Sunday, January 30, 2011

Queens ordered.

I have ordered four queens for delivery in the second half of May from Zia Queenbee in New Mexico.


They have two types, Rocky Mountain Reinas and Great Lakes Sooper Yoopers.  Both are survivor genetics, exactly what I'm looking for.  I'm attempting to add not only survivor genetics to my collection, but also better wintering ability and I figure adding queens from the Rockies and Northern Michigan could do the trick. 

The question is, will their progeny be able to handle our humid summers?

I doubt I'll get any honey from them this year as most of the nectar flows in this area seem to happen before June.  What I need is bees that get going quickly and get the job done early.  Perhaps colder weather bees will be able to do that.

What I will also need to do is get my current colonies into shape so as to donate brood and nurse bees to the splits into which I will be installing the queens.  It will also be important that I find the queen in the donor hive to make sure she does not end up in the new hive leaving me kind of hosed as far as getting this thing to turn out right.  I've never been particularly good at finding the queen, time to get some practice.  And I keep quite big hives with unlimited broodnest management so it's that much more difficult.

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