PREORDER CAUCASIAN/CARNIOLAN HYBRID QUEEN BEES Available Spring 2023

PREORDER CAUCASIAN/CARNIOLAN HYBRID QUEEN BEES Available Spring 2023. Caucasians are calm within the hive and are considered the gentlest of bees. Their profligate use of propolis, once considered undesirable, has recently been shown to be a major contributer to hive health and vigor. Preorder for 2023 Caucasian Queen Bees This is a presale item and is not yet available for shipment Buy four or more for Free shipping Our Queens are open mated in yards stocked with Carniolan Drones. These Queens produce a Caucasian/Carniolan Cross of very gentle bees that yield large honey crops and overwinter well Shipments of our Caucasian Queen bees usually begin at the end of April and continue through late August. Why a Caucasian/Carniolan hybrid Honey Bee Both Caucasian and Carniolan honey bees have unique traits that give them certain advantages when compared to the standard Italian honey bee. Caucasians are calm within the hive and are considered the gentlest of bees. They over-winter well and use less stores then Italian bees but build up quickly in the spring. Their profligate use of propolis, once considered undesirable, has recently been shown to be a major contributer to hive health and vigor. Carniolans are also considered one of the more gentle species of bee. They begin the spring with smaller clusters than the Italian hives, but also build up rapidly in order to take advantage of the main spring honey flow. Carniolans will forage on cold, wet days and typically bring in a large honey crop. they are resistent to certain diseases and are much thriftier with their honey stores than Italian bees, requiring less feeding during dearths. Our queen rearing method We raise our queens based on the principles of queen rearing established by the late Brother Adam of Buckfast Abbey. Each queen we raise is the offspring of a proven queen of superior quality and is grafted from the youngest larvae we can utilize (12 hours old or younger) and raised within a heavily stocked production hive that serves as both a starter and finisher. When the queen cells are capped they are transfered to a five frame langstroth mating nuc where they are allowed to emerge, mate and remain while their performance is assessed. During this time the new queens are closely monitored for temperment, brood production, hardiness and general vigor. Queens that do not appear to meet our high standards are removed from sale. Our Guarantee We are a small family owned and operated Apiary specializing in honey production and queen rearing. We produce a limited number of queens for sale each year and take pride in the care and attention that we give to each queen we raise. Every queen that we offer for sale is one that we would use in our own bee yard. If you decide to purchase one of our Caucasian/Carniolan hybrids you can be confident that you are getting one of the very best quality queens on the market today.