The animal traffic database TRACES.NT was launched at European level to promote animal health and to better address certain risk factors, such as the spread of animal diseases. The use of this animal traffic database is also mandatory for beekeepers and beekeepers who move breeding queens or colonies abroad or import them from abroad.

In order to be able to ship the queens to customers who are not based in Austria, it is necessary that the customer is registered in the European animal traffic database TRACES NT in exactly the following way:

Activity Type: Terrestrial animal establishment
Classification section: Honeybees establishment HBEE-EST

Using our own beekeeping as an example, the entry is as follows:

In order for the order to be processed successfully, it is important that the purchaser is satisfied at the time of placing the order that his registration meets the criteria listed above and, if necessary, contacts his regional veterinarian to arrange for his data to be recorded correctly.

Experience shows that a short phone call is usually sufficient. The veterinarian enters the data online into the animal traffic database, thereby enabling the TRACES export documents required by the authorities to be created.

We collect artificial swarms each season around June. Because of our operation mode in the honey production we have just a small contingent available each year. Our recommendation is to order at latest by the end of May.

Note:
Below the price in the article description within the shop you can find out the acutal status of delivery time.
Possible options are 

• preorder now
• on stock
• sold out

We ship queens in running order of incomming orders, provided the receipt of payment. Since we try to make a coupe of Sklenar lines available each year, it can happen, that later arriving orders with another line could be shipped earlier.

In the product description in our webshop there is an estimate pointing at April. But please keep in mind, that this ist just a guess, as the actual handover time depends on a lot of different factors (season, weather, bees,...). We won't hand over any colonies, wich do not meet our groth expectations 100%.

We fully understand, that everyone is excited to get her/his bees but please trust in our ability to judge.

Introducing a new queen into a colony is not in 100% successful. We can not take responsibility for lost or stabbed/killed queens. Please inform yourself (take a course or read literature) to find out the most suitable variant for your situation to avoid mistakes and minimize risks. We expressly point aut, that we won't refund or compensate in such cases.

To be able to run a professional commercial queen breeding business, it is necessary to make orders binding. The safest way to reach this is still advance payment (bank transfer or paypal).

In some rare cases it could happen, that an already paid order (nucs or queens) can not be shipped because of unpredictable events. Examples therefor are exorbitant winter losses on overwintered colonies or imperfect mating success at the mating station.

In such situations we immediatly inform the customer as soon as the non-fulfilment is determinated. At the same time we fully refund the price the customer paid using the same payment way the customer used.

Drones can fly up to 80 kilometers. Because of that reason you can never exclude 100% in bee breeding that unwanted drones reach an unmated queen. In these extraordinary cases we offer you 2 possible options.

a) Send us back the fail mated queen and we send you a replacement queen as we have one available.

b) Send us back the fail mated queen and we fully refund the paid price.

We respect the protection of native, endangered bee populations from uncontrolled outcrossing. We ship our queens to European Union countries, excluding Bulgaria, Greece, Ireland, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sicily. Outside the EU, sales are only made in Switzerland. In doing so, we follow the recommendations of international breeding associations in terms of respect for native bee breeds.

If you have ordered nucs, then you bring an empty magazine in the same measure of the ordered nucs to the agreed delivery date. On site, all combs are then transfered in your hives and secured for transport. With a closed flight hole you can then bring the hives to their new destination. There you only have to open the entrance holes.

Basically, you can change queens over the entire season. If you create nucs, queens can be very successfully transferred into in May or June. To change queens in hives during the honey season is the most difficult challenge. It is advisable to wait for colonies to be hopeless queenless after removing the old queen. Then the exchange will work fine during this time as well. Otherwise, September is considered the simplest month for queen exchanges.

We recommend the following procedure:

• Make sure that there is no other queen in the colony.
• Check for the presence of queen cells and remove them if necessary.
• Check that there is little or no open brood.

In summer: After removing the old queen, wait a week, complete the above points, and then place the queen in a cage (e.g. Nicot) under a sugar dough cap. Then wait at least 14 days before going through the colony again.

In autumn: Due to the advanced season, it usually takes a good 2 hours difference between removing the old queen and adding the new queen.

Just like the humans, queen bees are not all the same, even if they are sisters. By ordering at least 2 queens you reach the minimum order volume and are even more likely to be convinced of the quality of our breeding work. In addition, it is - especially for customers from abroad - much more cost-effective to order at least 2 queens.

The shop Sklenarbiene.com is a collaboration of the two organic beekeeping operations Bio-Imkerei Obendorfer and Bio-Imkerei Beck. We do the breeding work together in large parts, so that in the field of genetics, no differences are noticeable. Which of the two companies actually delivers to you or invoices, is regulated internally by us and is visible for you in the product description and of course on the accompanying invoice.

We got along with the "Sklenar" bee, but also through our membership in the ZAC! breeding association, dedicated to the conservation, development and dissemination of the European honey bee with the scientific name Apis mellifera carnica. Its original name is Krainer bee or Carinthian bee, the common short form for it today is Carniolan.

According to Friedrich Ruttner¹, the main characteristics of the Carinthian bee are:
Shape: medium-sized, slim, long body appendages
Overall appearance: gray, gentle, calm
shell color of the abdomen of the workers: dark, sometimes leather-brown corners and 1 ring (no hybrid mark)

¹ Friedrich Ruttner, Zuchttechnik und Zuchtauslese bei der Biene, page 131ff, 5th edition 1983 Ehrenwirth Verlag ISBN 3-431- 02555-2

In addition, we determine the wing indices (cubital index, dumbbell index, dicoidal displacement) for all breeding mothers. This morphological racial characteristic is calculated from the length ratios of the wing veins. The mean value for the Cubitalindex of Carniolan should not be below 2.7; in the range of (2.3 - 3.2).

Basically we can say the earlier the better. The ecological certified bee market is kind of small and so in most years nucs are already being sold already in autumn. If you want to be on the safe side we recommend to order before the end of the year.

Note:
Below the price in the article description within the shop you can find out the acutal status of delivery time.
Possible options are 

• preorder now
• on stock
• sold out