It was time to place my order for my bees and in the essence of time, I chose to order the hive bodies from James at the Flippin Bee Company. First I had to decide between a Nuc and a Package. A Nuc is a nucleus colony. It is 5 frames of a bee hive which includes the queen, brood (eggs & larvae) and a little honey & pollen. Each of the frames should be completely covered in bees similar to this:
Ordering a Nuc allows you to get up and running quickly. You simply take the five frames from the nuc box, place them in your hive body, and give them a little food to get them by until the hive is stronger.
The other option is a package of bees. That's about 3 pounds of random bees which you toss in a hive with some comb and honey and hope they make a queen. This takes more time, because the bees have to make a queen. For new beekeepers, it seems that ordering a nuc is the most likely to succeed.
That ordered, I had to decide what size hive bodies. There are 5 frame (which are usually used for Nucs), 8 frames, and 10 frames. Ten frame is standard, however every woman beekeeper that I spoke to said they were transitioning to 8 frame hives because they are easier to lift when full. Finally, I had to decide the size of the hive body. There is a shallow, medium, and deep. Many keepers begin with a deep for the bees and their brood and then add mediums for honey. For the sake of uniformity, I decided to use only medium hive body boxes. My initial order included:
2 five frame medium nucs
2 bottom boards
4 eight frame hive boxes
2 internal feeders
2 inner covers
2 telescoping metal covers
24 medium frames with wax foundation & wire support
Total: $556
The bees are delayed because of the false start we had to spring. Hopefully, they will be here soon!
Total to date: $695.99