We do not charge a cage fee so the price you see is the end price that you get charged! Please note: we cannot mark the queens that come in the packages! If you are ordering other equipment and you would like to pick it up along with your packages, you may do so on the same order; however, if you would like to order other equipment and have it shipped to you, please place separate orders.
Little Hope Hives is now taking orders to reserve 3-pound packages of Italian Honey Bees that will be available for pickup beginning mid to late April. Please be sure to place your, 3lb Package of Italian Honey Bee, order ahead of time in so you get the Honey Bees that you need; we will be selling a large number of packages, but we will not have any additional packages available on our pick-up days.
The 3lb Package of Italian Honey Bees comes with a caged, unmarked, young mated Queen. Your package will include a mixture of nurse bees, forager bees, guard bees, and drones. The queen bee will be in a queen cage hanging within the package of bees.
Please note: Keep package bees in a cool, protected area with plenty of ventilation and out of the sun during the transport to your beehive location. Keeping honey bees in a tightly enclosed location without sufficient airflow can seriously overheat them, which will result in a lot of dead bees, or ruin a queen's laying ability!
If you are looking for which type of bee that you should get for beginning beekeeping, Italian Honey Bees are the most recommended because they are very gentle, easy to work with and are considered the best all-purpose bees. They build up their population early in the spring, and they are able to maintain high populations all summer because the queen lays a lot of eggs. This strong workforce will result in excellent honey production. Italian bees easily adapt to most climates, they overwinter well and they have good resistance to Varroa mites. They produce minimum propolis and keep a clean hive.
The 3lb Package of Italian Honey Bees are for pick up only from our location in McDonough or Lincolnton Georgia. We do not charge a cage fee, and we do not require a cage exchange. We will give a $1 cage return on plastic bee bus cages only. We do not pay for wooden cages returned.
At The Little Hope Hives we work hard to supply you with the best bees, beekeeping equipment, and supplies, and beekeeping knowledge that we can, to help you out along the path to becoming a successful and happy beekeeper!