How I Chose My 2026 VSH Breeder Queen - Zone 9b

It’s grafting day here in Jacksonville! While today isn’t strictly about the grafting process itself (that’ll be another video), I want to share something important about my queen breeding program and some exciting discoveries I made this year.

The VSH Story and What’s Changing

If you’ve followed my channel, you know I’ve been focused on VSH (Varroa Sensitive Hygiene) breeding for several years now. But this year, something interesting happened that got me thinking about the bigger picture.

After completing harbo testing on all my queens, I found three Harbo Level 4 queens — queens that came through the winter with mite counts in the single digits (7, 6, 5). I also had a few H3s and H2s, with the rest showing H1s and H0s.

Here’s where it gets interesting: the H0 and H1 queens showed mite counts of 25+ — well above what I’d like to see.

The Cuba Connection

I’ve been doing a lot of research, and here’s what stands out: Cuba has no Varroa problems.

Think about that. Cuba is literally 90 miles from Florida, and they don’t have varroa issues. Why? They never treated their bees. The entire drone population there has already adapted with the queens to manage varroa naturally.

This tells me something important: nature is already winning in some places. We’ve been “managing” varroa with treatments for 50 years, masking the problem and not letting our bees evolve. Meanwhile, bees in the wild — in trees, in hollows — are already adapting.

The Surprise in My Apiary

Here’s the moment that blew my mind. I was going through my notes, looking at which queen to use as my breeder this year. I had queens from purchased stock (Cory’s, Ryan’s) that I bought specifically for VSH.

But when I looked at my H4s, one of them was marked “Wild.”

This wasn’t a descendant of any queens I purchased last year. This was either:

  1. A swarm I caught that already had superior genetics
  2. A wild queen that mated with my managed drones
  3. My managed stock finally expressing traits after 16 years of breeding

The bees in my own yard may already be ahead of my breeding program — and I didn’t even know it.

Don’t Assume Swarms Are Bad

One of my key takeaways this year: don’t dismiss swarms as bad genetics.

If you’re testing your bees and looking for VSH traits, you might find that your local wild stock is actually better than what you’re running. The “might bombs” in the trees are real — but so is the potential for wild survivors.

I’m not talking about zero-mite queens like Randy Oliver’s (he’s still puzzled by those). I’m talking about harbo level queens that express hygienic behavior and break the varroa reproduction cycle.

My 2026 Queen Choice

I’m going with one of my H4s for this year’s breeder queen. And after seeing that “Wild” marker, I’m more excited than ever about what local genetics might offer.

Grafting starts tomorrow. Let’s see what 2026 brings!

What are your thoughts on wild bee genetics? Have you found surprising survivors in your area? Drop a comment below — I’d love to hear about your experiences.

🐝 Remember: It’s not about zero mites. It’s about bees that can live with mites.