Tag: package

2022 Live Bee Orders

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.

You can see options and pricing and place an order here: https://www.beemaniacs.com/product-category/live-bees/

Package pickup schedule

Please note that if you ordered a package of bees through BeeManiacs, we are sending updates and notices to the email used when placing the order. Emails are received from “BeeManiacs” and using the MailChimp email distribution server. Just in case anyone didn’t receive the email, we’re also adding the content as a post.

Package pickup hours are from 8 am to noon on this Saturday, April 18. 

Due to COVID-19 we will operate a drive-thru style pickup for this Saturday and we have recommended pick up hours based on the first name of the beekeeper that placed the order for packages.

The table below shows the suggested hours for picking up packages, based on which letter your name starts with. These are just suggestions to spread the number of cars during the whole pickup schedule, avoiding a traffic jam. If you cannot come at the recommended time, you can come at any time between 8:00 am and noon.

For example, if your name is Lisa, we recommend that you come to pick up your packages between 9:30 and 10:00 am. 

Drive-Thru process

  1. You can enter BeeManiacs from the main entrance and head towards the Big Barn where the drive-thru line forms
  2. While in the line, a BeeManiacs employee will approach and ask for the name of the person that placed the order
  3. At that point, BeeManiacs staff will set your packages and any material you pre-ordered online at the pickup area (on top of a table or on the cement floor)
  4. Stay in the line and continue driving until you reach the pickup area (concrete area outside the Big Barn)
  5. You may now get out of your vehicle and load your bees/material
  6. To exit, continue driving around the garden and BeeManiacs store building until you reach the main road

Please note that our store remains closed due to COVID-19. You can place online orders ahead of time (until Friday 17) and we will have the material ready for you to pick up with the bees.

BeeManiacs Team

Bad weather delaying nuc delivery dates

The 2017 season is breaking some records as the coldest and most rainy season in the last 45 years.

Live bee suppliers are struggling to deliver bee packages and nucs on fixed schedules that worked fine in previous years.

If you bought live bees from us, please check your email for updates. The Economy nuc delivery date was delayed from May 6th to the 13th and still pending final confirmation.

If you are not receiving updates from BeeManiacs, please check your email spam filter or email us to livebees@beemaniacs.com.

Bee suppliers are doing everything they can to deliver live bees on schedule, but in some cases they will need to delay the delivery date to make sure that the nucs are properly made.

2017 Bee Packages available now

We decided to release pre-ordering of our 2017 bee packages.

You can order your 2017 package of bees right now at this link http://livebees.beemaniacs.com/

We do not ship bees. Pickup at BeeManiacs. Estimated pickup date is April 15, 2017.

For 2017 we are partnering with Olivarez Honey Bees, to bring their high-quality packages which are proven to be successful in colder areas. You have to select which race of queen you’d like to purchase (Carniolan or Italian).

The price of the packages includes sales tax and there’s no deposit for the package box. You get 3 lbs of honey bees (about 10,500 bees) and one marked queen in each package, ready to get a new beehive started. We have found that beginner beekeepers really need marked queens, so we always try to secure a supplier that will provide marked queens.

We set aside some packages for early bird discounted price, so if you order early, you could save $15 per package (while supplies last and for limited time). The early bird price is set at $120 per package and the full price is $135.

We have setup a small online store for processing live bee orders. At this time only packages can be ordered and we will add queens and nucs as they become available.

You can place your order now at this website: http://livebees.beemaniacs.com/

For more information, please contact us at livebees@beemaniacs.com.

Package Installation Video

We are getting our training on producing videos started with this Package Installation video. Hopefully it will be the first of many videos we will be developing this year.

We often teach beekeeping classes during winter time or inside school classrooms or public places where bees are not allowed in, so there are no bees around at class time. Pictures and videos help us developing educational material that is more engaging and easier to follow.

httpv://youtu.be/Yh_zQkQQvPk

We added caption in English (automatic English caption doesn’t work really well on beekeeping subjects) and in Spanish.

The first one being released right now is about installing a 3# package of honey bees in a hive made of 8-frame (instead of 10-frame) Western size boxes (in this area we call Western the boxes that are 6 5/8” tall).

Because the boxes are smaller than a Deep box (9 5/8”) and have 8 frames instead of 10, we recommend starting the package on two boxes instead of just one.

The hive used in this video had a solid bottom board and an entrance feeder. On the same day we installed packages on different hives and took pictures to show queen placement when using an inline feeder, for example. To keep this video simple we stick with one kind of hive from beginning to end and left other details to be addressed through the educational website with the extra pictures from the other hives.