koehnen Queens

[Murphy]

Hi,

Has anyone experience with the Koehnen Canriolans. I have not been able to find out very much info on there bees. I spoke with a lady there but she was'nt able to give me much info. I was thinking of buying some queens from there.
Do they breed for mite resistance or other traits?

Thanks,

Kieran

[Joel]

Do you mean Kona from Hawaii?

[george dilley]

http://www.koehnen.com/ here is there website

[Joel]

Thanks George, I though I had ordered from everybody in my career, missed these guys!

[eaglesbee]

the I are really honey go geters com and gentel i like them alot get them every year!!!

[nursebee]

I have no knowledge on the breeding programs. I am probably not good at evaluating queen performance. But the bees are gentle, shipping is fast, and the queens seem to be available for those that order late like myself.

[Aspera]

What are their Italians like. Are they cordovans?

[Murphy]

Aspera

There italians are a really nice cordovan.

[Murphy]

Joe,

How are they with the mites and such?

Kieran

[Nick Noyes]

Koehnen raise excellant queens. We use thier carni cross which I believe they developed themselves. I am pretty sure they are the largest queen producer in the U.S. Their red headed italian grow bees faster than any I have seen but they do eat the FEED. Order thier queens you will like them.

[Murphy]

Nick,

How are the carni temperment. Do you know if they breed for any resistance?

Thanks,

Kieran

[Nick Noyes]

They are gentle. I don't know if they breed for resistance. I know they get thier breeders from thier own outfit and they have a lot to pull from.

[Kieck]

I've tried Koehnen queens and packages in the past. I've always been impressed with their rapid build-up from packages, and their gentleness.

I never found tracheal mites in any bees from Koehnen stock when I dissected them. I did have Varroa on bees from Koehnen stock (none found when I first received them, but you know how quickly Varroa move into hives), but they seemed no more susceptible to Varroa than any other Italian or Carniolan bees.

Overall, I would recommend them based on my experience. Their customer service is one of the best I've dealt with among bee suppliers.

[Murphy]

Thanks Nick and Kieck

[Gregg]

I've been getting queens from Koehnen for approximately 10 years, have always been happy with them. Excellent service, they ship when they say they will & arrive the next day (I get at least 100 & have them shipped UPS next day delivery).

Both their Carnies & Italians are good honey producers, maybe the Italians a little better, but I prefer the Carnies as the Italians use a tremendous amount of feed over the Winter.

I agree with Kieck on Varroa resistance, no worse or better than most other bees I've used. They will need some type of treatment in the Fall.

[ January 27, 2006, 11:50 AM: Message edited by: Gregg ]

[Murphy]

I recieved the following email from Jennifer at Koehnens.

Thanks for your inquiry. We don't specifically breed for hygienic
behavior. We try to select for the best overall traits in many areas.

Our Carniolan queens are pure Carniolan. They come from a mixture of
breeding stock, not specifically new or old world type. Since we
specialize in Italians, our Carniolan queens are typically mated with
our Italian drones, and the resulting bees are a nice mixture of both
types. They are gentler than a pure Carniolan, and many of our clients
(many in colder areas) who have used pure Carniolan or Russians like
nothing better than the mix. The temperament of all our bees is very
good... temperament is one thing we do select for, and we do not have
Africanization here.

I hope this answers your questions! If you'd like to try some of our
queens, just let me know. We ship April through June. April is pretty
full, but I could fit in a queen or two if needed. Larger orders could
be accommodated in May or June.


Sincerely

Jennifer

C F Koehnen & Sons, Inc

[AndrewSchwab]

I also have used Koehnen for quite a few years. The are very good to work with and put up ALOT of honey.

BUT they don't winter that great and really only good for that first summer. Mine would not brood up very well the next spring. Which is to bad they have the best looking cordavan I have ever seen. Truly a good looking bee.
There hygienic though is poor you will have to treat them.

[Hillside]

I've gotten packages with carini queens from them for the last couple of years and will again this year. They are definitely gentle but are not varroa resistant in any way that I can tell. I've had good luck wintering them in Minnesota. They don't use a lot of feed and handle the long winters well. I hope the people that mentioned the bees using a lot of feed were talking about the italians, otherwise we're giving you conflicting information.