Update on Nucs:

We are not taking additional orders for nucs at this time with confirmed dates or guarantee dates. If you would like to be on the overflow list or willing to get summer nucs, please send us your information. There is no down payment or commitment on your part. When we have nucs available, we will call and you can decide at that time if you want the nucs.

We will have more nucs than what we have orders for at this time. But we would rather not over book, and have extra nucs later for purchase or for those patient beekeepers willing to wait. And until spring gets here, there are too many factors that need to play out that could affect timing, delivery, and production.  

For beginners, getting bees is the most important thing. We also have packages with two delivery dates in April. Our best advice is to get packages, then consider requeening them later in the summer when northern bred acclimatized queens are available. Information on packages can be found by clicking here. 

About Bjorn Queens and Bees

Bjorn Apiaries select it's yearly breeder stock from Pennsylvania over-wintered beehives that have not been treated or tainted with chemicals. New breeder stock is introduced from other northern breeders and evaluated each year. This ensures a high level of genetic diversity and hybrid vigor. Our breeders used for queen production are selected in the spring based on a high standard of applied criteria. We sell proven lines that have been brought together from many sources, and selected over time. Bjorn Apiaries offers over-wintered queens and nucs as well as spring raised queens.

Why we open mate versus

artificial insemination

Artificial mating is touted by some as the better way of controlling genetic selection. And this is the basis of charging a high premium for breeder queens. The process involves either buying semen, or selectively choosing a particular hive, and harvesting the drones as they come back from mating flights, by trapping them at the front entrance. Except for selecting a particular strain from a certain hive, there is no way to select for sick, weak, or tainted drones. Your getting ALL the drones as they return to the hive. 

Open mating requires drone saturation of selected stock by placement of drone yards in close proximity of your breeding yards. This is what Bjorn Apiaries has strived to accomplish since we started breeding bees. We look at it this way....in nature, only the strongest drones mate with the queen. Sick, tainted, and weak drones do not usually mate with the queen as it truly is a survival of the fittest. Drones may be competing with a hundred on more other drones for the chance to mate. Nature has a way of passing on the strongest genetics, and those less effected by viral and bacterial issues. It is hard to say that random selection of drones at the front of some predetermined hive, and one in which drones may be coming from a host of other hives, is better than what bees on their own in nature.

Do all queen breeders take the time to build breeding yards with drone saturation and some type control over their genetics. The answer is clearly "No". That is why some think artificial mating and other shortcuts can be a better way other than what nature intended. For Bjorn Apiaries, we think having a quality mating program, letting queens open mate naturally, and not taking shortcuts, and charging "breeder" queen prices for artificial mated queens, is the best approach for our business. For more on our quality mating program, please read additional information at the bottom of this page.

We do not sell "pure" lines....

Bjorn Apiaries does not strive to maintain "pure" lines or purchase breeders every year so we can market someone else's name or label for marketing purposes. We believe that genetic diversity, combined with proper selection, management, and breeding guidelines, produce the best queens.

Over the years, we have concentrated on Russians and Carnolian stock. Most of our breeding stock is from these two sources. While we do maintain different yards for selection purposes as protocol calls for, we are sure that both our lines are not pure. 

Whether using a base genetic stock of feral bees, or pure breeders, we believe a quality breeder is defined by what one does within their own breeding program. And not based on a label or using a breeder queen from one particular beekeeper or another. 

Availability of Queens and Nucs

Queens: Most of our over wintered queens are used in nuc production. Nuc sales are the bread and butter of our operation. We normally do not concentrate on queen sales or have them available until our nuc orders are filled. We then have queens available the rest of the summer (June through August) or until the weather dictates that we stop our grafting schedule.

Nucs: We no longer take orders for April. If you need bees for pollination in April, think we can produce nucs to compete with spring southern produced packages, or think if you get bees early enough you will be harvesting a bumper crop of honey the first year......Do not order from us. Our nuc orders are filled normally in May and June. We cater to beekeepers expanding their operation for the following year, those who understand the benefits of nucs, and those beekeepers seeking northern stock and a particular line of bees. So if you are the type person who thinks the first time you see a dandelion in the back yard, or the temperature hits 55, that we will magically have all our nucs ready to ship out the door, you will be greatly disappointed. We are not busy getting one order ready, we are busy in the spring getting many orders ready.

We do not overfill our bookings for nucs, and we do not tell you they will be ready when they will not. That is about as honest as we can be. Many things can go wrong being a northern breeder. If we wanted it any easier, we would take our bees south and do the work down there. We hope you understand.

Payment Procedure For Confirmed Orders.

*Please do not send a check without a confirmed order. Please call or email to place an order.

**Do not contact us in the spring about an order that has no payment made, and expect an order to be filled based on a discussion we had 6 months prior. You want bees....then please get them ordered. Saying you "might" need bees in January, then waiting till spring to see what is alive, is not an order. We can not effectively run a business based on unconfirmed orders. Thank you. 

Half down is required upon placing an order. If you will be paying cash, let us know. 

Balance of payment to be paid in full 30 days prior to pickup for nucs. (checks or credit card.)

Any late orders or balances still due on earlier down payment orders, are paid the day of pickup by CASH. No exceptions!

Check payments:

Make checks payable to "Bjorn Apiaries".

Mail to: Mike Thomas  696 Potts Hill Rd. Lewisberry, Pa. 17339

Credit card payments:

Call 717-938-0444

We have a dedicated secure line for credit card transactions.

*No credit cards taken the day of pickup, without prior authorization.

All balances and orders not paid within 30 days of pickup, must be paid by Cash. No exceptions.

Queen orders with shipping can be paid with credit card.   

A Quality Mating Program

When we first started raising and breeding queens, we read about drone saturation and drone congregation areas. We initially followed the standard advice that we should have support drone colonies, with equally great drone genetics from another bee line, for our queens to mate. That was what we read, so that is what we did. It seemed having queens go out and mate with whatever was in the area, with no control, seemed like wishful thinking at best. It may work for others, but we wanted to strive for having the best queens possible.

It took three years to fully build some of our mating yards with supporting drone saturation yards. Finding drone support yards and gaining landowner's approval, is not always easy. But through hard work and persistence, we now have several mating areas with fully supportive drone saturation coverage. Taking the time to make sure that the queens  mate with selected quality drones, is one of the keys to Bjorn Apiaries success over the years.

Each spring at Bjorn Apiaries, we also have "Queen Evaluation Day". This is a day that several area beekeepers assist in going though the nuc yards and selecting the year's breeder queens based on applied criteria and selection protocol. Many newer beekeepers have enjoyed taking part in this process. And we are more than happy to have the help, while continuing the open door policy we promote. This allows other beekeepers the ability to learn from us, and also validates our business model. 

We are also very proud to be part of the Northern States Queen Breeders Association (NSQBA). While we do order queens from various places for evaluation and special orders, all queen stock for breeding comes from northern climate operations and other members of NSQBA. Having the opportunity to work with other northern breeders and have NSQBA members evaluate our stock is a humbling, yet rewarding process.

We work very hard doing the small things that go into making quality queens. That is part of our commitment to you.