PRE-ORDER UK Bred Queen (Unmated)

Description

I have used many different types of queens from Carniolans to Buckfast and even worked with Italian strains. I have never found one that I am totally happy with and so like many bee farmer have put in place a breeding program to improve my stock. As such these queens cannot truly be classified as Buckfast or Carniolan rather Locally adapted to our bee farming setup.

These queens have been selected for a few criteria:

• National Brood Box – We run only single national brood boxes so a queen that is able to stay put in a smaller brood box while maintaining as high a population as possible is key.
• Yields – We are a honey farm, honey yields are important and we hold data on all of our sites and colonies. Our 2022 yield per colony was 81lb based on the start of the year colony count and we also doubled our colony numbers.
• Temperament – We run beekeeping courses so having colonies that are easy to work and and handle also remains important to us.

We are always working towards better queens and each year select the top 6 or 8 stocks to breed from.

Producing queens in the UK can be tricky with the weather so we aim to have pre-ordered virgin queens ready by the middle of May however a cold/wet spring may push us back slightly.

Available Late April – August.

Please note – you cannot start a colony with a queen only, you require either a full hive, package or a nuc.

They will be posted out on a Monday morning having hatched on the Sunday. Last chance to order is 5am Monday Morning

They will be sent out in a queen cage with several attendants, they will be colour marked for year. Once introduced, leave the hive alone for 3 weeks before going back to check for signs of egg laying

Please purchase queens in a separate order to other items and select next day delivery at checkout. Queens that are dead on arrival will only be refunded if special delivery has been selected, 1st class is not insured by us.

Virgin Queens

The risk with virgin queens is getting them mated, we are not responsible for any virgins that become drone layers, or do not take. Natural mating success can be low if weather conditions are not good and this is reflected in the price of the queen. The queens are all daughters of one of our breeders however character of the colony produced by this queen will be also dependent on the character of the local drones that she has available to mate with.

We would suggest introducing as you would normally, and then leaving the hive undisturbed for at least 3 weeks. At which point you can check quickly for signs of eggs/ laying.

Queen Issues

If any queen is found dead on arrival this needs to be reported to us within 24 hours of delivery. We will expect a photo of the queen and attendants in the original unopened cage before we will be able to send out a out replacement free of charge. With Virgin queens we bear no responsibility for the quality or success of mating in any way.