IQBA Queens

Purchase Indiana bred & adapted mated queens, virgin queens & queen cells

Get top-quality queen bees from McComBees Apiaries, a certified breeder and member of the Indiana Queen Breeders Association (IQBA). Our queens are descendants of Instrumental Inseminated breeder queens and marked for their birth year. Trust in our expert care for strong, healthy colonies. Shop with us today.

IQBA Mated Queen

Get top-quality virgin queens from McComBees Apiaries, a certified breeder and member of the Indiana Queen Breeders Association (IQBA). Our virgin queens are the daughters of an IQBA
instrumentally inseminated breeder queen and second generation queens from IQBA field day stock. Available for sale a few days after emergence. Call to verify availability and schedule pickup.

IQBA Virgin Queen

Get top-quality queen cells from McComBees Apiaries, a certified breeder with the Indiana Queen Breeders Association. Our cells are carefully selected from strong, productive stock and available for purchase every 5 days. 15-day-old cells are ready for pickup, but younger cells require incubation during transport. Call to verify availability and schedule pickup. Give your hive a strong start with our expertly-raised queen cells.

IQBA Queen Cell

It's important to carefully consider the source of the bees and queens you purchase, as the genetics and health of the bees can have a significant impact on the success of your apiary. McComBees Apiaries specializes in small quantities of high-quality queens for hobbyist beekeepers. I am a certified queen rearer of the IQBA Indiana Queen Breeders Association, a not-for-profit corporation organized to train beekeepers in queen rearing techniques and to facilitate greater value and production of genetically superior cold weather survivor stock, parasitic mite and virus resistant queens. Rather than focusing on maintaining individual breeds, the goal of the IQBA is to promote stock that has proven in the field to have traits that are important to Indiana beekeepers.

Traits Important to Indiana Beekeepers

Disease/Virus/Mite Resistance

Gentleness and Workability

Productivity

Local Adaptability

Some of the genes in the IQBA stock come from the HHBBC Heartland Honey Bee Breeders Cooperative, a not-for-profit that involves the cooperative sharing of information, techniques, and disease-resistant genetics between queen producers in the states of Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Illinois. This sharing takes place annually in early June at a queen insemination event hosted by the Purdue University Honey Bee Extension.

Source of McComBees Apiaries Genetics

IQBA Instrumentally Inseminated Breeder Queen

Grafted Stock from the IQBA Field Day

Grafted Stock from My Apiaries

It's important to understand that, as an IQBA queen rearer, I'm committed to promoting the best queens possible. I'm selling the same queen genetics that have helped me achieve my beekeeping goals. Their overall performance, however, is heavily influenced by how they are managed in the field. There is no guarantee that you will achieve the same degree of success due to the many variables that go into how they are managed. However, by purchasing a queen from me, you will significantly increase your chances of success by taking advantage of the benefits outlined below.

Benefits of Buying Local Queens

Adaptive traits that match your environment

Queen confinement is kept to a minimum

Queen can be removed and reintroduced on the same day

A direct connection with a queen rearer in the area

$5 from the purchase of every mated queen and $3 from the purchase of every virgin queen and queen cell go to the IQBA to help finance the Queen Breeder Program.

All queen cells, virgin queens and mated queens are store pickup only.

The first mated queens are usually available for pickup by the end of May.

Virgin queens and queen cells are usually available for pickup by the end of April.

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