Kona Queen Hawaii proudly offers Kona Italian and Carniolan / Italian hybrid queen bees from the Big Island's West side. These queens are bred for honey production, hygienic behavior, disease resistance, mite tolerance, gentleness and longevity.
Paradise Queen Hawaii on the Big Island's East side focuses on Varroa mite resistance without sacrificing top traits like honey production, gentleness and longevity. Paradise Queen Hawaii offers Paradise VSH Italian and Carniolan / VSH Italian hybrid queens.
Kona Italian
The Kona Italian is an Italian queen bee open-mated with Italian drones. This queen is yellow in color and produces yellow Italian offspring. The Italian or Ligustica honey bee is the most popular in the world. Kona Queen Breeder Queens and Drone Mothers are chosen from top commercial honey producing colonies. These production-proven queens pass other stringent tests regarding temperament, hygienic behavior, mite tolerance, and resistance to diseases. Our Italians produce large frames of brood in a tight pattern. ​Kona Italian queens will expand their brood patterns when stimulated and reduce brood rearing after the honey flow. These queens are selected to require less supplemental feeding than other Italian breeds. They are excellent honey producers and less likely to swarm.
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Carniolan / Italian hybrid
Kona Carniolan / Italian hybrids are pure Carniolan queens that have been open-mated with Italian drones. These queens produce a hybrid hive of Carniolan drones and Carniolan/ Italian worker bees. Carniolan or Carnica honey bees are known for their ability to winter well in severe climates and build up quickly in the spring. They will work in slightly cooler conditions than the Italian queens. Carniolan queens keep a tight brood nest with heavy stores of honey. They are conservative with their population when needed and increase quickly with the nectar flow. They are mated to our Italian drones to provide a hybrid colony with exceptional brood patterns and highly productive hives. ​Kona Carniolan / Italian hybrid queens pass the same stringent tests regarding temperament, hygienic behavior, mite tolerance, and resistance to diseases. Instrumental insemination is used to maintain and enhance this stock.
Paradise VSH Italian
Our Paradise VSH Italian queens are VSH queens that have been open-mated with VSH drones in our isolated breeding yards. This line has been carefully bred for nearly 10 years for Varroa resistance. They require little to no treatment for mites. The maternal stock that we started the VSH breeding program with originated from queens raised by Kona Queen Hawaii. These queens are a golden yellow color and all Paradise Queen VSH queens are marked for your convenience.
Carniolan/ VSH Italian hybrid
These are Carniolan queen bees that have been open-mated with VSH Italian drones in our isolated breeding yards. These queens are darker, almost black in color. All Paradise Queen VSH queens are marked a VSH specific color for your convenience. The 2025 VSH color is tangerine.
2025 Queen Prices
Due to high demand our inventory is very limited. Please call for availability.
Our 1,000 price is cumulative – once you reach 1,000 queens ordered in a year you get a rebate!
All VSH queens are marked for your convenience. This year's VSH color is tangerine.
FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING on all orders of 100+​​
$60 to ship up to 50 queens, $85 to ship 51 - 99 queens
Our queens ship in a three-hole wooden Kelley cage. Orders of 10 - 50 queens will be shipped with the attendants inside the cage with the queens. For orders of 51+ you may choose whether you would like the attendants inside the cage with the queens or outside of the cage, loose in the box.
MARKED: Add $2.00 per queen (2025 color = blue)​
​CLIPPED: Add $3.00 per queen
LOCAL HAWAII: Due to the presence of Varroa destructor mites, we are only permitted to ship queens to Oahu or within the Big Island per state regulations.
INTERNATIONAL: We offer queens for international export on a case-by-case basis. Orders for export should be requested at least 30 days prior to the date you wish to receive the queens to ensure time for proper permitting.
Order Now
Queens ship Monday through Wednesday only to ensure proper transit time before weekend closures. Minimum order = 10 queens.
We stop shipping for the year the week before Thanksgiving. This prevents the queens from being lost in the frenzy of holiday shopping and gives our bees a chance to rest. Due to high demand for spring queens, online ordering is unavailable from mid-November through mid-May.
Please call our office at 808-328-9016 to check availability!