Russell's Apiaries

[ginn68]

I am also another satisfied customer. Most commerical breeders are not geared toward small order base. I am also waiting on queens I ordered last december. I have full faith Russell will come through. Its been a tough year. As for the queens I have received from Russell, the data will blow you away. On a small data set of a side by side comp between similar queens from different suppliers. The Russell queens are off the charts and this? is in comparison of years of data collection. For example, brood pattern and density are 73% better than the other commerical queens.

Boys its worth the wait.

[dbart]

First off I'm very sorry to hear about your medical situation and wish you a speedy recovery! I also wantend to update that Russells did refund me for my order today. Thanks!

[BigDru]

I ordered 3 queens from Russll's Apiaries 2 months ago. Still no queens and not responce to my e-mails or phone calls. Personally, I feel this is a bad show customer service. They were quick to take my money and are extremely slow to provide the product.

My opinion so far is that its crappy service.

[seal62]

Please, this forum is NOT to be used to try and make contact with any supplier/vendor. You may share that the supplier hasn't returned emails/calls, but do not post a message trying to make contact with them.

I notice you run a tight ship Barry ...BUT...when its this late and i spent thousands with no responce ..a 700 mile drive each way ..id sure like a little slack .I understand the delays ..My family down in bama is still recovering from the twisters . I been holding off from being critical ,being angry will have no outcome on my delevery date . Its not only me ...others have trusted me with thier money ..ppl that they only know from here . They trusted me because of my nic ...I am gonna take this personaly shortly ..If i dont delevier it reflects on me / .I will refund thier orders out of my pocket .If you had a date set and had to drive 12 hr days back to back wouldnt you like a little heads up ?

[rrussell6870]

Seal, lower that barrel man. ;-) you are in good hands. My health has just kept me from making it personally to the south build up yard, so I can't give you an exact date yet... but I know you have a party to get to, you won't be late... check out my site to see some pics and info on the nucs that I have released in the last few weeks...

Btw, I was 101st, retired E-7 B-11... enjoy that party.

[rrussell6870]

Bigdru, next Tuesday or Wednesday.

[BigDru]

Bigdru, next Tuesday or Wednesday.

thanks. I look forward to trying the queens

[rrussell6870]

Everyone, we should be caught back up during the next few weeks... no one has been made lower priority, we provide many different strains and some smaller orders of strains that are readily available at that moment may get sent out ahead of larger orders or mixed orders that include strains that are not available at that moment. My health has kept me from getting to the office for long periods of time, and so I can't look up a ton of orders personally, but the staff is working diligently, and for those that are worried that you will not be able to build up before winter, hang in there, bad springs mean extended smaller flows and late crop flows, couple that with a very productive queen and you will be amazed at just how much you build up.

Listen to those that have their queens and/or have experience with them, like post #41 and those directly before, you can't gauge your limitations on these ladies like you have become used to... we can split multiple times every year, AFTER shaking packages, pulling nucs, shaking again to stock mating nucs, and robbing brood again to stock mating nucs and STILL produce at least twice the average in honey production (which we use to feed splits that we make between thanksgiving and Christmas)... its never too late to start a new hive with a great queen...

[Blackwater Bee]

I have been lurking here without signing in for awhile, ( I am am refugee from that other popular bee forum under a different name , not going back ) Anyways, my hats off to rrussell6870 for his effort despite the stresses of all that he has endured !
This beekeeping endeavor is very unpredictable, even for me.

[Ted Kretschmann]

If you are a commercial beekeeper of any size you will understand the following. The bee business is a very stressful business. The best laid plans of mice and men do not always come to past and Murphy's law rules. Three years ago at age 45, I had two heart attacks and have been stiented. The cause-stress. Stress caused by CCD killing half my bees when they came back from Almond pollenation. Stress caused by the worst drought in 120 years. Stress caused by a 30 pound crop and the bank threatening to foreclose the farm. Stress caused by a non supporting wife that divorced me because she did not want to take care of a sick person and deal with the money issues caused by the short crop. You see, the bee business can cause a person's body to blow a fuse....And all that has happened to Russell apiaries this year, not only would my fuse be blown, but the doctors would be rewiring me. Back in the spring, a late freeze happen and killed 2,000 of Russell's mating nucs. Several of us commercial guys stepped up to the plate and helped restock those nucs. Generally that is what commercial beeks do-help each other...Then the tornadoes came and to add injury to insult, The mighty Mississippi flooded at record levels.. Dr. Russell is not a drinking man. At the end of this season, I think he might want to take a sip. TK

[RiodeLobo]

I just checked my hives after introducing 6 Russell queens, 5 of the 6 took great, only one rejection (My newb fault). The five are laying great. I am very happy with the results. I must say I have already ordered my Moonbeams for next year and couldn't be happier with the my experience with Russell apiaries.

Dan Hayden

[thomas]

I have been trying to contact someone at Russell's and i have not heard anything yet myself. A freind and i ordered a bunch of queens in january and have not gotten them yet if someone know how to get intouch with Mr. Russell please let me know.

thomas

[alblancher]

Just want to thank Dr. Russel and his team for the two nucs. The young man that met me to deliver the bees took the time to answer the questions I had and was very helpful. It was so hot when I installed the packages that I didn't get to do an in depth inspection but I did move the frames into their new hives. The nucs where chock full of bees and the frames fully drawn out. One nuc was obviously older with honey filled comb filling all the gaps in the nuc. It's been a couple of days and they seem to have become accustomed to their new homes having each taken a half gallon of 1:1 in 48 hours. I am trying to stay with all plastic frames so I will have to eventually change out the frames included in the nuc but that is a minor problem.

Thanks again for the Sunkist Nucs, I'll get with you in a couple of weeks about placing another order for next spring

Al

[JRing]

I have been very happy with my nuc I purchased from Russell's. They maybe hard to get ahold of, but they will get around to you when they can. My nuc was to full and heavy with bees! Also I have noticed and several others also that these bees are showing the beingings of SHB resistances. Here is the link ( http://russellapiaries.webs.com/apps...es-aka-sunkist ) to the forum I started to see if it was just me or others. So far three have noticed as well.

[twd8711]

ive always had good dealings with russell apiaries, like the bees, like the people, and always have been easy to work with, but this year something has changed. they are impossible to contact and they will not return any messages, there isnt any way to find out if your queens are shipping at all. i understand if someone is having problems, but not returning messages, what was once easy has now turned into a hassle.

[Apple Farmer]

I'm hoping that I have better luck with the Moonbeams I have coming next year than I did with the SunKist I tried this year. Lost 4 of 4. $ down the drain but hopefully a leason learned.
Could have been my own fault, could have waited longer to put them in the nucs or used introduction frames.
Will definately be doing both with the Moonbeams.

[twd8711]

im hoping to get an answer to my order

[rrussell6870]

Apple farmer, what happened to your queens? We stand behind every queen that we produce.

Twd8711, not sure if you have heard, but we are flooded with emails by the thousands asking for help with management practices, orders, and production... our staff answers these emails in the order that they are received, so during times of high volume, it can take a week or so to get a response... when I am not in the gulf, you can reach me fairly quickly here by pm.

[sqkcrk]

Got three queens from russell and they were all accepted and are doing well.

[SPRUCE BEE]

All 9 queens I received from Russell Apiaries are doing great, especially the Carniolans. Robert, do you plan on opening up sales of your AMMs again this season? I would sure like to get some to see how they winter over out here on the coastal northwest. Thanks for the great queens! Only 9-10 more months to wait for the Moonbeams I orderd. Got the flashlight & night vision ready...lols
Bob