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OUR QUEENS
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Italian Queens |
Now taking orders
for April 2010. A 25% non-refundable deposit is required to guarantee your order.
Place your order today by
calling Lisa @530-501-0966
Apis Mellifera Ligustica:
Very gentle, good brood pattern, is not so prone to
swarm as much, great honey producer, light on excess propolis and
makes nice looking white honey comb. Good foulbrood
resistance. The hybrids of today show some mite resistance and good
hygienic behavior. A great bee for someone new to
beekeeping.
This is the most popular bee in
North America. The Italians are popular with the commercial
beekeepers they are gentle and good producers. They use less
propolis than some of the darker bees. They usually have bands
on their abdomen of brown to yellow color. Their biggest
weakness is that they are prone to rob and drift,
especially when there is a
dearth |
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Minnesota Hygienic Queen |
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Apis Mellifera hybrid: These exceptionally hygienic
queens show good resistance to American foulbrood and
chalkbrood as well as showing some resistance to the Varroa Mite.
The breeder queens are from Glenn Apiaries
(the Minnesota Hygienic Queens were developed by Dr.
Marla Spivak), They have proven to be great honey
producers as well as very gentle bees. Dr. Spivak and her team
were able to produce a trait within breeder queens where the bees are able to reduce disease by
being exceptionally hygienic. We suggest these queens if you are
looking for a bee that broods up well in the spring, puts up
big in the winter, and has excellent hygienic properties. The
Minnesota Hygienic honey bee is presently rated as the highest honey
priducer
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New
World Carniolan Hybrid |
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Apis Mellifera hybrid: Dr. Susan Cobey is
credited with the development of these queens. These are
darker in color and some of the queens are nearly black.
they are known for their winter hardiness and rapid spring
build up. These queens work well in all areas of the
country, are excellent honey producers and comb
builders. They also show resistance to tracheal mites.
They do well in the cold and long winters of the North.
We purchase our breeder queens from Strachan
Apiaries, the world's largest producer of the New
World Carniolan. Dr. Cobey is presently at University
of California Davis. She is continuing her work
at the Laidlaw Research facilities
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Russian Queen |
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Apis Mellifera hybrid:
A product of the U.S. Dept. Of Agriculture's
Honey Bee Breeding Genetics, and Physiology Lab of Baton
Rouge, Louisiana directed by:
Dr. Thomas Rinderer; They imported this bee from the Primorski region of the Sea of Japan because it had survived
mites for 150 years. It is not a
species but a hybrid.
Russian bees resemble the dark Carniolan strain and use less
propolis than typical Italian honey bees. They are not prone
to sting. The bees show exceptional winter hardiness, small
winter cluster, and a high nectar haul per
bee. They are more apt to building queen cells throughout
the brood season and may have a higher tendency to swarm.
GOOD TRAITS:
They are
more resistant to mites and more winter Hardy.
POOR TRAITS:
They tend to produces
lots of propolis, they always seems to have swarm cells in
the hive, and they are moderate honey
producers.
They
can be testy at times. They are known for head butting
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Old
World Carniolan Queen |
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Apis
Mellifera Carnica: These are darker brown to
black. They fly in slightly cooler weather and
in theory are better in northern climates. They are
reputed by some to be less productive than Italians, but I
have not had that experience. The ones I have are very
productive and very frugal for the winter.
They winter in small clusters and shut down brood
rearing when there are dearth. Our breeder brings his
stock over directly from Europe. It's been said that Susan
Colby obtained her breeders from this source. These are new
additions to the genetic pool here in the States. GOOD
TRAITS:
Explosive spring build up, are not so prone to rob, are
very, very gentle, and good comb producers |
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Yellow Russian Hybrid Queen |
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Our
breeder began this business in 1979, to breed a
Disease Resistant stock of bees which was "hygienic"
in its ability to clean up American Foulbrood. His
reputation for Disease Resistant bees began with the
Yellow Russian Hybrid. This stock is selected for
gentleness and tracheal mite resistance. It is a
dark Italian which raises large brood nests in the
spring but is not quick to swarm. The bees are
hygienic to clean up brood diseases at an early
stage, before they spread and contaminate the
colony. Our customers tell us that this line is an
excellent honey producer. Today from research in
Germany and Minnesota, we know this behavior is also
involved in resistance to Varroa mites. Our
first breeding step with any new stock is to test
and find this trait. The queens and their offspring
will all have hygienic Disease Resistance.
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