# BeeWeaver Queens....Holy Cow!!



## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

I got a package of nwc from oliverez this year, & feel the same way about that queen. So far I'v been able to keep them from swarming, but keeping my fingers crossed.

out of the 9 hives I've started, I've never seen a queen build up like this one either.

If you can make a split with the old queen, you'd be able to keep her around a little longer.


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## Birdman (May 8, 2009)

make nucs:doh:


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## NasalSponge (Jul 22, 2008)

> *one thing, I do not have the equipment to make a bunch of splits right now*


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

Are you in a club in OK? Maybe someone can bring over some empty nucs and you can transfer some frames to them for a price. Or craigslist it and you will be able to sell some there. 


I have 3 bweavers. They are totally awesome. Great honey producers too. I haven't had a swarming problem. But you do have to add space quickly. They fill up the equipment fast.


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## Monie (Feb 13, 2008)

You can easily make some makeshift nucs out of 1x8's. If you don't have a table saw, you can also get a piece of 3/8x3 (in the craft section). and cut pieces out of that for a makeshift dado. It works quite well.


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## cow pollinater (Dec 5, 2007)

I found myself in the same boat with the same queens three days ago.:thumbsup::thumbsup: I was thirty miles from home so I used queen excluders that I had on hand with sticks under the top cover to hopefully make some two queen hives that I can split next time I make it back... We'll see.


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## honeybeealex (Mar 15, 2010)

So from what I am taking beeweaver queens are really good??


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## MikeJ (Jan 1, 2009)

What is the difference between R.Weaver and B.Weaver - they appear to live almsot together


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## RZRBCK BEE (May 14, 2009)

I'm still trying to figure out which breed of bee they are. Buckfast, Italian or a mixture? Anyone know?


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## DRUR (May 24, 2009)

RZRBCK BEE said:


> I'm still trying to figure out which breed of bee they are. Buckfast, Italian or a mixture? Anyone know?


From the horses mouth:
http://www.beeweaver.com/Bee-Weaver-Breed.html

http://www.beeweaver.com/bee_keeping_practices.html

The all Americans were Italians [methinks].


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## be lote (Mar 26, 2008)

id try an sale em. someone always lookin queens


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## daknoodle (Dec 8, 2005)

Heres how I make nucs quick and easy out of 1x8's

part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UOohq6kN3Q

part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjVQVkPktSs

Hope that helps.


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## TXbeekeeper (Feb 22, 2009)

I've been tossing around the idea of replacing one of my queens with a Beeweaver. How are they with mites? The website says you "can throw away those expensive mite treatments too". Also, would you consider them to be pretty gentle? Would appreciate the feedback.....


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## NasalSponge (Jul 22, 2008)

Well....I got up this morning and looked out my back window just in time to see them swarm. Just like Hambone said....if you get yourself some of these queens do NOT turn your back on them for a minute.

THX DK...Those are awesome vids!!


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## NasalSponge (Jul 22, 2008)

TXbeekeeper said:


> I've been tossing around the idea of replacing one of my queens with a Beeweaver. How are they with mites? The website says you "can throw away those expensive mite treatments too". Also, would you consider them to be pretty gentle? Would appreciate the feedback.....


Mine are sweethearts so far. As far as mites....since I don't treat I don't do mite drop counts, I will let you know in several years if they are still thriving.


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## TXbeekeeper (Feb 22, 2009)

Have you been through a winter with them yet, NasalSponge? I lost two of my three hives last year. Pretty sure due to mites.


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## NasalSponge (Jul 22, 2008)

No...just got them this year.


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

Mine are very calm. I don't do mite drops either. Both of mine made it thru winter fine. I do look closely at the bees on the frames first of spring and later in the fall. I have not seen any mites on the bees. I do see them on my ferals and the basic store bought IT's I have had in the past. 

We had a late cold/wet spell in March. Which I lost 5 hives to starvation. One of the bweavers was one of those. Added a couple bweavers this year. On the one that didn't starve I just put on a 4th super this morning.


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## hilreal (Aug 16, 2005)

I found them to be very good too, though a couple have been a little "hot" to handle. Then again they do come from Texas.......


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## DRUR (May 24, 2009)

I purchased my BeeWeaver queen about April of 2009. Did 48 hr. mite drops last year and mites were negligible. If I can remember correctly 2 mites is all. I don't treat and currently am not doing mite drops. I have seen a few mites on drones, but not on workers. 

I checkerboarded this colony and split the first week of March. I wintered with 8 colonies and split them all the first week of March and either reversed brood boxes or checkerboarded all colonies. I had 5 swarm of these 8, and the BeeWeaver queen is one that did *not* swarm.

Not the gentlest, but not the most aggressive, mostly head bumping. My Tecumseh queen is the gentlest along with Taylor made queens also from BeeWeavers. Overall all mine are what I would call gentle.

Mine wintered great and came out early as my strongest colony of the 8, but also went into winter as my strongest I had. I will be havesting again this week and will probably end up with 2 1/2 to 3 mediums from this colony, my most productive single strength colony [I have combined many colonies to double strength, but not with my beeWeaver queen.

After harvest I will be making splits and I have 5 more BeeWeaver Queens ordered.

Kindest Regards
Danny


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## Bud Dingler (Feb 8, 2008)

RZRBCK BEE said:


> I'm still trying to figure out which breed of bee they are. Buckfast, Italian or a mixture? Anyone know?


from the heart of Texas and also Africanized Honey Bee (AHB) country. AHB likes to swarm too!


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## TXbeekeeper (Feb 22, 2009)

I've heard Hilreal, that you can contact Bee Weaver and they will replace queens that are producung hot stock.


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## johng (Nov 24, 2009)

I bought two B weaver queens earlier in the year and requeened two hives. Both have done very good. They are gentle and have made as much or more honey than any of my other hives. I will definatly be getting some more. I have not done a mite count yet. I will do one towards the end of the summer to see if I need to treat any of my hives. I will report my results.


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## daknoodle (Dec 8, 2005)

Bud Dingler said:


> from the heart of Texas and also Africanized Honey Bee (AHB) country. AHB likes to swarm too!


BeeWeaver bees are NOT AHB, according to the state their county is the ONLY one that does not have AHB in it, so it just can't be possible!


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## NasalSponge (Jul 22, 2008)

Contrary to popular belief, there is not an AHB behind every bush. :lpf:


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## Parke County Queen (May 22, 2006)

NasalSponge said:


> It seems a bit ironic how the best laid plans of man are so easily thwarted by tiny stinging insects....but I digress, both of my new BeeWeaver queens gathered up a mess of their offspring and went walkabout (swarmed) about 2 weeks ago. I went out and took a look into all my hives today including these two and these queens, which where virgins 2 weeks ago have laid an egg in every hole that is not full of honey, if I can gain some semblance of control these girls are going to be honey making ladies. The fist hive has a lovely new queen and are ready for another box, the second one however is overcrowded and there must be 12 to 15 swarm cells in there!!! My plan was to pinch one of the new queens and combine these two but that is down the drain for now due to the multitude of capped queen cells. I shall spend the day pondering what to do but if anyone would like to make suggestions I would gladly listen....one thing, I do not have the equipment to make a bunch of splits right now. I would like to conclude that so far, despite the problems I am having, I love and recommend BeeWeaver queens!! They are incredible egg laying machines!!



I had a hive getting ready to swarm and I tried the Demaree method. It Worked! it is the first time I have ever deterred a swarm. A little work, but worth it. Do a search for it on this forum.


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## DRUR (May 24, 2009)

Parke County Queen said:


> I had a hive getting ready to swarm and I tried the Demaree method. It Worked!


Parke County Queen why don't you post the location on this forum giving the details?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarming_(honey_bee)

"_*In the Demaree method a frame of capped brood is removed with the old queen. This frame is put in a hive box with empty drawn frames and foundation at the same location of the old hive. A honey super is added to the top of this hive topped by a crown board (known as an "Inner Cover" in America). The remaining hive box sans queen is inspected for queen cells. All queen cells are destroyed. This hive box, which has most of the bees, is put on top of the crown board. Foraging bees will return to the lower box depleting the population of the upper box. After a week to ten days both parts are inspected again and any subsequent queen cells destroyed. After another period of separation the swarming drive is extinguished and the hives can be re-combined.*_"


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## hipbee (Sep 11, 2009)

I always hear rave reviews about beeweaver queens so I bought a nuc this spring, unfortunately they still havent filled there first box, one of my fatbeeman packages is already polishing off there third medium. I guess I just got a dud queen or something


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## skflyfish (Jun 21, 2009)

I bought 2 nucs this spring from a local beek who winters in Florida. He used Taylormade queens in these nucs according to the colored stick pins on the nucs. In one, the queen was MIA when I got it home. It was well behind the other nuc, so it must have been queenless for a while, though I didn't find any queen cells. I requeened the next with a Heitkam queen that the beek had in stock. The other nuc has a very black queen, almost Russian looking. This queen has terrible chalkbrood, so much so, that the other nuc is well ahead now.

These are Taylormade queens, which I believe come from Australia and are not the regular BeeWeaver queens, but are sold by BeeWeaver.

HTH,

Jay


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## DRUR (May 24, 2009)

skflyfish said:


> I bought 2 nucs this spring from a local beek who winters in Florida. He used Taylormade queens in these nucs according to the colored stick pins on the nucs. In one, the queen was MIA when I got it home.


Yep, you probably killed her in transport. But your are just supposing that they are Taylormade queens, Right?



skflyfish said:


> I bought 2 nucs this spring from a local beek who winters in Florida. He used Taylormade queens in these nucs according to the colored stick pins on the nucs. The other nuc has a very black queen, almost Russian looking. This queen has terrible chalkbrood, so much so, that the other nuc is well ahead now. These are Taylormade queens, which I believe come from Australia and are not the regular BeeWeaver queens, but are sold by BeeWeaver.


Yes, the Taylormade queens are from Australia. They are Italians and are not black, but Yellow. Had 12 of them myself this spring. Very productive. Had 10 of 12 accepted, egg laying mothers. Probably no mite resistance so would be poor choice of queens without treatment. I don't treat mine, but mine are on small cells, so far so good.


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## skflyfish (Jun 21, 2009)

DRUR said:


> Yep, you probably killed her in transport. But your are just supposing that they are Taylormade queens, Right?


@DRUR,

I know the beek pretty well and he was sure they were Taylormade queens based on the color of the stick pin. I suppose someone could have changed them around. I read that Taylor in Australia has Carnie queens also. This one is almost all black, with just a faint hint of stripping on the abdomen.

One nucs I got from the guy last year also had terrible chalkbrood also, but he didn't stick pin the nucs so he didn't know which queen it was, but he did use some queens from Australia last year. Surprisingly she survived a Michigan winter and when she started laying again, the chalkbrood re-appeared. She layed into early May and the hive superceeded her. Her daughter started with some chalkbrood as well, but it seems to have cleared up and she is laying wall to wall.

I am not disparaging BeeWeaver, just stating my experiences to date. I have not tried any queens from them directly. Sound like a lot of folks has had good results with their queens.

Jay


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## DRUR (May 24, 2009)

skflyfish said:


> @DRUR,
> 
> I know the beek pretty well and he was sure they were Taylormade queens based on the color of the stick pin. I suppose someone could have changed them around. I read that Taylor in Australia has Carnie queens also. This one is almost all black, with just a faint hint of stripping on the abdomen.


Jay: I did not mean to insult the integrity of the post. Taylor may also have Carnies, I don't know. But BeeWeaver does state these are Italian queens. Now the points I was trying to make. 

1. Transportation of nucs, when the queen is already installed, is hard on queens. 

2. I would not recommend a Taylormade queens as a mother queen for my apiary. I purchased mine to increase populations for splits etc. These queens will probably not have any resistance to our bee pathogens. 

3. I wouldn't doubt that Taylormade Queens may have problems with chalkbrood here. I doubt that these bees would express any Hygienic behavior.

Now some additional points.

BeeWeaver will tell you that these queens often have problems being accepted and are often immediately superceeded. Probably has something to do with the hemisphere location. That being said, the nuc could have had an Taylormade queen at one time but may not have ended up like that.

I had 100% acceptance rate on the 8 which were place in nucs where all the brood was sealed and no chance of raising queens. I only had a 50% acceptance rate on those place in nucs with eggs/unsealed larva. They immediately raised their own queens, rejecting the BeeWeaver queens. Hence my final acceptance rate of 10 of 12. I should have been more specific about this in my original post, but hope this clears it up.

Kindest Regards
Danny


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## skflyfish (Jun 21, 2009)

@Danny,

No offense taken. It was a disclaimer that I wasn't posting to give BeeWeaver a bad rap.

You know you make a very good point about the possibility of the hive superceeding her. It is very possible that they did raise their own queen after 'offing' the Taylormade queen. His hives do have a number of Carnie drones, so it is possible that she has a lot of Carnie genes in her. I am going to see the local beek tomorrow and I will ask him how he made the splits. He may not be aware of the acceptance issue.

Thanks too for the other points. I had not read those.

Because of my experience with a chalkbroody queen that was superceeded and is fine, I will probably let this queen live just to see the results.

Thx,

Jay


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## skflyfish (Jun 21, 2009)

@Danny,

Because it is raining today, the beek had to change his plans. I did chat with him and though he had talked to BeeWeaver a number of times, they never mentioned the superceedure issues that you brought to light. He was just putting in frames if they had brood, larva and eggs. He is very appreciate of the information. 

He has a number of Carnie hives and they probably raised a queen from a frame from a Carnie hive after 'offing' the Taylormade queen.

Thanks.

Jay


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## DRUR (May 24, 2009)

skflyfish said:


> Because it is raining today, the beek had to change his plans. I did chat with him and though he had talked to BeeWeaver a number of times, they never mentioned the superceedure issues that you brought to light.


I ordered mine about early December of last year. Then in another thread there was concern about Australian Queens. I contacted BeeWeaver and spoke with Laura at length about these issues. In the conversation with Laura these were the only feedback problems that they had about these Taylormade queens.

Let me say this about BeeWeaver. I can't imagine how busy they must be this time of the year and no telling how many people they are dealing with. Laura is a real asset to their business, and I am sure that Danny Weaver is also from the quality of the queens that they produce. This is just a top quality honest, American business. 

I have no expectation that every queen that I receive from them will be a winner, but so far all of them have been. If, and when I receive a bad one, I won't complain unless and until it becomes prevalent. Of my Taylormade queens several arrived in bad shape and died in the queen cages before release. I advised them not really expecting them to replace them, but they did, without any additional expense. I was impressed. It wasn't necessary from my standpoint.

Kindest Regards
Danny


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## greg155 (Jun 2, 2020)

Time to start building your own stuff.


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