Local Bees
Throughout the season, we will be obtaining bees from swarm captures and live bee removals. We only keep a certain number of those for our purposes. The rest we will sell to area bee folks for $35.00 per colony with a trade for 5 frames. The cost will be $45.00 if you have no frames to trade. For $55.00, you get the bees, the frames and get a wax cardboard nuc box.
These are local bees that have not been raised under beekeeper management at the time of capture as far as we know. A swarm could come from anywhere, ranging from an area beekeepers hive to a feral colony that built it’s nest from the same year to several years prior.
There are no guarantees to the health and successful breeding traits of locally captured bees. They are sold “As Is”.
Local bees are sold on a “First Come, First Serve” basis depending on where your name is on the sign up list for the season. The sign up sheet below will allow you to add your name to the list.
Ideally, because we have no control over when and how frequently we will be called for bee removals and swarm captures, these should not be your “primary” bees if you are starting out from nothin in the season.
Also, these bees may require extra attention so we suggest that first year beekeepers be absolutely sure they are up to the task of keeping these bees alive.
When you sign up, you will be signing up for one (1) nuc. if you would like more than one, please sign up for each nuc you would like.
You will be called to come buy the bees when your name comes up next on the list.
When we do a live capture or removal of a swarm or cutout in the area, the bees will be placed into a five frame nuc box for a period of 1 to 2 weeks to ensure the queen is present and healthy. As soon as that is determined, we will call the next person on the list to come with a hive of their own and take the 5 frames of bees from the nuc and put it into their own box. you may bring any size hive box you like, from a five frame nuc box to a 10 frame deep.
If you have no hive you can bring with you, let us know ahead of time and we can loan you a cardboard nuc box for transporting the bees. A $10.00 deposit on the box will be refunded once the cardboard nuc box is returned.
These bees will need special attention and frequent monitoring to rebuild the colony to full strength.