fergusonapiaries.on.ca/


Thank you for taking the time. I messaged them.


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## Nordak (Jun 17, 2016)

I bought a BWeaver queen to requeen with my first year after a capture of pure Italians in one of my bait hives led to a heavily varroa infested, languishing hive late in the year. I have had nothing but great success with her offspring, which are now into 3rd generation queens. My experience was a good one, and didn't think they were overly defensive bees. They did like to headbutt some, but I can't say I was ever stung any more by the weaver offspring as any of my other bees. I can say that they seemed to move more quickly, and fly at the hive tool during inspections. I only wear a veil during inspections, and was never really lit up by them. Odd how variable their line appears to be. They can be swarmy, undoubtedly, but most strong bees exhibit that behavior. Interesting to read about different experiences with them.


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## JonCotton (Jun 21, 2016)

Juhani Lunden said:


> Slow buildup is very typical for genuine varroa resistant bees.
> 
> Here is a quote of JWChesnut from another thread: "Hygienic behaviour is killing your own larvae, and over-enthusiasm with this action causes slow growth. The "bloodlines" selected systematically and offered as breeding stock have sought to balance VSH with desirable productivity. Balance and nuance.
> 
> ...


That is some fantastic information, thank you!! Beekeeping is all down to common sense and not to 'over think' the problem. Years ago I did just this and that would be the best advice to give to anyone starting out. Again, thanks for this post


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