Queens

Russian Honey Bees were brought to the U.S. during the mid 1990's by the Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Research is located in Baton Rouge, LA . They were selected and bred because of their resistance  to Varroa mites. In 2008 the Russian bee was released to the U.S. Bee Industry and the Russian Honeybee Breeders Association  (RHBA) was formed. Steven was one of the original members and Coy Bee Company is proud to be one of the Association's Certified members. 

Certified members consistently evaluate untreated hives and produce pure Russian queens that are good honey producers, are not aggressive, and maintain their resistance to Varroa mites.  There are many people selling "Russian bees" but the only way to get the Pure Russian bee is to buy from a Certified member of the RHBA.

 We only breed from untreated hives and flood the mating yards with drones from pure Russian hives.  This ensures that we are providing our customers with purest Russian queens possible. 

Unlike most queen breeders, we catch queens on a 21 day cycle. This allows us to evaluate the brood pattern and cull the queens that don't have good brood patterns.  Our queens are typically laying like gangbusters  when we cage them and we ship them within a day or two; but, it sometimes takes a few days to start laying once they have been released into the new colony.  If they are not laying 7-10 days after release, give us a call. 

Target dates to begin queen shipments are April 7 and 8, 2020.  We will be shipping on Tuesdays and Wednesdays only for 2020.  Queens shipped on Tuesday can be either USPS Priority Express mail or UPS Next Day Air.  Queens shipped on Wednesdays will be shipped only with UPS Next Day Air.  

We use either USPS Priority Express or UPS Next Day Air (cost varies with location). Neither the US Postal Service Priority Express  or UPS Next Day Air services provide insurance for live bees. You MUST examine the queens immediately for any queens received in poor condition or dead. Should either of these conditions occur, immediately call our office within 24 hours. We will try to ascertain the problem and resolve the issue as quickly as possible.  Should we need to send a replacement queen(s),  you will be responsible for the shipping cost on those replacement queens, which must be paid prior to shipment. 

We do our best to take care of your queens until we drop them off with the Post office and/or UPS. We have had few issues but there is always the chance that someone will "drop the ball" when getting your precious queens from us to you. Contact your local provider and make sure they understand that they need to call you when your queens arrive. 

They do not need to sit in the mailbox or on the sunny front porch or spend all day in the hot truck. This can potentially be damaging to your queens and reduce their lifespan weeks or months later. 

If you are not happy with your queens call us immediately, we can't replace queens that you have had for more than two weeks.