# Queen issues, hardeman apiary



## squareandcompasses (Oct 24, 2008)

Has anyone else outside the private group I got my bees with this year have issues with queens from packages from hardeman apiary in mt. Vernon ga? I could not stop queens from superseding and in late Mid-October lost almost at the same time, 14 of 20 queens in the hives that stemmed from these packages. I'm fairly sure that I'm not doing anything wrong, I have several other hives in the same field and there are no issues with them.


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## scdw43 (Aug 14, 2008)

I have got queens from Hardeman in the past and they were good queens. Some superseded as with all bees according to the conditions. Sometimes the bees know better. Some of the queens stayed in the hives for two years. Kelley used to get their queens from Hardeman I don't know about now. If that is the case their are a lot of Hardeman queens out there. When you buy queens you get some good ones and some bad ones, that is the reason I raise my own now and pick from the best. That way you are always improving your stock. I do not treat with anything not even powered sugar. If a queen is not showing the traits that I am breeding for, mainly honey production and heavy brooding she gets killed. I do not have a mite problem as I have taken my loses in that area several years ago. Queens are easy to raise and with every batch you raise, you get stronger bees, if you cull out the weak ones, they are able to adapt to the environment that they live in. It is just like any other type of livestock. I bought queens years ago that were superseded in 3 weeks but the resulting queen had 17 frames of brood in three deeps in two months. I do not look for color or bands I look for production. If a queen is a laying machine she will make a lot of honey if the forage is available. If they winter good with a good cluster, are easy to work and brood up early they are a keeper. If they don't meet my standards they get pinched quick. 
I live close to the mountains of SC,NC and GA there is a lot of National Forest land in this area. I take nucs with cells every spring and place them 10 to 15 miles form the nearest house or bees and hang them in a tree so the queens can get mated. There are still some bees that have survived the mites in these areas. After the queens are mated they are brought back to a yard away from the rest of my bees, evaluated and wintered if they make the grade, some are placed in my breeding program. If not they are requeened. You can use any queen breeders stock to get started, it is our job to help the bees adapt to our specific area and conditions. Sorry about getting on a soapbox just my opinion.


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## BeeOld (Apr 7, 2009)

I think Kelly uses both Hardeman and Rossman. I got three packages and two queens in late March. All started laying like gangbusters and four of the five superseded by early June. I wonder if the bad spring in the South caused queens to be poorly breed. Also the one that didn't supersede obsconded in October.


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## BEEMAN0852 (Sep 6, 2008)

I purchased both queens and packages from Hardman Apiaries out of Georgia. Fours years ago was the first time and I had good success with them. Three years ago I purchased some more packages and extra queens. The packages came in with about half or more of the bees dead in the boxes.
The queens did not lay very good patterns if at all so I requeened them with more queens from Hardman. Still not good. I have been purchasing my bees from a local comany since then and have had great success.
Beeman


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## jsharum (Mar 29, 2010)

my package queen went to be a drone layer after a few months...had to pinch her and replace


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Last post sums it up.

Early supersedure is nearly always about poor mating.


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## fish_stix (May 17, 2009)

The long cold spell we had in the South last year was a killer for queen raisers. Couldn't get enough drones and weather kept them from normal mating flights. The queen and package producers don't have any magic tricks to assure good mating. If they open a mating nuc and the queen is laying she gets sent out. And, with all you guys that bought packages screaming and hollering about late package shipments they don't have time to evaluate the queens for 3 weeks or a month to ensure good mating. They see the same thing you see when you evaluate your queens. Yep; she's laying and a good pattern. 3 weeks later; Dang! she quit and there are supersedure cells. If you want the best queens available raise your own from local stock and cull them mercilessly! :lookout:


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## Michael B (Feb 6, 2010)

Four spring packages from Hardeman and two laying workers within a month, one superceded in two weeks, and one did ok with marginal brood patters. Varroa on all four in decent numbers from day one.

Two carni nucs were perfect that were queened from Strachan queens. The two hives will make in this winter. The four hardeman packages I highly doubt.


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## LizzeB (Jun 3, 2013)

Like to chime in... Carried Hardeman queens for 5 years, now. We've also had various other breeds/suppliers packages/nucs. Bar none, the Hardeman Russians have been VERY RELIABLE. Have had no instances of sickly delivered queens or high death levels in packages from Kelley containing Hardeman Queens. VERY FAST DELIVERY!!! OUR FAVORITE SOURCE!!! 
Note: Russians tend to re-queen/swarm when very healthy, some believe differently, but I tend to believe that when nature is happy and healthy, it will naturally have desire to reproduce. With this: Russians tend to adapt to the weather swings of the north quickly by shutting their queen down or increasing her production with the-drop-of-a-hat. Russian beekeepers must check and adjust often. But, bar none, I particularly like them for their higher resistance to Varoa and their honey production for our very short season. But, a beekeeper must go with their own observations, just claiming that I have not experienced any substantial problems, and would not leave this source.


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## Tim B (Apr 16, 2009)

I bought a significant number of hardeman packages and Italian queens last year in early march. about 25% of the queens did not take or failed to start laying within a month. (I believe this is the risk that you take buying early queens.) I had stock that I already had and about the same number from another supplier. The hardeman bees that were good were far better through the winter and less prone to swarm this spring and generally better producers than the other two lines I had. Their bees are not on the gentle side and some were just flat out rough but good survivors and producers.


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## LizzeB (Jun 3, 2013)

The temperment is hit or miss I have some VERY aggressive carnolli, and have had 'bad' days on some italians. But, they are all bees, and are all capable of defense.


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