Package bees 1,2kg with Buckfast queen

01 · WHY A PACKAGE AND NOT A NUC

No comb and no brood, none of what travels with them

The advantage of the format is not the price, it is what it does not carry inside: with no comb, no brood and no wood, a package does not bring along the pathologies that travel with those materials. You start with new foundation in your own hive and with a population all at once, not with three frames you have to wait on. In exchange, the colony starts from zero: you have to give it drawn comb or feed it so it builds its own.

02 · INSTALLING IT

The first afternoon decides the rest

Take out the frames you need and put the whole package, transport container and all, inside the hive. After about two hours, open it carefully and release the queen onto the frames; the next day take the empty box out. Do it with the temperature above 12 °C and late in the afternoon, and leave the hive alone for the following days: every opening that week works against you.

03 · QUEEN ACCEPTANCE

What to look for on day seven

This is where packages are lost, and it is worth saying plainly: acceptance is not guaranteed. On day seven open up and look for eggs at the bottom of the cells — not for the queen. If there are no eggs and queen cells appear, she has been rejected; a frame of open brood borrowed from another hive saves it nearly every time, and if you have none to borrow, tell us as soon as you can. If you have doubts about acceptance, leave the cage closed with its candy for two or three days instead of releasing her after two hours.

04 · FEEDING AND THE START

Syrup until the comb is drawn

A package has no stores: feed it from day one with syrup and keep going until it has its comb drawn and nectar of its own coming in. That is the engine of the start — without feeding, the population you bought gets spent building. The first real inspection, assessing laying and capped brood, comes at three weeks.

05 · ABOUT THE BUCKFAST

Gentleness and yield, with conditions

The Buckfast is docile, productive and a good winterer, and that is why people ask for it. But it is not the bee to start with: it wants the queen replaced every year and management that knows what it is doing, because her daughters crossed with whatever is around your area can turn out very different — and often more defensive — from the second generation on. If you are starting out or do not know the strain, the Iberian bee package is the sensible choice.

06 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Live bees are seasonal: reservations open each campaign and the collection date is agreed with you in order of booking. The weather rules the calendar — a week of rain or wind delays the preparation of the packages. Ask us about the current campaign before booking.