Buying Bees

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Look in your local phone directory or search for local apiaries. You could also call the state "swarm hot line" and ask them for the name # of a local (to you) beekeeper. There is generally a state apiarist who you could call for answers assistance.
 

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With the problems bees are having, packages have been going up in price and becoming more scarce every year. Last year I bought 2 at $120 each. Typically there is a central point where the packages will be delivered (bee club or large apiary) and all purchasers have to go there to pick up their packages. (it kind of fun driving back home with loose bees flying around in the vehicle).
 

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Things look a bit bleak here. The michigan state beekeepers association has all comments disabled, classifieds disabled, and the only new thing on there is a current events timeline thing which has no info about getting bees. The website refers me to Saginaw Valley Beekeepers Association which takes me to "their" website which is now some sort of financial blog. So it appears as though Saginaw Valley Beekeepers Association doesnt exist any longer. The michigan state beekeepers association is currently as near as i can tell mostly run by a guy from MSU. We have nothing called a "swarm line" that i can find for michigan. i did find info on the state apiarist so i will send him an email and see if he can help me in my search. Thanks again for the tips.
 

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Sorry, but the number of active beekeepers has dropped by 50% over the past 5 years and continues to drop. It has become expensive as a hobby and very expensive as a way of life/job. The introduction of the varroa mite and the 15-20 vectored diseases that mite brings with it has really seriously damaged the honey bee population and therefore made it expensive and difficult for those of us trying to keep/help them. Compound that with the vast usage of pesticides and single crop farming using GMOs and the bees are having a really hard time surviving. It's a crisis.

As a last resort, you can study up on swarm catching and swarm traps and set up some traps and hope to catch a swarm or two. Travel around your area paying very close attention to locations with nectar bearing plants, then get out and look for bees. If you see bees, then it might be a good area to set up a swarm trap. You'll then have to watch the traps over time and see if you've been successful. The cheapest but not fastest way to start your hives. A swarm trap is typically only 3-5 frames in a box and once the swarm moves in, you'd then move those frames into a 10 frame deep at your chosen location.
 

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Yes i can see that, i ca also see how it is expensive luckily at least i have the woodenware to start with so that will take out a big part of the expense. Huddy did say the boxes are not all full of frames but there should be enough to most atleast two full hive box setups. i can always buy more frames later. i will just keep looking for bees and wait for a response from the state apiarist. Hopefully he has some sort of info for me. i wish you could just order them in the mail.
 

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You CAN order them via USPS. Go online and search for bee packages. It's already very late to order for this year as most are sold out by the end of January... But you may get lucky... The problem of ordering through the PO is that you don't know how careful the PO will be with them... they are very fragile and can't tolerate cold as they have to hive to insulate them. If the (sometimes stupid) PO trucks them to you where you live, chances are they'll arrive dead from cold. They need to be at or above 80 degrees continuously. They make their own heat inside the hive, and can stand being outside down to 45-50 degrees for very short periods.
 

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Ahh i see, it has been warm here 40-60s but clearly that wont be warm enough. i could have them shipped hold for pick up at the PO. My PO will keep them inside for me cause i get stuff for hold all the time and they know if it is for hold it is temp sensitive. i will look into it while i wait on a response from anyone else lol.
 

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Well no luck yet on the bee front. I did send out more emails and left a few more voicemails, and added myself to a wait list. I did find some michigan bee websites with Nucs for sale for $150 but no one has gotten back to me yet. I emailed the guy the state apiarist told me to try...no response there either. i know MSU has bees but i am not sure if they will be selling any. Getting bees from them would be interesting because they have mite bitters, VSH, and who knows what else.
 

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Well the local-ish lady i talked to about getting bees said she might possibly have a nuc i could buy but she wont know until may :barnie

My own fault i guess. The person the state apiarist recommended i still havnt heard back from, the closest bee association email goes to "mailer deamon" and phone number is no longer in use so thats a dead end. I have contacted 7 places that sells packages...nodda yet on anyone having anything except one place that wants $210 for a 3lb package plus shipping which will have a few the end of may o_O i think i shall pass on that one. DH did bring up an interesting idea though....set a swarm box or two up where the fields beeboxes are put out. They drop off their hives with swarm boxes on top of the hives in case of a swarm but often the bees dont swarm into the tops they just swarm away. So i would like to think they are fair game in that case. I guess DH was talking to one of the guys that lets them put their bees out on his fields and they actually have 9,000 main hivebodies yearly they bring up here and take back down to flordia for winter. All the supers go to a processing place here in michigan until next spring. So i dont think i would feel to guilty about capturing a swarm or two off their hives.
 

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If they drop 9000 hives, you're going to want to use a cut down deep to hold 5 frames. Or buy a 5 frame deep NUC box. You can use the frames out of your regular deep and after you have the swarm, move the nuc right next to where the real hive will be. Leave the bees alone for ~5-7 days so they establish on the frames and the queen starts laying eggs. You don't want them absconding (swarming again), you want them to claim the frames as home. After the 5-7 days, you can open the nuc and move all five frames over into the center of the deep you want them to occupy. After you transfer the frames, leave the nuc box there for a day or two so the bees can adjust to where their home actually is. You want to place the trap about 10' up in a tree and FIRMLY anchor it to the trunk, as level as possible, away from the main hive bodies a bit. Good luck!
 

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