Ships Tuesday May 28th (Monday May 27th is USPS Holiday). I do not "Bank" queens; she will be pulled no sooner than the day before shipping! Normally pulled morning of shipment if weather permitting.
For sale is a 2024 Honey Bee Queen considered nominal 50% Caucasian. These queens in particular are granddaughters of my Instrumentally Inseminated (aka Artificially Inseminated) Caucasian Breeder Queen - daughters raised from overwintered 100% Queen grafted from her in 2023; both open-mated in my apiaries located in the Holston River Valley of the Appalachian Mountains in Northeast Tennessee.
Very limited number available as I raise these to re-queen/split my colonies thru the summer. I graft heavy allowing for a very conservative graft-to-mated queen success. Thus I should have a few extra high quality queens available ever week or two like the ones being offered here.
I am by definition a Sideliner Beekeeper albeit now retired from my paying job. I am not a commercial queen raiser on a two week cycle that barely provides queens time to lay six square inches of eggs in a mini-mating nuc. I plan on a four week cycle as I want to observe a sealed brood pattern before I remove a queen for my use or sale. I will pull only queens that have brood equivalent of two typical medium frames or better. Obviously queens can be produced much cheaper on a two week cycle since twice as many can be produced in a season. However, research shows Queens on a two or even a three week cycle do not have ample time to properly develop pheromones and poise; lack of which is primary reason many purchased queens are often superseded prematurely. I will not offer for sell any queen that I would not use myself.
Each queen and her attendants will be shipped in JZ BZ Queen Cage with standard time release Queen Candy. However, I strongly recommend the use of a Push In Cage for introducing a new queen; any time of year. Push In Cages offer the highest success rate of introduction as it allows the queen to demonstrate herself to the hive (lay) and the beekeeper to decide when she is released.
You must have an existing hive of bees to install the queen, you cannot start a new hive with a queen and a few attendants.
These Queen(s) are marked Green for 2024 - I use a "Day-Glo" which is brighter than standard green color.
Shipped USPS Priority Mail; tracked and insured.
Box will be marked on the outside "Hold for Pickup - Do not Deliver!" Please Call Recipient upon Arrival: XXX-XXX-XXXX?. Your eBay account listed phone number will be used unless I am otherwise notified immediately upon purchase via eBay message system to use another phone number.
Queens will not last long in a sunbaked mailbox on a hot day. Please work with your local USPS Carrier/Office in advance (as a back-up plan) to ensure this does not happen should the NEON YELLOW MESSAGE on outside of shipping box be overlooked. Check tracking status often on usps.com (not eBay), leave note on outside of mailbox with your phone number, etc.
Queens can die during transit if exposed to extreme temperatures, etc. It is strongly recommended you inspect your queen(s) prior to leaving the USPS Office to ensure this did not happen so the insurance claim process can be started immediately. Please send me a photo of the dead queen via eBay message system within 12 hours of receipt; return to me may be required so please do not discard.
While she is insured for live arrival, unfortunately I cannot guarantee their acceptance, survival, or performance in your hive because there are many, many factors that are well beyond my control once you receive.
************ Description of Pictures and Additional Information Below ************
I have been keeping honey bees since I was 18 for 40+ years now. Like many beekeepers starting out then I sourced my bees from the South. My favorite line was a 4-way hybrid cross of Caucasian/Carniolan developed by Dadant and later produced by York Bee Company. Then came the arrival of the Varroa destructor, great fear followed, everyone was afraid to purchase, borders closed and the industry I became accustomed was soon decimated - my favorite re-queens, and the Caucasian in particular, was all but lost it seemed.
My apiaries (primary drone base for grafted queens) are now best described as a mix of overwintered Italian/Carniolan/Caucasian primarily from queens I have raised. Although I added additional Caucasian genetics previous years, obtaining the AI/II breeder queen in 2022 is allowing me to move more quickly towards my goals. I have established a higher percentage of Caucasian for many reasons that include; calm, gentle, longest tongue, winter-hardy, and conservative use of stores; don't eat themselves to starvation during a dearth like Italians. Most importantly I had 100% colony survival this past winter for the 1st time in years!
I am very hot natured and I work my bees using light smoke wearing multiple colors of Pocket T-Shirts, no gloves and a veil around 75% of the time. I've put gloves on once in last three years to manage a "Hot Hive" I caught in a swarm trap; yes, re-queened soon after. I am comfortable pulling the top off of my hives with no smoke or veil most any time. Robbed all my hive last two year during July dearth using Fume Board with Bee-Go and leaf blower with one sting. Not bragging on my abilities, just good hard fought for genetics.
Breeder Queen (Grandmother) is shown on cover (first) picture; she has clipped wing and glued on yellow "6" Dot. She is not up for sale! The Instrumentally Inseminated (aka Artificially Inseminated) Caucasian Breeder Queen obtained from Two Rivers Honey Bees after typical six month wait. This Caucasian linage is from the work of Sue Coby as part of the University of Washington, Pullman Caucasian Breeding Program. The University of Washington is the only entity that has the permit to bring in Caucasian germplasm from Europe and they have been working diligently to improve the Caucasian genetics in United States. Technical jargon aside that I don't claim to fully understand, I am told purity is somewhere around 85 to 89%. [This pic of her also examples her daughters - the dark gals!] Since Drones have no father, their purity will be the same as the queens. If you want to learn more about why add Caucasian genetics other than for genetic diversity and hybrid vigor, I suggest Bob Binnie a commercial beekeeper (2000 up to 4000 Colonies I believe) on YouTube. He has obtained Breeder Queens from Sue Coby (and most recently from Two Rivers Honey Bees) and goes into great technical detail why he decided to do so and how they are performing.
The next twelve pictures that follow are examples of nominal 50% Caucasian queens marked Green (2024 Color) to example expected color variation of the mated queens up for sale. [I do my marking using 60+ year old hands; so don't expect perfect round dots.
Next two pictures are examples of typical mating nucs used; all mating nucs are three deep to five medium frames. No mini-mating nucs are used!!! I actually use these nucs to keep young laying queens I raise throughout the summer in reserve as needed for quick re-queening. Limiting their laying space (similar to managing a Breeder Queen) increases their longevity since queens are sperm storage limited; then they are ready to turn up egg production quickly when needed.
Next five pictures are of medium frames pulled from mating nucs this season while evaluating and marking queens.
Next two pictures (Queen and her Brood Frame) were taken early April this year this year while grafting from the over-wintered Caucasian Breeder Queen. Note black drones and combination of light and dark worker bees.
Next is pictured example of USPS Priority shipping box how your queen(s) will arrive.
Last photo is of our Farm Sign in Northeast Tennessee located in the Holston River Valley of the Appalachian Mountains.
...and since I sell other items on eBay (primarily vintage Yu-Gi-Oh cards), I must state that this auction cannot be combined with other auctions (cards) I may have listed on eBay.