2017 orders

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Jonathan Getty

I am taking orders now for June delivery
Order here

About Jonathan Getty

Jonathan Getty is a member of the Belfast & District branch of the Ulster Beekeepers Association and is at least a fourth generation beekeeper in the Getty family. His main beekeeping interest is queen rearing based on our native bee Apis mellifera mellifera. He started up the Belfast Minnowburn queenrearing group several years ago and it now has about 50 active members. He also manages about 30-40 colonies of his own. Jonathan holds a BSc Hons in Psychology from Queens University Belfast and gained a postgraduate teaching qualification at Stranmillis Training College. He is a fluent Spanish speaker.
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15 Responses to 2017 orders

  1. Raymond Frew says:
    February 16, 2017 at 3:04 pm

    Hi Jonathan,
    My bees have not survived the winter. Do you just sell queens or would there be any chance that you could supply me with a nuc.

    Reply
    • Jonathan Getty says:
      February 16, 2017 at 5:33 pm

      Hi Raymond. At the moment I am just selling queens. You could set out any spare equipment you have and there is a good chance of catching a swarm later on in the season. If the bees are not up to scratch it could be requeened later.

      Reply
  2. Kevin Knowles says:
    March 24, 2017 at 3:42 pm

    Hi Jonathan,
    Although only one of the two queens were accepted by their nucs the surviving one has survived the Winter. Not only that it has presented me with unexpected problems this spring. I fed them using an empty super box as an eke and, never having had an issue with this before, left a super containing empty frames on top of that. This spring I have a super full of ivy honey and a network of wild comb around the fondant they didn’t use!!! My other colonies brought in some ivy honey but only in amounts they put in their brood box. Looking forward to seeing what they can do in their first full year and the reason I have ordered another two of your queens

    Reply
  3. Mrs Femina Street says:
    April 2, 2017 at 10:18 pm

    How is the weather looking over there for the June delivery, ordered in January this year please Jonathan. Looking forward to the season. The small Black Bee swarm we caught in November sadly only made it to February, and although feed was available they wouldn’t take any. We tried Candypoline, 1:1 sugar syrup and fondant but they wouldn’t take any and unfortunately they succumbed to dysentery towards the end of February. On inspection of the Nuc we found many bees had died of starvation despite having food in the top of the Nuc, with their heads buried deep in empty comb.
    However our hybrids did very well and are busy exploding in size since the middle of March and no signs of dysentery, so nothing has transferred over from the Nuc to our main Hive. If we do well with the Amm. from your good self it will be interesting to see how well they do in comparison particularly in mite resistance as from what I am reading the A.M.M.’s appear to be naturally quite resistant to the little red blood suckers.

    Reply
    • Jonathan Getty says:
      April 2, 2017 at 10:22 pm

      Hi Femina. I usually start grafting in early May depending upon the weather. It is impossible to say at this stage when I will have an exact delivery date as it depends upon the mating weather towards the end of May and the start of June. Once a queen mates and starts to lay I have to wait another minimum 9-10 days to check that the brood pattern is ok.

      best wishes,

      Jonathan

      Reply
  4. Mrs Femina Street says:
    April 2, 2017 at 10:55 pm

    Okay thanks for the info Johnathon. We have placed a second order now as the info we have been gathering on the Irish A.M.M.’s seems to be that they are pretty much the purest strain in Europe, and your reputation seems to be very good.

    Reply
  5. David Mallindine says:
    April 22, 2017 at 11:35 am

    I think I ordered a queen by mistake by pay pal on your web site, if so please cancel the order and refund any monies, many thanks . David Mallindine

    Reply
  6. jeff Dulong says:
    May 3, 2017 at 11:29 am

    Hi Jonathan I am tempted to purchase 1 of your AMM to get a more native stock. What temper is to be expected from this line of bees please as my hives are in my garden with a couple of neighbours around. regards, Jeff

    Reply
    • Jonathan Getty says:
      May 3, 2017 at 1:27 pm

      The oft quoted stuff about Amm being ‘feisty’ is not true. I have zero tolerance of any bad tempered bees. I don’t even use a bee suit. My only gear I need is an observation smock.

      Reply
  7. Rusi says:
    May 5, 2017 at 11:32 pm

    Do you ship AMM to USA? If not, do you know of any source in USA that is selling them?

    Reply
  8. Graeme Strang says:
    May 10, 2017 at 9:10 pm

    Hi Johnathon,

    I placed an order for 3 Queens today. Would it be possible to get them in July?

    Thanks Graeme

    Reply

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