Honey Bee Genetics

Steve Taber began beekeeping as a boy during summers in upstate New York. He attended college at the University of Minnesota and worked with Dr. C.L. Farrar. He then started his career with the USDA, where he worked as a research scientist for thirty years. At Baton Rouge, with Dr. Otto Mackensen, he pioneered the use of Instrumental Insemination to breed queens to selected drones. His research covered all of the areas of beekeeping and bee biology. Steve has hundreds of papers to his credit and is recognized as a world authority on bees. He wrote the book, Breeding Super Bees which is an excellent source for information on queen rearing at any level. Regular contributions to his bee columns in the American Bee Journal and Gleanings are read by a large following of beekeepers in all corners of the globe. Currently, Steve is doing research on the small hive beetle near his home in South Carolina.

Our reputation for Disease Resistant bees began with the Taber Italian.This stock is selected for gentleness and tracheal mite resistance. It is a dark Italian which raises large brood nests in the spring but is not quick to swarm. The bees are hygienic to clean up brood diseases at an early stage, before they spread and contaminate the colony. Our customers tell us that this line is an excellent honey producer.

In 1993, the USDA chose Honey Bee Genetics to breed a "Yugo" Carniolan Stock using Instrumental Insemination.  Five years later, a second import was released from Eastern Russia. On the Primorski Peninsula, Carniolan Honey Bees had been brought all of the way from the Carnica Mountains in Yugoslavia. By moving to an area where mites existed on the Asian Honey Bee, it is believed the Carniolans had been parasitized by mites for one hundred years.  This gentle, gray black bee has shown excellent resistance to Varroa and tracheal mites and so should not require as much mite treatment as other lines. These bees over winter very well and build up fast in the spring. This is an excellent choice for beekeepers who are experiencing losses caused by mites or beginning beekeepers who desire bees which take care of themselves.

The use of chemicals has not been available to control this mite, so the resulting bees have developed a natural resistance. This stock is also a gentle and productive Carniolan bee which will please commercial beekeepers because of the excellent honey production.