Old Sol Bees A+

[e-spice]

I received a few Old Sol queens this spring. I got both some Survivor queens and some Caucasians. I liked them both but liked the Survivors a little better. Both are good, gentle, productive, hardy bees. I ordered more Survivor queens for next spring.

[ruthiesbees]

Update: Bees made it through winter great ... Definitely like to propilis everything.

You must have gotten the Caucasian strain. I bought an "unlabeled" one last fall from them at a great price. She made it through winter in a 5 frame nuc and was installed in a 4' topbar hive this spring. Those bees have done great. I've pulled multiple combs of brood to make splits, etc. Even stole some honey and they have filled it all back up again. Good gentle bees (I don't use smoke at all, even full size hives, so they have to be gentle). Mite counts in late July were low. Haven't seen this colony propolize everything like the Caucasian queen I bought from New River Honey Bees this year, so my guess is I got one of his Survivior stock queens, and I'm very happy with it. Did a bit of queen rearing with the Old Sol queen this spring for nucs I sold, and plan to do more next spring with her.