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What You Should Know About Buying Honey Bees Online

Have you ever wondered how beekeepers get their honey bees? There are several ways to fill your apiary, but many beekeepers choose to buy their honey bees online. Like the rest of the world of online shopping, this method of acquiring new honey bee colonies has grown in popularity over the years. That said, there are a few things you need to consider before you add a buzzing box of bees to your digital cart. Is your apiary ready for the new arrivals? How can you ensure you make the best purchase for your hives? Learn how to answer these questions and more with this overview of what you should know about buying honey bees online.

Reasons To Buy Honey Bees

Some people might obtain a honey bee colony from a fellow beekeeper or by catching a local swarm. However, purchasing honey bees online is quickly becoming one of the most common ways to start a hive. The simplicity and efficiency of this method make it easy for beekeepers to get new honey bees to their apiary. This can be a lifesaver for beginner and experienced beekeepers alike. If you’re starting your first ever beehive, purchasing online makes it easy to research and find the right honey bees. Meanwhile, online bee orders are a great way for experienced beekeepers to replace colonies that didn’t last the winter.

Before You Buy

While purchasing honey bees online is an efficient way to fill your apiary, you must take a few steps before you create your order. The cheapest and best option is to have the bees sent to your nearest Post Office, this is the quickest and best option for the bees to arrive with as minimal amount of stress on the bees. Rural delivery often adds an extra day to transit adding more risk the bees may not survive. The Post office will quickly call when your package has arrived and you simply collect your nuc or queen bee and take home for quick installation. Do not wait or prolong putting your bees into their new home, you want to minimize containing the bees within the transport package as bees can over heat and die in transit if they cant ventilate properly. We do our best to make sure the bees are well ventilated but accidents do occur. Alternatively if you live near Ceracell and or close to the meet locations specified in the Bee product pages you can meet our beekeeper and have the bees delivered on the specific dates for a small delivery fee. This is also a very popular way of getting bees.

When Can You Buy Bees?

It’s a good idea to order your honey bees as early as possible. Many suppliers start taking orders for the spring (June, July, August) ready for delivery in October and through to end of January late summer. Orders often start booming in June as some beekeepers will find dead hives that haven't survived the winter and will need to order before stocks sell out. The earlier you order, the better chance you have of finding the option you’re looking for. Early orders also make it easier to get your honey bees in time for those first warm days of spring, which means you and your new hives can make the most of prime beekeeping season. Of course, it isn’t always possible to know what kinds of orders you’ll need to make for the spring. That’s why many beekeepers simply assume they’re going to lose a couple of hives over the course of the winter and buy their replacement hives early.

Buying A Queen

While many beekeepers use online sellers to purchase entire colonies, there’s no understating the importance of buying just a queen bee. The queen is the most important member of a honey bee colony. Without her, your hive can’t raise new honey bees or continue to function successfully. If you lose a honey bee queen in your hive, you must act quickly to replace her and keep the colony on track. Online ordering makes buying a replacement queen fast and easy. Beekeeping becomes a little less stressful when you know you can rely on providers like Ceracell to send you queen bees and other bee options whenever you need them.

Buying A Nuc

Some beekeepers choose to buy a Nuc. A Nuc, or nucleus, is a miniature colony that has everything it needs to start growing once you install it in a hive. When you buy a bee nuc, you receive a few frames of honeycomb containing food, honey bees, and the queen and her brood. When you receive a bee nuc, the mini colony is already on its way to growing into a full and thriving colony. This means that your bee nuc will start expanding faster than many bee packages will. However, bee nucs are often more expensive than packages. You might also have to wait until later in the season to purchase a nuc, as the bees within need more time to establish themselves before they become available.

Buying A Full Hive

A single hive is a great start into beekeeping, you have a large population of bees ranging from about 25,000 to 35,000 bees which is perfect for getting started and ready for this season honey flow. A single typically is a fully established hive with 10 frames of bees and 6-8 frames of brood with a laying queen. The hard thing about buying a full hive is transporting it and getting it to you. Otherwise pick up is best and easiest. A full hive typically is ready to gather honey when the honey flow starts and will allow you to get honey in your first season.

Extra Tips For "New-Bees"

If you’re new to the world of beekeeping, there are a few things you can do before and after you purchase your honey bees. If you order in advance and have a few months before your honey bees arrive, that waiting period is the perfect time to prepare for your new beekeeping career. You can take our online beekeeping Introduction into Beekeeping 101 for Beginners to get a sound foundation and good knowledge of the hobby you are getting into to learn more about the world of honey bees. This is also a good time to set up your apiary. You should put your beehives up in advance so that you can quickly and easily install your honey bees when they arrive. And make sure you have all the equipment you need, like your protective gear, smoker, and bee feeders before you receive your honey bees. This will help make the transition as easy and stress-free as possible for both you and your new buzzing residents.