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'Pol-line' Hygienic Italian Breeder Queens with VSH

The 'Pol-line' hygienic Italian queens have a combination of the best traits required for pollination and high honey production. They were developed by the USDA to express Varroa Sensitive Hygienic behavior (VSH) to an optimum degree to control mites and brood disease, while maintaining the high productivity required in today's challenging commercial beekeeping environment.

Early Spring build-up for pollination demands Good brood production and large clusters for high honey production Calm and gentle temperament for easy workability Resistant to varroa, brood diseases, and tracheal mites Golden yellow color

Sorry, we are sold out of queens for 2011, we are now taking orders for 2012.

2012 Prices

Pol-line Hygienic Italian Breeder Queens............$125.00
Limited Supply

Shipping $50 UPS overnight delivery

Glenn Apiaries
PO Box 2737
Fallbrook, CA 92088
Phone/ Fax (760) 728-3731
glennapiaries@gmail.com

 

Background of the development of Pol-line queens

Bees with the trait of varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH), which have good resistance to the mites, were tested by researchers at the USDA Bee Breeding Lab in Baton Rouge, LA, for several seasons in a commercial migratory beekeeping operation focused on crop pollination.  Colonies were created from outcrossed VSH queens (that is, matings were not controlled, a method used by most large-scale beekeepers). Colonies were shipped nationwide and used to pollinate almonds in California, apples in New York, low-bush blueberries in Maine and cranberries in Massachusetts, followed by late summer honey production in New York.  VSH colonies performed well in terms of survival, populations of bees, and resistance to varroa mites.  The best-surviving VSH colonies from each year were propagated to form the Pol-line breeding population with enhanced genetics for both mite resistance and behavior related to crop pollination.  These Pol-line bees are now being marketed by a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) partner (Glenn Apiaries), and the germplasm should improve adoption of mite resistant bees by commercial beekeepers that pollinate crops.