About Kona Queen Hawaii
Quality Queens, Quality Service
Kona Queen Hawaii is located on the leeward coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. This area is protected by three large mountains ranging from 8,300 feet to nearly 14,000 feet. The mountains quiet the trade winds and provide a protective shield against larger storms. The result is nearly perfect queen mating weather for most of the year, enabling us to provide the industry with queens all year long.
Our Past
Kona Queen was founded in 1975 by two mainland beekeepers, James Powers and Roy Weaver. Together they pioneered large-scale queen production in the tropics.
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Gus Rouse purchased the business in 1992 after working as manager for twelve years.
Gus spent over 35 years carefully selecting the best honey bee stock and building Kona Queen into one of the largest queen producing operations in the world.
Our Present
In 2016, U.S. Honey Bee, LLC purchased Kona Queen and president Kelly O'Day took over business operations.
Prior to Kona Queen Hawaii, Kelly spent 17 years processing, packing, and distributing honey followed by 13 years as a mainland migratory beekeeper.
The company continues to grow under the leadership of Kelly and his management team. Kona Queen Hawaii is the longest-running queen producer in
the state.
Our Future
We are committed to continually improving our stock and investing in research that will benefit our customers and the industry as a whole.
Kona Queen Hawaii is interested in closing the gap between the scientific community and the commercial application of research. Learn about our Varroa-sensitive honey bee breeding project at www.paradisequeenhawaii.com.
