*Queens do not qualify for free shipping*

Randy Oliver and his sons Eric and Ian run the successful migratory beekeeping operation Golden West Bees in the California foothills, taking their hives to almond pollination each year, and then selling a thousand nucs each spring. This is all without using any synthetic miticides since the year 2001.

While monitoring their hives for mite infestation in 2017, they discovered a colony that maintained mite counts of zero, without any treatments. Sensing an opportunity to free their bees from the plague of varroa, Randy decided to begin a serious selective breeding program, starting with daughters grafted from that “Queen Zero.”

Each year they split and requeen all their 1500 hives, solely with daughters of queens that headed the previous season’s most mite-resistant colonies.

Starting with only a single resistant colony out of 1500, over the years they’ve slowly increased the percentage of their hives that exhibit complete or partial mite resistance. In the first years, heritability was frustratingly low, but by the 2023 season, in some yards over half their colonies maintained infestation rates below 2% over the entire course of the season, right in the middle of crowded apiaries with plenty of mite drift – without the application of any miticides.

The Olivers don’t select for “looks” and use their queens’ variation in color patterns as an indicator that they are maintaining enough genetic diversity in their stock. But they do select for performance.

They breed only from queens whose colonies are very gentle and healthy, exhibited above average honey production, and proved strong for almond pollination.

Queen Replacement video featuring Randy Oliver, Watch here.

Queen Options

• No Option Added – No Marking or Clipping.
• Queen Clipping – These queens will have 1 wing Clipped.
• Queen Marking – These queens will be marked with a painted dot on her thorax ( Color will depend on the year ).
• Queen Marking and Clipping – These queens will be marked with a painted dot on her thorax ( Color will depend on the year ) and 1 wing will be Clipped.

Queen Orders of 8 or Less will be shipped in 3 Hole queen cages with attendants. Shipped in a envelope or small overnight box

Queen Order of 9+ will be shipped in Mini Cages with candy tubes in a bag under the queens. Shipped in a Screen Shipping Box with loose bulk bees.

Queen Bee Shipping policy Click Here