# The Coy's - Russian Honeybee Breeder/Producer



## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Over the past few weeks I had tried to go to their website www.coyshoneyfarm.com as I use stock from them. As it turns out the website has been down. So I went ahead and gave them a call to inquire about the website and found out that in the year of 2015 The Coy's WON'T be selling ANY queens, nor NUC's. The owner took the website down for now. 

Anyone that is needing to acquire Russian stock queens straight from the breeder's association should look to one of the other members of the RHBA.
They maintain a list of members on their website http://www.russianbreeder.org/members.html of certified members to get your queens from. 

I personally plan to get mine this year through http://www.coldcountryqueens.com/ but have to wait till FEB 16 to make your orders.

Just thought that I would pass along the information to everyone that didn't know.


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

Thanks for the heads up. Just one more nail in the casket of of the formerly highly heralded potential savior of our Varroa ridden industry . Going to be tough for anyone to source them this year if not forever here in the US. 

As someone who used to raise Russian based queens I would think Coy's decision falls into one of the following categories.

1. Diminished Russian queens sales.
2. Inability to keep the Russian stock pure enough.
3. Way to much other beework to accomplish which has been determined to be of more value than any small rewards garnered from the sale of a few measly queens.

With all the bees they run the sale of 50,000 queens a year wouldn't even closely match the gross achieved in almond pollination.


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

I'm not sure of their reasoning, but I do know they fell behind this past season pretty bad at one point due to weather. They manage something like 12,000 hives for honey production/pollination so I'd bet it has something to do with #3 if I had to guess about it. 

I normally get russian stock to add to the genetic lines in my own apiary to keep the bees strong. However, looks like i'll have to give one of the others my business this year.


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

In the domain of Russian breeders the pickings has become awfully slim recently. Like trying to find a stable source of Snow white wax producing grey Caucasians. Out of favor eventually means out of sight!!!! Maybe someone needs to put a handful of well mated, pure bred, Russian queens in the bee version of the national seed repository. ???


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

I've got to ask you Honey-4-All, not being nosy, nor vain, or anything other than curious, is there a specific type of bee that you prefer and why?
What's your experience with them been over the years? I already know you've been tending bees for quite a while. Trying to gain some insight from your past.


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

No magic potion answers here. Sadly the truth makes that a tough one to answer: 

Although I am adverse to all the overblown "buy locally adapted queen" phenom which has spread among certain people in the hobbyist sector I would state that one should chose a queen that is "fit" for both your location and beekeeping style. Ie.... Use of darker bees when beekeeping in farther north ( or at a higher elevation) is of some assistance and what I would say would be a prudent move as needed. 

With all the garbage passing through the bee industry the last 25 years (tracheal, varroa, viruses, and other parasites) the bees do not hold up like they use to. (Sadly may I say) 

Being one of the original 20+- queen breeders in the Beeinformed project I can tell you that finding the answer to these maladies through breeding alone is not so easily attained. Over the years the queens we pick with their assistance are increasingly becoming "mutts" because those are the ones that are proven out by the data points we use for selection. They are better than what we had 10 years back but no where near "complete" when looking for traits that walk right over all the issues at hand. 

Therefore I might shout our very loudly that no mater what queens one uses the importance of bee nutrition and keeping mite counts low can not be understated as the primary steps in keeping ones bees alive and on a roll like they used to be. 

The bottom line is that good queens will help in this endeavour but breeding has not gotten us even close to the point where all the other factors may be even momentarily overlooked during any part of the bee season.





As I said.... no easy answer I'm familiar with.


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

I do enjoy an honest review of things. It's actually quite refreshing to see that there are those out there that are willing to put into words what needs to be said. 

I've been working bees on a personal level for a bit, and only recently became more into the sideliner business side of things. Mainly NUC production, but honey production is at the core as it should be. 

I see things more as you do when it comes to specific breeds. There is no perfect breed, nor likely to be any time soon, more so to be "mutts" in general. I like bringing in different lines for genetics mostly to keep inbreeding down but also to see if i can possibly get good healthy producers. Culling the bad queens, replacing with the more hardy producers from my grafting. 

Propper nutrition and keeping the pests down is always an important thing for anyone that wants to maintain a good apiary. I think that it is better to treat today, and have bees tomorrow to work with, rather than to let them die off and have to start all over again. Winter is bad enough to kill off the weak, I don't need to help with that by not tending to the bees needs.

So with all that said, looking at where things have come from so far with actual bee breeding, do you see an endpoint in the future where there is a "super queen" so to speak? One that they can breed to pick up all the great genes that beekeepers want, or do you see a point where they will get close and say "good enough" leaving off a few of the wanted traits?


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## Broke-T (Jul 9, 2008)

Thomas, Coy Honey Farm has two operations. Steven Coy is in South MS and does the Russian Queens. His dad and brothers are in AR and do honey and pollination. Was it Steven that you talked to? 

Johnny


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Broke-T said:


> Thomas, Coy Honey Farm has two operations. Steven Coy is in South MS and does the Russian Queens. His dad and brothers are in AR and do honey and pollination. Was it Steven that you talked to?
> 
> Johnny


Johnny, I called the main number for the business that was listed on my invoice from this spring. 601-928-7114 Perkingston MS is where they ship all the queens from. It was a man I spoke with, but didn't get his name.


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## Broke-T (Jul 9, 2008)

That was probably Steven, he lives in Perkinston. 

Johnny


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## gfbees13 (Sep 25, 2014)

Update: The website is back up. www.coybeecompany.com They begin taking orders for queens Jan. 15


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Apparently they've changed their minds, changed their website, etc. lol Glad they did honestly.


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## Smithcountybeekeeper (May 30, 2014)

hello all steven coy has a new company that is own by him . coy honey farms is just working on adding more bees for them. hubert tubbs russian bee breeder


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Smithcountybeekeeper said:


> hello all steven coy has a new company that is own by him . coy honey farms is just working on adding more bees for them. hubert tubbs russian bee breeder


Hubert - Does this mean that he is, or is not currently certified by the RHBA?


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## Smithcountybeekeeper (May 30, 2014)

drlonzo yes he is still certified and has been assign two other lines for backup of those lines. hubert


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Awesome ! I'm happy that he's still going to produce Russians.


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