This will be my first year in beekeeping and I need to purchase bees, with that said I need a place to buy bees. I have done a generic search and have come up with good results, but I would like to know what places others have used and any good recommendations you all may have. I live in central Minnesota but I am not afraid of a road trip if need be.
Look at Kelley Beekeeping:
https://www.kelleybees.com/?gclid=COmd-6-859ACFVdMDQod1DcEZA
I havd no problems with their shipping. -Mike
If you can find a local commercial beekeeper that you can purchase bees from you will be better off. Local bees that have proven to overwinter in your area will be better than bees from the south that don't have the genetics to last the winter is not likely to survive. That said, I did find see a study that studied overwintered nuc's, packages, and packages that were requeened with local queens and the results were surprising. Over 50% of the packages didn't make the winter, over 80% of the nuc's survived but over 90% of the requeened packages survived. I posted a link to the study in a post a couple years ago you might want to look at it.