Genetic Stock A - Johnston's Hardy Honeybees
The bees that Johnstons Honeybee Farm utilizes have been developed since 1991. That was the last time that we purchased queens from any outside beekeepers. We started with a Carniolian/ Italian hybrid and have been raising our own queens exclusively since then. Twice we have suffered overwintering losses of around 75% and have bred from the bees that have survived. The first loss was caused by the advent of the tracheal mite, an internal parasite of bees; the second loss was caused by advent of the external parasite, varroa jacobsonii. Since 2003, we have not used drugs to treat these diseases and I believe that we now have bees that are resistant to these two maladies.
Our bees are:
- Winter hardy
- Mite Resistant
- Gentle
We are presently selecting for queens with greater longevity.
The next great challenge will be developing bees with resistance to nosema ceranae, a new form of dysentery that is killing many bee hives throughout the world and which will be particularly devastating to overwintered bees in northern climates.