About our Project

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Our Queens are sourced from multiple sources from Northern stock, and we also offer options for Southern stock for pollinators. Our sources include Redline, Purdue, Bob Carpenter, Harbo and more, and were acquired during the span of multiple generations, with each generation of queens selected to be  of superior performance from the last and destined to become our breeder queens. 

Our Live Queen bees are selected for size, resistance to both diseases and every day pressures that are forced upon them through modern day challenges. They are grafted at less than 12 hours post-hatch, to guarantee genetic potential in our queens, which allows for potent trait and characteristic genetic expression.

We use artificial insemination to guarantee our queen's genetics, and openly mate our queen's daughters with VSH and Mite Mauler drones from Italian, Carniolan, and Cordovan Italian colonies, all of which are gentle, very hygienic, excellent honey producers and very fertile. Furthermore, our queens are grafted on the day of hatch to guarantee the best possible queen fitness potential.

Here at Honeybee Research Project strive to provide the best genetic opportunities in our queens suited for novices, seasoned beekeepers and commercial beekeepers alike. To achieve this, we select only the best of the best breeders in our yards. We do this through a sophisticated, scientific method that we have taken inspiration from, and modified over many years to help us reach our goals.

We score our queens on a point system, where all aspects of performance are observed, tallied, and recorded. We account for many factors, including: Gentleness, Fertility, Varroa Hygiene Sensitivity(for VSH by individual uncapping of drone frames in combination with mite fecal traces), Mite Mauling gene expression(Under-Microscope tests for dead mites due to mangling), allogrooming frequency and honey crop production.

We choose not to treat our naturally resistant hives and instead choose to pave the way forward towards a truly miticide and treatment-free alternative to beekeeping through methods of selective breeding with the intensive help of Instrumental Insemination. This way we can produce high-quality live queen bees for sale.

To achieve that, we combine only the best queen stock, state of the art practices in instrumental insemination, and perform various forms of testing on our breeder colonies to ensure all our hives meet a standard of disease resistance, where miticides no longer become necessary. 

Additionally, as our business revolves around natural alternatives, we have slowly been transitioning to plastic-free beekeeping. Instead, we now use the good 'ol traditional frame and wire setup, which we have found the bees to take more quickly to and hesitate less to build on.

Is to be the change in beekeeping. For decades, we have relied on miticides, pesticides, and chemicals to treat our bees for diseases. Research done on other animals show that long-term pesticide use - including miticides - has been linked to the slow and steady destruction of DNA, which weakens, and, ultimately, compromises the transferability of genetic material during sexual reproduction. This results in weaker offspring susceptible to diseases, and weakly expressed genetic traits that could potentially benefit our pollinators. There MUST be a better option!

One of the biggest challenges the Honeybee faces today is NOT what you think! 

Genetic diversity is the weakest link of the honeybee. We must do better, and find alternatives that are good for honeybees, the environment, and ourselves. 

Join us on our long journey as we 'uncap' the genetic potential of mankind's most prized insect - the honeybee.