I can't believe my eyes I just saw a 3 lbs of buck fast bees with a queen of course for $170.00....... if this is actually selling ...screw the honey sales, time to just sell bees
Reminds me of the Eagles re-union tour in the late 90s. They were asking something like $100 a ticket and I said no way. That was an insane amount of $$ for a concert ticket at the time. Nobody had ever asked that much. However lots of people still shelled out $100 for a few hours of music.
Yep, $170 for a package of bees sounds insane to me too, but maybe everybody's not as rational as we are :-D
Where did you see it for $170?
hopefully that was a ten frame hive delivered.
Demand and supply, i heard it's called
Good for the supplier :evil: and, well... :'( shell it out, demander.
Around here regular Georgia Italians are going for $100/package. But unless you are doing artificial insemination, it's not worth buying genetics for $170. Just buy a queen and add her to an existing hive.
They are $60 to $70 for 3 pounds here in Georgia.
Quote from: FRAMEshift on April 06, 2012, 08:52:49 PM
Around here regular Georgia Italians are going for $100/package. But unless you are doing artificial insemination, it's not worth buying genetics for $170. Just buy a queen and add her to an existing hive.
Frameshift......if my other two hives survived that is what I was going to do , mate me some queens and have the mutt queens wacked.
Quote from: slacker361 on April 06, 2012, 10:12:08 PM
Quote from: FRAMEshift on April 06, 2012, 08:52:49 PM
Around here regular Georgia Italians are going for $100/package. But unless you are doing artificial insemination, it's not worth buying genetics for $170. Just buy a queen and add her to an existing hive.
Frameshift......if my other two hives survived that is what I was going to do , mate me some queens and have the mutt queens wacked.
Hey I like the mutes. they are survivors and know were to find necture when the gen high hive is struggling.
WOLF! WOLF! :whip:
john
Mutes? Because they don't bark?
Quote from: slacker361 on April 06, 2012, 10:12:08 PM
Frameshift......if my other two hives survived that is what I was going to do , mate me some queens and have the mutt queens wacked.
All our bees are locally mated (mutts :-D ) I just meant that if you want a particular type bee (Buckfast for example) you don't need to buy a hive of buckfast bees. You can just get a buckfast queen and put her in a Italian hive. And soon you will have a buckfast hive. I know you understand this. I'm just making a point for newbees who may think they have to buy an entire hive.
I like locally mated and my favorite are feral. I wish I had more of them.
I did not mean to be mean. just picking -a little :-D.
all mine are farel that I get from swarms and cutouts. I have three bee trees that I am pulling hives off of. I am hoping to get three or four hives from each per year. they are really really strong hives that have been in place for several years now. The property owners told me about them last year.
Quote from: FRAMEshift on April 06, 2012, 11:44:39 PM
Quote from: slacker361 on April 06, 2012, 10:12:08 PM
Frameshift......if my other two hives survived that is what I was going to do , mate me some queens and have the mutt queens wacked.
All our bees are locally mated (mutts :-D ) I just meant that if you want a particular type bee (Buckfast for example) you don't need to buy a hive of buckfast bees. You can just get a buckfast queen and put her in a Italian hive. And soon you will have a buckfast hive. I know you understand this. I'm just making a point for newbees who may think they have to buy an entire hive.
I like locally mated and my favorite are feral. I wish I had more of them.
Buckfast are hybrid bees
and yes I did get 20 queen bees from Brother Adam in the 70s
http://www.buckfast.org.uk/site.php?use=bees (http://www.buckfast.org.uk/site.php?use=bees)
http://www.apiservices.com/articles/us/adam.htm (http://www.apiservices.com/articles/us/adam.htm)
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
Quote from: Jim 134 on April 06, 2012, 11:56:44 PM
Quote from: FRAMEshift on April 06, 2012, 11:44:39 PM
Quote from: slacker361 on April 06, 2012, 10:12:08 PM
Frameshift......if my other two hives survived that is what I was going to do , mate me some queens and have the mutt queens wacked.
All our bees are locally mated (mutts :-D ) I just meant that if you want a particular type bee (Buckfast for example) you don't need to buy a hive of buckfast bees. You can just get a buckfast queen and put her in a Italian hive. And soon you will have a buckfast hive. I know you understand this. I'm just making a point for newbees who may think they have to buy an entire hive.
I like locally mated and my favorite are feral. I wish I had more of them.
Jim how dod you get those queens here???? I don't think they will still do that will they?
Buckfast are hybrid bees
and yes I did get 20 queen bees from Brother Adam in the 70s
http://www.buckfast.org.uk/site.php?use=bees (http://www.buckfast.org.uk/site.php?use=bees)
http://www.apiservices.com/articles/us/adam.htm (http://www.apiservices.com/articles/us/adam.htm)
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
Quote from: Jim 134 on April 06, 2012, 11:56:44 PM
Buckfast are hybrid bees
and yes I did get 20 queen bees from Brother Adam in the 70s
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
All Apis Mellifera are the same species. None of them are hybrids because they can all interbreed.
I know what you mean though. :-D Buckfast are a cross between two defined "races" of bees. But the truth is that all bees are very mixed. I think you could argue that there is no such thing as an Italian bee being sold in the US. They are a jumble of genes introduced through open mating with whatever drones are flying in the area.
That was my original point. Unless you are doing artificial insemination, you are not going to propagate a "race" of bees beyond the queens you buy. And who knows if the queens you buy really represent a "pure" race. Diversity is a good thing.... especially when it comes to a species under environmental assault.
Buckfast - Apis Mellifera: hybrid
The Buckfast hybrid was produced by Brother Adam of the Buckfast Abbey. Brother Adam crossed many races of bees (mainly Anatolians with Italians and Carniolans) in hopes of creating a superior breed. The results are what is now know as the Buckfast Bee. While the European variety of Buckfast are considered very gentle, the American variety is far more defensive. There is a debate among beekeepers if this defensiveness is due to breeding for varroa resistance or partial hybridization with the AHB (Africanized Honey Bee) of the Buckfast line in America. The issues are further clouded in that the two leading American queen breeders are breeding for varroa resistance and are also located in AHB territory. AHB are usually considered by most experts to be more resistant to varroa than the European Honey Bee.
http://www.beekeepingstarterkit.com/page/1317490 (http://www.beekeepingstarterkit.com/page/1317490)
If you read this you well see the word hybrid use more than 1 or 2 times
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesraces.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesraces.htm)
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
>>Mutes? Because they don't bark?
X:X
There really needs to be an icon for this kind of post, you know a donkey with a graduation beenie.