Description

Newly Mated Italian Queens

Open Mated in our Georgia Apiary. Verified Laying.

All Queens will be marked Red for the current year.

Our Italian Queens have been open-mated in our Georgia Apiary. We keep an abundance of hearty drones from our most productive queens available to mate our Virgin Queens. This provides queens with all the benefits of the Italian race, mated to proven producers that are acclimated to the Georgia environment.

Our Queens are never banked.

Characteristics:
– shows strong disposition to breeding and very prolific.
– excellent housekeeper (which some scientists think might be a factor in disease resistance).
– uses little propolis.
– excellent foragers.
– superb comb builders.
– covers the honey with brilliant white cappings.
– shows lower swarming tendency than other Western honey bee races.
– for areas with continuous nectar flow and favorable weather throughout the summer.


Shipping:

ALL queens will be shipped to your local POST OFFICE (NOT YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS) via USPS PRIORITY MAIL HOLD AT FACILITY. To ensure HEALTHY and LIVE BEES you MUST PICK YOUR BEES UP AT THE POST OFFICE (so they do not sit in a hot/cold mailbox all day) You will be notified when the label prints and have the tracking number so you will know when to expect her. She will come in a queen cage, escorted by a few worker bees. This cage is designed to both keep her calm and cool in transit and to help slowly introduce her to your colony of bees.

WE MUST HAVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER FOR THE POST OFFICE

Introduction Instructions:

The queen(s) that you will receive are in a combination shipping and introduction cage. There is no need to remove the worker bee attendants. This cage provides food (white sugar candy) during shipment which also acts as a “timed-release” barrier for your hive bees to eat through, allowing several days of pheromone adjustment.

The hive to receive the queen must have no queen or queen cells already present. Ideally, the hive should be queenless for at least 24 hours prior to introduction. Be sure to cut down any queen cells that may have developed.

The cage should be placed in the middle of the brood nest (if no brood is present, place it in the middle of the cluster). Position the cage between two frames, so that the candy end points up and the screen is not blocked. Squeeze the frames around the cage to firmly suspend it, any damage to the comb will be repaired by the bees when the cage is removed. Make sure the hole at the candy end is not blocked. Note: If 10 frames are used, one frame may have to be removed to accommodate the cage.

The bees in your colony will chew through the candy and release the queen within a few days. The colony should be disturbed as little as possible for the next two weeks while the queen establishes her brood nest.

US SALES ONLY including PR.