Replacing swarm queen

[dp]

I am debating about replacing a queen this fall from a swarm captured in June. The hive is now in the process of going through the second brood cycle. 7 of 10 frames have different stages of brood. The other 3 frames are pollen and honey. I really hate to replace this queen. What are the odds she will continue to lay like this? Has anyone ever tried the Wild Caucasian queens from Olympic Wilderness Apiary ? Their queens are $20.00 plus shipping to the east coast will be $20.00. $40.00 for a queen? Also, has anyone ever tried the queens from Ontario?

[Michael Bush]

I haven't gotten my Ontario queens yet but they should be here this week. I think $40 for a queen is high. I just bought 10 queens from Mississippi for $70 for all 10 and that was including shipping.

As to requeening the swarm, if they are doing well and you like this queen why not let her go a while and then maybe raise one from her. Just pull a frame of open brood that has some eggs in it and put it in a nuc with some shaken nurse bees and a frame of emerging brood and start a nuc. After that queen is laying you can kill the old queen, wait twenty four hours and combine the nuc back into the hive.

[hoosierhiver]

i've tried the olympic wilderness cauc/russ,i like them alot,just got 3 more.

[WineMan]

I have a few of the Olympic queens. They are fine....not the best I have ever seen or used......just average queens. I wouldnt rule them out and might try a few more but I sure wouldnt pay $40 for one ordinary production queen.

You generally dont know what you have for a queen in a swarm (sometimes you do if they are marked, etc). She could be a queen from late last year, she could be a couple years old or she could have even been a virgin when they were captured. I always try to requeen my swarms but they typically beat me to it...there is a real high rate of supercedure in swarms right after they settle down and start laying. If you like her, why not just keep her....worst case is they will just supercede her anyway.

What Ontario queens are you referring to?

[Michael Bush]

The only ones I know of, and the ones I'm getting are from www.beeworks.com

[dp]

hoosierhiver,how much were you charged for shipping? If you go to Olympics website(www.owa.cc) their shipping is as follows.(1) shipping for Oregon,Washingtonand California is $4.95 for priority. (2) All other locations will be shipped Express mail for $20. That's where the $40 queens come from.

[WineMan]

Hey M.Bush

Lookup the Ontario Beekeepers Association. It will include all the queen producers in that area with what strains they produce, diseases tested for, etc. I am familiar with a large number of them.

You will find that the producers typically specialize in Buckfast or Carniolan. US stock has not been imported into Canada for awhile, at least not legally, and I would consider the bees overall to be well adapted to the north. But there is great variation amongst them from what I have seen.

[Michael Bush]

I will check it out. I was not aware of any other queen producers up that way.

[mark williams]

HI Wineman: Ive heard that Canada is opening it's boarder back up to the U.S.bees' again,has anyone heard this or know anything about it?>>>>Mark

[GAbee]

The last bee culture had a couple of small articles on the whole canada/queen issue.
It seems they are desperate for U.S queens, some people just ended up in prison for smugling a bunch of american queens.

[WineMan]

I'd also heard that US bees still couldnt be taken into Canada and that a bunch were confiscated coming out of California this year.

[WineMan]

Hi M.Bush

I pulled up the Beeworks website. Couldnt tell who owns it. Dont think I am familiar with them. A couple of the names I can recommend are Francois Petit and Paul Montux.

[Michael Bush]

David Eyre owns the Beeworks. He and his wife are cheerful, charming, helpful people. They also have a lilting English accent.