OHB and Randy Oliver Golden West Queens

Introducing Randy and Olivarez Honey Bees Golden West queens. OHB has an isolated mating yard, which will allow the Olivers to better control their drone pool. This is a win-win for both of us, allowing OHB to sell open-mated Oliver queens mated to Oliver drones, while allowing the Olivers to focus upon their successful selective breeding program -- which involves performing thousands of mite washes throughout the year.
 
Keep in mind that there’s no such thing as a mite-resistant queen – it’s the workers produced by the queen and the drones that she mated with that confer resistance. That said, the Olivers want to make clear that they have not yet “fixed” the genetics for mite resistance into their bloodlines, so they do not yet make any claim that their stock is “mite resistant.” But it looks like you’ve currently got about a 50% chance that any of their queens might produce a resistant colony – a figure that we expect to improve each year. Keep in mind that even their “partially-resistant” colonies require fewer treatments.
 
The Olivers have put a heckuva lot of work over the years into their selective breeding program, and OHB is very impressed by their progress. By producing and selling their queens, we hope to support them in their efforts to free us all from the scourge of varroa!