You can now place orders for 2022 live bees online.
This season we are bringing Carniolan nucs and Carniolan and Italian packages. The estimated pick-up date will be one of the last two weekends of April (to be confirmed closer to package day as queen rearing in California depends on the weather).
You can order online and book your package or nuc for this season.
We have limited supplies and once we run out we may not be able to bring more live bees for this season. We don’t have a due date until when orders can be received. Once we run out of bees the website will close for ordering and will start taking email addresses for a waitlist.
Remember that if you order a 3 lbs package of bees, it includes the worker bees (about 10,500 bees) and one queen bee in its cage. The package also includes a can of syrup to keep the bees hydrated and fed during their trip to your bee yard. If you want to setup a beehive, you just need a package without having to order an extra queen.
This year, if you bring the empty package box to us by July 2, 2016, we will give you $10 per box of in-store purchases credit.
If you want to order 5 or 10 or more packages, pay attention to our quantity pricing (drop down menu in the ordering page). We have a good price for the single package, but once you add the quantity discount or the store credit for returning the empty box, it becomes a really good deal.
Also, for beekeepers making nucs, splitting their hives or just having to re-queen early in the season, we bring queen bees. This is the only day in the year we bring queen bees and by pre-order only. Later in the season we recommend you to make your own queens. A survivor stock queen you breed from your best queen will be better than any queen we can bring from California or any other warmer state.
The current estimated delivery date is April 16. Once you place an order we will keep you updated on any date change over email.
If you never installed a package before, we will have demonstrations on how to install packages in different kinds of hives that day. We will set a 2-acre parking area so you can park, attend the demonstration, pick up your package and go home to do the same thing in your hive (you can see some pictures from 2015 setup below).
You can place the order online right now. Our walk-in store opens February 13 for the season and from that day on, you could order your bees in person at the store (but we don’t recommend waiting until then because we have limited supplies of live bees).
We are excited about selling package bees and queens to local beekeepers for the first time this year. We are bringing live bees only to our store and won’t be able to ship bees nationwide, as we do with other products.
We will be bringing Carniolan and Italian packages and queens.
The current estimated release date is Saturday, April 11. All live bees will be available for pickup on this date (depending on weather in California).
Queens are selling for $35 each, including Sales Tax. This year we will only have queens available for April 11 pickup (we won’t carry queens during the rest of the season).
Three pound package bees are selling for $120 each, including sales tax (it’s $111.01 plus 8.1% sales tax). Each package purchase includes a $8 in-store credit that you can collect if you bring the empty package box back to us before July 31.
You can pre-order online right now. We have limited quantities and sales are tracked online on first-come, first-served basis. This is the link to the store:
