ALL OUR ANSWERS FOR BUYING AND SELLING QUEEN BEES
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
HOW DO WE RECOMMEND INTRODUCING QUEEN BEES?
It seems that every beekeeper has their own introduction protocol. We recommend that you exercise the utmost caution in your practices, as the queens delivered are young and transport, even when as quick as possible, makes them fragile. You are working with living creatures, so there can be no guarantee that they will be accepted. Nevertheless, here is a protocol that we recommend to ensure the success of this operation as much as possible:
Ensure that the hive is orphaned;
check for queen cells and remove them;
partition your hive and/or add capped brood if the population is low (in line with the number of bees present in the hive);
remove the attendants and place two bees from the hive where you are going to introduce the queen. Check that they are not too aggressive towards the queen (if so, change the bees);
uncap the shipping box and place it vertically between a brood frame and a honey frame;
check that the shipping box is stable so that it does not fall onto the hive tray;
After three days, check only that the box is empty (that the queen has been released). Finally,
after ten days, check that the queen has been accepted and has started laying eggs again.
HOW ARE THE QUEENS DELIVERED?
We only produce and deliver queen bees. The queen bees are mated and marked with varnish or a Posca marker (water-based paint). You will receive them in a shipping cage with sufficient food and attendants (young bees) for transport lasting at least one week. We recommend express transport to minimise the risks of storage and handling. Please remember that these are living animals and are extremely fragile.
All information regarding our transport conditions can be found on the DELIVERY page of our website.
WHAT ARE YOUR SWARM LIVESTOCK FARMING CONSTRAINTS?
As part of our customer follow-up, we have noticed that the bees you use in your operations are used for honey production, but more often than not, this sought-after purity is of great interest in the various inter-species crossbreeding you carry out, and in most cases, our genetic material meets your expectations.
Our observations outside our apiaries have also shown us that we must constantly be aware of the fact that, even if these queens leave here in very good condition and with their own quality heritage as a complement and therefore different from what their descendants have inherited, they can be multiplied in different places where the value of the males will be difficult to control, sometimes resulting in a product that is far removed from the values of the original parents. Nearly 40% of the genetic contributions of the last breeding males are one of the reasons for the general determination of the bees that will be produced from this individual.
This is precisely why our work as breeders must give rise to general reflection among all beekeepers on the reasonably desirable quality of bees. Everyone must also assume their responsibility. We need to be provided with better feedback and collaboration on ‘real’ data on the quality of the queens produced in order to fully benefit from our work.
WHAT DOES THE WORK OF THE MILLS FARM ADAPTATION, SELECTION AND BREEDING STATION INVOLVE?
To summarise in a few words the main principles of rigour required by our profession, we would say that these are above all observation, testing and the exploitation of swarms with specific characteristics and extensive stored data. With regard to the Hua Parakore bee that we exploit, in addition to paying close attention to global information relating to all aspects of this species, we carry out regular morphological tests and take comparative behavioural notes on all the daughters produced from recognised pure organic queens, the latter themselves also being assessed according to certain criteria but tested to a lesser extent, as our focus is on genetic transmission values.
WHAT IS HUA PARAKORE ("Pure Products") ORGANIC BEES ?
The characteristics of Hua Parakore bees adapted, selected and bred on our Far North apiaries are highly prized in New Zealand:
Hua Parakore (“pure products”) bees allow direct physical contact with the bee without any special protection. However, these gentle bees do not lose their vigour and ability to defend themselves if attacked.
Hua Parakore (“pure products”) bees are particularly well suited to urban environments. Biodynamics work and breeding methodologies allow swarms to be accustomed to humans to be bred in an area protected from pesticides and disease.
The local plant species are mainly Manuka-producing (hawthorn, gorse, heather, ivy). Far North guarantees the greatest diversity of honey nectars. The Manuka honey flows are short and intense.
Our bees are adapted to harsh conditions (food, winds and rainy) for their harvesting and reproduction. The oceanic climate allows for year-round brood rearing.
WHAT TESTS AND OBSERVATIONS ARE CARRIED OUT FOR OUR BREEDING WORK?
- The length of the tongue measured using a glossometer;
The abundance of hair (dense, thick hair is an additional factor contributing to good pollination);
The lifespan of the first bees in spring and autumn (this test is carried out by marking around twenty bees and monitoring them regularly until they disappear). This experiment is repeated on the males;
Gentleness;
Their behaviour on the frame;
Harmony in construction;
Assessment of egg-laying (circular);
The quantity of propolis and its distribution in the hive (entrance and interior); good distribution sanitises the hive and prevents the appearance of fungal infections;
The quantity and location of pollen stored in the hive;
The cleaning of the brood we have frozen, but also the cleaning of the frames with males;
Comparative weighing in spring, summer and autumn, taking into account the feed provided; and
At the beginning and end of the season: the cleanliness of the interior of the tray, the egg-laying, the quantity of bees, etc.
All of this rigorous work allows us to better understand the characteristics and transferable values of queen mothers and thus to be able to create F0 strains naturally, which are then tested again under similar conditions, along with their F1 offspring.
HOW DO WE DISTINGUISH AN F0 STOCK QUEEN FROM AN F1 PRODUCTION QUEEN?
Far North, with all its natural features that make it the perfect reserve, located in the most extreme Far North peninsula, provides New Zealand with a selection centre for organic Hua Parakore bees, whose purpose is not only to produce queen bees, but also, more generally, to produce Hua Parakore mother strains that tend towards the desired beekeeping perfection.
Our collaborative work with a few local private beekeepers allows us to ensure health and genetic protection. Nevertheless, although we can control the variety of bees on the island, finding a ‘Mozart of procreation’ at the first attempt or thinking that a high degree of purity of species, even of mediocre value, is enough to produce ‘virtuosos’, even if these scenarios have already happened to us by chance, does not work. In order to offer naturally fertilised F0 queen bees for sale, we keep the best specimens from each of the most successful specific elements of our breeding programme and cross-breed them to create ever more successful offspring. After a laying cycle in the nuclei, the F1 production queens are put up for sale. However, the observations and tests presented above are carried out over two laying cycles to categorise lines of F0 queen stock that meet specific breeding criteria (laying, hygiene, feeding, propolis, etc.).
WHAT IS OUR WORK IN COLLABORATION WITH LOCAL BEEKEEPERS?
mills farm has been working with the far North local variety for over 40 years. Our extensive knowledge of this bee is the result of our work as breeders, but also of the contributions of selected queens that we have been able to obtain from our colleagues in the area.
These long-standing contacts with local beekeepers and breeders (Peria had a long term Carnolian breeding station) have above all enabled us to forge strong, warm and useful links for the future of our business, as well as gaining experience and deepening our knowledge of this bee in its natural environment. All the colonies are in impeccable health, and the selection of Hua Parakore organic queens is geared towards sunflower, clover and buckwheat honey production and hybridisation with the local ecotype. Agriculture in the region has few chemical resources (fertilisers, etc.) to enrich or treat the fields. Our technique can be summed up as: ‘We plough, we sow, we harvest, and that’s it.’ All beekeepers are well aware of our problems with bee mortality in large-scale farming to make it possible to maintain a certain ecology.