From Peter Loring Borst
So far as I know, they would state that they do not even have them. One of their reps told me than when they have a favorable spring in Texas, the AHBs explode and the drones cross breed with the Weaver stock, producing irritable hybrids. But even if they do have great bees, their prices are off the charts. (Packages: $225 picked up in Texas) 

my comments..
Since I have heard Danny make quite the opposite statement in a public meeting I will only suggest here Peter that you are operating from limited information.  And who is the 'rep' you are talking about? 

To my very limited understanding Danny is not rearing bees in the typical style of a queen breeder but the experiment is more like a large experiment in natural selection. As far as I know he never advertised his untreated stock until 2004 or2005.  Most commercial folks would never have been able to pull this experiment off since they do not have the capacity to weather that sort of intermediate term financial challenge. Often I suspect another overlooked item is the ability/talent for selection which is largely based (my best guess) on lots of experience.

At the hobby level (none here need to read this) there is a lot of confusion as to the various Weavers in Texas and quite often one gets mixed up with the other.  Beyond the name and that they all have raised bees there is little imho to compare here. At one time there were 3 Weaver operation around the town of Navasota.

Sadly in the current time frame any bee that stings get labeled as africanized. As far as I know from experience we had plenty of bad bees here in the US long before we had africanized stock. Not that long ago (but yes before the african cross was know to be in the US) the commercial folks recognized 'commercial grade' Italian bees that were robust, a bit hot and would almost without fail make you a larger honey crop.  With the current emphasis on pollination this equates to the pollinator folks wanting a bee that is docile as a lamb and never stings.  Evidently the pollinator folks in mass missed the lesson that when it comes to bee breeding you only get something by giving something up.  Some years back I did a few cutout (before cutout was cool) and had sample of all taken to the inspection service for id (fabis < this to my understanding only determines degree of africanization).  Many sample came back as european and most of the africanized stuff would be in small geographic pockets.  By and large they were in much smaller numbers here than was the european stock.  The landscape of Texas is not all the same and generally nothing like you might see in an old western movie. To the west the landscape gets barren and devoid of almost any large trees so nesting sites are limited. In the arid landscape the africanized bees does thrive (my best guess is because the european bee does not and it is arid, highly subject to drought and all these factors limit any competition).  If you draw a line North up from my house along the Brazos River, to the East the landscape turn green and the trees get larger and the humidity will make you quickly feel like a old rung out dish rag. The africanize bees appears to do well in the dry air and limited nesting sites to the west but the high humidity to the east with lots of migratory operation they seen to not do so well.

Personally I have never had problem in managing these sorts of bees but then again my early experience first with a.m.m. and then later with commercial italian stock did not lull me in to thinking all bees were as docile as little lambs.  Expectations does play a large role in how folks view things!

Beyond the non treatment angle there are other structural economic reasons we can demand that kind of price for packages or nucs here in Texas.

Gene in central Texas

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