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Both Dark Bee and Buckfast Types, Northumberland bred using instrumental insemination from selected colonies.
These bees after further selection can be used as breeding queens, either drone or queen mothers. They are the same breeding as we use ourselves to produce breeder queens. This listing is for an Instrumentally Inseminated Queen that is in her first season, approximately 4-6 weeks after inseminating to establishing laying, further selection/ testing will be required.
If looking for a proven II queen that is tested for breeding, please see our dedicated overwintered proven II queen listing but note overwintered / tested II queens are very limited in number and sell out quickly.
Please select your preferred type, delivery week and delivery day. You will then receive an order confirmation e-mail and on the order completion e-mail the day before your delivery day you’ll receive a tracking number. All queens are sent by Royal Mail Special Delivery.
Please order in good time as these queens are usually pre-ordered well in advance of the start of the season.
Note: for the 2025 season for the dark queens we are utilising black bee breeding stock that has tested over 90% AMM and have had great results heading towards as pure an AMM / british black as possible with these instrumentally inseminated queens.
£215.00
Instrumentally inseminated queen bees are available from June onwards. Both Buckfast (from Varroa Sensitive and Hygienic Stock) and British Black / Dark Queens available. Both types are selected from our own breeding stock.
This is for a first season II queen that is inseminated approximately 4-6 weeks before sale to ensure laying. Further selection will be needed. If looking for selected II queens, please check the overwintered proven II queen listing.
Instrumentally inseminated queens are available from June. Early weeks become booked very quickly so we advise if you are looking for an instrumentally inseminated queen for sale plan ahead and pre-order in good time.
Queens are caged on the same day as posting. Many producers will bank queens (ie cage for long periods of time in order to manage stock) we prefer to let queens lay fully up to the point of postage in this way you get a queen which is ready to get laying straight away.
We use the schley instrument for the instrumental insemination of queens. Selecting mature drones and inseminating each queen with approximately 8-10 microlitres of semen. Drones are selected to ensure purity of line and these drones are hatched, marked and matured above an excluder to ensure that these drones are from the intended colony for selection.
Queens for the process are hatched in an incubator and inseminated on day 9, receiving a second dose of Co2 on day 10. Following this the queen is introduced into a full sized nucleus colony and allowed to lay, her brood to hatch and laying pattern to be established before being released for sale. Hence the earliest we can produce Instrumentally Inseminated Queens for. Weather depending. All Instrumentally Inseminated Queens are supplied clipped, as they are clipped before introducing into their nucleus colony. The will carry either a coloured disc or multiple colour mark to trace lineage and will not correspond directly with the year colour code.
QUEEN INTRODUCTION Guidelines see our Queen Introduction Guidelines Page
For full terms and conditions for bee purchases please see here
| Weight | 0.01 kg |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 10 × 1 × 1 cm |
| Type | Buckfast VSH, Dark Bee (AMM) |
| Delivery or Collection Week | W/C 23rd June 2025, W/C 7th July 2025, W/C 14th July 2025 |
| Delivery Day | Thursday, Friday, Saturday |
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Company Number: 09432006
VAT Number: 233561914
AWRS URN: – Ask if needed
Office Number: 01434 322981
Address: Unit 6C, Haltwhistle Industrial Estate, Northumberland, NE49 9HA
E-mail: lukeandsuzie@northumberlandhoney.co.uk
Honeybee (verified owner) –
Our family purchased 2 of these in 2023 in the hope of having the calmest Buckfast bees possible in our little apiary/garden without the need to keep buying in young queens for a few years. We’d been told that Northumberland Honey bred very gentle Buckfast bees, and they certainly were, exceptionally so!
They arrived a little later than hoped as they were delayed by a couple of weeks because we were told that they still needed more sperm before they were sent to us. Although we only needed one, we bought two, the extra one was a backup, just in case one wasn’t successful; which was fortunate as one was superseded within a few months. However, the other produced some amazing offspring, as I’ll describe in a moment. Unfortunately though, her laying frequency wasn’t the best after a few months: We hoped it was because autumn was approaching, so we gave her time, but by the following spring her laying pattern became sparse and patchy. She was with us the following summer in a small colony of her own, but eventually she became a drone layer by early autumn, 14 months after her arrival. It was disappointing that she only lasted that long as we’d hoped that she’d last a few years and would balance out what we’d invested, especially as the other one was so short-lived, but we understand that nature gives no guarantee, even with a little human intervention.
Her offspring were incredibly calm, no smoke or gloves needed for the majority of the time! Plus, they yielded a fantastic amount of honey and the VSH genetics were present in all her daughters colonies! Very impressive. Luke was also extremely helpful in the early stages, too.
Five stars for everything but longevity/laying. Top marks for her offspring, as mentioned, they really were exceptional. Thank you for all your hard work to rear extremely high-quality UK bred bees.