Bees & Honey
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Vermont Queens
At the heart of Vermont Bees is our breeding program. We believe strongly in the value of locally adapted stock. We want queens which are born and raised in Vermont, and that’s what we offer to our customers.
We have a particular interest in genetic diversity and regularly acquire a small number of queens from other selection and breeding programs that interest us. We test them for at least two seasons under our management before including them in the breeding pool.
Each year, we raise queens from the colonies which have performed well in our climate and under our management over the last two seasons or more. We select for overwintering success, longevity, honey production, gentleness and resistance to disease. We also test our breeder queens using Freeze kill and UbeeO assays.
In 2023, Bianca had the great privilege of training in instrumental insemination techniques with renowned expert, Sue Cobey through Penn State’s EPIQ Program. This important skill helps us enrich our program through controlled mating.
We are a small business and produce most of our queens for our own use. However, we do raise a limited number of queens each season for sale to other beekeepers.
Contact us about queen pricing and availability in 2026.
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Overwintered Nucleus Colonies
Our nucs are created with one of our Vermont queens in June or July of the previous season. They are built up to strength and weight by autumn. They were not shipped South to avoid the cold, but remain in their location to be tested by a proper Vermont winter. In the spring, the best colonies are reduced to four frames of brood and bees belonging to that overwintered queen and enough food to get started. So, when you buy one of our overwintered nucleus colonies, it contains a queen that has been tested in Vermont for nearly ten months before she’s deemed ready to be sold. The bees and brood in the box with her are her own offspring.
Contact us if you wish to be our list for overwintered nucleus colonies in 2026.
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Vermont Wildflower Honey
The unique combination of flowering plants in Northern Vermont result in some of the best honey in the world. Maple, dandelion, honeysuckle, sumac, clover, raspberry, basswood, knotweed, goldenrod, and aster are just a few of the major wildflower blooms we see each season. We take special care to avoid overheating our honey in order to keep it raw and unfiltered. Our honey is strained to remove particles of wax, but is otherwise natural and raw. We do not blend (adulterate) with other substances to make it go further, and it is not mixed with any imported honey from other beekeepers. It is made from flowers within 25 miles of our home in Swanton, Vermont. You’ll taste the difference.
We offer our honey in 3/4 lb (half pint), 1.5 lb (pint) and 3 lb (quart) canning jars.
Contact us for pricing
If you’d like to order online for home delivery, you can do so through our friends at Marvin’s Country Store.
Our Honey can also be purchased at:
The Green Goddess Natural Foods
And in Recipes at: