IMPORTANT: Cowichan Bees and Supplies provides NO GUARANTEE with honeybee livestock.
– Introducing a Queen Bee to an existing colony is not a guarantee that the new queen bee will be accepted, will start laying eggs nor escape the cage it is shipped in.
– Queen Bees are not recommended to be used on their own to start a colony.
Video on how to Re-queen a Hive by Randy Oliver of Scientific Beekeeping
https://www.ohbees.com/pages/tutorials/#introduce-new-queen
ABOUT THESE QUEENS:
Italian Queens
They’ve infused the “Minnesota Hygienic” and the “VSH” traits into our Italian stock, in an effort to enhance disease and mite resistance or tolerance.
Italian Queens form the backbone of Oliverez Honey Bee (OHB). They choose their breeder queens based on the hive’s performance in honey production, gentleness, brood-rearing viability, and overall ability to overwinter healthy and heavy. In addition, OHB has worked with the “Tech Transfer Team,” developed by world-renowned entomologist Marla Spivak, since before its official launch in an effort to identify and maintain desirable traits in our current stock. They’ve infused the “Minnesota Hygienic” and the “VSH” traits into our Italian stock, in an effort to enhance disease and mite resistance or tolerance.
Italian traits:
- Gentle and easy to manage (a good “beginner bee”)
- Prolific brood producers
- Highly hygienic
- Good comb builders
- Excellent foragers
- Excellent honey producers
Ukranian Carpathian Queens:
Premium queens from the Ukraine have strong hygienic qualities, are good producers with gentle demeanor and are winter hardy. Well suited for the Canadian climate.
This queen has favorable genetic properties, is a good honey producer, broods up well in the spring and possesses a gentle demeanor. Known as the ‘Mountain Bee’, it is winter hardy and well-suited to the Canadian environment.
Melita Carnionlan Queens
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Strengths
- Considered to be gentle and non-aggressive
- Can be kept in populated areas
- Sense of orientation considered better than the Italian honey bee
- Less drifting of bees from one hive to a neighboring hive
- When compared to the Italian honey bee, they are not as prone to rob honey
- Able to overwinter in smaller numbers of winter bees
- Honey stores are conserved
- Able to quickly adapt to changes in the environment
- Better for areas with long winters
- Fast rhythm of brood production and then brood rearing reduction when available forage decreases
- Low use of propolis
- Resistant to brood diseases
- For areas with strong spring nectar flow and early pollination
- Forage earlier in the morning and later in the evening, and on cool, wet days
- Workers live up to 12% longer than other breeds