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Spend £60: FREE Delivery | Spend £70: Choose a FREE Gift Delivery Info Here
Free Delivery £60+ | Free Gift £70+
Instrumentally Inseminated Queen Bees will not be routinely available for pre-order during 2027.
Instrumental insemination is primarily used within our own queen-breeding programme, allowing us to make controlled genetic combinations between selected queen and drone lines.
Where an instrumentally inseminated queen becomes surplus to our breeding requirements, a limited number may occasionally be released for sale through this page.
If this product shows In Stock, an II queen is currently available
Instrumental insemination allows us to control both sides of a queen’s pedigree, deliberately combining selected queen-mother and drone genetics within our breeding programme.
We use instrumental insemination alongside open mating and selected drone populations to develop new combinations, maintain important breeding lines and evaluate genetics through subsequent generations.
Importantly, instrumental insemination does not itself make a better queen. The resulting queens and their daughters still need to demonstrate the characteristics we are looking for through evaluation and daughter testing.
II queens will not form part of our routine commercial queen production during 2027.
Our instrumentally inseminated queens are primarily being retained within our own breeding programme for further evaluation, daughter production and future breeding.
Occasionally, an II queen may become surplus to our breeding requirements. Where suitable queens become available, they may be released through this listing in very limited numbers.
There is no advance pre-order or waiting list for these queens.
Instrumental insemination is one part of a much wider breeding programme developed in Northumberland through more than a decade of queen breeding and commercial colony selection.
Our breeding records include controlled pedigrees, daughter testing and the performance of colonies under commercial conditions, with the Northumberland Buckfast now forming our principal commercial breeding population.
For considerably more detail on our breeding lines, pedigrees and selection programme, visit our dedicated Queen Breeding page.
EXPLORE OUR QUEEN BREEDING PROGRAMME
| Weight | 0.01 kg |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 10 × 1 × 1 cm |
| Type | Buckfast VSH, Dark Bee (AMM) |
| Delivery or Collection Week | W/C 6th July 2026, W/C 13th July 2026 |
| Delivery Day | Thursday, Friday, Saturday |
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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.
Andrew Gourlay (verified owner) –
Fabulous Company!
Fabulous Customer service !
Fabulous Buckfast breeder received!!
It can’t get any better than this!!!!
I cannot fault the service and attention to detail that has been received from Luke, cannot fault any part of the experience with Northumberland Honey!!!!
Excellent work !
Andrew Gourlay (verified owner) –
Fabulous Company!
Fabulous Customer service !
Fabulous Buckfast breeder received!!
It can’t get any better than this!!!!
I cannot fault the service and attention to detail that has been received from Luke, cannot fault any part of the experience with Northumberland Honey!!!!
Excellent work !
Andrew Gourlay (verified owner) –
a great company – faultless service