@jape I don’t think you know nothing, and please don’t assume I don’t either.
What do you know about my new bees that would lead you to believe that treating for mites is not worthwhile?
There’s capped brood from a source that obviously had some difficulty overwintering or else the source would not have had to have lightened what was delivered, from 5 frames to three, in order to fulfill his pre-ordered quota.
I purchased some used equipment from a fellow beek that suffered 100% loss this past winter and it turns out he purchased his bees just last spring from the same apiary.
Any reason to believe that varroa will not emerge with hatching bees?
Sounds like a Barge pole is needed for that seller - he will get a bad reputation quickly selling incomplete Nucs and possibly diseased bees - Both my Nucs I got last year were inspected by an NBU inspector and well know writer for BeeCraft Magazine - I was very lucky - at lease we can ask an inspector to give our bees the once over and I hope to do this for any Nucs I sell
Good to hear - you really need to do some reading about bee diseases and join a club - you need to understand the bee life cycle and types of diseases and problems that can come from used equipment
@adagna Adam, it is a risk you take - My Nucs all have starter strips - swarms will build their own wax and hopefully any problems they bring with them will be encased in the wax. Also the brood break for a day or so will help to keep the varroa down
My mom use to say, " the hurrieder I get the more behinder I am ". That was a very wise saying from dear Mom. Bless her pea picking heart still ! Gerald ! Love ya mom !
@Chet_Calhoun@Valli@Horsehillhoney
I left a message with the supplier (not the reseller) yesterday and he was kind enough to have returned my call today and cleared things up.
The supplier is Victor Halbewachs out of Cartersville GA - He is very above-board and said that his intention was to sell 3-frame nucs with 2 empty frames for shipping all along. That would explain the early pick up date as well as the $140 price tag.
The reseller simply was quite poor in their description on their website.
Mr Halbegewachs makes his nucs from his local brood and re-queens the Nucs with Hawaiian Queens out of Ohio.
Chet, you’ll be happy to know the bees were treated with an Oxalic drip in December.
Very glad that you followed up, and thank you for posting the information too. I feel less outraged on your behalf, but still the secondary vendor should have given you a more accurate description. Thank you for the update!
I don’t mind telling you that he was making light of the flow hive right from the start and told us “you know you still have to keep bee’s the right way with that don’t you” Updating info on the bare bones website would only take a min.
What you have bought is essentially a “split” it is yet to develop into a nuc, which is what you paid for so i certainly wouldnt be purchasing anymore from this supplier. If the queen is still caged then she hasnt even been accepted by the bees yet. Although only being 3 frames of bees the chances of acceptance should be high. You are right in suggesting the brood has come from another queen, which isnt a problem however not exactly what you paid for. Have the empty plastic frames been wax dipped? If not this can greatly reduce the rate at which the “split” will develop into a nuc and build the sheets of plastic into workable combs.
My opinion is that you got ripped off, but don’t feel alone. Many of the newer nuc box sellers are starting to do this. And it really is sad too. A five frame Nuc box should have 5 frames with brood, maybe not complete but five frames with brood started at some point, and a healthy egg laying queen, not a queen that isn’t yet part of the colony.
I think many are doing it because customers don’t want to wait for a proper nuc. They call around looking for the earliest nuc supplier they can find.
I’m sold out of over-wintered nucs and now if someone wants one they have to wait until mid-late May when I’m sure new queens can get mated and establish a good brood pattern.
