Hello,
I’m a first year beekeeper and lost my queen due to a bear attack in August. I was hoping they would be able to requeen themselves as there were several queen cells but sadly no such luck 
Does anyone know where I could get a mates Queen this time of year? Preferably in New England… I live in southern NH.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Thank you!
~kelly
I’ve been looking myself and there just doesn’t seem to be any available right now anywhere on the US continent. I did find this site which does appear to have Italians but they are asking $90/ea! I don’t need one that bad!
Thank you so much Tick Tock… I might just pay the $90… it’s that or let my hive die out… ugh such a bummer!
You could try Mike Palmer in Vermont?
French Hill Apiaries
I’m not in New England, but I have mated queens for sale right now.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueens.htm
My climate is probably colder than yours. It’s about the same as Vermont as far as cold, but we get less snow.
That’s great news! I will definitely be ordering.
Thank you!
Hi Michael!
I emailed you to order a Queen but I’m not sure you got it. I would love to order ASAP. Please let me know the best way to do so.
Thank you much!
~Kelly
@Michael_Bush how early in the spring do you typically have queens? i’m building ‘diversity’ amongst my colonies with queens from a variety of no treatment breeders - including my own - and would love to add your stock but too late here on Long Island
Now that is an interesting concept.
Please don’t fade away but keep us all in the loop.
It would be wonderful if you succeeded but posted your losses for us all
…how early in the spring do you typically have queens?
Never before the end of June. Usually most of them are later than that.
Sure Dee - here’s what I have running right now going into the winter :
‘Home’ local bred queen/colonies ( I am in a woods setting on the North shore of Long Island with a lot of ‘wild’ bees & pollinators and temps get down to 0-20 over winter w/ snow). These were raised by California nurse bees & brood from #3 - the queen the made was from #3 eggs.
California ‘mystery meat’ package. This is my baseline of a typical package of Italians likely from California. They are by far the meanest so I suspect some Africanized behavior in there. Note: They were also the colony that tried to rob the others. I have heard others running Italians have noted their ‘greediness’. When I use packages (emergency & experiments) I typically replace the queens with North Eastern VSH ones and use the population to rear the brood & forage.
An overwintered queen set from Connecticut. This breeder defines this heritage as “VP Queen’s Spartan line(VSH) and Sue Cobey’s New World Carniolan line”.
I had a few other VSH queens from more Southern sources but the colonies they were introduced to superseded them. I’m looking forward to getting @Michael_Bush 's line in there along with a source in Maine & Canada. I have read there is a danger of over-optimizing the trait and creating OCD bees - we’ll see. Another trait I am looking for is successful defense of Yellow Jackets as that is a big problem where I am.
Note that all frames are natural comb at roughly 4.7-5 cm cell size with no drone comb removed. Will keep all posted on this.
Here’s a related study on re-queening packages with local queens: https://youtu.be/UTW4ykwm_m8
Thank you for making the time to post this
I too am trialing different bees. Thankfully we have no africanisation but I have had a very aggressive colony to live with.
I have a hopefully VSH colony but these things are in their infancy in the UK
We have a very high stocking density of beekeepers in these Little Isles so it is impossible for an ordinary hobbyist to keep a line pure
Dee. Sounds like you have some great diversity going on already. Do most of the keepers treat in your area?
That is a sore point with me.
Lots of beekeepers around me neglect their hives which turn into mite bombs.
There’s a huge difference between not treating in an improvement program and not treating, losing a colony and just buying a new one the next year to replace it.
I have to treat, even the VSH colony but the mite drop is significantly lower than the others.
I have Carnies, Buckfast and locals this year but next year I have a couple of AMM from Ireland on order. AMM are reputedly more susceptible to disease according to their detractors. We shall see.
I would love to get some Russians in my mix. Have not found a good source however. Good luck this winter!
Michael,
I received the new Queen this afternoon. I’m sure the bees will be thrilled to have some youngsters back in the hive soon. Hopefully everyone will settle in nicely over the next few days.
Thank you so much for your quick delivery!
Very excited to have your line 
I’m a big fan!
~Kelly
You sound like a president… 
Good point, it’s been done already.