Producing a substantial surplus requires fast build up during the cool, wet springs of SE Pennsylvania. This area calls for bees that can buildup quickly in spring and fly in less then ideal conditions. They need to get their surplus in the spring as summers here are usually dry with very few things blooming, missing this flow could spell death for a colony. Producing nucs, queens and honey in SE PA requires thriving not just surviving bees and spring buildup is a crucial component to that.

Another quality which is extremely important to northern beekeepers is the ability of our bees to overwinter successfully. Our bees must be frugal with stores during winter or they risk starvation. They must be able to deal with and survive long cold periods where the cluster is unable to break and find additional food resources. Good overwintering honey bees usually have a slightly smaller winter cluster then that of the common Italian bee. This allows the colony to eat fewer stores during the winter, decreasing the chances they will starve. Breeder queens are selected only from the finest colonies that have overwintered at least two years with the same queen.

Production is the main concern for those trying to make a living from bees. Therefore strict requirements are imposed on our potential breeders. Selection of breeders from hives that produce multiple nucs and surplus honey ensures that only the best are used as breeder colonies. A hive that cannot overwinter well, and lags behind in spring will not be productive in our operation.

In order to function without chemicals, bees must demonstrate an ability to fight off pests and disease. Hygienic behavior is one mechanism utilized by bees to reduce varroa mites and fight off disease such as chalkbrood and AFB. Various tests can be employed when testing for hygienic behavior. Some of the tests used by Yule's Apiaries can be found at here. VSH is another pest resistance characteristic we look for in our bees. Currently we import VSH genetics into our operation by the use of instrumentally inseminated queens. The daughters of these II queens must survive a winter before they are utilized as our drone mother colonies. We are currently researching assays and purchasing equipment in order to select for the VSH traits ourselves. We never select from stock that has shown any sign of disease.