We supply nucleus colonies in the spring and summer, depending upon overwintering success and weather/mating conditions.
Overwintered nucs are small colonies that we made up the previous fall with young new queens. They contain up to five frames of brood and bees, with a queen mated in the late summer.
Our spring nucs are made up, as they sound, in the current year’s spring and contain up to five frames of brood and bees. We equip them with a queen imported from either Hawaii or California. We do not use Chilean queens at this time as we find them inconsistent in terms of temperament and gentleness.
From time to time we will also bring in and broker packages of bees and queens produced in either New Zealand or Australia. Again, we have not found Chilean bees a good choice yet for even temperament and gentleness.
Costs vary per year but are based on market prices. We check all colonies before sale to ensure they have a laying queen and brood (eggs and larvae) in all stages.
All colonies for sale are inspected by the Provincial Apiculture Division and come with an inspection certificate upon request.