Honey Outlaws beekeeper lifting a frame from a hive under the Texas sky

Be Wild. Keep Bees.

Strong Bees. Real Texas Conditions. Managed the Right Way.

We run managed beehive leases across Central Texas so your acreage can qualify for an agricultural use valuation on your property taxes. The bees we put on your place are our own hardy stock. You hire the beekeeping done, same as brush clearing or fence work. The honey your land makes belongs to you.

See If Your Land QualifiesExplore Our Approach

Stock and standards

Built to Hold Up Through a Texas Year

Heat, dearth, and shifting bloom times decide which colonies make it in Central Texas, so those are the conditions we breed against. We grade a colony on whether it survived the year, what its mite wash showed, and how the queen is laying. Honey is last. The honey we sell comes off our own yards. If somebody wants honey of their own and has no land for a hive, we'll keep one on ours and the crop goes to them.

Straight Talk

These are the bees that would be standing on your land. Your county sets a hive count for your acreage, and our colonies stay on the land year-round. We breed for stock that holds up here. If your property or the season isn't right for it, we'll tell you before you spend a dollar.

Texas Survivor Stock

Bred for Varroa Resistance

Queens We Graft Ourselves

Pin-Tested for Hygiene

Honey Outlaws beekeeper inspecting a frame of bees in a Central Texas apiary

Be an Outlaw

Where You Fit In

We breed the stock and we run the leases. Read how we keep bees before you put any on your land.

Honey Outlaws beehives at dusk under a Central Texas sky

For Landowners

Texas law lets beekeeping qualify land between 5 and 20 acres for the 1-d-1 agricultural use valuation. We place the hives, work them year round, and hand you the documentation your appraisal district wants by April 30.

How the Lease Works

Honey Outlaws beekeeper grafting queen cells to raise survivor-stock queens

For Beekeepers

Survival first, then varroa resistance, then the queen, and honey last. We breed from the colonies that hold up, and requeen the ones that don't. Here's what we select for, and what we cull.

How We Keep Bees →

Our standards

How We Keep Bees

We keep colonies that hold up in real Texas conditions, and we make management calls on what the hives actually do in the yard. When a mite wash comes back at 2%, that colony gets treated and requeened. We pick breeders on hygiene first, and a colony that can't keep up gets pulled out of the line.

Explore Our Approach →

Honey Outlaws bees covering a frame of sealed brood

A Honey Outlaws bee gathering pollen from a bluebonnet.

Managed leases

Managed Beehive Leases on Your Land

We lease managed hives to Central Texas landowners who want their acreage in agricultural use. We place the colonies, work them through the year, and keep the records your county needs. On land that qualifies, the savings can outrun the cost of the lease, depending on your acreage and county. When they don't, we'll tell you before you sign.

How the Lease Works

We work twelve Central Texas counties. Travis, Hays, Williamson, Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Comal, Guadalupe, Lee, Wilson, and Milam.

From the Field

Latest from the Journal

Historical illustration of foulbrood-infected honeycomb cells from Isaac Hopkins Bee-Culture 1907

Threats

European Foulbrood in Honey Bees: What EFB Is Telling You

European foulbrood in honey bees kills larvae before cells are capped. Here’s how to identify EFB, distinguish it from AFB, and manage colonies without reaching for antibiotics first.

Small hive beetles clustered in a honey bee hive

Threats

Small Hive Beetle and Honey Bees

Small hive beetle is established in Texas, active year-round. Here’s the biology, what larvae do to a colony, and why colony strength is the entire SHB program at Honey Outlaws.

Fire ant worker, Brackenridge Field Laboratory, Austin, Texas

Threats

Fire Ants and Honey Bees in Texas

Fire ants are part of beekeeping across the eastern two-thirds of Texas, but they only raid weak colonies. Here’s how to keep hives strong, band the stand, and bait the mound.

Honey bee with crumpled deformed wings and a Varroa mite visible on its body

Threats

Deformed Wing Virus in Honey Bees, and Why Varroa Makes It Lethal

Deformed wing virus stays harmless on its own. Varroa is what makes it lethal, carrying it straight into developing pupae. Here’s what DWV does and why controlling mites is your only defense.

Threats

Chalkbrood in Honey Bees

Chalkbrood in honey bees is usually self-limiting. Here’s why some colonies clear it and others don’t, and what to do when it keeps coming back.

USDA ARS researchers using microscope to examine Nosema ceranae honey bee fungus spores

Threats

What Nosema ceranae Does to Honey Bees, and Why There’s No Fix

Nosema ceranae causes invisible colony decline in honey bees, no dysentery, no obvious signs. Here’s what it does, how it differs from Nosema apis, and why there’s still no reliable fix.

View all journal posts

Be Wild. Keep Bees.

Let's Look at Your Land.

The exemption runs on parcels between 5 and 20 acres, and your county wants the paperwork by April 30. Tell us what you've got and we'll tell you whether it works.

See If Your Land Qualifies