Virgin bee queen sale to celebrate our scientific publication!
Greetings to beekeepers in the height of the season!
With sunny greetings,
Notice! Today is the last day we accept orders for instrumentally inseminated queens!
Greetings beekeepers!
Today (May 31) is the last day we accept orders for 2024 instrumental inseminated queen bees (Buckfast, Ligustica, Carnica, Carnica-Carphatian cross). If you haven't placed your order yet, you still have the opportunity to do so on our website - https://www.smilga-spalvina.lv/queen-shop/
Orders for instrumentally inseminated queen bees for 2024 will be fulfilled in the order they were received, starting from mid-July until mid-August. Orders will be confirmed upon receiving the prepayment.
With respect, Agnese Smilga-Spalviņa
Notice! We accept orders for instrumentally inseminated queens for 3 more days (until May 31)!
Greetings beekeepers!
For just 3 more days (until May 31st) we are accepting orders for instrumentally inseminated queen bees for the 2024 season! Don't miss out and place your order now on our website https://www.smilga-spalvina.lv/queen-shop/
This year, we offer instrumentally inseminated Buckfast, Ligustica (Finnish Italian), Carnica, and Carnica-Carphatian cross queen bees. Instrumentally inseminated queen bees will be delivered to their new homes to beekeepers starting from mid-July until mid-August.
All queens and used drones are reared from selected breeder queens, tested in our apiaries. Upon receiving the queens, the beekeeper will also receive information on the origin of the queens and used drones.
In order for us to be able to send
European honey bee Apis mellifera queens to other EU countries, a mandatory veterinary health certificate must be attached to queen
bee shipments. The buyer have
to be registered in the TRACES NT system with the code: Terrestrial animal
establishment (HBEE-EST). This can be easily done by calling local
veterinary service. Read more on our web page section: HEALTH
CERTIFICATE TRACES NT.
With sunny regards, Agnese Smilga-Spalviņa
We accept orders for instrumentally inseminated queens for 4 more days (until May 31)!
Greetings beekeepers!
In order to receive the instrumentally inseminated queens, we have to plan and start the work 60 days before, rear and maintain the drones, rear the queens, perform insemination and test the brood.
Therefore, for 2024, we accept orders for instrumentally inseminated queen bees only until May 31! The order can be placed on our website https://www.smilga-spalvina.lv/queen-shop/
The order will be confirmed after receiving the prepayment by May 31!
The 2024 queen rearing season is in full swing!
We are happy to announce that we have started rearing queen bees and the first virgin queens have already gone to their new homes! Hopefully the weather will continue to spoil us!
If you have not yet made your order for queen bees for 2024, feel free to place an order in our online store - www.smilga-spalvina.lv/queen-shop/
We are happy to announce a new product in our Queen Shop - overwintered instrumentally inseminated queen bees!
We are happy to announce a new product in our Queen Shop - overwintered instrumentally inseminated queen bees!
If you're intending to rear queen bees for your apiary this year and replace them at your convenience during the season, consider purchasing an overwintered, instrumentally inseminated queen bee now to receive it by early May!
Overwintered instrumentally inseminated queen bees (Buckfast, Carnica, Carnica-Carpathian cross, Ligustica) are available in limited numbers. Visit and order in our online Queen Shop - www.smilga-spalvina.lv/queen-shop/
We are happy to announce that we are open for orders for 2024 beekeeping season!
We offer instrumentally inseminated, naturally mated and virgin queens of Carnica, Carnica-Carpathian cross, Buckfast and Ligustica. Read more about our 2024 offers on our website www.smilga-spalvina.lv!
With sunny greetings - Agnese
Greetings to all honey bee friends!
We are excited to announce that our website is undergoing improvements and our online store is being renovated in preparation for the 2024 beekeeping season.
If you want to receive an e-mail notification about the opening of the online store for the orders of season 2024, fill out the form here.
Sincerely –
Agnes
The last 2023 Finnish Italian (Ligustica) queens are available
Greetings to beekeepers!
At the end of the season 2023, it is possible to buy the last laying Finnish Italian queen bees for the late replacement of queen bees in the apiary to start the next season with new and productive queen bees.
Visit our Queen shop - https://www.smilga-spalvina.lv/queen-shop/
We deliver queen bees all over Europe via UPS courier to the address. Delivery time depends on destination country form 1 to 5 working days.
Till later -
Agnese
The last naturally mated queens of the season 2023!
Greetings bee friends!
At the end of the season, it is possible to buy the last laying queen bees (Buckfast, Finnish Italians) for the late replacement of queen bees in the apiary to start the next season with new and productive queen bees.
Visit our Queen shop - https://www.smilga-spalvina.lv/queen-shop/
We deliver queen bees all over Europe via UPS courier to the address. Delivery time depends on destination country form 1 to 5 working days.
Till later -
Agnese
Notice! Today is the last day we accept orders for instrumentally inseminated queens!
Greetings beekeepers!
Today (May 31) is the last day we accept orders for 2023 instrumental inseminated queen bees (Buckfast, Ligustica, Carnica, Carnica-Carphatian cross). If you haven't placed your order yet, you still have the opportunity to do so on our website - https://www.smilga-spalvina.lv/queen-shop/
Orders for instrumentally inseminated queen bees for 2023 will be fulfilled in the order they were received, starting from mid-July until mid-August. Orders will be confirmed upon receiving the prepayment.
With respect, Agnese Smilga-Spalviņa
Notice! We accept orders for instrumentally inseminated queens for 4 more days (until May 31)!
Greetings beekeepers!
For just 4 more days (until May 31st) we are accepting orders for instrumentally inseminated queen bees for the 2023 season! Don't miss out and place your order now on our website https://www.smilga-spalvina.lv/queen-shop/
This year, we offer instrumentally inseminated Buckfast, Ligustica (Finnish Italian), Carnica, and Carnica-Carphatian cross queen bees.
The price for Buckfast, Carnica, and Carnica-Carphatian cross queen bees is 120 EUR/queen, with a discount to 100 EUR/queen when ordering 4 or more queens.
The price for Ligustica (Finnish Italian) queen bees is 140 EUR/queen, with a discount to 120 EUR/queen when ordering 4 or more queens.
Instrumentally inseminated queen bees will be delivered to their new homes to beekeepers starting from mid-July until mid-August.
All queens and used drones are reared from selected breeder queens, tested in our apiaries. Upon receiving the queens, the beekeeper will also receive information on the origin of the queens and used drones.
With sunny regards, Agnese Smilga-Spalviņa.
Carnica-Carpathian breeder queen KK20
Photo: KK20 queen with her silver-colored worker bees.
Greetings bee friends!
In today's post I wanted to tell you about one of our instrumentally inseminated queen KK20 who is Carnica-Carphatian cross breeder queen.
She, along with her 5 sisters, are the selected breeder queens, which we instrumentally inseminated in the summer of 2020. For 4 years now, these breeder queens have been providing us with wonderful Carnica-Carphatian cross daughters, which have not only been sent to customers all over Europe, but we have also used their daughters in the creation of many new lines, so that we can preserve the wonderful characteristics of this cross even after these 6 breeder queens will no longer be with us.
While working with this cross, we have been surprised by the remarkably rapid colony development in the spring, their ability to work in unfavorable weather conditions, and their strong hygiene behavior. This cross overwinters very well with large colonies and with low feed consumption. They are gentle and take full advantage of early spring pollen and nectar. This cross is also highly suitable for queen rearing to establish rearing colonies, so we extensively use them in our apiaries. These queens have been our main helpers and often saviors in queen rearing.
We accept orders for instrumentally inseminated queens for 9 more days (until May 31)!
Review of sustainable cryopreservation and above-freezing storage solutions of European honey bee Apis mellifera drone semen
Photo: Agnese Smilga-Spalviņa and Krišs Spalviņš at the CONECT 2023 conference. (11.05.2023)
CONECT is an international scientific conference dedicated to environmental and climate technologies organized by the Institute of Energy Systems and Environment of Riga Technical University (RTU IESE). This was the 16th year that this conference was held, and this year 125 researchers from 24 countries visited Riga to present their achievements in environmental engineering.
I also had a great opportunity this year to present my scientific publications, which I developed as part of my doctoral studies. The topic of my doctoral dissertation is increasing the efficiency of European honey bee breeding work by developing various engineering and biotechnological solutions.
The first publication on this topic has already been published under the title "Review of sustainable cryopreservation and above-freezing storage solutions of European honey bee Apis mellifera drone semen”. The publication is already available in the open-access international scientific journal Environmental And Climate Technologies. The article is available by clicking on the link https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/rtuect-2023-0014 or by searching for the DOI number in any internet search tool doi.org/10.2478/rtuect-2023-0014. The appendix of the publication is available on the zenodo.org website https://zenodo.org/record/7866650.
We will inform you about the scientific achievements in beekeeping also in the future!
We have started the queen rearing season!
Hello bee friends!
We are happy to announce that we have started the queen rearing season!
The first queens will be born on May 6! This week we will begin contacting and coordinating deliveries with all those who have placed timely orders for virgin queens. If you place your order today, your virgin queen order is expected to be delivered around May 20.
If the weather conditions continue to spoil us in May, then we will start fulfilling the orders of naturally mated queens on a first-come, first-served basis starting from June 1. If you place an order today, your naturally mated queen order is expected to be delivered around June 15.
If you plan to purchase instrumentally inseminated queens this year, we remind you that we accept orders for instrumentally inseminated queens only until May 31.
In our apiaries, we carry out evaluation, selection, rearing, instrumental insemination and testing of bee colonies, as a result of which we offer our customers F1 (first generation) Buckfast, Ligustica, Carnica and Carnica-Carpathian cross queens reared from our selected breeder queens.
The price of virgin
queens is 8 EUR/queen.
The price of
naturally mated queens is 22 EUR/queen (when ordering 10 or more, the price is
20 EUR/queen).
The price of instrumentally
inseminated Buckfast, Carnica, Carnica-Carpathian
cross queens is 120 EUR/queen.
The price of Ligustica instrumentally inseminated
queens is 140 EUR/queen.
You can easily
place orders in our online Queen shop - https://www.smilga-spalvina.lv/queen-shop/
With sunny greetings - Agnese
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) about bee breeds...
Often, beekeepers already have preferences on what they expect from bee colonies. Some ask which bee colonies children and guests can visit safely, others ask which colonies will collect the first spring or winter rapeseed honey, while others - which bee colonies will be easier to overwinter, etc.
There are a lot of questions and depending on the need, it is possible to evaluate and choose the most suitable queen bee/bee colony according to characteristics of races. To make the choice a little easier, we have also prepared answers to the abovementioned and other frequently asked questions.
1. Which race of bee colonies are the most gentle to safely go to the hives with children and guests? Of all the races, the Ligustica (Italian) colonies will be the most gentle. When taking the comb out from the hive, the worker bees will calmly move around like little ambers. They will also be patient if the inspection of the colony takes a longer time.
2. Which race of bee colonies will collect the first spring honey better, incl. winter rapeseed honey? The bee colonies of Carnica will be the most suitable for collecting the first spring honey. Carnica bees have the earliest spring development, so Carnica will have larger bee colonies for the first harvest. Bee colonies with Carpathian "blood" will have an even earlier spring development.
3. Which bee colonies will make better use of the high summer nectar yields? Buckfast and Ligustica will make good use of the high yields in the summer, as they will support large colonies of bees throughout the summer. Carnica bee colonies will perform better during bad weather conditions and with lower available yields.
4. Which bee colonies are easier to overwinter? Both Carnica and Buckfast bee colonies will be easier to overwinter as they will have lower feed consumption and might not require additional feeding in early spring.
5. Which bee colonies will swarm less? Ligustica bee colonies will have the lowest swarming tendency compared to Carnica bee colonies. Of course, swarming will be affected by seasonal expansion of the bee colony, the type of hive chosen, etc.
* Each breed may also have colonies that may perform differently from the characteristics given in the answers, especially Buckfast colonies that cannot be clearly attributed to one type of characteristic. The behaviour of bee colonies can also differ from whether there is a nectar yield in nature and from the beekeeper's beekeeping practices, etc. conditions.
The recommendations and the given characteristics are based on our observations, during evaluation of bee colonies as part of our breeding work. You can also familiarize yourself with the characteristics of each race in detail on our website by looking at the offers of queen bees - https://www.smilga-spalvina.lv/queen-shop/
Which type of queens to choose: virgin, naturally mated or instrumentally inseminated? Pros and cons.
Hello beekeepers!
The weather has been very good for a week now and allows us to enjoy beautiful and sunny days and visit bee colonies. Certainly, some beekeepers, after the first spring bee colony inspection, have felt the need to plan for a purchase of queens this year, so the question might arise - which type of queens to choose: virgin, naturally mated or instrumentally inseminated?
To help you decide, we've compiled a short list of the pros and cons of each type of queen.
Virgin queens:
(+) At the beginning of the season, virgin queens are available at least 3
weeks earlier than naturally mated queens, which is essential for replacement
of old queens in main colonies or creation of new colonies as early in season
as possible,
(+) Virgin queens have a lower price than mated queens,
(-) Virgin queens need time
to go on the “wedding” flight, but there is a risk that favorable weather
conditions do not occur for a long time (rain, wind, air temperature below
19°C). If the queen does not take the “wedding” flight for a long time (beyond
14 days of age) there is a risk that the amount of semen stored in the spermatheca
will decrease, which reduces the productivity and life expectancy of the queen,
(-) Queens may not return
from the "wedding" flight for various reasons (queen gets lost,
returns into the wrong colony, is eaten by birds, etc.),
(-) Virgin queens are more difficult
to introduce to a colony than laying queens.
Naturally mated queens:
(+) The queen is mated and tested for laying and will resume laying within
3 days after introduction to the colony,
(+) Laying queens are easier to introduce to a colony than virgin queens,
(-) Naturally mated queens are available 3 weeks later than virgin queens,
(-) Naturally mated queens have a higher price than virgin queens.
Instrumentally inseminated queens:
(+) The queen is instrumentally inseminated, the origin of the drones used
for insemination is known,
(+) Instrumentally inseminated queens are intended for rearing pure (Buckfast/Carnica/Ligustica) virgin
queens,
(-) Instrumentally
inseminated queens have a higher price than naturally mated queens.
Virgin queens and naturally mated queens are intended to replace old
queens in bee colonies or to create new colonies. Instrumentally inseminated
queens are intended for rearing new queens for your own apiary or for queen
breeders to evaluate them and then rear queens for commercial purposes.
Evaluate and choose the most suitable type of bee queen for your needs and possibilities!
You can find out more about our virgin, naturally mated and instrumentally inseminated queens offer in our Queen shop - https://www.smilga-spalvina.lv/queen-shop/
Successful!
The first spring inspection in our apiaries 2023
Greetings bee friends! Spring is finally here, the sun shines and bee colonies collect the first pollen. We just did the 1st inspection of bee colonies in our apiaries. It is clear that the bee colonies’ development is starting only now.
We will monitor the weather conditions, the development of colonies and let you know when we start the queen rearing season and when the first virgin queens will be available!
If you have not yet managed to choose and order queens, you can do it in our online Queen shop - https://www.smilga-spalvina.lv/queen-shop/
Till later!
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