How to Buy Honey Bees ?

Package bees :

Package bees are one of the ways to can buy honey bees when you want to start beekeeping and producing honey.  


Beekeeping does include getting the honey bees into your beehive! 


Having decided to start keeping bees, either as a hobby or as a commercial venture, you have bought or made and installed your beehives in an appropriate area.
 
You have all the equipment necessary - and now you must get yourself some honeybees! To move forward, please follow below mentioned guidelines.Buying Established Honeybee Colonies :

For starters, it is simpler for to buy recognized honeybee colonies from a trustworthy local beekeeper. 


It is better to buy two colonies so that in case, one of the two colonies become weaker, you can exchange frames of brood and honey.
 
A colony of bees consists of 20,000 to 60,000 honeybees, one productive queen, 10 to 12 combs, brood and foodstuffs.

You may also buy a 'nucleus' consisting of 5 to 7 frames, a fertile queen, workers, stores, brood, and probably, drones). 


It will be easier to control the smaller quantity of bees in a nucleus or a 'nuc box'. 


This will be a quite appropriate option for first-time beekeepers. 


The benefit of this method of getting bees is that it is the fastest choice to get started because by now you have honeycomb and brood, as well as all the bees you require.

You may purchase honeybee colonies and nuclei online, but it is strongly recommended that you buy them from reputable local beekeepers or suppliers. 


There is not an iota of doubt that locally bred bees are better adapted to weather conditions in your district.

How to Order Packaged Bees ?

The second option is to buy packaged bees (each package contain worker bees and one queen bee) to transfer into your new beehive(s). 


Usually, honeybee packages that you order are dispatched by mail in 2 to 5 pound packages, containing 9,000 to 22,000 bees.
 
A three-pound package of bees, for instance, contains approximately 10,000 bees and 1 queen and is about the size of a shoebox.
 
A bee package sent through the mail will have a screen around it and a can of sugar water inside the package for the bees to eat during the trip. 


To separate the queen from the other bees, a cage is used. The cost plus shipping of a three-pound package of bees will be between $50 and $70.

Unlike a ready-made bee colony, the worker bees from a package will need to be fed for a short time after you transfer them into the hive(s), until they begin to gather nectar and pollen and build honeycombs to produce their own food.


If you decide to order a package of bees, it is important to do so at the right time. 


The bees should arrive and be installed into the hive in early April, giving them sufficient time to establish the colony before winter arrives. 


Placing your order as early as January will ensure that your bees are reserved for you.
 
Make it possible to take delivery of your purchased bees from the seller yourself. 


A lesser number of bees will die than if you receive your order through the mail. 


If you are expecting a package of bees by mail, remember to ask your post office to notify you as soon as it arrives. 


The sooner you get bees home, the better, because they will most likely be thirsty and hungry.  

Magdy Elhalawany