best place to buy mated queens

[tiny tim]

after a disasterous early summer
one colony was queenless after the winter ,
did as on the other ,,new queens failed to mate

I am now left with one colony with a not too clever queen so I have decided to buy a mated queen in

where is the best place to purchase one ?

 

[Ely]

HiveMaker

 

[Obee1]

It depends what type you want. I buy buckfasts off hivemaker and carniolans from B+. I'm sure others will be along with their personal favourites.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Hivemaker.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hivemaker....google Exmoor bees.

BUT make sure the colony is truly queenless...otherwise it's such a waste of a bloody good bee.

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Yep, another vote for Pete Little at Exmoor bees. You are so right though EricA, I lost one of the two I introduced 2 weeks ago, gutted. Put in a test frame which they drew EQCs on so thought I was safe but they still didn't accept her. Grrrr!

His queens produce very calm productive bees. Lovely.

 

[Obee1]

Yep, another vote for Pete Little at Exmoor bees. You are so right though EricA, I lost one of the two I introduced 2 weeks ago, gutted. Put in a test frame which they drew EQCs on so thought I was safe but they still didn't accept her. Grrrr!

His queens produce very calm productive bees. Lovely.

What happened to your hivemaker queen? Mine was found doing the dying fly (bee) on the inside floor of the hive. Not a mark on her so no idea what happened. They were definitely queenless cos I squished her predecessor myself that day.

 

[Tom Bick]

What happened to your hivemaker queen? Mine was found doing the dying fly (bee) on the inside floor of the hive. Not a mark on her so no idea what happened. They were definitely queenless cos I squished her predecessor myself that day.

Killed her predecessor on the same day you found your new queen dying on the floor of the hive? Did you not use the introduction cage?

There is always a risk of queen introduction especially with us less experienced beekeepers

 

[For want of a better word]

Buy a local bee... locally bred for your specific environmental conditions.

Most Associations are able to put you in touch with a LOCAL queen supplier



Yeghes da

 

[Tom Bick]

Buy a local bee... locally bred for your specific environmental conditions.

Most Associations are able to put you in touch with a LOCAL queen supplier



Yeghes da

I agree but have difficulty in a small country with some slight different weather conditions and climate to define local what sort of distance do you consider not to be local.

 

[Jimmys Mum]

What happened to your hivemaker queen? Mine was found doing the dying fly (bee) on the inside floor of the hive. Not a mark on her so no idea what happened. They were definitely queenless cos I squished her predecessor myself that day.

Not really sure Obee, I had previously introduced another queen I had spare which they also rejected. No eggs were seen a week after that introduction. I put a test frame in just in case she was still there but not yet laying, but a week later they had drawn emergency cells. I broke those all down and introduced Petes queen in her cage. 48hrs later they were still biting at the cage so I left it another 2 days. They seemed calmer at that point so I broke off the tab. A week later, still no eggs. So put in another test frame. More emergency queen cells! So last night I united them over newspaper with another colony. Not sure that went well either as this afternoon there were quite a lot of dead and dying bees around the hive! They seem determined to self destruct! I'll leave them a week and then check for a successful unite with the queen safe and sound but I'm not holding my breath!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Mine was foundon the inside floor of the hive. Not a mark on her so no idea what happened. They were definitely queenless cos I squished her predecessor myself that day.

How did you introduce her?

 

[B+.]

a week later they had drawn emergency cells. I broke those all down and introduced Petes queen in her cage. 48hrs later they were still biting at the cage so I left it another 2 days. They seemed calmer at that point so I broke off the tab. A week later, still no eggs. So put in another test frame. More emergency queen cells!

Did you see HiveMakers queen after you broke off the tab and allowed the bees access to the fondant?
Workers biting a cage is a sign of aggression towards the queen (had you removed the bees included in the travelling cage to feed/groom the queen?). Also, had you shaken the bees off the combs and destroyed all of the emergency cells before trying to introduce HiveMakers queen? If you missed one, this could explain the aggression towards the introduced queen.
I suspect they weren't queenless when you introduced HM's queen

 

[Ely]

I agree but have difficulty in a small country with some slight different weather conditions and climate to define local what sort of distance do you consider not to be local.

The weather in the UK is such that we have large variations of weather no matter where you live. There is no specific bee to our unspecific weather. You don't need to worry about such things. Just don't import. Support our bee farmers and reduce the chance of pests.

 

[Tom Bick]

The weather in the UK is such that we have large variations of weather no matter where you live. There is no specific bee to our unspecific weather. You don't need to worry about such things. Just don't import. Support our bee farmers and reduce the chance of pests.

I would agree with the exception of Scotland and the very north of England been different to the rest of the country. Some places will be wetter than others and some a few degrees warmer but basically the same.

 

[Hachi]

Buy a local bee... locally bred for your specific environmental conditions.

Most Associations are able to put you in touch with a LOCAL queen supplier



Yeghes da

Really?? Mine cant

+1 for Hivemaker

 

[BeeJayBee]

after a disasterous early summer
one colony was queenless after the winter ,
did as on the other ,,new queens failed to mate

I am now left with one colony with a not too clever queen so I have decided to buy a mated queen in

where is the best place to purchase one ?

Buy a nice mated queen from a reliable source - not sure if advertising, even in-site advertising, or directing to a particular source is allowed. (Not from me, by the way!)

As an alternative you could see if somebody local to you has a disease-free swarm with a laying queen. You could either (1) raise that as a second colony alongside your newly queened colony, or (2) you could combine it with your queenless colony. The first option would make sure you have two q+ colonies going into winter.

 

[Jimmys Mum]

I suspect they weren't queenless when you introduced HM's queen

Yes, I agree that would be the most logical explanation and I guess may still be a possibility but 2 test frames suggested otherwise and yes, I do always shake the bees off all the frames to give them a good look over. Especially at this time of year when the bee covering is so dense. Made that expensive mistake in my first year! I was as sure as I could be that I'd removed all the emergency cells made on the test frame during the week but maybe one was heavily disguised on the second test frame?

They would have been older bees as had no new brood for a few weeks, I guess that wouldn't have helped. No, I didn't see her after the tab was removed. She just vanished. And yes, the biting of the cage was definitely aggressive. I waited an extra couple of days until it had stopped before pulling the tab. I don't usually remove the workers.....didn't think it made a difference?

I don't usually have a problem with queen introduction (prefer to do via a nuc at this time of year) but this one has me tearing my hair out!

 

[For want of a better word]

Local...
Not from Leeds / Yorkshire whilst they struggle to sort out another E outbreak!

Such a sad thing when I hear of an area that can not supply its own local bees and keepers are forced to either buy from far away... or worse....import !

I do not think that at all counts a humor!

Sad sad sad.....................

Yeghes da

 

[Erichalfbee]

My best colonies are headed by Exmoor Buckfast queens. They are from a similar area to where I live. I agree with Tom. What is local?