AM>From: Aaron Morris <[log in to unmask]>
  >Date:         Tue, 27 Feb 1996 08:33:27 EST
  >Subject:      Replacement Costs
 
More inputs on: AM>The four major things affecting the cost of packaged
bees are
 
      #1) SUPPLY & DEMAND
 
The demand this area is very high, and has been for several years, and
most bee breeders in this area have received all the orders they can
fill for cells, bulk bees, queens, packages, and nucs. This is not the
major bee breeding area, but we have 3 commercial bee keepers who are
good bee breeders, all orders are cash and picked up at the producers
honey house or bee yards.
 
  >    1) Supplier
  >    2) Strain
  >    3) Quantity
  >    4) Postage
 
RULE #1 ORDER EARLY! Or you may be not able to get what you want
when you want it.
 
AM>Rule number one regarding suppliers is KNOW YOUR SUPPLIER.  This is a
 
        Most bee breeders I have worked with over the years help each
other fill orders and who's bee's and queens you get can only be
guaranteed when specified. For commercial beekeepers it is more
important that you get your bee's when needed then who produced them
as long as the queens are fully mated, which is a problem early in
some seasons.
 
The best story on this was told to me by one of the best bee breeders
in Californian I ever worked with who supplied breeder queens to the
majority of Northern California, now keeping bees with the Lord. Anyway
at a bee convention one of his satisfied customers sought him out to
tell him how good his queens were that year, and how bad the queens were
he had got from his previous supplier. Later alone as we lifted our cups
we had a good chuckle as that season he had run short of queens and
filled this guys order from queens from a neighbor who he knew to be one
of the best queen breeders and whom he supplied many breeders. This was
the same person the customer was complaining about.<G>
 
Different strokes for different beekeepers. California bee breeding
moved from Southern California to Northern California years ago and
prospered because their market was in the North. Business at times
was more then they could handle, and I remember my first Canadian
customer as he flew down here to check out my operation and to be
sure I could supply his truck loads of bees. He was satisfied that
I could and when the time came I shipped his bees. WOW he was happy,
got the biggest crops he ever got, and bigger then all his neighbors
so he just knew my stock was the best he had ever got. I was also proud
to have been the supplier of such super bees on one of my first big
shipment north.
 
The next winter he ordered his truck loads of bees. A few day before I
was to shake them he called up and canceled. He had found them for
twenty five cents less and one hundred miles closer. I learned my first
of many lesson's in the package bee business..Get a DEPOSIT with that
order.<G>
 
AM>Strain: Prices differ for different strains of bees.  Italians will cost
 
A lot of the difference in bees is in the eye of the beeholder, but if
you believe there is a difference thats OK, means their advertising is
working. There certainty is in quality difference depending on the type
of season and the experience of the bee breeder. Most of these
differences can not be measured from season to season. Color is about
the only real difference, but you can find some difference in temper.
At one time we had a bee breeder on the central cost who advertised
super bees. He sent out flyers, and visited around the country,
attended all the bee meeting and did the best sales job I have ever
seen. He had graduated from a good university and looked and acted
like a educated beekeeper, and we all were impressed.
 
His adds were so big and great I decided that I had to visit him and
see how he got such good queens maybe I could improve my own. We spent
the whole time in his office as he showed me how he did the advertising.
END of Story, as that was his whole thing advertising and his bees were
no difference except in price and the fact was he could not deliver
because of the demand his advertising created and soon went out of
business moving off shore to start up again for a time.
 
Bees are one product that should be purchased on the experience of
other beekeepers with any the stock of any particular supplier if you
have none of your own. A commercial beekeeper or bee breeder will
purchased queens from several sources to test and having done this for
many years will base his purchase decisions on the results of these test
shipments. Makes it hard to get started in the bee breeding business,
but most of us start by helping fill established breeders orders here in
California where we have many bee breeders. In a way that does give the
buyer two quality controls, the actual producer and the producer-seller
and I know few who would sell junk.
 
AM>Quantity: you will pay less per package if you order more packages than
 
The beekeepers who get the best deal pool their orders to make up
truck loads. We even have a couple of beekeepers here who the last
few years have made several trips east each spring, for the fun of it,
as they have more productive things to do then drive cross country, but
they enjoy the brake and meeting all the beekeepers who come to pick
over the load. They are not taking orders so I won't drop their names..
 
AM>Postage: Costs to ship bees have sky rocketed in the past few years.
 
HIGH COSTS
 
Those who supply the stock in any agricultural industry reap the greatest
rewards. Price out ostrich eggs if you think bee's are high.
 
As the price of honey has increased to all time highs bee breeders are
taking the opportunity to raise the price of their own products that
because of the nature of the work of producing and selling bees reduces
their own honey production. So they say so it must bee...
 
                              ttul Andy-
 
 
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