Hello,
My family was given an Italian bee hive late this spring as a gift (package bees from down south), and we've lost two marked queens in a row and are queenless again! We had some queen cell production with the first queen, but as of today, the second package queen we put in there is now gone and there are no signs of larvae. We still have a lot of bees, but not as many as the start. Does anyone know of any Italian queen producers near the Syracuse, NY, area or anywhere close in our region? I don't want to go back to the same source I had for the other two queens, since these have seemed to be duds. I'm afraid I'll have to hang it up for this year, if we can't get these bees going with a good queen asap. Thanks you so much for your help.
I know Walter Kelley has queens. They can mail them. Unless that was your original source.
i wouldn't get hung up on breed. just get a good queen no matter what she is.