Mr. Weaver seems to have   jumped in and made it personal.  His note  has  lot of  twist and turns and misreading's.   I would suggest one goes back and reads the whole thread involved and add to the discussion instead of twisting it around.The innuendo is that since hes not a customer,  I have some ax to grind.  interesting theory  but  complete twist and odd thought.  I buy queens from many sources   and only a few of them are my customers.Hes correct,  I believe I only bought from him directly once.  the other were part of a club purchase  and from the other Weavers.  For the record they were fine queens,  but IMO nothing special.  The fact I didn't buy more direct should be proof I was not impressed.   I did try them again because they can be aggressive, and as such fight of SHB a bit more than others.  As part of my fight with SHB I have tried mean bees  from many places.  (no they are not the solution).   As I mentioned,  in my yard they showed no more tolerance to mites or improved honey than any other line.  That statement is simple  May be my evaluation,  may be my beekeeping skills,  for me they were not bad,  nor great.  For the record  I have had 3 hives the state inspector requested to be destroyed for being mean.  they all came from they same source over 2 seasons.  In business  for me when a customer is not happy the question for me is what can I do differently.  Others take a different direction and attack the customer,  I continue to work to improve my product,   and I am sure Mr. Weaver is doing the same.  Neither of us has completely cornered the market in our areas. We both have customers who are fans, and others who are not.  We both will keep working at it I am sure.I made no disparaging remarks   just that some weaver queens get spicy,  Africanized was not what I said,  but it was the TOPIC OF DISCUSSION.   We were discussing the intentional breeding of Africanized genetics into the line,  specifically the concept of the PR project and if it would be valuable here.  I did and do contented from the data and information I have that those genetics are not a magic bullet,  and bringing them here is a fools venture based on what we know.  All hype aside mites and virus associated with mites hit those bees just as hard.  Small swarmy mean hives are no value in our breeding pool IMO.Dannys work was cited as a key in bringing in those genetics,  but not by me,  so is that part of the weaver line?  or is there some other reason we get the spicy ones?A quick look at the Texas map shows only 3 counties that are free of those African genetics  so that's  clearly not involved?  is the mite restiance or tolerance a buck fast trait?Lets dispense with manhood measurements and get to the topic at hand,  is there value in bringing in the PR line as mentioned?  Dannys vast experience and knowledge at genetics would be very valuable in the discussion.   I am defiantly not even remotely qualified to discuss what that breeding program might look like.   I would be great to get a professional opinion, from  a leader in the field.
Charles






   

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