Pedigree queens
In addition to commercial queens, some Slovenian breeders also offer pedigree queens, which are pollinated at the Lučka Bela mating station.
Description of the mating station
The mating station is an area intended for the controlled mating of queen bees with selected drones. The area of the Upper Savinja Valley, especially the surroundings of Luče and Solčava, is almost an ideal area for this activity.
Already at the founding of ČZ SAŠA in 2006, one of the goals of establishing a station for breeding queens was. For this purpose, the Saša Beekeeping Center in Luče was built. During this time, the area of Luče and Solčava was also intensively inspected. A suitable location was sought to set up a breeding station. Among several options, the Lučka Bela valley was chosen for testing.
Location of the breeding station
Lučka Bela is a side valley of the Podvolovljek area and plunges deep into the Kamnik-Savinja Alps. It runs south-north and is about 6 kilometers long. It is surrounded by high mountains, on the west side Velika Planina, and on the east side the mountains towards Korošica and Ojstrica. Upon entering the valley, a steep ascent awaits us along a forest road through a gorge entrance. After about a kilometer, the terrain flattens out and the valley widens slightly. The stand of the sidewalks is located in a location that the locals call “Olcerska bajta”. After a good 500 meters we come to the stand of breeders, which is located at the location “Žegnani studenec”.
The Lučka Bela mating station started operating in June 2016. Already at its establishment, it was conceived as an open-type breeding station. This means that any interested beekeeper can bring their queens to it, of course, subject to the rules set for the breeding station.
Mating station activities
Drones colonies are located lower in the valley during the winter. This is mainly due to faster spring development, as the environment in the deep Alpine valley is unfriendly to bees, and care and treatment for the winter is logistically more appropriate.
Around May 15, we transport the sidewalks to their stand. Caring for sidewalks is a demanding job, especially in the valley, where there are no pronounced pastures. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly feed families in order to achieve adequate strength and thus quality trout. We use 10 AŽ hives for sidewalks, but we do not have mother grilles installed and there are no rear mesh windows. To ensure enough trout, at least two construction hives are inserted into the hive, where bees breed trout brood. When the queen breeding season is over, the trout are transported back to the winter stand at the end of September.
When the weather conditions stabilize somewhat, on June 1, the breeding station is ready to receive the first breeders. The capacity of the breeding station is about 50 stands, or about 200 breeders. It is necessary to pour sifted bees when preparing the breeder, there should be no trout present. Therefore, it is also necessary that the breeder, regardless of type, allows inspection before installation for the presence of trout without direct contact with bees. The breeder must be provided with food for a minimum of fourteen days, during which the success of breeding queens can be checked. If the queen is not pollinated during this time, she can wait another week, in case there is no brood at this time, such a breeder is removed.
Time frame of operation of the mating station
At the mating station, the season starts around 1 June, and the last breeders are expected to arrive at the station around 15 August, but this no longer makes sense later. The success of queen pollination is highly dependent on external factors, especially weather. Alpine conditions prevail in the Lučka Bela valley. This also means a high possibility of sudden strong storms, which can quickly spoil the performance of queen pollination. However, in recent years we have found that its success rate is over 70%.
To offer pedigree queens, contact the head of the breeding station:
Tomaž Lesnjak
Head of the Lučka Bela mating station
Mail: Tom.lesnjak@gmail.com
GSM: 00386 31 340 875