Bees for Starting Hives

2013 – Updated April 25, 2013

Ray Lackey, 1260 Walnut Ave. Bohemia NY 11716-2176
Phone: (631)567-1936 email:lackeyray@tianca.com

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NUCS are expected this week! New delivery date is April 26 & 27. It has been cold in the south. Those who have orders placed should have received pickup directions via email. If you have not, contact me! Pickup nucs and queens on Friday April 26 between 7:00 and 8:30 PM or Saturday April 27, 6:30 – 8:30 AM. If you cannot make it in those time windows, you must make individual arrangements according to my schedule. Bees cannot be kept closed up much of the day as the weather warms. You will have to either pick up early mornings or late evenings.

Sorry, Nuc ordering is closed for 2013. We have sold out on those nucs available this year. If you have lost your bees and live on Long Island, you can contact us and see what we can spare of our hives and provide a price.

It is the time of year that we of the Long Island Beekeepers Club are ordering bees and Nucs from the south for spring delivery. You do not have to be a member to order through us. I'm gathering the order for four-frame (deep) Nucs of honey bees to be delivered the first week in April. These are upstate NY bees wintered in South Carolina with new, young, layng queens. I need orders and money by end of February. You will have to return the Nuc boxes after you have transferred the bees into your hive or you will forfeit your deposit. Nucs give a faster start than packages. We also have novice classes going in case you are interested in starting beekeeping. Email me to reserve nucs but checks need to be sent out soon after to confirm your reservation.

A four-frame nuc is a small colony with the bees covering at least four frames. Normally at least three frames will have brood at various stages of development. The fourth frame will have nectar and pollen. They come in a five-frame nuc box. The nucs normally have a division board feeder in the fifth slot but if the bees have been getting too strong before delivery, the feeder will be pulled and a fifth frame will be added. The contents of the nuc box, minus the feeder are yours, whether four or five frames. You do not have to replace the frames with new frames before returning.

Costs for 2013 are $145 (Plus separately paid, refundable box deposit of $50 at time of pickup). Reservations start now and close by March 16. After that date, we will accept additional reservations only if available and will charge an additional $10 to add them on to the order! Send a check, made out to Sweet Pines Apiary to 1260 Walnut Ave. Bohemia NY 11716-2176. (This price includes tax. If you have a farmer’s tax exemption certificate, price is $133.50 but an exemption form must be supplied with the order.)

Questions? Call Ray Lackey at 631-567-1936

Novice beekeeping classes are also being planned in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Nuc Box Deposit: Some people have hard time understanding the Nuc box deposit. In the past, I have charged $25 deposit on each box. This is payable at the time of box pickup. A standard new nuc box would cost $30. It seems that some have figured that keeping the box was a bargain, even if it was used since they felt their time to return it was worth more. I thus have had to pay the provider for the boxes not returned but he has already painted his boxes and many have been made with the more expensive waxed plywood lids so that they cost him more than $30. Thus, the deposit this year is $50, preferably paid by check at time of pickup. If your box is returned within 30 days, I will tear up the check. If not returned by that point in time, I will deposit it and you just bought a used nuc box for $50. If you return it after that point but before I return the nuc boxes to the supplier, I will give you $40 back. If you pay your deposit at time of pickup with cash, I will put it in an envelope and save it. If you return your nuc box when I am at home and can give you your envelope, you get $50 back. If you drop off the box when I am not available to receive it and refund your money, I will charge $5 to handle the deposit, record keeping, cover note, stamp and check to pay back $45/nuc.

Queens: I will be receiving queens from the same source at the same time, Italian/Yugoslavian hybrids, for replacing failing overwintered queens or for splits. Cost $25/queen.

In ordering, please complete this form (preferably copy and paste into your email to save manual entry and potential errors) and print to send with check:

Email to: lackeyray@tianca.com (email formatted as HTML)

Name, Last:

Name, First:

Mailing address:

City:

State:

Zip:

Principle Phone:

Cell if different:

Email address:

Number of Nucs @$145

Number of Queens @$25

Total of order: ($)

MAAREC (Mid Atlantic Apiculture & Extension Consortium) has a page on Nucleus colonies with advantages and disadvantages of nucs compared to packages at: https://agdev.anr.udel.edu/maarec/beginning-beekeeping-2/nucleus-colonies/ ; and a separate page on packages of bees at: https://agdev.anr.udel.edu/maarec/beginning-beekeeping-2/package-bees/

Below is only my opinion:

I have come to the conclusion that a southern nuc is the better starter for Long Island because of our early flow.  We got nucs one poor year and one new beekeeper took three supers of honey off of his bees that year. It is difficult to do that with a package of bees because it does take them longer to get going.  Below is a model of a package growth curve.  You can see that the Nuc has a lead of about 45 days over the package. A May nuc is about equivalent to an early April package. The Long Island flow is mostly finished by July 4 so an early start pays off.

A package is a queen and 3 pounds of bees (~12000).  (4 lb packages with a starting population of ~16k bees do a little better but the curve shape is the same.) Put into a hive with foundation, they have to draw the comb before they can start storing food or the queen can start laying.  They start dying immediately but there are no bees emerging to replace them for approximately 1 month.  In that time, the population declines to less than ~5k and that limits the growth rate as shown:

A Nuc comes with a queen laying on four frames of comb and bees at every stage of development.  Consequently, a Nuc starts ~45 days ahead of a package and we have been able to get them at equivalent delivery times to the packages so, with our early honey flows of LI, it can make a difference between honey production and just managing to get ready for the winter.  A Nuc can transport a few more diseases than a package so you need to deal with a reputable dealer.