Bees-Starter/Nucleus Colony-Mite Mauler Italian

We are not selling nucs in 2026. 

This because of the Bee Die-off of 2024-25; we are reselecting stock that is resistant to virus and Nosema based stressors. This is a rebuilding year.

Queens still available Late-May - September.

We love our friendly little honey bees, and the honey that the work so hard to make. We now sell both honey and honey bees.  Always Summer Herbs is participating with other bee breeders to raise bees that do not require chemical treatments. We have been awarded 8 grants from the US Department of Agriculture, by the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Experiment (NESARE and SSARE) grant program.  We are now a part of an initiative with both Purdue and Penn State Universities breeding bees that bite the legs off of the varroa mites which have been plaguing them.  We believe happy hardy honeybees are the future.

Mite-mauler queens are bred from redline genetics that were selected for chewing, (see below pic of: Bob Carpenter below who started selecting redline bees for chewing back in 2015)

They tend to be lighter and produce more honey.  Honey production tends to be over 120 pounds, and overwintering in larger clusters. They are very hygienic showing brood removal when we test them using Kiara Wagner's or Buchler (pin-killed brood) assays.  Very gentle in nature, and tend to maintain larger colonies.

For directions best to use Google maps, you MUST turn right just after railroad tracks; or you can't get there from here. 724.967.1957 c if lost. 

For more details on the genetics refer to the work we did w/ the USDA SARE grant program (google FNE17-863, "Pennsylvania queen bee improvement", or "Mite Biting Behavior", and facebook: Heartland Honey Bee Breeders Coop)

You can also make a deposit for your nucs using this website. 

WE DO NOT SHIP NUCS. YOU HAVE TO PICK UP OR ARRANGE DELIVERY.