ONLY PREAPPROVED SALES/PURCHASES. WE LOVE ETRANSFERS!!
Please call Deborah at 250 920 6360 to discuss options.
Packages also available for $375.
Only past students and approved people may purchase our bees.
This hive is an excellent choice for beginners. The hive began as a previous year nucleus colony established with local healthy bees in the early summer and headed by a young vigorous queen. We breed our queens from our local stock that has been developed to deal with our cold, and wet winters. We expect our queens to create calm hives that are good honey producers. These queens have successfully overwintered their hives and thus, are proven over wintering queens. This significantly reduces the risk of losing a late spring nucleus hive in the first winter of a new beekeepers life. There is limited availbility so reserve early. Priority will be given to past and present students of our course but they must be reserved before april. We will sell out!
Call Deborah at 250 920 6360 to reserve!
Mini Hives with Over Wintered Local Queen
Unlike a late spring nucleus hive, this overwintered hive has a full complement of bees with a correct temporal relationship in the ages of the bees and the distribution of tasks in the hive. The hive is a well-organized society with worker bees, nurse bees, guard bees, and foragers all in place.
Given average weather conditions, the hive will produce some honey for you in this year.
The hive comes with approximately 40 to 50 percent more drawn comb than your average late spring nucleus hive. The lack of drawn comb is the single most limiting aspect in the development of a spring nucleus hive. Simply put, the queen has nowhere to lay. This queen is already laying and comes to you with two frames of drawn comb that are empty so she can continue laying while the colony strength builds up and more comb is drawn. Drawn comb is a very valuable resource as it takes bees seven to eight times more energy to draw comb then to make honey. So, the necessity of making comb slows down the process of storing honey.
The six frame deep hive will be placed in your new Langstroth deep box, along with an in hive frame feeder and three undrawn frames which you will provide.
The six frame medium hive will be placed in your Langstroth medium super, along with an in hive frame feeder and 2 drawn medium frames which you will provide. This hive is specifically designed for the beekeeper who plans to keep her bees all in medium supers, and therefore cannot accommodate deep frames.
Both these configurations work with Eight Frame Equipment as well.
Bring your new equipment to 1481 Larkin Road, Smith Lake Farm Apiary, a few days before your bees are to go home. We help you “hive” the bees into your equipment. One or two days later you return and take your hive home. We will have secured the bees the night before so all bees will be in your hive. You bring two ratchet straps and we show you how to secure your hive for transportation.
If your equipment is not new, then you can arrange to pick up your bees at the farm gate in which case they will be in a transportation nuc that must be returned to us within two days. You leave us a cash deposit of 150.00$ in an envelope against the return of our equipment. When the equipment is returned, we give you back your envelope with your cash. For bio security reasons we cannot have used equipment in our apiary even if it has been checked and deemed safe by the Bee Inspector.