- Joined
- Jun 20, 2009
- Messages
- 2,428
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- Kingsbridge, South Devon
- Hive Type
- None
- Number of Hives
- 0 - Now in beeless retirement!
Our house move seems to be proceeding speedily so I need to off-load the last of my bees quickly. All are over-wintered colonies with 2012 queens in Paradise Honey poly nucs and hives.
I am offering these bees at a price more or less equal to the cost the hives and nucs would be on their own, without the bees. This is partly because given the time of year there is still a risk any one of these colonies could fail to make it fully through until the Spring and also because I forgot to give them OA due to other commitments so some or all of them may have a high varroa load. I am offering no guarantees with these bees but if I thought any one of them was a serious risk I would not offer it for sale. With the exception of N2 (explained in the list below) they are all in good condition for the time of year with stores. I am selling all the full sized colonies for £60.00 and the nucs at one for £40.00 and the one weak one for £30.00.
They are all on Langstroth Medium frames which are not widely used but I don't see that as a real problem because I strongly recommend any purchaser carries out a shook swarm on them as soon as conditions permit. Alternatively, they could be transferred to new frames with a Bailley frame change, using a plywood adaptor if required to get them onto National or Commercial frames.
Although a shook swarm on a nuc is not normally recommended the 2 nucs have 12 frames each so are more or less the same as a BS National brood chamber so should be strong enough for a shook swarm.
The bees started off several years ago from Buckfast queens from Keld Brandstrup in Denmark but I would now class them as local mongrels and should do well more or less anywhere outside of the Highlands. Temperament was OK last summer. In a good year (when did we last have one of those?) they are very productive and I had over 100 lbs of honey off some colonies but this should not be taken as the average! Typically I expect 25 to 50 lbs of honey per colony from the Spring flow and hopefully the same again by August, but of course your yields could differ from this depending on forage and the all-important weather.
All were quickly checked during the warm weather last week and have brood in all phases and stores.
The colonies are in 2 formats: (these pictures were taken with an air temperature of Brrrr degrees which is why no flying bees are visible - you will have to take my word they are inhabited.)
Double LS Medium Nucs with a total of 12 frames - N1 & N2
Double LS Hives with a total of 20 frames - C1, C2, C3 & C4
The colonies are described in a little more detail below:
N1 - Strong with 2 frames of brood when inspected. £40.00
N2 - This is the only weak one. Created last week from uniting one nuc with a laying queen but no stores wth another nuc with stores but no queen. I won't know if the uniting has been succesful until I can inspect again. £30.00
C1 - Good - £60.00
C2 - Good and VERY heavy with stores. - £60.00 May need some stores removed at some point to give queen laying space or alternatively give some stores to another colony.
C3 - Good - £60.00
C4 - Good - £60.00
My definition of "Good" is simply as described earlier, there is a laying queen in there and they have stores. Please bear in mind the early date so these colonies have only just started to get going so predicting future performance is not certain at this time.
None of the queens are marked or clipped - so a queen finding puzzle thrown in for free with each colony!
My colonies were tested for nosema about 5 years ago and were found to be completely clear. From the BeeBase data for 1999 onwards there are no records of AFB in the area and the only recorded case of EFB since 1999 was about 15 km away and was about 10 years ago from what I remember.
Assuming the weather warms up again at some point I will make a final inspection to check all is well before parting with any colonies.
Terms are cash only on collection from Kingsbridge, South Devon. If anyone wants to inspect them before purchase it would require two visits or being prepared to hang around until the evening - but given the time of year any inspection will have to be extremely quick to avoid the risk of chilling brood. At the moment they are only flying for a few hours from mid-morning when the sun is out and the temp is above about 10C. I suggest prospective purchasers trust my judgement because if there is any doubt I will withdraw a colony from sale or throw it in free with another for uniting at a later date. I am not doing this sale to make money - just happy to see them go to good homes or if one person wants to buy them all and re-house them and sell them at a good profit later in the year then good for them. We have given stuff valued at hundreds of pounds over the past few weeks to the Devon Air Ambulance but as they didn't seem to want any bees in their shop for some reason I am letting the bees go here.
I am very happy to offer "after sales" telephone support if purchased by a beginner - for example to explain how to do a shook swarm or Bailley frame change plus any other advice required this season.
I also have 2 five frame LS Canadian style poly nucs from Swienty. One has a varroa floor the other not. They can be modified, as can the other nucs above, to take BS National. They need thorough cleaning and sterilising. £5.00 each or one free if required with any of the full sized colonies.
I am offering these bees at a price more or less equal to the cost the hives and nucs would be on their own, without the bees. This is partly because given the time of year there is still a risk any one of these colonies could fail to make it fully through until the Spring and also because I forgot to give them OA due to other commitments so some or all of them may have a high varroa load. I am offering no guarantees with these bees but if I thought any one of them was a serious risk I would not offer it for sale. With the exception of N2 (explained in the list below) they are all in good condition for the time of year with stores. I am selling all the full sized colonies for £60.00 and the nucs at one for £40.00 and the one weak one for £30.00.
They are all on Langstroth Medium frames which are not widely used but I don't see that as a real problem because I strongly recommend any purchaser carries out a shook swarm on them as soon as conditions permit. Alternatively, they could be transferred to new frames with a Bailley frame change, using a plywood adaptor if required to get them onto National or Commercial frames.
Although a shook swarm on a nuc is not normally recommended the 2 nucs have 12 frames each so are more or less the same as a BS National brood chamber so should be strong enough for a shook swarm.
The bees started off several years ago from Buckfast queens from Keld Brandstrup in Denmark but I would now class them as local mongrels and should do well more or less anywhere outside of the Highlands. Temperament was OK last summer. In a good year (when did we last have one of those?) they are very productive and I had over 100 lbs of honey off some colonies but this should not be taken as the average! Typically I expect 25 to 50 lbs of honey per colony from the Spring flow and hopefully the same again by August, but of course your yields could differ from this depending on forage and the all-important weather.
All were quickly checked during the warm weather last week and have brood in all phases and stores.
The colonies are in 2 formats: (these pictures were taken with an air temperature of Brrrr degrees which is why no flying bees are visible - you will have to take my word they are inhabited.)
Double LS Medium Nucs with a total of 12 frames - N1 & N2
Double LS Hives with a total of 20 frames - C1, C2, C3 & C4
The colonies are described in a little more detail below:
N1 - Strong with 2 frames of brood when inspected. £40.00
N2 - This is the only weak one. Created last week from uniting one nuc with a laying queen but no stores wth another nuc with stores but no queen. I won't know if the uniting has been succesful until I can inspect again. £30.00
C1 - Good - £60.00
C2 - Good and VERY heavy with stores. - £60.00 May need some stores removed at some point to give queen laying space or alternatively give some stores to another colony.
C3 - Good - £60.00
C4 - Good - £60.00
My definition of "Good" is simply as described earlier, there is a laying queen in there and they have stores. Please bear in mind the early date so these colonies have only just started to get going so predicting future performance is not certain at this time.
None of the queens are marked or clipped - so a queen finding puzzle thrown in for free with each colony!
My colonies were tested for nosema about 5 years ago and were found to be completely clear. From the BeeBase data for 1999 onwards there are no records of AFB in the area and the only recorded case of EFB since 1999 was about 15 km away and was about 10 years ago from what I remember.
Assuming the weather warms up again at some point I will make a final inspection to check all is well before parting with any colonies.
Terms are cash only on collection from Kingsbridge, South Devon. If anyone wants to inspect them before purchase it would require two visits or being prepared to hang around until the evening - but given the time of year any inspection will have to be extremely quick to avoid the risk of chilling brood. At the moment they are only flying for a few hours from mid-morning when the sun is out and the temp is above about 10C. I suggest prospective purchasers trust my judgement because if there is any doubt I will withdraw a colony from sale or throw it in free with another for uniting at a later date. I am not doing this sale to make money - just happy to see them go to good homes or if one person wants to buy them all and re-house them and sell them at a good profit later in the year then good for them. We have given stuff valued at hundreds of pounds over the past few weeks to the Devon Air Ambulance but as they didn't seem to want any bees in their shop for some reason I am letting the bees go here.
I am very happy to offer "after sales" telephone support if purchased by a beginner - for example to explain how to do a shook swarm or Bailley frame change plus any other advice required this season.
I also have 2 five frame LS Canadian style poly nucs from Swienty. One has a varroa floor the other not. They can be modified, as can the other nucs above, to take BS National. They need thorough cleaning and sterilising. £5.00 each or one free if required with any of the full sized colonies.
