Our Apiary
Our VSH-Russian/Carnelian/Caucasian cross bees are bred naturally from overwintered survivor stock, and are selected for mite resistance, gentleness and rapid spring buildup. VSH stands for Varroa Sensitive Hygiene, and is one of the keys to keeping healthy, mite-resistant colonies. The VSH trait was originated from USDA stock in Louisiana, and later developed commercially by a number of US commercial queen breeders.
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Bees exhibiting the VSH trait interfere with the reproduction of varroa mites by detecting and removing bee pupae that are infested with varroa mites. This VSH activity slows the spread of varroa, and keeps mite populations below damaging thresholds for long stretches of time, thereby reducing or eliminating the need for chemical treatments. Bees that are bred to have high VSH traits are not only vigilant in their resistance to varroa mites, but they are also super-hygienic in general, which gives them excellent natural resistance against American Foulbrood and Chalkbrood. By selecting for the VSH trait, most VSH breeders, including our queens, have greatly reduced the dependency on mite treatments, BUT, that does not mean that they should be considered "treatment free," we are a long ways off from that!
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HYGIENIC - MARKED QUEENS - WINTER HARDY - HIGH FORAGING ENERGY - GENTLE
Even though our bees are hygienic and are bred and raised in a closed apiary we treat all of our Queens, Nucs and Packages for varroa mites three weeks prior to pickup or shipping. We feel that the spread of the varroa mite can and will be stopped by consistent and thorough treatments by both commercial beekeepers and by the small or sideline beekeepers who understand that "treatment free" beekeeping is our end goal but for the time being we all need to be proactive and ensure that not only do we stop the spread of mite infestation, but we need to take every step necessary to halt this plague that is affecting our bees in its tracks.
We promise to do our part, and all we ask is that you do the same!
Five Frame Nucs
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Five frames of bees with established comb, honey, a mated queen, capped brood, larvae, eggs, pollen and honey. This is basically an established colony.
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Nucs will be available for pickup at one our many locations on 21May22. (Weather Dependent)
$235.00
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Pick-up only! We'll have pickup points in Cheyenne, Casper, & Gillette, Wyoming; York, NE; and Longmont, CO.
Three Pound Packages
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We offer our Three Pound Packages to customers on request only. These packages have a marked and bred queen and three pounds of bees that you can install immediately into your hive setup.
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These will start shipping on June 7th on a first come first served basis
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Free Shipping to your local Post Office!
Queen Bees
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After years of selling our nucs locally, we are now offering our Wyoming Ranch Raised VSH-Russian/Carnelian/Caucasian Queen Bees to the public. Our queen bees are from overwintered survivor stock colonies that have successfully thrived for a minimum of two years in the harsh Wyoming climate.
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Every queen bee that we sell is marked, and has been verified as bred/successfully laying for two weeks prior to shipment. We start shipping our queens after the first week of June and end around the end of August.
Our VSH-Russian/Carnelian queen bees are bred naturally from overwintered survivor stock, and are selected for mite resistance, gentleness and rapid spring buildup. VSH stands for Varroa Sensitive Hygiene, and is one of the keys to keeping healthy, mite-resistant colonies. The VSH trait was originated from USDA stock in Louisiana, and later developed commercially by a number of US commercial queen breeders.
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When you buy queen bees from Aitchison Land & Cattle Company, you will receive USPS tracking information and updates on your order, from the time your queens are shipped until the moment they arrive.
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ALL queen(s) will be shipped to your local POST OFFICE (NOT YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS) HOLD AT FACILITY via USPS PRIORITY MAIL. To ensure HEALTHY and LIVE BEES you MUST PICK YOUR BEES UP AT THE POST OFFICE (so they do not sit in a hot/cold mail box all day). You will be notified when the label prints and have the tracking number so you will know when to expect her. She will come in a queen cage, escorted by a few worker bees. This cage is designed to both keep her calm and cool in transit and to help slowly introduce her to your colony of bees.
WE MUST HAVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER FOR THE POST OFFICE
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Please note that due to weather conditions in spring in some parts of the country WEATHER COULD CHANGE YOUR SHIPPING SCHEDULE if temperatures are not safe for live arrival. In that instance, you will be notified.
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We do NOT guarantee the queens performance AFTER ARRIVAL as we have no control over a beekeeper’s set up, honey flow, experience etc. If you receive a DOA queen because of time in transit or other postal service issues, we will HELP you to file a claim with the post office (NOT FILE IT FOR YOU). We have over tens years’ experience breeding and promoting our winter hardy Ranch Raised Bees and have customers all over the country who have shared in our success with our bee stock. It is our hope that we can share our success and help other beekeepers promote a self-sustaining apiary whether its in your backyard with a hive or two or a commercial operation.
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Queen bees are an investment for your apiary, and we suggest that all beekeepers not only research the queen bee stock that will promote excellence in your hive yard but also seek out suppliers who are willing to provide customer assistance and share experiences with you. We are firm believers that there are NO expert beekeepers, but we do our best to ensure that we not only provide the best stock out there but that we are also there to assist you in any way we can.
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Free Shipping to your local Post Office!
We ask that our customers register the purchase of nucs and queens so that we can keep track of purchases and ensure that if we replace a queen, or nuc, that we are doing it for our customers as in years prior we have had individuals attempt to get replacements for queens, nucs, and packages that they purchased from others.
We are the only Apiary in Wyoming that guarantees our queens, and we strive to ensure that we do everything possible to help you become a successful beekeeper.