> Hobby beekeepers (in general terms) have always been the main buyers of
package & and nucs and mostly for replacement of dead hives.

I would guess from my package sales here it is new beekeepers
65% replacement of winter kill 35%, some winters the scale is tipped a
little differently. Beekeepers come and go over the course of about 4
years, they give up replacing their bees. I do not see much difference in
survival between the packages or the nucs as long as they are fed, made
sure they are queen right and healthy, here they all build up with good
spring weather. Though I do not sell nucs every year I deal with the people
after they get theirs since I manage a shop selling beekeeping equipment,
my phone rings all day long with questions and problems even if they did
not purchase their bees from me. Packages and nucs have the same problems
it is usually queens and getting the bees to draw foundation. This past
season my packages were late coming but it was worth the wait because the
queens were excellent and the packages were not skimpy. The beginners were
having a fit, the experience beekeepers were glad because our weather was
just as lousy as it was in the south so they knew there would be
no build up even they got them as first scheduled.

Here packages are necessary because of the amount of new beekeepers
starting up. No one around here produces enough nucs or brings in enough. A
new club in the area which is only three years old already has over 250
members. My club has grown from around 70 members to 260 members in 3 or 4
years. All these beginners start with at least two nucs or packages so the
demand for bees is high. Some of the ones with more money than brains start
with 12 or more.

As it has been said not all packages are equal. I have seen packages loaded
with small hive beetles, some 3 pound packages under weight by close to a
pound, poor queens and the supplier unwilling to replace them. (Not my
supplier, mine is great and really easy to work with.) Nucs also have been
in the same condition. At least with packages if the buyer knows what they
are looking at they can see the small hive beetles and that the weight is
off. With a nuc you do not get to see the problems until it is in your
yard.

<http://www.brownsbeefarm.com/>
I can't say I am for one way or the other, the only thing I am for is the
quality of the packages or the nucs. There is no policing of the industry
so when you get that 3 pound package with 2 pounds of bees and dead queen
and the seller will not call you back who do to call? Not the bee
inspector, they protect bees not beekeepers.


Karen

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html