At the EMBA Monthly Club meeting on January 8th the attendees enjoyed a riveting presentation from Missouri Queen producer Cory Stevens. Cory is owner of Stevens Bee Co in Bloomfield, MO and is certified as an Eastern Apicultural Society master beekeeper. His honeybee breeding operation focuses on selecting for mite and disease resistant traits.
Cory emphasized that the importance of the queen as she carries all the genetic material for the entire colony. The queen’s genetics determine the color, demeanor, productivity, disease resistance and winter hardiness.
He told us how he has purchased breeder queens and has experimented with breeding different traits that he prefers. With some success & some failures.
Cory explained how he prepares his colonies to be good cell builders and how many days he leaves the cells in the colony before moving them to an incubator. He checks the viability of each queen cell. Cory sells virgin queens.
He shared his idea about why a queen that has been banked or below a queen excluder may be superseded because her foot pads have been damaged and how using a virgin queen may allow us to save a colony with laying workers.
Everyone in attendance left with a lot of valuable information.
We hope all beekeepers will attend our 13th Annual Beekeeping Workshop on Saturday, February 8th at Maritz in Fenton, Missouri from 8:00-5:00 to enjoy a fun filled day improving our beekeeping skills. Our faculty are all top professional beekeeping educators. Jennifer Berry & Gary Reuter. Get more information & register at https://easternmobeekeepers.com/event/13th-annual-beekeeping-workshop/
