2024 Northern Queen

Our locally raised northern queens are available starting in June. The goal is to provide young, vigorous, locally adapted queens well acclimated to our northern weather conditions. The emphasis in all of the breeding programs is on selection for desirable traits, rather than striving for a pure, specific breed of bee. We select for winter hardiness, disease resistance, temperament and honey production. These queens are excellent for re-queening a hive or preparing nucs to be overwintered.

The mark color for 2024 is green. Extremely warm weather may delay shipment, in which case we will contact you.

We cannot ship queens with merchandise; all merchandise must be place on a separate order.

Please note queens can be picked up at Betterbee, or shipped by FedEx Overnight.

Overnight shipping offers overnight delivery of queens to the entire US and offers arrival of delivery Tuesday through Friday. Price is $29.00 for up to 20 queens. Please note we do not ship queens on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

Please see drop down for the dates of delivery. If you need a specific day of delivery, please call us at 800-632-3379.

If you are ordering two different dates, please order them on separate orders. There will be two shipping charges, as they will be shipping on two separate dates.

Cancellation/Replacement Policy and Terms:

• Queen acceptance depends on several factors beyond our control and for this reason we are only able to offer replacement if the queen arrives dead or if she is a drone layer
• Queens are living creatures and are perishable. Betterbee is not responsible for the loss of queens due to overheating once they are received by the customer. Bees must be kept cool (room temperature) and out of direct sunlight until installed in the hive. Queens should be installed within 1 to 2 days of receiving the queen and attendants. Give 1 drop of water daily until installed in the hive. 

Factors Important for Queen Introduction:

• Know the queen status of the hive. Hives with virgins or queen cells will often kill introduced queens.
• Place the queen cage between frames, preferably between frames containing brood.
• Hives that have been queenless for several weeks may develop laying workers. Consider adding a frame of young brood 1 or 2 days prior to queen introduction.
• Check carefully for queen cells and remove at the time of introduction.
• Push-in cages are one method that works very well for introducing queens.

Click Here for Installation Instructions.