One of the biggest mistakes would-be beekeepers make is ordering their bees online, said Stephen Miller, owner of Superior Bee Country Store in Fredericktown.
“Do not buy packaged bees,” Miller advised. “It is, often times, a failure.”
He stated that with packaged bees, some of the queen bees have already been mated, but others have not.
“Bees only live for a month,” Miller said. “So you get the packaged bees; you put them in a hive. If the queen has mated, she will start laying. But most of the time that queen is not familiar with the workers. She was raised by herself. Now she has got to adapt. That is going to take several days.”
All the while, time is ticking away.
“These worker bees are out and about doing their job,” Miller said. “If the queen has mated already, she will start laying. But it takes from 16 to 18 days until those little larvae emerge.”
By that time, there may be only 10-20% of the workers bees that are still alive to take care of the emerging baby bees.
“That is oftentimes the downfall,” Miller said. “The worker bees have to keep the larvae at 93 degrees. If there aren’t enough bees left over to keep it that warm, they’re done. The larvae die.”
Instead of ordering bees online, Miller recommends buying “nucs” from a local beekeeper.
“A nuc is a small hive that is already in motion: the queen is laying, there (are) larvae emerging,” he said.
The survival rate is much higher; and as a bonus, you will likely soon have two hives instead of one.
“Most of the nucs we sell, they make a split within two weeks, so now you have two hives,” Miller said.
It is actually less expensive to buy a nuc than it is to order packaged bees, he said, noting that packaged bees cost from $180 to $210.
“You can buy nucs for from $150 to $175,” Miller said.
He also recommends and sells bee boxes that are made from polystyrene instead of wood because they are warmer and make it easier for bees to survive the winter.
Superior Bee Company
7194 West State Route 95
Fredericktown
Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed Wednesdays and Sundays
(740) 501-3346
