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The Bee Place - A honey bee farm and more . . .

We are committed to ensuring the honey bee's future in our community. Honey bees are more than just our business . . . They are a huge part of our lives here at The Bee Place. We manage and maintain several hundred hives year round and only sell bees raised from our own stock - we are NOT a bee broker.

When the conditions are favorable and resources available, we are able to make splits from our hives and we then offer a limited number of starter colonies, called "Nucs" (short for nucleus), for sale to other beekeepers. These hives require a good deal of time and effort, most of which is in the field and away from the office or a retail store setting. We are always happy to talk bees, but during peak seasons we are not always able to answer the phone or reply to messages immediately. So please be patient when contacting us or placing an order and know that we will respond as soon as we are able.

While we do offer beekeeping supplies and local honey to the public, please be aware that we do not have a "walk-in" store at this time. We take orders via this website and arrange for pick up or delivery by appointment. We also offer Basic Beekeeping group classes on the scheduled pick up dates, which is normally on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am until noon for the class and then we load bees and supplies for customers the rest of the afternoon. If you place an order, we will be in contact with you to provide the address and schedule a time to meet you for a visit.

Where are we located? Our main pick up location is in the Somerset area, about 30 minutes southwest of downtown San Antonio. See the map below for the general location. Our insurance frowns on us posting our address online for obvious reasons. It is not always a good idea to visit a bee farm unannounced without protective gear. So, please contact us to schedule an appointment time. Please be aware the Google Maps will take you to an old address and not to our current location.

We Are Here - Click to enlarge

 

     

When the weather allows and the conditions are right, typically starting in early spring with the nectar flow approaching, we make our splits to increase our numbers. Over and above the resources provided by mother nature, we depend on the availability of high quality young mated queens to add to the hives we split (divide into two or more hives) to create new starter colonies, also known as Nucs. We use queens from select breeders in non-Africanized bee territories to assure the gentleness and purity of our Italian bees.

We then feed and treat the bees for pests and allow the new young queens in their starter colonies to grow and become established. Once they are deemed healthy and productive, the new colony can be placed in the appropriate size hives for either adding to our growing apiary or offering to other beekeepers. The number of new hives and Nucs we are able to generate each year is often times limited by the above mentioned factors; resources and queen bee availability. There are times we are on a waiting list and must rely upon the availability of these resources to make our splits and fill orders. Working with Mother Nature often times requires patience.

Queen in Introduction Cage Pure Italian Queen Bee Marked Queen

Therefore, we advise folks that are wanting to order bees, it is a good idea to order them several months in advance. Orders received in the spring are preceded by orders received the previous fall / winter months and will be filled on a "first come - first serve" basis. Sometimes the new hives are ready as early as the end of March, while other years it may be several weeks later in the season.

We strive to meet the needs of a growing community of beekeepers and aim to provide healthy bees of top quality genetics and the most gentle demeanor available. The Italian lines we raise are considered to be "the sweetest bees" around and are truly a pleasure to work. While there may be a waiting period for orders at certain times of the year, we work very hard to satisfy our customer list as timely as possible. We consider waiting a bit longer to fill an order less critical than to sacrifice the quality by rushing nature, we think the final product is worth the wait. Come take a look into some of our hives, we think you will agree.


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