buying package bee's

[harvey]

I have a friend that will be buying  a lot of packages in the spring and he said it would be no problem to pick up a couple for me.

Where do you get package bees?

Does it matter what kind?

Is 3 lb packages the right size?

How much do they normally cost?

Can I put a package in a hive to be foundationless?

Are there any issues with packages I should know about?   The only hive I have is a swarm that decided to stay.

[Michael Bush]

>Where do you get package bees?

I have had them mailed, but the USPS is rather unreliable in that regard.  Sometimes they do well and sometimes they do terribly.  Most of the ones I've gotten in recent years were shipped by truck to the local bee supply place from California.

>Does it matter what kind?

I assume you mean race?  Not really, but some people think so.  I guess I like the Carniolans better in my climate.  The package will be Italians, because they will brood up earlier, but the queens might be whatever the place offers, typically Carniolan, Italian and maybe Russian or Minnesota Hygenic.

>Is 3 lb packages the right size?

It's fine.  If the packages arrive in really good shape 2 lbs will work, but 3 is a good number of bees and gives them a decent start.

>How much do they normally cost?

Around here the last I bought them they were $75.

>Can I put a package in a hive to be foundationless?

If you want to go foundationless, that's the best way to go as you'll have no foundation in the hive to start with.  :)

>Are there any issues with packages I should know about?

The quality in recent years has gone down a lot.  Mostly, I think, because of the quality of the queens.

>  The only hive I have is a swarm that decided to stay.

Stay?  Move in?

[harvey]

The swarm came to me,  It landed on one of my fruit trees in the orchard!  I had always wanted bee's but new nothing of them or how to keep them.  I borrowed a hive body and cut the limb off that the bee's were clustered on.  I shook the bee's off of the limb, first into a cardboard box as it was all I had at the time and then from the box into the hive body I borrowed.  The bee's decided to stay so I bought them a new box.  Now they have two deeps.
I still no very little about them but out of curiosity and thanks to the knowledge I have aquired here, and Mr. Bush you have supplied a lot of useful information.  Now this spring I want to go to three hives.  The next two I want to try without foundation. 

Next question for ya though.   I have not treated the swarm hive at all and they appear very healthy, or did before the snow.  I am hoping to keep the hive clean and clear of chemicals.  I have heard that package bee's sometimes come with a high might count?    Do I need to worry about getting packaged bees that are sick or need treatment verses a swarm?

[Kathyp]

the packages have usually been treated and should be mite free.  because they are treated, sometime the don't survive as well if you go treatment free.  whatever you decide, you should not need to treat the first year, but you'll have to see how it goes by the end of the season.

[Michael Bush]

>Next question for ya though.   I have not treated the swarm hive at all and they appear very healthy, or did before the snow.  I am hoping to keep the hive clean and clear of chemicals.

If you didn't put any in and it was clean to start with...

>  I have heard that package bee's sometimes come with a high might count?

Doubtful.  More likely to come with a low mite count and a poor queen because of the chemicals uses to provide that...

>   Do I need to worry about getting packaged bees that are sick or need treatment verses a swarm?

Package bees are not the best quality these days, but if they survive in six weeks they will all be new bees anyway and if the queen is iffy they will probably replace her as well.  The big up side is you can put them on whatever you want... small cell, medium boxes, top bar hives etc.

[Jack]

I have vowed not to use packages any more. Nothing but heartache with them the last three years. Expect upwards to 50% supersedure which makes for a slow start on an already short season and then facing getting them through the winter. I think you will have much better luck with a NUC however the transition to foundationless will be a bit slower.