Package Bees & Nucs
Package Bees Spring 2012: We are bringing in packages of bees from California in April 2012. These packages will be a combination of 3 and 4 pounds with your choice of either a Hygienic Italian or a Carniolan queen. If you would like to be a part of this order please contact us immediately by email. (click here for email). The price is $120 for a 3 pound package and $130.00 for a 4 pound package.
Nucs: We are now taking orders for both the Italian and Carniolan cross.
Carniolan Cross: We have at the request of
beekeepers in colder climates a
Carniolan
cross. These Carniolan breeders are mated in an isolated area and observed
for a year prior to use in the breeding program. The Carniolan virgins are
mated with Italian drones, resulting in an excellent mix of both Italian and
Carniolan traits which many customers prefer. Click here to go to the page
on purchasing bees.
Italian Queens have been exclusively light-colored with
many fine qualities: the queens
are
very prolific, known for their rapid spring buildup, and they are very
gentle. Our customers are generally very pleased.
PACKAGES FOR SHIPPING: Now Taking Orders for 2012:
Packaged bees are $120.00 includes 3 or more #'s of
bees (a
good,
fat package), marked queen, feed, and new cage. Your choice of queen from
above. We will offer 4 pound packages this year for $130.00. To send an email for Packaged bees
click
here.
Nucs $175.00 each. They are 5 frame nucs
with a marked queen (your choice
from above).
The
nuc will contain 2 frames of honey with pollen and 2 frames of brood, and a large protein patty. There is nothing to
return on our nucs.
This nuc is ready to expand into a single hive and is the best insurance to
build up quick to make honey for the current season and to successfully
overwinter. To fully understand the term perhaps a description of what constitutes a nuc
would be helpful. A nuc or nucleus to give it its full title should consist
of 3 or 5 frames of bees, brood, both open and sealed, honey and pollen
stores and a laying queen of the current year. Often supplied in a box,
sometimes made of cardboard.
The nuc will have a laying queen (usually a young queen), several pounds of bees, drawn comb in which the queen is already laying eggs, some honey and pollen stores and is roughly four weeks ahead in development than a package of bees would be. The bee population in a nuc will not decline because new bees are emerging to replace worker bees that die. The hive made up with a nuc will develop much faster than a hive made up with a package of bees. To send an email for Nucs click here.
Marked Queens are $25.00 each. Your choice from above. We do not ship queens because of the high losses we are having with the freight companies, but will hand deliver when possible. We are delivering queens based upon a delivery schedule and route. To receive updates on queen delivery schedules send us an email: click here.
Shipping is additional. SHIPPING: UPS Next Day Air to all U.S. locations. Cost is variable depending upon your location. Please call for shipping cost. SHIP DATES: We ship for a period of 4-5 weeks beginning mid to late April. We ship UPS Next Day Air Monday through Thursday. SCHEDULING: Availability is variable from year-to-year, but generally we sell out early. We begin pre-scheduling orders in January.
We will continue with summer production of nucs and queens, but no packaged bees.
We are Breeding for the following lines of Queens
These will be available after June 1st.
The 'Pol-line' hygienic Italian queens. We use breeder
queens from
Glenn Apiaries in our
breeding operation. These queens have a combination of the best
traits required for pollination and high honey production. They were
developed by the USDA to express Varroa Sensitive Hygienic behavior (VSH) to
an optimum degree to control mites and brood disease, while maintaining the
high productivity required in today's challenging commercial beekeeping
environment.
Carniolian Queens. We use breeder queens from
Glenn Apiaries
in
our breeding operation. Carniolans are known for their winter
hardiness and rapid spring build up. They are excellent honey
producers and comb builders. They have proven to be exceptionally
resistant to tracheal mites. This is
Glenn Apiaries
darkest colored line of bees.
Glenn Apiaries'
Carniolans have been crossed with VSH bees for enhanced resistance
to Varroa mites.