early spring market for nucs

[bailey]

i was curious if any of the nuc producers here have any problems selling off their nucs?
seems like it would be easy to sell them but experience has shown me that i might want to
check this out before producing 100 to 200 nucs and finding out that i am stuck with too many bees and no hives to put them in.

im not asking how or where to sell them, just want to know if i might have problems.
any responses are very welcome.

bailey

[bee-nuts]

I sold 8 in five days of advertisement in May.  I would not make 100 though.  I would slowly build up a customer base each year.  Maybe Im wrong and you could sell that many but I know I would not want to be stuck with all those bees if I did not have equipment and time to deal with them if they did not sell.  You also need queens for them and they are not free so you could lose money too.

If the ban on Aussie bees sticks, and die off continue, demand for replacement colonies and shortage on packages and nucs should rise.  Queens will also be harder to get and more expensive.  I heard of several people who reserved packages last for last year and did not get them because there was not queens available to make them.  Many queen suppliers were very late on shipments last year as well.  I dont know what your situation is but I go through a large commercial beek who goes through three or four queen suppliers to make sure they get queens.  I have reserved some so I am first on the list as soon as they have meet their needs.

Good luck

[tecumseh]

the best advice I can give you is..

1) go slow and don't overload the boat.  at some point reputation will sell more nucs than any kind of advertisement therefore soiling your reputation by promising 100 when you have yet to deliver 10 will cost you a great deal down the road.  if you have orders for 10 make 20 so you will not have to send out some less than adequate product.  do not allow any nuc to leave your control (no matter when promised) until it meets your own criterion for being ready.

2) you are quite unlikely to sell many hives to commercial folks so most of your market is in likely in the hobby category of beekeeper.  the best mechanism is to get the word out to active bee clubs or other folks that provide the same kind of product (my good neighbor send me a bit of business when their order book becomes filled).

for myself nucs require a large amount of personal attention...  the endeavor may not even be economically viable (ie $/hr) but I make this commitment in time and $ to give some new beekeeper the best possibility for success.  I guess you could say it is one of those 'treat others as you wish to be treated' kind of things.

good luck...

[lenape13]

Location could play an important part.  Here in SW PA I have yet to find a nuc supplier within a 3 1/2 hour drive.  I am planning on purchasing more packages this spring and splitting my existing hives.  Getting queens here early is also a problem.  I have to wait until June or later for queens.  Eventually I plan to start raising my own, but strictly for my own expansion plans.  I have plenty of people wanting hives set up on their places, but just not enough bees to go around.  I have a waiting list and fill the requests in the order I receive them. 

[msully]

I haven't had any problems selling nuc's.  I was going to overwinter about 15 and decided at the last minute to put an add on Craigslist and sold 10 in a heartbeat.  I'm overwintering 4 double tall nucs and will split them in the spring.  I would be very surprised if I don't sell them all...

I've started letting the bees make their own queens and have had great sucess.  I doubt I spend an hour total with a nuc before it's ready to sell.  $10 in frames and foundation and I sell it for $85. 

Mike

[fish_stix]

Good advice so far! Just make sure you have equipment to put them in if they don't sell; make 10-20 to start and go from there. Nucs build up FAST in the spring so you will have to either sell them or add them to your own collection!  :-D

[bud1]

shucks Baily go for it, what the heck. You got extras let them awarm more cutouts. in your area you can get a good jump on every one else

[bailey]

naw bud! i just know how early i can have nucs ready down here and believe i could have some of the earliest nucs available.
i had most of those nucs we made last year queenright and laying before April
the ones i started myself were queenright and laying in march
i know i can take one of my earlier nucs here and have it give me a super or two of honey in the first spring.
i had quite a few of my nucs i did for my build up this summer do this for me this summer.
i really don't want the cutouts much anymore, i like the queens i make and the swarms i trap to add into the breeder yards for evaluation.

JP gets the cutouts, i am more interested in the nucs and controlling the selection process for queen breeding.

these ole survivors i have down here seem to produce and survive well with no treatment. 

didn't you tell me that that batch i brought you in April put up over 200 lbs this summer :-D


bailey

[tecumseh]

at some point considering your location you will likely need to shift to II queens and use the survivors for drone purposes.

does the State of Louisiana require you to have a queen breeding license (seems to me to be more essential if you are shipping across state lines than anything else)?

[bud1]

Yes on them making 2 deeps of honey and one was just foundation. they now have their 2 deeps (brood nest) full and ready for winter with no treatment

[JP]

I mentioned in early spring or perhaps it was winter that I was setting people up more and more. I have been slowly building a customer base.

I haven't really advertised much but the word is slowly getting out that I may have what you're looking for.

I'm mainly selling nucs but did sell a fella two set ups that consisted of a deep and medium per set up.

Bailey, I will send business your way whenever the situation arises.

We'll talk more this weekend when you, me, Bud and Alan Bukley get together.

I don't see why we can't network and you know Alan's a real good connection for what you're trying to do.

Maybe shoot for having 25 or so nucs available but equipment on hand to put together a big order when needed.

Now if Alan could give us some advance notice that would be real nice!  :-D


...JP

[bailey]

shawee is supposed to be there too!  and as usual allen is coming and our weather gets cooler!

bailey