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Author Topic: Hawaiian Queens  (Read 5180 times)

Offline randydrivesabus

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Hawaiian Queens
« on: November 09, 2007, 09:37:01 am »
So theres been a lot of talk about Hawaiian queens...last night at the beekeeper meeting and I've heard it from somewhere else that they outperform anything out there. Anyone have any experience with them?

Offline Mklangelo

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Re: Hawaiian Queens
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2007, 10:00:04 am »
So theres been a lot of talk about Hawaiian queens...last night at the beekeeper meeting and I've heard it from somewhere else that they outperform anything out there. Anyone have any experience with them?

I installed three, three pound packages of bees from California along with a Kona Queen for each of the three.  One superceeded and the other two are doing great.  The hive in question is about a month behind but with some TLC will see spring.

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Offline TwT

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Re: Hawaiian Queens
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2007, 10:10:20 am »
I have had 3 kona queens (italian) , they did fine but didn't stand out, they did well though!
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Offline Cindi

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Re: Hawaiian Queens
« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2007, 10:55:57 am »
I had 8 Kona Italian queens.  4 package colonies and 4 nucs. They are awesome brood laying machines.  I am not so sure that they are the best at creating great honey making bees though.  My supplier told me that they are great for brood and not so great for honey.  I didn't get very much surplus honey this year, haven't extracted it yet.  I would not expect honey from the package bees, but the nucs I think should have produced more.

I think that bee breeds do differently in different areas, but not sure on that one.  Have a wonderful and great day, beautiful health and life.  Cindi
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Offline randydrivesabus

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Re: Hawaiian Queens
« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2007, 11:20:08 am »
yes...i heard about the brood production and the great potential for swarming. but usually large hive population means large honey yield, depending on flow conditions of course.

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Hawaiian Queens
« Reply #5 on: November 09, 2007, 10:40:59 pm »
I had 8 Kona Italian queens.  4 package colonies and 4 nucs. They are awesome brood laying machines.  I am not so sure that they are the best at creating great honey making bees though.  My supplier told me that they are great for brood and not so great for honey.  I didn't get very much surplus honey this year, haven't extracted it yet.  I would not expect honey from the package bees, but the nucs I think should have produced more.

I think that bee breeds do differently in different areas, but not sure on that one.  Have a wonderful and great day, beautiful health and life.  Cindi

Kona Queens are excellent for tropical or semi-tropical areas. For areas north of San Francisco I would want bees that are much more cold hardy.  In my past experience warm weather bees do great during the summer the 1st year, have high cold weather die off, and very poor recovery the 2nd year.  If they make it into the 3rd or later year they have become climatized.  I advise buying bees reared in a climate as similar to your own as you can for greatest success in all areas.
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Offline randydrivesabus

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Re: Hawaiian Queens
« Reply #6 on: November 09, 2007, 11:18:10 pm »
the guys around here requeen every year with them.

Offline Cindi

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Re: Hawaiian Queens
« Reply #7 on: November 11, 2007, 04:15:45 pm »
I remember Finsky advising me to last season to requeen my Kona queens with locally bred queens to go into winter.  I listened to those words, but I just simply did not get around to doing as he advised.  I have gone into this winter with these Kona queens (I think, unless they have been superceded).  They are not marked (which will be a different story next year), so I have no clue if they are the original queens or not.

I have still 3 Carniolan colonies (or they could be half breeds with Italians, who knows) and 6 Kona Italian colonies .  The Carniolan colonies were the only ones that had any honey to take off.  The others had only enough to leave with their colonies for the wintertime.  That did make a statement to me.

My packages and nucs that I got this spring were all given drawn foundation when I got them.  Even with that, the nectar flows were so bad that still they did not have excess honey.  If they had been given only foundation, I think that I would have had to feed them even more than I did for their winter stores. It was a terrible year for honey in our locale.  THis was a weird year for us all it sounds, (except Dane, hee, hee).  Have a wonderful and great day, best of health.  Cindi
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Offline JP

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Re: Hawaiian Queens
« Reply #8 on: November 11, 2007, 11:24:44 pm »
Yeah, I haven't seen Dane on here as much lately, I guess he's got his hands full with all the honey and pollen his bees brought in this season.
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Offline pdmattox

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Re: Hawaiian Queens
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2007, 08:07:01 am »
I am buying some to requeen all my hives and they are all my mentor buys. kona queens.

Offline tig

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Re: Hawaiian Queens
« Reply #10 on: November 12, 2007, 09:00:18 am »
kona queens have 2 kinds, the italians and carniolans. i've had both kinds in my apiary and personally i prefer the carniolans, even if they have a tendency to swarm.  both have good laying patterns but the carniolans tend to regulate their brood based on availability of food.  once pollen comes in heavily, their population makes a dramatic climb, much more than the italians. 

with regards to honey production, i find the carniolans make more honey over the italians, maybe because they end up with a bigger population.  i find it strnage though because i'm told carniolans were bred for cold climates and i'm living in the tropics unless they have somehow been acclimatized to tropical weather.

another reason i prefer the carniolans is that they gather more pollen than the italians and since i sell pollen, they make more money for me LOL.

Offline Old Timer

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Re: Hawaiian Queens
« Reply #11 on: November 14, 2007, 08:31:44 pm »
>If they make it into the 3rd or later year they have become climatized.

I would like to know what kind of changes a queen goes through in 3 years that would cause her to start making workers that are climatized. The bees the queen lays in three years from when you first get her will basically be the same bees they are the first year. The only way you will get different bees is from a supersedure or new queen that mated with local drones in which case you have an entirely different queen.

>with regards to honey production, i find the carniolans make more honey over the italians, maybe because they end up with a bigger population.  i find it strnage though because i'm told carniolans were bred for cold climates and i'm living in the tropics unless they have somehow been acclimatized to tropical weather.

If you can keep them from swarming they will make a nice surplus. It makes sense to me that if a bee that survives in a colder climate that it would perform great in a warmer one. It's much easier for nearly any organism to to thrive in warmer climates, excluding the habitat of artic wildlife where I doubt that any of us would find any bees or have any success at keeping them.

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Hawaiian Queens
« Reply #12 on: November 15, 2007, 01:51:23 am »
>>>If they make it into the 3rd or later year they have become climatized.

>>I would like to know what kind of changes a queen goes through in 3 years that would cause her to start making workers that are climatized. The bees the queen lays in three years from when you first get her will basically be the same bees they are the first year. The only way you will get different bees is from a supersedure or new queen that mated with local drones in which case you have an entirely different queen.

Yes and no.  The bees will be the identical genetic stock but will have adapted to the more seasonal climate in behavior.
Storing when the sun shines and "hibernating" when the cold climes.
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