Patience please.

[Calluna4u]

A call yesterday, the fourth from different people since just before Christmas, prompts me to just post a little notice on here.

Please do NOT seek supply of nucs at this time of year. We have a three figure number of them overwintering with locally bred queens in them for spring supply....... BUT...........
we will NOT supply ANY nucs to anyone until we see they are safely overwintered, that the queen is laying well, and they are into their expansion phase. This includes disease checking (always by Jolanta or myself) which is currently not possible.
Others on here have seen them, so its not BS to cover for selling imported bees as one kind soul suggested when I said no to their 2 nucs going out last week. (If I sell imported stock I tell it EXACTLY as it is, and its a lot cheaper.)

For now they are in tight cluster and to move them adds an unnecessary risk to the queen and the stress of moving them in non flying weather can set off dysentery inside the hive.

We have the nucs, they are (up to now) in good condition and it all looks very promising, and if you have them reserved they will not be sold to anyone else so please do not worry. We are targeting availability dates to be from about mid April once the season starts to open up.

As an experienced beekeeper I would not consider moving colonies at this time unless there was absolutely no alternative, and would strongly advise beginners seeking their first bees or replacement bees to do the same. Wait till the bees are ready. It will be better for them.

[The Drone Ranger]

Are these people ready to become beekeepers?

[mbc]

Strange place to post this, is it an advert?

[Calluna4u]

Strange place to post this, is it an advert?

Its the exact opposite........its a 'please, don't contact me at this time'.....almost an anti advert. I don't want ANY new orders for the overwintered nucs at this time, I do not know how many of them I will need myself.

Also a bit of a heads up to the more experienced....to respond a bit like DR above, to get their local beginners to settle down and leave things well alone for now.

Even this morning I had someone came in in person looking for a queen.......they think their colony may be queenless as it is 'too active' and 'noisy'. There is much education to be done by associations I fear.

[The Drone Ranger]

It feels hopeless sometimes C4u
There was a whole caffuffle on here( I think) regards a commercial company selling to people who were clueless
Beekeeping isn't brain surgery but some basic knowledge is needed
Even Google would tell them enough not to be so Ill informed
Best just to keep the nucs they will only kill them anway

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[gavin]

It feels hopeless sometimes C4u
There was a whole caffuffle on here( I think) regards [a Gloucester trader] selling to people who were clueless
Beekeeping isn't brain surgery but some basic knowledge is needed
Even Google would tell them enough not to be so I'll informed
Best just to keep the nucs they will only kill them anway

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If it was the one you mean it was on the Beekeeping Forum and led to me asking the SBA for permission and funds to start this one to give a Scottish flavour to discussions online. He was selling imported carnies to a guy in an isolated part of Wester Ross that didn't yet have Varroa, a repeat order after the previous year's died overwinter. He had the backing of a gaggle of beginners that appreciated paying him an inflated sum for some freshly imported stock. 'They can forage off the fence posts for all I care' was a quote that stuck in my mind, as well his robust approach to online discussion. Sadly, his posts were eventually removed. I'm not sure whether he did that himself or not.

The answer is: get into beekeeping through your local association. Most run classes (ours in Dundee start next month) and you'll get lifetime mentoring (if you want it) and locally sourced stocks, often from the association apiary. There are a very few association in Scotland that use imports, the great majority use local bees only. Some are very anxious to keep it that way.

[The Drone Ranger]

That must be it Gavin was that a long time ago ?
He's actually a pretty decent chap but clearly not very principled when it comes to selling

Lots of folk must just get the notion to get bees, and just rush off and buy some online
Not too smart, because unless they know what they are about, that's just money down the drain
Not to mention bad news for the bees and other beekeepers
Backup, help, and ongoing advice are essential ,parts of any sale
Obviously getting some training before you buy bees is another essential and since its free there's no reason to not have done it

Here's the same advice from across the Atlantic this time
http://www.carolinashootersclub.com/...hreads/208577/

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[Greengage]

Maybe you should let them adopt the hive over the winter for a small fee and send them regular updates

[Calluna4u]

Maybe you should let them adopt the hive over the winter for a small fee and send them regular updates

Seems to have quietened down again now, but I did get a cancellation of two nucs. Turned out they thought they could have had them sitting on the front lawn when Dad got up on Christmas morning. Now they are getting on for a month late (I never said they could get them before spring) they have cancelled and 'gone elsewhere'.

C'est la vie.

[Neils]

There is much education to be done by associations I fear.

I think that Associations bear a lot of criticism in this area that is often not warranted.

I happen to think that our association runs one of the better beginners courses that I've encountered but, at an association level, the standard generally, in my experience, is pretty high. What I have seen a lot of in recent years is a big increase in the number of people coming to beginners courses especially who already "know" just what they're going to do. They come to the course, pay their membership and we never see them again except to go collect swarms from around where we last heard they were going to be keeping bees.

What would you have us do? Membership is optional, we lay on a wide range of educational programmes throughout the year. It wasn't that long ago that we had one of the local forum members here come down to the Bristol area to give us a talk and I can reel off a veritable who's who of beekeeping and related areas that have come to deliver talks and workshops, on top of the bog standard courses, apiary sessions, exam workshops, swarm collection services, "bee bimbles" and what-not that we, as an association, put on year after year for free.

We all get "stupid" enquiries throughout the year from supposed beekeepers. I've lost count of the number of people who want me to go to all the trouble of collecting swarms so that they can take them off my hands afterwards. Some of whom get very shirty at the notion that having gone to all the trouble of collecting the damn thing that I might not want to give it to some random stranger wanting bees or, even worse, that they should go collect one themselves.

But I'm still open to suggestion, having been involved in Education at an association level for the past 5 years, at just what we're not doing that would make your life easier