How much to sell nucs for

[Boston Bees]

The thread currently running on honey pricing made me want to ask this question.

I am just a hobbyist, and tend to end up with more colonies than I want, due to splitting, swarm collecting etc. I don't sell anything that hasn't proven the ability to overwinter, but do need to get rid of a few nucs in spring. How much should I charge? The queens won't be clipped or marked, will be have no discernible pedigree (other than "sturdy local mongrel", and I would probably be looking for the buyer to provide their own box.

Also, what kind of buyers do people in a similar situation find the least hassle? Selling direct to complete newbies slightly scares me. I don't work with a local BKA, though contacting one to offer them nucs could be an option I guess - might take the hassle of direct client-interaction out of the equation ....... or it might introduce a different type of hassle?

Thanks in advance!

 

[thorn]

Most of the on line adverts I see are from beeks who are selling them in poly nucs or correx boxes. It'll be more problematic for the buyer to transfer them into his own box. There'll certainly be a goodly number lost to him in the process. Presumably you will at least sell them on frames,

 

[Boston Bees]

Would you be selling them in poly nucs or cortex boxes?

Haven't yet decided. Which do you suggest? Ideally neither (buyer brings their own nuc box), but I guess not all have one.

 

[Swarm]

Me and my friend ask £100 and a return of the box. If they prefer to keep the box, £140.

 

[Curly green finger's]

This area £150 to £230
Box poly or wood included.
Mine £230.
Chap nr me £150.. Crazy I think he is! plus maybe mine are more Amm than mongrel.

 

[Somerford]

£250

 

[jmeilhan]

East Yorkshire
6 frames in Maismore Nuc Box £200

 

[Show me the honey]

Me and my friend ask £100 and a return of the box. If they prefer to keep the box, £140.

this was the deal offered to me when I started so had the choice to keep or return may Be a little higher as it was 4 years ago.

 

[ericbeaumont]

might take the hassle of direct client-interaction out of the equation ... or it might introduce a different type of hassle?

Factor in the logistics of evening transfer unless the buyer is willing to lose flyers. One option: local buyer delivers the box to your home and collects it the next morning sealed and ready to go. A definite advantage of that route is that buyers don't learn your apiary location and you might avoid lengthy chat - how to transfer the nuc to a hive, and do they need feeding and could you mark the queen, please?

Disadvantage is that the buyer does not get the satisfaction of seeing the bees go in the box. However, a buyer bringing a used box to your apiary will increase the risk of disease transmission (and future apiary theft) and apart from the social chat and questions there will be all sorts of tiresome faff: if they bring a 6f box and you're selling 5f they ought to bring a blank frame, but they'll forget and you'll have to sell them one, and oh, dear, I didn't bring any cash.

Easier to buy and charge for a 5f Correx transit box and be done with it.

After-sales service needs robust patience to negotiate: you will give basic initial advice at the point of sale but the future of the colony once it leaves you is not your responsibility and you cannot be expected to resolve disasters caused by the new owner, who may kill the queen during transfer, allow the colony to swarm, or fail to feed in a nectar dearth. If disease or extreme bad temper is discovered later then you will naturally wish to resolve the issue.

Prices in these parts are 180-220 (own box); national retail is 240-300.

 

[Curly green finger's]

£250

What type of queens are in yours?
A price we should all be heading towards?

 

[elainemary]

The thread currently running on honey pricing made me want to ask this question.

I am just a hobbyist, and tend to end up with more colonies than I want, due to splitting, swarm collecting etc. I don't sell anything that hasn't proven the ability to overwinter, but do need to get rid of a few nucs in spring. How much should I charge? The queens won't be clipped or marked, will be have no discernible pedigree (other than "sturdy local mongrel", and I would probably be looking for the buyer to provide their own box.

Also, what kind of buyers do people in a similar situation find the least hassle? Selling direct to complete newbies slightly scares me. I don't work with a local BKA, though contacting one to offer them nucs could be an option I guess - might take the hassle of direct client-interaction out of the equation ....... or it might introduce a different type of hassle?

Thanks in advance!

We’ve just had this debate in our association (slightly different situation to yours as discussion was about beginners). Conclusion was if part of a queen rearing program with good stock (defined traits of no disease including chalkbrood and nosema ; calm colony etc) & Nuc to conform to NBU guidelines (marked queen, brood in all stages, 2 combs stores include pollen, min 3 frames brood etc) charge c £125-£150 without box or add £40 with box.
Otherwise if from swarm control and confident re disease / laying queen and trying to help beginners, charge c£75. Down to beekeeper as we don’t have a training / queen rearing apiary, just as guidelines.

Our association has a page on our website for sales of equipment incl bees, so perhaps check out if you can advertise this way, if you’re not a member they may still allow it??

Like you I have a couple of over wintered Nucs surplus, not sure selling is worth the hassle, esp to beginners, in Covid times.

Ps edit: some good advice from Eric, re how to manage the buyer!

 

[jeff33]

I know the amount of work that goes into beekeeping but I certainly think that selling nucs at over £200 for what are effectively mongrels from unimproved stock is too much. Nobody would pay ferrari prices for an old banger.

I like to take pride in what I do and my nucs go for £150 + 35 deposit for poly because I am not there yet with my stock. Some bees end up being a bit feisty, some want to swarm when they have plenty of room, etc.

I would rather make a little less profit and have people coming back rather than them feeling ripped off. I already have 5 pre-ordered from previous customers and 1 new one through recommendation.

 

[The Poot]

Factor in the logistics of evening transfer unless the buyer is willing to lose flyers. One option: local buyer delivers the box to your home and collects it the next morning sealed and ready to go. A definite advantage of that route is that buyers don't learn your apiary location and you might avoid lengthy chat - how to transfer the nuc to a hive, and do they need feeding and could you mark the queen, please?

Disadvantage is that the buyer does not get the satisfaction of seeing the bees go in the box. However, a buyer bringing a used box to your apiary will increase the risk of disease transmission (and future apiary theft) and apart from the social chat and questions there will be all sorts of tiresome faff: if they bring a 6f box and you're selling 5f they ought to bring a blank frame, but they'll forget and you'll have to sell them one, and oh, dear, I didn't bring any cash.

Easier to buy and charge for a 5f Correx transit box and be done with it.

After-sales service needs robust patience to negotiate: you will give basic initial advice at the point of sale but the future of the colony once it leaves you is not your responsibility and you cannot be expected to resolve disasters caused by the new owner, who may kill the queen during transfer, allow the colony to swarm, or fail to feed in a nectar dearth. If disease or extreme bad temper is discovered later then you will naturally wish to resolve the issue.

Prices in these parts are 180-220 (own box); national retail is 240-300.

I have so far, sold one double brood colony (just prior to moving house) and have since given two nucs away to help local association beeks. Despite my request, I received no information regarding how well they got on, or what the character of the bees turned out to be.
Disappointed? Yes
Surprised? No

 

[Somerford]

What type of queens are in yours?
A price we should all be heading towards?

Apis Meliffera

on a serious note though all I see is local associations trying to control the price and cost of queens and nucs to unsustainably low levels

Why ?

The elephant in the room is this - that they (members) don't like to have to pay out lots of money because they're having to do it on an almost yearly basis because their bees die mysteriously every other year. Therefore they face a cost to replace them they resent. 'Because bees were always free' - well swarms were. But not if you live in Salisbury as they charge a member a fee to get the address to collect the swarm from. What utter nonsense.

So many amateurs are loosing colonies of bees for the usual reasons - lack of varroa control, lost colonies through poor swarm management, not identifying poor brood patterns, other factors ( colony decline due to viruses, lack of stores, not managing wasps ) and I see this alot, 'I want bees but I'm actually terrified every time I open them up, haven't a clue so leave them to themselves largely. Oh can I have a new queen too ? I've been told I need to requeen as they stung the other club member last time and they are nasty bees/swarmy bees/diseased bees/wrong coloured bees/not buckfasts *delete as appropriate.

The 'big' players charge well over £250 for a nuc, some even more. They sell out every year. Are they 'local' bees ? are they imported split packages ? are they local queens ? are they Italian mated imports ? who knows. Who cares ? Certainly the buyers don't mind.

Oh and my bees are buckfasts. Are they ? YES. I was told they were from the chap I bought them from. They look like Buckfasts. Yes. They ARE Buckfasts.

I've heard it all. I've even had beekeepers telling me quite earnestly they have AMM Black bees and have had them for years.

Really ? REALLY ? How does that compute ? Your apiary of 2 hives is less than 1 mile from my apiary of 20+ and while I have some dark bees and some not so dark bees I certainly wouldn't be so cocky or confident to say the darkies are AMM.

Utter Nonsense.

To answer your question...

My bees are selected to be prolific, low disease, winter survivors, good spring building honey gatherers. This does mean they do make efforts to swarm in an average year as they need space.

Why the price ? Frames, foundation, time spent making them, feeding the nucs, time spent checking them, time spent raising the queens from my breeder colonies, losses, time spent dealing with buyers, supply and demand.

And now it seems that package imports will be a struggle or knocked on the head which will drive up the prices of packages and nucs produced in the UK in 2021 and beyond..

KR

Somerford

 

[madasafish]

I sell between 1 to 3 nucs a year.
My bees are good tempered , not very swarmy Buckfast/Carnie/local mongrels.
£150 for a National nuc - return box (or I will transfer to owner supplied box free)
£180 for a 5 frame Lang jumbo nuc - as above.

Well that was in the past.
I expect a bee shortage this year in Spring. I will add 20% for non members of our local Association

I have a few overwintered Qs £45 each - £35 for members.

I do a bit of mentoring and assistance..free of course but only to people I like. (None refused so far )

 

[Apple]

£220 for 5 frames in a Correx box for near native locally mated.
£250 for 5 frame Correx box for bees mated in our Cornish Amm
isolated valley from a DNA tested queen.
No return on box or frames.
All of our overwintered nucs have been sold.
I can see prices hitting £350 next year!

Swarms last season were being sold for £80 from our local association, we also had a massive outbreak of EFB.

If anyone asks me for a swarm I point them in the direction of the door.

My guess is prices will skyrocket as importation ban of nucs and packages from the EU ( and back door NI) hits home.

My landowners are definitely upping the security on their land, chains and combination code locks on a lot of gates... plus a chain around the "hinge side of the gate!!!
Seems to be a market for those big bales of Weetabix... now they are not easy to steal Shirley???

Yeghes da

 

[jeff33]

I do a bit of mentoring and assistance..free of course but only to people I like. (None refused so far )

Mentoring or as I like to put it, managing their bees because they don't know how. I do one season with new beeks to show them what I do through the 4 seasons and they are on their own.... Until you get a call for an issue or another, you can't help feeling sorry for the poor bees and you end up having to sort it out!

 

[ericbeaumont]

So many amateurs are loosing colonies of bees for the usual reasons

Good overall assessment, Somerford.

This topic comes along as regular as a bus (as does the one about honey pricing) and the answers are pretty much the same each time: the standard of amateur beekeeping in this country is so low that many fail to keep bees alive long enough to help them thrive.

First factor: initial training can be narrow and dogmatic and fail to identify essentials. For example, much is given to knowledge of theory too early in the season, when warm-weather hands-on beekeeping - a far more engaging route that leads to a clearer understanding of the management of expansion, swarming, varroa, and winter survival - is where learning is most effective.

Second factor: commitment to learning. The emotional pull of beekeeping (especially during C19) will always produce beginners, but too many are not prepared (or don't know how) to give long-term commitment needed to manage volatile livestock, and are unused to awkward and sweaty practical work needing resolve and patience. Mix in online thinking - solve a problem from a Youtube video or with a credit card - and it's easy to see why nucs and queens are in regular demand come spring.

At work we sell about 100 nucs a year and requests for more pop up like snowdrops, but I find it frustrating that lack of commitment to learning often prevents winter survival and results in expensive routine replacement.

Other side of that coin: come May, I'll be collecting prime swarms that we may have sold as nucs a month before. This does not, by the way, give me much satisfaction.

 

[Boston Bees]

Presumably you will at least sell them on frames,

Haha - yes - of course.

Easier to buy and charge for a 5f Correx transit box and be done with it.

Thanks - good advice - have ordered some to try out this year

Thanks all for the advice on pricing and service strategy. Will take the advice on board and see how it goes this spring.

 

[The Poot]

Apis Meliffera

on a serious note though all I see is local associations trying to control the price and cost of queens and nucs to unsustainably low levels

Why ?

The elephant in the room is this - that they (members) don't like to have to pay out lots of money because they're having to do it on an almost yearly basis because their bees die mysteriously every other year. Therefore they face a cost to replace them they resent. 'Because bees were always free' - well swarms were. But not if you live in Salisbury as they charge a member a fee to get the address to collect the swarm from. What utter nonsense.

So many amateurs are loosing colonies of bees for the usual reasons - lack of varroa control, lost colonies through poor swarm management, not identifying poor brood patterns, other factors ( colony decline due to viruses, lack of stores, not managing wasps ) and I see this alot, 'I want bees but I'm actually terrified every time I open them up, haven't a clue so leave them to themselves largely. Oh can I have a new queen too ? I've been told I need to requeen as they stung the other club member last time and they are nasty bees/swarmy bees/diseased bees/wrong coloured bees/not buckfasts *delete as appropriate.

The 'big' players charge well over £250 for a nuc, some even more. They sell out every year. Are they 'local' bees ? are they imported split packages ? are they local queens ? are they Italian mated imports ? who knows. Who cares ? Certainly the buyers don't mind.

Oh and my bees are buckfasts. Are they ? YES. I was told they were from the chap I bought them from. They look like Buckfasts. Yes. They ARE Buckfasts.

I've heard it all. I've even had beekeepers telling me quite earnestly they have AMM Black bees and have had them for years.

Really ? REALLY ? How does that compute ? Your apiary of 2 hives is less than 1 mile from my apiary of 20+ and while I have some dark bees and some not so dark bees I certainly wouldn't be so cocky or confident to say the darkies are AMM.

Utter Nonsense.

To answer your question...

My bees are selected to be prolific, low disease, winter survivors, good spring building honey gatherers. This does mean they do make efforts to swarm in an average year as they need space.

Why the price ? Frames, foundation, time spent making them, feeding the nucs, time spent checking them, time spent raising the queens from my breeder colonies, losses, time spent dealing with buyers, supply and demand.

And now it seems that package imports will be a struggle or knocked on the head which will drive up the prices of packages and nucs produced in the UK in 2021 and beyond..

KR

Somerford

I bet you’re glad to get that off your chest!