Our interest is in localized stock. We want queens which are born and raised in Vermont, and that’s what we offer. Because of our working relationship with Mike Palmer, our stock has been heavily influenced by his.

That said, we also 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 operation over the last two seasons or more. We select for overwintering success, longevity, honey production, gentleness and resistance to disease. Because of our participation in ongoing research with the Vermont Bee Lab, we have been testing our breeder queens with UbeeO technology.

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 2024.

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 one full year before she’s deemed ready to be sold. The bees and brood in the box with her are her own offspring.

Our winter survival rate this year appears to be over 92% and we are fortunate to find our bees looking healthy and strong. However, we are set on growing our apiary and will need all of our overwintered nucleus colonies for the expansion of our business.

Therefore, we will not be selling nucs in 2024.

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