# Nucs availability in Wisconsin



## ConservatvHippy (Nov 6, 2013)

Hello,
I was going to order a few NUCs for 2018. I know I need to do this sooner vs. later.

Does anyone have a source for bees in Southeastern Wisconsin that you would recommend? NUCs and/or packages?

Concord Farm is not selling them this year. That was my only source.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Whew $130.00 for nucs seems to be the going price this year.

Since I am not sure how far you would want to drive from some place in SE Wisconsin. I will just say do an internet search for SE Wisconsin honey bee Nucs.
I used goggle and came up with several pages, yes some you had to sort thru but I found several that were in Wisconsin.


 Al


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## ConservatvHippy (Nov 6, 2013)

Yes, the days of beekeepers taking ALL the honey and just replace the bees in the spring are long gone (people I talk to told me that this was common practice). The price is getting crazy expensive. 110 for a package.
I have been burned in the past with packages. Thanks much. I will roll the dice and pick a vender.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I have been a bee keeper for many years, belong to the state honey bee association, the regional club and 3 county clubs. I have never heard of any one robbing all the honey and buying new bees the next spring.

We have always taken great pride in keeping our winter looses very low and it has been bragged on at club meetings.
today the biggest complaint heard at mid summer bee club meetings is the crappy queens that come in packages.

 Al


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## ConservatvHippy (Nov 6, 2013)

That came from a friend that grew up in Vermont. The Catholic school (Nuns) kept bees and did it. It may have been a market that was so lucrative, it was impossible to turn down. Just imagine how you could market that. Not sure how true it was, but I also heard of beekeepers in Canada doing the same.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

OK way back when they used skeps they did kill off the bees rob the honey and start over in the spring from some of the skeps they didn't kill.

Can't remove frames from a skep ya know.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

I know I'm a new beekeep so what is a skep?


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

those lil haystack shaped bee hives of old ,seen in pictures /drawings long ago replaced buy our langstrof hive


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Skeps are made of straw into a dome shape.










Sticks were placed in them for the bees to start the comb building on.





























They mostly used sulfer to kill the honey bees to harvest the honey. I have never seen or read of the honey being harvested while the bees were alive. 

Then Langstroth invented a workable removable frame hive. Well He gets credit for it any way. I am sure others were working on that too.


 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

Oh those,,,,,,,,,,, I just didn't know what the name was. ,, I just didn't know........... I just hope my girls make it if they do make it I think we might pic up one then we'll have 3 hives and i will spilt if I can. I m trying to make it to 5 0r 6 hives


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