Caucasian Queens

[Hi-Tech]

Does anyone Have a good source for grey caucasian queens other than Charles Livings at Bolling Bee?

[King bee apiary]

Hi-tech didn't you just post on beemaster's that you had met a beekeeper 30 miles from you with caucasians?Could he provide queens or at least brood to raise one?
http://beemaster.com/beebbs/viewtopic.php?p=28341#28341

[Hi-Tech]

He is the one asking. From what I have learned, Bill Gafford is helping him get established but the FEW hives of caucasian bees he has are queened by caucasian mixed and not much pure. Please forgive my newbie understanding but he asked me to see if I could find a more pure line on the Internet. I have been to visit him since i posted the first time and he is just getting started (last fall)with 60 hives. Did any of that make any sense?

[PaulR]

If this guy is the real McCoy and he is learning from Bill Gafford, all is not lost. Hi-Tech learn what you can of his operation. We should help and encourage this guy however possible. You said his name is Johnny Carpenter. Let him know that WE are interested, and are pulling for his success. I was hoping Bill Gafford would come back in some way or another.

[Aspera]

I think York used to sell pure Caucasians. They changed ownership recently but this might still be the case.

[PaulR]

York who, does Beesource list them?

[King bee apiary]

I don't think anyone local to Alabama has any that are more pure than the ones he is working with.The Caucasians that Bolling Bee has are open mated from the stock he bought from Bill Gafford a few years back.And the queens I purchased from him seemed to be more Italian than anything else.
I'd do a search and see if some breeder queens can be imported.`

[King bee apiary]

Here's a link for you to think about.Don't know what would be involved it getting them into the U.S. but may be worth a try.
http://www.beekeeping.com/georgian-queens/index.htm

[Hi-Tech]

Thanks. I have sent them an email to see if they ship to the US. I will also give Johnny everyone's regards. I hope he does well too. I have really fallen for this bee thing and I would love to get to work with Mr Gafford some...

[PaulR]

I have seen that website before. And yes, that's probably the last bastion of true Caucasian in the world, I also sent an email. Let us know what they say.

[Hi-Tech]

he said they could not ship to the US.

Anyone know a good smuggler? ;)

[PaulR]

He gave me the same answer.

[PaulR]

Hi-Tech see if you can work with Bill Gafford in some way. I've spoken to him several times. He seems like a real nice guy.

[BeeRay]

This month's ABJ has an ad for Homan-McMasters Apiaries which lists "Caucasian & Italian Queens" for sale.

[Murphy]

What about Purvis Brothers? I think they sell grey caucasian queens not sure though.

Purvis Brothers Apiaries, Inc.
5122 Trackrock Camp Road
Blairsville, GA 30512
706 781 3128 (voice and fax)

dannzann@alltel.net

[PaulR]

I've ordered some queens from Homan-McMasters.

[Hi-Tech]

Paul, are you saying you have ordered caucasians from there?

We are going monday to somewhere in Mississippi where mr Gafford sold some of his original stock many years ago and look as some supposedly caucasian queens.. I will let you know how that went...

[Hi-Tech]

I just want to relate an experience.

I met my first local beek (Johnny Carpenter) a few weeks ago and have gotten to know him a bit. I have 3 hives that I started with only book knowledge and he was the first person I got to “talk bees” with in person. He is fairly new at this himself but is progressing nicely. He has about 60 hives or so and is being mentored by Bill Gafford (Alabama) and Walter Miller (Florida), both who have been in this business a long time.

Yesterday, Walter came up from Pensacola Florida to give Johnny a day of his time. I was invited to tag along!

We worked many of Johnny’s hives and I learned more in one day than I have in the last 3 months (when I first got started). There is nothing quite like being shown things by a master. I got to see healthy, unhealthy and dead hives as well as all sorts of pests and problems. I saw hot bees and gentle bees. It was so intense that I dreamed about working hives all that night!

I hope to get to meet Mr Gafford soon as I hear he is one of the best of the best. Third generation beek I believe but I could be wrong. Anyway, he is known very well in the south east as one of the greats and I am looking forward to slipping in for some of his training.

I also want to thank all of you beeks for sharing your knowledge on these forums. Without your informative posts and encouragement, I never would have ventured into this fascinating world I have come to love so much. Please keep on doing what you are doing and never stop helping those of us who are just getting started. We may not know much but we know we like it!


Hey Paul, I noticed you're IT. What is it about us IT guys... Do we all become beekeepers? I have noticed a lot of IT people in these forums... ;)

[Michael Bush]

>What is it about us IT guys... Do we all become beekeepers?

I am in IT and several of the beekeeprs I know are, but so are the firemen, er, firepersons. smile.gif

[Big Ed]

"Firefighters", MB. ;)

I was wondering about that too. Seems like a lot of firefighters are beekeepers. There is even a thread about it in the bee forum. I can only surmise that the same mental imbalance that makes you want to run towards danger makes it a forgone conclusion that a box of 50,000 stinging insects is a fun thing to play with! :D

[Michael Bush]

Certianly both Firemen... er... Firefighters and IT professionals spend their days solving problems rather than running away from them. smile.gif But mine don't collapse on me. smile.gif Well, not usually. smile.gif

[Hi-Tech]

I do spend a large portion of my day putting out fires.... In an IT sort of way...

Maybe high stress jobs push people toward beekeeping...

[PaulR]

I'd love the chance to meet or work with Bill Gafford or the other fellow you mentioned Hi-Tech.
I started beekeeping for a variety of reasons. One it keeps my mind occupied by a very non-technical hobby. Yes, I have ordered some queens from Homan-McMasters. Are they the ones that Bill started years ago? Let me know where you went with Bill, you're very lucky, I've heard other people speak very highly of him. And the few times I've spoken to him he seemed very professional and hospitable. Good luck!

[tarheit]

Here are a few caucasian producers
http://www.honeyrunapiaries.com/bee_links-Caucasian-92.phtml

[Hi-Tech]

Johnny C bought 5 packages of Caucasian bees and 40 queens from Homan-McMasters in Mississippi yesterday. They are definitely the most gentle bees I have had the pleasure of working with. We brought Mr Gafford 15 queens and Walter got 7. I put in one package of bees for myself as well.
So far, so good......

[PaulR]

Very happy for all of you Hi-Tech give my best to everyone. And a CMOS big good luck to all of you!!! I'm due some queens from Homan-McMasters in about two weeks.

[eliahu]

hello i am caucasian and live in Georgia Republic so if anyone has any question about pure mountain grey bee feel free to write me PM