2025 Virgin Queen

NOT RECOMMENDED for beginners or anyone in an urgent need of a laying queen. There is risk involved, as she has to be successfully mated.

Virgin (unmated) queens are grafted from a specific queen line (see options below). Price ranges from $20-$30 per queen ($20 for 5 or more, $25 for 2 or more, $30 for 1). Queen color and appearance will vary, based on parent's genetics. When you buy a queen from a varroa-resistant mother, you won't really know whether her daughters (your colony) will inherit that trait until the end of the season due to open mating, if you're testing, so if you want to be sure to add such genetics to your apiary, buy more than one! The good news is that regardless of whether the workers (via the queen) inherit varroa resistance, all (100%) of your drones from that colony will spread varroa resistance (because drones don't have fathers, only grandfathers, so they are passing on the trait from the breeder queen). 

Virgin queen will be marked and will come in a queen cage with candy and attendants. Virgin queens must be picked up within 24 hours and are ready to be installed into a split or new colony, but may take several weeks to be mated and laying well. There is a risk with using virgin queens (they may not successfully be mated). You are assuming that risk by your purchase.

VIRGIN QUEENS (recommended for experienced beekeepers ONLY) and are grafted from inseminated VSH mothers (breeder queens or queens that have been tested for VSH and overwintered without treatment--options when purchasing make that clear) or high UBeeO scoring mothers who have overwintered without mite treatments (and maintained low mite levels). We do not treat our breeder queens for mites (we treat our production colonies with organic treatments). These are typically available May through June. Pickup at Carlisle, PA location primarily, limited pickup in Nicholson, PA. Purchase at your own risk (there is no guarantee, as they must be successfully introduced and mated). To introduce virgin queens, we strongly recommend the approach developed by Cory Stevens of Stevens Bee Company. 

We are licensed and inspected by the state of PA to sell queens and bees.