A Message From Our Reliable Honeybee Supplier!

Good Evening Beekeepers:

This is just an update on the spring bee order status 
for this year.  I am not sure if you are intending on 
ordering bees this year or not. About half of the 
beekeepers who ordered bees last year have already 
placed their orders.  Spring has been progressing well 
in California and from the looks of things we have hope 
that it will reach here as well.  A number of beekeepers 
in the Valley, Anchorage and on the Peninsula are 
wintering through; and it looks like this was a good 
choice so far this winter.  March seems to always be the 
hardest month to get them through.  If you have checked 
your hives and have found them light and in need of 
supplemental feed, I have winter patties here in stock. 

From looking at the long range seasonal forecast models 
our summer is expected to be a pretty good one.  Here is 
a link to it for those who want to see
:http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/two_class.php

We are now approaching the one month mark in the 
countdown to the first bee shipment.  For those who want 
to know what is happening in the bee yards down south, 
John’s team will begin to graft our queens in about a week.  
For us to get good mated queens the process takes about a
 month from the time the eggs from our breeder queens are 
laid until we have well mated and ready-to-lay queens. 

John is quite proud of the quality of queens that he 
produces and has a selection process for his breeder 
queens that ensures productive hives.  For the last 
several years he has been exporting queens into 
Canada expanding his selection process to include 
wintering traits applicable to continental climates 
found on the Canadian prairies.  He sent about 
10,000 queens last year into the commercial sector 
there.  I have always had the opinion that the 
commercial guys know far more what they are 
looking for in queens than I have experience to 
select for, which is one of the main reasons that 
I have remained with the same supplier for many
years.  He simply knows what he is doing.  The 
queen in your package is like the engine in a car-- 
get a good one…Perhaps you are wintering over 
one of his queens now.  If so, let me know how it 
is going. If you have not sent in your bee order, it 
would be quite helpful that we receive it soon so 

that John can plan to have our queens selected 
and ready for our packages.  As you know, our
website is set up to work with credit cards or you 
can follow your order with a check in the mail if 
you wish. As always, I stand by to help you with 
your order and throughout the season.

Steve

www.stevesbees.com
Package bees and beekeeping supplies

892-6175
315-5256