From all of us here at Long Creek Apiaries, we would like
to welcome you to our web site. We are happy to announce the formation of the Russian Honeybee Breeders Association. As a member of that organization, we have been given the
mission of carrying on the USDA-ARS Russian Honeybee Program. This association is no "good old boy" group where you pay your dues and say that you are producing pure Russian queens.
There are strict rules and procedures to follow to insure the integrity of the program. For example, a queen breeder in this program can have no other race of bees except the russsian stock. That makes sense, as one small mistake such as using the wrong race as a breeder can destroy the genetic diversity of the stock. Another requirement is that we do not only rear queens and breeders for this program, but we are improving the bee over time by selecting for the best honey production. We are also taking mite samples and breeding for the least
mite population growth. We have standards on placing drone production hives to flood the area with drones to ensure correct mating. All the queens produced in this program, including breeders, are naturally mated queens. This is just a small sample of the standards
for producing certified pure Russian queens. We have a trademark that will be released later
that will guide you in selecting breeders who sell queens from this program. The members of
this association are the only ones that can use this trademark and advertise that they are
members of the Russian Honeybee Breeders Association and can say that the queens are certified
pure Russian. Anything else "let the buyer beware".
We, along with the other association members, believe that if you do anything, you must do it right. So starting in the 2008 shipping season, we will only be producing Russian queens and package bees. Yes, our queens are higher than other queen producers are selling their queens and packages for, but you get what you pay for. Queens and packages from this program are higher because they are better and you will be getting true Russian stock. We think that
you will be totally satisfied with the quality of our bees. We look forward to helping you
as much as we can, we are just an email or call away.
I hope that you find the information online helpful. If we can serve you in any way, let us know. Email us at sales@longcreekapiaries.com