Beginning Beekeepers Information and Consent

Any Nucs left by 7:00 a.m. will be sold to customers on the waiting list, and package deposits will be forfeited. We CANNOT hold bee Nucs. Please check back often for updates. Bees are live animals, and we want to ensure you and you both get a good deal.

Nuc Policy: Nucs become the customer’s responsibility at the time of pick up. Some small percentage of bees will have expired in the package during transit. We will inspect your Nuc for a healthy Queen before you arrive and HIGHLY ENCOURAGE you to check before you leave with your Nuc. We don’t have control over conditions placed on the Nuc after you leave our location, so we will not guarantee the Queen after pick-up. To be safe, you may want to bring a suit.

Nucleus Hives (Nucs) come in a temporary waxed cardboard box and contain a laying spring queen that the hive has already accepted, two frames of brood in all stages, two frames of pollen/honey/attending bees, and one fresh frame of wax for the bees to work on.

There is a possibility that people will not pick up the packages they ordered. (If you do not reserve a package, we cannot guarantee that extra packages will be available.) In this case, you may contact us to be put on the waiting list. The waitlist will be called from the top down and must be picked up immediately. We cannot hold bee packages.

We highly suggest attending a bee class, reading any of the great informational books on beekeeping, or watching some videos on YouTube.

We know it’s early, and you might have other things you want to do on a Saturday morning, but…the bees cannot remain sealed in the nuc boxes once the day begins to warm up. They will overheat and can die. We cannot let this happen, so any nucs not picked up by 8:00 a.m. will be placed back into the bee yard and released. Can’t make it on your scheduled pick-up day? Please find a friend or relative who can come and pick them up for you so you don’t lose your bees.

Once you pick up your nuc box(es), head directly to your apiary, ensuring the bees do not overheat in the car.

Place the nuc box directly on top of or in place of your hive box. Then, open the entrance to the nuc box, located on one of the short sides near the bottom. Bees will likely come pouring out of the box, but don’t worry—they’ll soon calm down and get to work. 

You do not need to light your smoker for this part, but trying out your new bee veil and hive tool is a good idea. Sometimes, we have to tape the entrance, so your hive tool will help remove that tape and open the entrance.

The bees will begin orienting themselves to their new location, so you’ll likely see lots of activity around the hive. Pollen and nectar collection begins almost immediately, so take some time to watch them.