brushy mountain spring queens

[hardtimekenl]

i ordered 12 queens this spring pick them up in april .when i seen them queens thay were realy small . now that i have went thow the summer with them queens . thay acted just like virgins to me .i hope i did not pay 18 dollers each of virgin queens did any one get some of the spring queens to . i am not happy with these queens at all from hardtime

[Skinner Apiaries]

Early queens. Probably poorly mated.

[beemandan]

If BM is getting them from a reputable supplier (I think they're using Gardners this year), then they are probably fine.

Most of the time, when I buy spring queens, they arrive looking much like virgins. After a week or so they have filled out nicely. The queen producers often operate on such a tight schedule that as soon as those queens begin laying, they're harvested. Even when I make my own queens, it takes some time after they've been mated before they're visibly larger.

By the way, BM also sells Jennifer Berry's queens on special order (I believe). They are a bit pricey but one of the things she does is leave them in their mating nuc until she's seen a full brood cycle. It improves the liklihood that you'll get a good, productive queen. It also significantly reduces the number of queens she can produce....If you get one of her queens, it'll surely be fully developed.

[KevinR]

Hardtimekenl,

I would think that you'd be able to tell pretty quickly if they were virgins or not. It's possible that they didn't make with 20 drones, but a virgin would be a drone layer.

Additionally, I would think that if they bees weren't happy with the queens. She would get superceeded.

Are you they just not producing the bees that you expect? i.e. no wall to wall frames? or?

What's making you unhappy, other than they size? How were they acting like virgins? I've never had any BM queens, so this is purey curiosity.

Beemandan,

How much are Jennifer's Queens? Where is that purchase option at? I wouldn't mind paying a few more bucks for a queen that's a known good layer.

Thanks,

[beemandan]

How much are Jennifer's Queens? Where is that purchase option at? I wouldn't mind paying a few more bucks for a queen that's a known good layer.

On page 5 of the 2010 BM catalog there's a short paragraph at the bottom. It tells a little about her selection, time in the mating nuc and lack of hard chemicals. It also says 'Call for availability and pricing'.