Products

Virgin queen bees

Spring collection italian virgin queen
This is a young virgin queen who has been released to her new hive. Hopefully with the sunny weather she will venture our and get mated today and then return to her home to start laying her offspring.

Make an order enquiry

Our Virgin 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
$17 (Price is per item, excluding GST, and in NZD)
Order size
1 to 1000
Available types
  • Virgin queen bees
  • Italian virgin queen bees
  • Kiwi hybrid virgin queen bees
Availability
to

Virgin queens are a popular economical alternative to mated queens. Because they are caged with escort bees, they are easier to transport than queen cells.

We send virgin queens as soon as they hatch, so they reach you at the best time for introduction to your hives. Virgin queens are easily accepted into queenless colonies, but there is a risk in getting them successfully mated. They’re an economical and quick way to re-queen your hive, increase your stock and introduce new genetics.

Virgin queens are carefully selected from breeders chosen for their:

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

Both Italian and Kiwi Hybrid virgin 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 Virgin queen bees

Pricing

Excludes GST and postage and packaging

Quantity

Available in any order size, to suit hobby, small scale or commercial beekeepers. 

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 virgin queens can go straight into the hive and once mated should start laying. This can take up to 10-15 days and is very weather dependent.