I searched on here and found a couple of suppliers and decided to go with the Walter T. Kelly company. I was thinking of trying a Russian queen just to try something different, but when he said they were a bit more aggressive than his Italians I decided to stick with the Italians. Having a hot hive just wears you out and I was at the point I didn't care if the Russians would build up faster - I wanted a hive I could work. The shipping was cheaper with Walter Kelly because he doesn't overnight them, but he does guarantee live delivery. I had no problem - he shipped my queen on Thu and I got her on Sat.
I wasn't too happy with my local Post Office, though. My husband's Amazon order came that same day and wouldn't fit in the mailbox so the carrier brought it to the door, but left our mail INCLUDING my package that said URGENT LIVE BEES on it in my black mailbox with it 94 degrees outside! I got her right away and wasn't going to leave the house until after the mail had run.
Where did you get your queen? Mine came with a package from R Weaver's in Navasota. I had heard of others who got hot queens from there, but my queen from last year was fine and still is. I won't be buying from them again, though.
To give you an example of what I have been dealing with: I took a pair of tweezers and picked out all the stingers from my gloves from yesterdays queen-hunting adventure. I counted them as I pulled them and put them on a paper towel and I got 160 total - 89 from my left glove and 71 from my right glove! :shock:
I told my husband he did REAL GOOD when he bought them for me. He has to tape them to my suit since they don't have elastic and they are very bulky but I never would have been able to re-queen without them - they are STINGPROOF!