Buying bees or nucs in Tasmania

Is anyone selling bees or nucs in Tasmania.
I have a customer who needs some for his hives, but can’t find any.
Apparently he also can’t get them sent to him from the mainland because of quarantine laws.

Any information would be greatly appreciated, thanks :slight_smile:

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There is a Tasmanian contact here

Not sure why they haven’t just contacted their local club?
http://www.tasmanianbeekeepers.org.au

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They have, but he says no-one has anything.
That’s why I’m trying to help.

I find that really hard to believe, it’s like the pub with no beer ‘the club with no bees’.

I dropped the club an email. If you look at their swarm list there must be plenty of people in the club willing to sell swarms or splits if nucs or packaged bees aren’t available.

Is the person asking putting unrealistic constraints on the request? Eg. Needs them this weekend, doesn’t want to go on a waiting list? ie. Are they just being impatient?

I’m not sure. I had wondered if they were against Flow in case he mentioned that when he was trying to get some.
I have sent him lots of links, etc., so he should be able to get some.

I think it’s wrong to assume that about clubs, and perpetuating that narrative only hurts the relationship. Club members may be against the attitude or approach of some Flow owners, but I strongly doubt any club would ever withhold bees from someone just because they are using a Flow hive.

I’ve seen several Flow owners in recent weeks getting stroppy because they can’t get bees immediately…which is ironic given the apparent concern about the bee’s welfare and wanting to ‘save’ them. Not everything in life has an express delivery option.

Okay, I’m not going to argue. I was throwing out some possibilities. And I have given him some different options to try and get some bees.

Not sure where I was arguing, and on the contrary, I have thrown out the possibilities, you have speculated about why he is having trouble.

Hi,

Faroe was posting on behalf of me ( cheers Faroe)

I am not in an urgent hurry or have unreasonable demands…

these are the messages I am getting:

“I’m not going to be much help to you…I’ve been inundated with requests for nucs, and I don’t know of anyone who has any to spare, i.e. beyond the few they are doing for other people which are already earmarked.”

The guy in that Tas link wants 500 for a Nuc and told me to put flow hives in shed if I want to do proper beekeeping blah blah…

That response and reasoning appears completely reasonable, and I don’t see any suggestion it has anything to do with flow hive ownership. You are going to get this answer regardless of hive type.

This is the reality of the situation, nucs are ordered well in advance, established beekeepers know this and have ordered accordingly so are well ahead of you in the queue. Beekeepers I work with were taking orders in February for nucs that are only just starting to build up now (getting access to queens this early is still posing problematic).

As for the $500 nuc comment, I’d probably say the same thing to you today if I was pressed to provide a nuc on short notice. To meet the demand I’d more than likely sell you an overwintered hive of my own and expect to be compensated for the inconvenience.

Your profile says you have 10 hives, are they all Flow hives? If you have other hives, why aren’t you splitting them? It’s the perfect time of year to be doing this.

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@Glen_Coughlan , I have tried your mobile a few times with no luck. I am interested in obtaining a Tasmania NUCS in Spring/Summer 2018. Can you help? Angus

Hello @Glen_Coughlan

Would you be ok for me to call your regarding your nucs, I tried to set up my hive last year but had no luck finding a nuc. Hoping to have a little more luck this season. Thank you Glen

Hi Glen

I have wanted to start backyard bee keeping for years and as finally we bought a house and setting up our gardens my wife said we could get a flow hive. I was wondering, where in general, you are located in Tasmania and if you happen to have any NUCs available this late?

Thanks
Mike