Zia Queenbees Farm & Field Institute
CELEBRATING 20 YEARS!!!
~Quality through the Seasons~
Zia Queenbees Farm & Field Institute
CELEBRATING 20 YEARS!!!
~Quality through the Seasons~
About Zia Queenbees Farm & Field Institute
Our Story
ZQB was founded in 2005 by native New Mexican Melanie Kirby (Tortugas Pueblo) and Mark Spitzig from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Together we have over 50 years of experience of professional bee breeding selecting bees from around the country to develop a cross-stock of bees that are adaptive and resilient. In addition to raising queens in the the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast, we also offer starter nucleus hives, packages of bees, queen cells, virgin queens, pollination services, educational outreach and, we conduct consilience research with collaborators around the country. We celebrate 2024 as our 20th year sharing bees and being of service to our communities!
THANK YOU! TAH-AH! GRACIAS!
Our Mission
We acknowledge that we are stewards of the land and it is our foundational value to express gratitude for the cultures and communities that we are a part of and whom we serve. We practice respect for the land, reverence for Nature's blessings, and responsibility to promote reciprocity by integrating whole-systems, regenerative, and conscientious management. We are grateful to the bees that have the magnificence to create life, food, and medicine for the world. It takes a community to support pollinators. We hold reverance for the Zia sun symbol which is also a symbol of life- through the 4 Directions, and the 4 Seasons, the times of day and the stages of life- from infancy to elderhood, we are humbled to care for bees as they care for us.
Our Products
ZQB selects bees for the heritable trait of longevity that includes field testing for hygienic behavior, pest/pathogen resistance, overwintering ability, productivity, fitness, gentleness, and endurance. We offer :
- Breeder Companions
- Mated Queens
- Queen cells & Virgins queens
- Starter nucleus hive families
- Packages of Bees/Caged Swarms
- Pollination services
- Hive products
- Consultations