Honey Bees for Sale - Taking Orders for Spring 2024

*Disclaimer: only available to customers within the VIC region

HONEY BEES FOR SALE (Taking Orders for Spring 2024)

Are you ready for your honey bees? When you have your beehive assembled and painted, you’ll want to take the next step and populate it with hive bees. At Buzzbee, we offer bees for sale that are grown directly on frames and perfect for Flow® Hive, Langstroth and Australian Beehives.

OUR HIVE BEES

Our bee NUC colonies are specifically grown from selected larger colonies and then divided (split) from good breeding stock. Each of these new colonies are then introduced to a newly mated queen from our renowned reputable Queen Bee stock. This provides the colony the desired characteristics we require, being docile and calm, ensuring a good laying pattern and solid foraging qualities.

We predominantly specialise in breeding the Italian variant of the European Honeybee for nucleus. The reasons being:

• Our Queen Bees have a very good reputation for delivering the right characteristics for colonies.
• They expand quickly when conditions are warmer.
• They tolerate the hotter Australian weather.
• They travel further to forage, which is good for finding food resource such as nectar and pollen.
• They have a calm temperament when bred using specific genetics.

COLONIES OF BEES IN NUC HIVES

A NUC (Nucleus) is a smaller colony of the European version of the Australian honey bee that contains a mated laying queen bee with brood. This contains a handful of drones and a few thousand worker bees. These NUCs (small beehives) are typically used as a temporary hold to allow the colony to grow larger and then be placed into a larger hive.

We offer honey bees for sale in two types of NUC hives, including a 5 FRAME POLY/CORFLUTE NUC box and the 5 FRAME WOODEN BUZZBEE NUC box.

5 FRAME POLY/CORFLUTE NUC

The popular economic choice is the 5 FRAME POLY/CORFLUTE NUC, which securely holds 5 full-deep frames containing the colony. This small hive contains small ventilation holes that allow for the bees to breathe while releasing heat within the colony.

5 FRAME WOODEN BUZZBEE NUC

The tried and tested method of using a wooden NUC hive provides your new honey bees with better insulation and more security, plus they can be reused repeatedly in future years. The 5 FRAME WOODEN BUZZBEE BEEHIVE NUC securely holds 5 full-deep frames containing the colony. This smaller hive has an adjustable entrance and can be totally shut off for transportation. The lid/outer cover is telescopic, so it fully overlaps the main brood box/super, providing better security staying in place when windy. It’s also better at keeping the rain out and maintaining a more consistent temperature.

WHAT DO YOU GET IN YOUR NUC?

Our bee NUCS for sale in Australia come with:

• A bee colony of honeybees with a newly mated Queen Bee.
• A few thousand worker bees with a sufficient number of drones.
• Queen laying with capped Brood present.
• 5 Full-deep Frames containing a combination
of honey, pollen, brood (new babies) and some extra space to expand.
• Some honey and pollen supplies in the cells.
• Optional: Wooden 5 Frame NUC that is perfect to transport them. This can be used as a standard beehive throughout the year.

LIMITED SUPPLY FOR THE SPRING – ORDER EARLY

Due to the nature of bees, where it takes months to prepare them for the spring, we can only produce a limited bees NUC supply. We therefore recommend ordering early so you won’t be disappointed. Once sold out, customers will have to wait for the following season.

TIMINGS

If you have an approximate time-period when you might want to receive your colony of bees which is not mid spring, call us and we should be able to facilitate your needs based on your circumstances.

WE CAN INSTALL YOUR BEES AND PROVIDE MENTORING

DELIVERY, INSTALLATION AND MENTORING

If you’re new to beekeeping and need that extra helping hand, we can provide assistance and advice through our Delivery, Installation and Mentoring program. Part of the service provides support in verifying that the location you have chosen is suitable. In addition, we will walk you through and aid you with the process of migrating your bees from the NUC hive to your larger beehive. In parallel to this, we will provide you with a wealth of information and tips to help your bee colony grow. We will provide tips for managing the hive, dealing with Flow Frames (if applicable), working with essential tools, and more.

This service also includes the delivery of your bees to their new location in the NUC box type of your choice. Our experienced beekeepers will personally deliver your bees, install them and provide personalised mentoring based on your needs, giving vital information to you as a new beekeeper.

DIY PICKUP

As an alternative if you’re on a budget or you’re an experienced beekeeper, the colonies of bees can be picked up from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne by appointment. We’ll coordinate this with you to establish an exact day and time. Usually, this is between 8:00 – 10:00am in the morning or after sunset in the evening to ensure that most foraging bees return to the NUC box before being closed up.

WE CAN DELIVER OUR BEES TOO!

Our service area is substantial, covering all of Victoria, ACT and south of New South Wales.

Due to the distances, we operate a travel zone based system is used as shown in the map below. Due to the distance, time and conditions that the bees must travel, the cost for deliveries of these zones are calculated. Use the postcode search tool to find out which of 8 zones you are located and the services we provide.

There’s a high demand from our experienced beekeeper, and their time is limited during the busy spring and summer season. As a result, they’ll promptly move through the detailed migration of your bee. However, they ask that you invite others to join for the installation if you wish.

WHERE DO WE DELIVER & PICKUP OUR BEES?