Products

Overwintered queen bees

overwintered queen going gangbusters
we select our overwintered queens on the rate at which they get up to speed in early spring. As soon as it gets warmer and lighter, these queens get going proving that they are healthy and ready to move into a new hive.

Make an order enquiry

Our Overwintered queen bees are available for order. If you’d like to enquire or start the order process, please fill out the form below.

Order details
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Product information

Price
$65 (Price is per item, excluding GST, and in NZD)
Order size
1 to 100
Available types
  • Overwintered Kiwi hybrid queens
  • Overwintered Italian queens
Availability
to

Overwintered queen bees have been mated in the previous autumn and overwintered in the hive, proving their longevity and consistency of offspring.

We select our overwintered bees for sale based on how quickly in the spring they get up and start laying.

Our overwintered queens are open-mated, also known as naturally mated.

Queens are carefully selected for their:

  • genetic diversity
  • sealed (capped) brood pattern
  • productivity
  • calm temperament
  • hygienic behaviour
  • queen longevity
  • anti-swarm behaviour
About our Overwintered queen bees

Overwintered queen bees are in limited numbers so get your orders in as soon as you can

Italian and Kiwi Hybrid overwintered queen bees are available.

Italian queens

We’re proud of the characteristics of our Italian queens. The hives they lead are easy to work, productive and demonstrate hygienic behaviour. Their fast brood-building is particularly effective for hives for pollination or honey production.

Kiwi Hybrid queens

These bees retain the good characteristics of the Italian but have some Carniolan traits such as smaller overwintering clusters and fast spring build up. Their colour is less yellow/brown and shows distinctive striping on the abdomen.

Ordering Overwintered queen bees

Pricing

Excludes GST and packaging and posting

Quantity

Limited overwintered queen bees are available, so we recommend you get your order in early.

Order

Use the order form to place your order. We want to meet your needs, so let us know your preferred delivery time frame and any special instructions you have. We’ll be in touch within one working day to let you know availability.

Once we’ve agreed on a plan for delivery and what you need, we’ll confirm your order.

Payment and delivery information

Payment

We’ll send an invoice for payment closer to the delivery date, before the bees are shipped.

Delivery

We can deliver almost anywhere in New Zealand overnight so wherever you are, you can benefit from our decades of experience in bee-keeping and breeding.

All queens are delivered by overnight courier and we use the last delivery of the day to minimise time out of the hive. We post queens Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to avoid any weekend delays.

Your queens are sent in a cage with escort bees and food and we’ll send you the courier tracking number once the queens are sent.

Your overwintered queen bees can go into the hive and start laying straight away.