Our Bees

We need strong, healthy, productive colonies that can survive in northern climates with minimal intervention. My goal is to produce better bees that can handle current pests and pathogens, and respond to our climate in Michigan. I raise queens from my own stock that I have collected over the years, and I introduce new genetics from other breeders, especially those that exhibit traits that can handle varroa.  I raise queens to provide beekeepers access to better genetics. 

To sign up to be on the list for 2024 queen cells, please fill out this form. This puts you on a contact list, so I can let you know when I have queen cells available. Please see FAQs below.

Scroll down for information on my queens and how I select for the best bees.

Breeder Stock

In 2024, I will be raising queens from two sources:

1) VSH - I have a VSH Pol-Line 2.2 Breeder queen from 2022 (Read more on VP queen’s page).

2) My own stock (Michigan) - In 2024 I will be rebuilding my apairies. I was in Sweden for 2021, and I sold most of my bees, leaving only about 30 hives with friends and family. I’ll select from the ones that did the best in 2022-2023 to graft from. These colonies are a mix of bees that I collected from swarms, cut outs, and trades from other Michigan beekeepers since 2010. I also purchase queens from other breeders in the country who are working to select for behaviors that can help manage varroa mites and other diseases. In the past I have gotten bees from the Purdue University Mite Biter program, the Minnesota Hygienic program, and the Canadian Buckfast program.

• Purdue Mite Biters Developed by Greg Hunt and Krispn Given at Purdue University, these bees were selected to recognize, attack, and damage mites when they are in the hive.  Breeder queens and drones for insemination are selected from colonies with over 40% mite drop showing damage.  Read more in the Bee Culture April 2016 article on the Purdue Breeding Program, and in a 2019 paper in Apidologie.  Since 2017 I have gotten a breeder queen through this program.  I have grafted off of them directly for sale, and used a lot of their stock to fill my drone yards.

• VSH Varroa Sensitive Hygienic bees were bred to recognize mites that are underneath the cappings.  Worker bees will remove the damaged pupae, making the mites at risk for predation, and disrupting their reproduction cycle.  In 2017 and 2018, and 2022 I purchased breeder queens from VP Queen Bees, and have been incorporating these genetics into my drone yards, as well as making daughters available for sale.

• Ontario Buckfast Bees - The University of Guelph and the Ontario Beekeepers Association work to maintain honey bees from the Buckfast breeding program. These bees were originally bred to be resistant to tracheal mites. I have purchased Buckfast queens through the Ontario bee breeders for a few years.

When I purchase breeder queens from other programs I use them three ways: I sell daughters from those in the form of cells and mated queens, I also use them in my drone yards, so I am flooding the area with good genetics, and I evaluate daughters to see if I want them for myself.

Stock Selection

I practice heavy stock selection. This means that I monitor queens closely, and I raise daughters from the queens that are the best. To make the cut, the bees have to have good temper and temperament (they have to be nice and nice to manage), must produce sufficient honey, and must be able to handle varroa with minimal intervention. I base much of my selection process off of the Ontario Queen Rearing Manual From their Formal Breeding Program. Each colony gets a numbered tag and a corresponding sheet in my binder. Here is the document that I use to monitor queens. I can watch the queens, and see which ones I want daughters from next year. All of the queens that I sell are open mated in our home apiary in Munith, MI. I have drone yards surrounding the yard with big colonies with drone frames, and I provide queens to my neighbors, so I try to flood the area with good genetics. I buy breeder queens from individuals who are doing good work to find resistant bees. For 2017, the bulk of the drone yards had Mite Biter Daughters from 2016. In 2017, I added in VSH daughters.

I am often approached by beekeepers who want “treatment free” and “varroa-resistant’ bees. I also want this (as does every beekeeper in the world!), but alas, as of 2023, they do not exist. While we can select for bees that have behaviors that help them manage some mites in the hives, those behaviors alone usually are not sufficient to keep mites at safe levels for most beekeepers, because most people are choosing to keep bees in areas where the disease pressure is too high. I am able to keep varroa mite levels low because I have good bees, but also because live in a remote area (though each year there are more and more neighbors that keep bees), and because I break the brood cycle a lot with queen cells and splits (read more on my varroa page). I think that it is essential for all beekeepers to select for and purchase bees that can handle diseases better on their own, so that someday we don’t have to intervene. The only way we get better bees is if we all select and keep good bees in our hives. Rusty Burlew, the host of the lovely “Honey Bee Suite” blog covers the importance of this in her post “Why is it so hard to breed better bees?”. My goal is to do my part into providing local beekeepers with good genetics - both from my own bees, and from breeding programs who are trying to make a difference.

2024 Order Information and FAQs

I will be selling queen cells for pick up in 2024.

I have a small operation and I work full time at MSU. Unless someone wants to fully support my retirement, I have to keep the queen rearing to the hours after I’ve put in my hard 40 at the university, which means that queens are limited. I continue to make them available because I know that good genetics are important, and it is my way of supporting Michigan bees, but I only raise them when my research and extension tasks are complete.

I do not guarantee that I can send orders or that I can produce queens on certain dates. I just graft my butt off all summer, and let people know when there are queens available. If you are interested in queen cells you can check availability the following ways:

1) Sign up on the list. I usually graft a few times a week, and then email everyone on the list to let them know what is available for pick up that week. The first people to respond will get the queens. Once you have your queens, or don’t need queens anymore, just let me know, and I’ll remove your name. If you are interested in queen cells for 2024, please sign up on this form: 2024 Queen Cell Interest List.

2) Give me a call/ text / or email. As mentioned, I try to graft every week, and since cells are able to be transported during many different times during development, I usually have some cooking. If you want a large order (like over 10), then it is often easiest for me to schedule a time to graft for you.

FAQS

How much do they cost?

• Queen cells are $10 each for orders less than 10, $5/ each for 10 or more.

• Virgins are $20 each

• Mated queens when available are $40 each

When will queen cells be available?

I will raise queen cells for sale as early and as late as I can in the season, weather permitting. Generally I can start grafting the second week of May and I wrap up mid-August. When I start raising queen cells, I will reach out to you, and you can confirm what you would like, and when you would like them.

How do I get my queen cells?

Most people will drive to pick them up at our farm in Munith, MI, but I will be coming up to Chatham MI (UP!) end of June, and plan on bringing cells at that time.

Do I have to pre-order to have queen cells?

No - I will often have some ready. You can always give me a call, text, or email, and I’ll get back to you within 24 hours with what I have and when it will be available. If you want a larger order, it is best to let me know a few weeks in advance.

What if I have an emergency, and I need a queen today?

If you think need a queen in an emergency, please read our page - Help! I need a Queen! First.

Why queen cells, and why not mated queens?

Because my time is so limited, I’d rather focus on making good genetics accessible to as many people as possible rather than manage mating nucs for a few mated queens. Cells and virgins only require that I use a few hives, so with a smaller operation, it is the only way I can produce a large quantity of queens and it is much, much labor intensive, so I can balance it while working full-time.

Not only can I make more queens available with few hives, I also prefer to work with cells. They have several advantages, including the key advantage of a well timed break in the brood cycle, which is a great way to manage varroa mite populations. I’ve written more about how to use queen cells on my page - Queen Cells. If you have never worked with them before, I’m happy to help.

What about nucs for 2024?

I will not be taking pre-orders for nuc sales for 2024 for people outside my area (Munith, MI). If I have nucs available, I will send out a notice to my mailing list - so make sure you are signed up.

Why don’t you ship queens and cells?

I know that other people have luck shipping queens, but I have not had that same luck, unfortunately. I have had queens killed and lost by USPS, UPS, and Fed Ex, and I have tried shipping out of about 5 different towns. I think a lot has to do with the specific handling/ sorting centers, and the ones in Michigan the last few years just haven’t been friendly to me, and I’ve lost a lot of time and money trying to make it work. If you are really set on having queen shipped, give me a call, and we can try options, but I’m not offering it widely this year, because I have to eat the cost if they don’t make it (I’m still getting emails from USPS saying that they are looking for some queens that they lost in 2017!). I will ship queens to you, but you will be fully responsible for replacement costs if they get lost / damaged in the mail.