Please order all Queens separately from other products, failure to do so may result in delays, incorrect tax being calculated, or incorrect postage being applied (or not at all). If you are ordering Queens for different dates these must be made separately so you are charged the correct postage, otherwise additional postage will be due. This includes mixing an order with different breeds available at different dates! THE DATE YOU SELECT IS THE DAY OF DISPATCH.
Carniolan bees are beautiful to work with and very hard working, they produce big stores for the winter and are prolific in the spring.
Available during early May - September 2025. Marked & mated Carniolan Queens.
We now offer a full 7 day next day Queen service using Royal Mail Special Delivery® parcels! *Excluding bank holidays
You will receive -
- A marked (Blue for 2025), open mated, unclipped, Carniolan Queen (with 4-6 attendant bees) in a slow release candy introduction cage (Nicot, Lyson, JzBz or equivalent).
- Full A4 colour double sided instructions covering various methods of introduction & scenarios. You can view our full introduction guidelines here.
- A fully marked "LIVE BEES" ventilated jiffy bag (or box for larger orders).
- Acceptance is never guaranteed, please bear this in mind as we cannot do anything should your colony reject the Queen (even when following our instructions).
This is a stock controlled system, our availability runs Thursdays - Wednesdays each week. Select your preferred allocation week and the day in which you wish for your Queen(s) to be dispatched (NOT THE DAY OF ARRIVAL).
You will receive a confirmation of your order upon completion containing all details selected when ordering (including your selected dispatch date!), please check your spam folders and ensure your email address is 100% correct, typos are a common issue. On the day of dispatch you will also receive a shipment email, this will contain your Royal Mail tracking number with a direct link to their Track & Trace service.
Please note to beginners - you cannot start a colony with a queen only, you require a 5 /6 frame nuc to start beekeeping.
We are the UK's number 1 for Queen Bees, with over a decade of retailing Queen Bees you can count on our reliability and quality to deliver your stock, on time, as needed. Check our outstanding Trustpilot feedback -
Imported from one of the best pure breeders of Carniolan Queens in Hungary.
About the Carniolan Breed
The Carniolan honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica Pollman) is a subspecies of the western honey bee. The Carniolan honey bee is native to Slovenia and to some regions of the former Yugoslavia, southern Austria, and parts of Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.
The bee is the subspecies of the Western honey bee that has naturalized and adapted to the Kočevje (Gottschee) sub-region of Carniola (now in Slovenia), the southern part of the Austrian Alps and the northern Balkans. These bees are known as Carniolans, or "Carnies" for short, in English. At present this subspecies is the second most popular among beekeepers (after the Italian bee). It is favoured among beekeepers for several reasons, not the least being its ability to defend itself successfully against insect pests while at the same time being extremely gentle in its behaviour toward beekeepers. These bees are particularly adept at adjusting worker population to nectar availability. It relies on these rapid adjustments of population levels to rapidly expand worker bee populations after nectar becomes available in the spring, and, again, to rapidly cut off brood production when nectar ceases to be available in quantity. It meets periods of high nectar with high worker populations and consequently stores large quantities of honey and pollen during those periods. They are resistant to some diseases and parasites that can debilitate hives of other subspecies.
*Only shipped next day if instant payment such as bank transfer or PayPal is used. Cheques need to be cleared prior to post.
**Successful introduction is never guaranteed, unfortunately this is nature where nothing is guaranteed!
