# Purvis Queens



## ga.beeman (Mar 29, 2009)

He has moved to tn but still selling a few queens from what I hear


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## gunter62 (Feb 13, 2011)

He was in Tennessee for a while, but he sold most of his equipment and moved to Colorado I believe. I got 4 queens from him in July 2 years ago.


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## heaflaw (Feb 26, 2007)

I heard his lines were great. Wish I could buy some queens.


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## hilreal (Aug 16, 2005)

That is why I am trying to track down where they ended up. Surely someone is raising queens from his stock considering all the work that went into them. He still maintains a website, sent an email to the address listed on there but no response yet. When he announced his retirement I thought that he mentioned who was taking his queens for breeding but can't remember who it was.


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## Ryan Williamson (Feb 28, 2012)

I was lucky enough to graft off one of my friends favorite Purvis queens two years ago. I have a good number of those daughters still rocking out in my yards and I have been grafting this year off a few that have shown good mite resistance and honey production. I should be able to ship some your way in a few weeks If Purvis granddaughters are not too far removed for you. I run nearly all VSH stock in my yards so their Drones should be a good influence. 

Here is a photo of one I really like....the closest hive to the camera. I have pulled 100lbs of honey off it this year with a good 60-100 still to pull. Mite count was 1/3% 


Gunter62.....how are the four that you got two years ago doing? 

In general I have found them to be more carni based darker bees. Some are a bit more defensive but still very workable with bare hands.....I just have to give a puff of smoke while I don't have to smoke many of my other bees. Wintering is where they have shined the best with very few losses. I have had a few more swarms with them due to me not Addi g enough boxes quickly enough in the spring as they explode sometimes.

Any one else still have them in their yards?


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## Kevtater (May 17, 2013)

Met him in Colorado Springs a couple months back. Sounds like he's still in the business, just a smaller operation now.


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## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

Good to hear that their good breeding work is still alive in bees around US. Queens are like babies to a breeder. They make you immortal.

I don´t know much about their operation, but I remember once reading that they considered 50% losses to be the best level in varroa resistance breeding. My own idea was around 30%. The idea being that with too small losses breeding is not going forward, and with too big losses you will lose also valuable hives, which just were unlucky to get an extra load of mites somehow. 

Well, as we say in Europe, everything is bigger in US.


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## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

Ryan Williamson said:


> I was lucky enough to graft off one of my friends favorite Purvis queens two years ago. I have a good number of those daughters still rocking out in my yards and I have been grafting this year off a few that have shown good mite resistance and honey production.


Good post Ryan, do you treat your bees for varroa?


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## beeman2009 (Aug 23, 2012)

Purvis is in Loretto,TN. He stopped selling production queens & now only sells breeder queens.


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## j.kuder (Dec 5, 2010)

here is his face book page https://www.facebook.com/PurvisBees...s_Bees_March_2013_Newsletter&utm_medium=email 
notice on top left column he indorses Magli honey they used to be in tenn. they are now in alabama
i contacted them and asked them if they had purvis blood lines and she said yes. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Magli-Honey-Company/114130088634324.
neither page has been updated in awhile.


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## SpeckledPup (May 25, 2011)

Last post on his face book page is April 2013 recommending Magli Honey Company. 
The week before that he thanks Colorado Spring for the warm welcome. 
He sold most of his equipment and said he was moving to Colorado in Feb of 2013.


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## hilreal (Aug 16, 2005)

Kevtater said:


> Met him in Colorado Springs a couple months back. Sounds like he's still in the business, just a smaller operation now.


Any contact information? Tried emailing from his old website but no response.


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## funwithbees (Mar 27, 2010)

We ran Purvis goldlines for a number of years. Good producers, but they died like all the rest from the mite pressure/viruses when left untreated. They were not the silver bullet in my opinion.
Nick


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## Coach B (Feb 28, 2011)

Late in the 2012 season Mr. Purvis and his wife came and spoke at our small bee club's meeting here in TN. I had not ordered a queen but there was one left over that I was able to make up a nuc with. That thing went gangbusters. I had never seen a queen lay like that before. I had been expecting to try and overwinter in a 5-frame nuc, but it ended up in a double deep. I was using drawn comb, which I'm sure helped. Did a walk away split off the hive last year to generate one daughter. This spring I had learned that Mr. Purvis had moved away and the likelihood of getting more queens was small. My original queen was still laying like crazy so I made up several splits off her. Think I've got 5 or 6 daughter hives/nucs going now. I heard/read somewhere that he was no longer selling queens to the public but just a few high dollar breeder queens.


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