Nature's Nectar Queens

Not sure if this is the appropriate place to post this, but I am looking for a good place to buy carniolan queens to breed from next year.

http://www.natures-nectarllc.com/index.html

They are a Minnesota company. I don't believe they make their own queens. I believe they import them from California, but I honestly don't care as long as they are good queens. So I have a few questions.

1. Does anybody have experience with this company?

2. Am I correct in assuming that a local company will save me money in shipping? They are in the same state, but a little to far for me to pick up. So the queens will still have to be shipped.

3. Any other experiences with Minnesota based companies? I wish Mann lake sold queens. I could easily drive there to pick up queens.

1) Yes. Jim Kloek, proprieter, is a decent guy to deal with. Pleasant and helpful.
2) I don't think he ships queens. You could email him and he will let you know. He only has queens in the spring, and sells them until they run out.
3) I am not sure of when your need for queens is - now or next spring - but I thought Mann Lake sells packages in the spring. Very often Package suppliers have extra queens on hand in case there are dead ones in the packages. It may be worth a call to see if you could ask them to add on a few to next springs delivery.
Also, at a Minnesota Hobby beekeepers meeting last year I recall Reuter and Spivak reporting that the queens that were being produced by some migratory Minnesota beeks were testing as hygienic as their own breeder stock and that these queens were going to be sold through B&B Honey Farm. This might work for you if you don't mind MH bees.
http://www.bbhoneyfarms.com/store/c-...39a-Queen-bees

I am looking for Carniolan queens and the MH queens are Italians. I guess the world wouldn't end if I got Italians. I plan on buying packages from Mann Lake this spring. I have sent them an email about extra queens as well as the possibility of Carniolan packages. Even if they say no, I lost nothing by asking.