Kevin, 

Check out nucs from Jan Lohman. 541-980-0304. Vazza Farms, Hermiston. 

Shawn,

Five Central Oregon beekeepers purchased a total of 18 Purdue Mite Biter queens from Starr Farms. Seventeen of those queens were disposed of because they were extremely defensive. Start Farms wouldn’t acknowledge the problem. 

I remember a conversation with owner/beekeeper of Start Farms. He stated how tired he was of working his highly defensive colonies. Yet he wasn’t doing anything to correct his own problem. His thought was to cross the Purdue Mite Biter with Russian. My thought is to stay away from suppliers that can’t correct such bee behavior in their own apiary. 

Neal, 

My experience with Saskatraz queens says they are extremely defensive. Another queen supplier that did offer Saskatraz queens reported customers experiencing the same extremely defensive behavior, so they stopped purchasing from Saskatraz. I personally have not purchased these queens, but have had to take ownership or manage colonies headed by Saskatraz queens. Unfortunately, these colonies were eventually euthanized. When bees from a colony follow me away from the apiary, in a moving vehicle, for more than a quarter-mile, it’s time to rethink their purpose. 

Russian hybrids can also be in question because of their defensive behavior. So much of any honey bee queen expressed defensiveness is dependent upon where she mates. 

Shawn,

Please give me a call.

Thanks,

Allen Engle

541-420-0423

Allen - please put me me down for 2 Queens. Where would pickup be?