Queen breeders

[omnimirage]

I'm looking into buying some queens to change the genetic stuff of my hives. I found this:

http://www.aussieapiaristsonline.net/queen-bees-for-sale.html

There's a number of breeders, mostly selling Italians or Italian cross breds.

Does anyone have experience with buying from these guys? Anyone have any thoughts on which breeds are best for our Australian climate?

[max2]

I know some of the people mentioned.

Buy as local as possible.

Most of our bees in SE-Qld are muts.

[omnimirage]

Why buy local? Am I considering buying some off Stephen in Kangaroo Island which is local.

[eltalia]

I know some of the people mentioned.

Buy as local as possible.

Most of our bees in SE-Qld are muts.

I reckon you just raised many an eyebrow among those
breeders whether you know them or not.
Before the ban at least two SEQ breeders were shipping
into WA. Why..?.. according to John L Guilfoyle SEQ owned
the quietest most productive Italians in the Country.
I could drop some more names... yet waking the dead and
upsetting (maybe) our (industry) only Order of Australia
recipient is not my forte, like :-}

Bill

[Brub58]

Good luck getting anything off Stephen.  I?m still waiting for a queen that we agreed would be delivered mid-Nov.  I?ve now heard of others waiting 12 months.

What is it about the KI queens that you are looking for.  I?m told they?re not very swarmy, but there are calmer strains available on the mainland.

Bruce.

* corrected swarms to swarmy.

[omnimirage]

Yeah he's quite unorganised unfortunately. I figure I could get one off him, because I've personally worked with him and have some relations, and was thinking of taking a visit to the Island to fetch them.

What do you mean by "not very swarms"? My thinking is very simple, I'm trying to learn so that I can make a more informed decision, but it's simply that it seems the best subspecies of the western honey bee is the ligurian, and he's offering quite a pure strain variant of such, so I figure such would be good. I have the potential of being able to see his operation and work alongside him, gather information and possibly get a more prolific one of his stock, maybe. I just don't know the other breeders, not sure what their quality control is like and since I'm inexperienced with beekeeping, I'd be concerned that I'll get bad stock. I do wonder though if maybe some cross breed would be stronger, I did read that higher genetic diversity usually results in a stronger bee, or maybe just a mainland Ligurian. Or maybe I shouldn't bother and just breed from the strongest queens of my colony and stick with the genetics that I've got.

[eltalia]

@omnimirage
[cough]
..... maybe I am missing something here Om but I am thinking many
a novice b'keep would die to have an inner-spring relation who is as
skilled in the craft to operate a retail queen breeding program.
Picking up the telephone could well save yourself and others many
hours of reading and typing in trying to advance your knowledge library.

.... jes' one thought on this an' other threads.

Bill