Grimes county bee farm breeds sustainable queens to combat population decline

Grimes county bee farm breeds sustainable queens to combat population decline

Beekeepers across the state say they’re concerned as they report losing more colonies than usual this winter. However, in the heart of Grimes County, BeeWeaver Honey Farm is working to reverse that trend by breeding queen bees strong enough to rebuild entire colonies.

BeeWeaver has been in the beekeeping business for about 140 years, and what started as a small family business is now one of the largest sustainable queen bee producers in Texas.

Owner Danny Weaver continued the family beekeeping business and has been rearing sustainable queen bees for years. Now, his efforts to breed adaptable bees are more important than ever.

“There are not any effective treatments right now that can directly eliminate viral infections from colonies,” Weaver explained. “If you buy queens from me, then you really don’t have to worry about that problem.”

Texas beekeepers across the state have reported losing more than 60% of their colonies, one of the highest loss rates in the country.

“We did experience what I would think is an expected loss, but we have been hearing from our friends and neighbors that there has been catastrophic loss,” relayed farm manager Brandi Williams. “Some people [are] losing entire yards of hundreds of colonies.”

Parasites and the prolonged are major contributors.

“Colonies dwindled and the brood that they were in perished because they couldn’t keep it warm,” Weaver furthered. “It’s a downward spiral as soon as the colony hits that phase.”

However, at this farm, beekeepers are breeding hundreds of queen bees to start sustainable, chemical-free colonies in hopes of restoring the diminishing population.

“There are a lot of reasons to use certain chemicals with keeping bees, just like you would with keeping in cattle. Usually for the health and well-being of those creatures,” shared Williams. “We have, however, worked with different groups, to find a genetic trait that we could breed into the bees, based off of their behaviors that helps them resist both parasites, pests, and the diseases that those pests carry.”

At BeeWeaver Farm, they graft sustainable queen cells and prep them to make their own colonies. These queens are adaptive and resilient to pests and the diseases they carry.

“One of the things that I’ve tried to do since I came back into the family business and joined my dad is develop a population of honeybees that are genetically resistant to parasitic mites, particularly Varroa destructor and the viruses that Varroa destructor transmits,” Weaver said.

Each queen raised at BeeWeaver has the potential to rebuild entire colonies and is sent off to other farms to strengthen bee populations not just in Texas, but across the country.

“It’s a great way to share those genetics and kind of expand that sustainable behavior from those bees so that other people can introduce those hardy genetics into their local colonies,” added Williams.

BeeWeaver bees have been sent to every state in America except Hawaii.

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