New Starter Hives for Sale in Texas

[Gene Weitzel]

I am offering a limited number of single deep "Starter Hives" this spring. All hive woodenware will be new. They will basically consist of a strong 5 frame nuc (2-3 frames of brood, 1-2 frames of pollen/honey and a young queen that has been laying in the nuc for 3 weeks minimum) installed at pickup in the following equipment:

Deep hive body w/5 additional frames of wax coated plastic foundation
Solid bottom board
Migratory top

The price will be $110.00 picked up in SE Texas (near Houston). The following options will also be offered:

Screened bottom board add $5.00
Rosin dipped woodenware add $20.00
If you prefer foundationless frames (or a combination) they can be substituted for the foundation frames at no additional cost.
Customer specified queen source add $10.00 plus cost of queen(s) (this option may delay the pick-up time depending on availability of the queen(s) specified).

These hives will be available beginning in the 1st or 2nd week of April (depending on weather and other conditions) and will continue through May and possibly into mid June (again depending on conditions). A $30.00 deposit per hive will be required to secure the order with the balance due prior to or at pickup. The new hive equipment will be on-site and the hives will be transferred into the new equipment at pick-up time giving the buyer the opportunity to inspect them as they help transfer them (a great learning experience for newbies).

For folks who want to group their orders together (like beekeeping clubs) I will make special delivery/pick-up arrangements on 100+ units anywhere inside the state of Texas (since the state is quite vast, there may be some additional delivery fee depending on mileage).

These divides will be made up at least three weeks prior to pickup and will be sold only when they are building up and the queen is proven and laying a good pattern.

Please do not contact me via PM on these units, email me at houmew@pipeline.com instead. I don't want to overload my PM box and you will get the quickest response via email anyway as I check it many times per day.

[mjdtexan]

Email sent. I live off of Hwy 59 between Houston and Humble. I know where Cleveland is.

[Gene Weitzel]

If you prefer to substitute your own frames for the additional 5 frame of plastic foundation, I will deduct $5.00 from the price of the unit.

[mjdtexan]

If you prefer to substitute your own frames for the additional 5 frame of plastic foundation, I will deduct $5.00 from the price of the unit.

I am gonna buy two of your "starter hives". Your location is just down the road from me and you are offering a good deal for me not to. My problem is that I have built one Top Bar Hive and was gonna build another one, which leaves me wondering how you get them out of your starter hives and into the Top Bar Hives? I was planning to use the starter hives as swarm traps if possible. Does that sound like a plan or is my thinking not right on the swarm traps?

[Cacklewack]

MJDTEXAN,

You could build your second Top Bar Hive to fit Gene's foundationless frames and populate the first top bar hive with a package or a swarm...

Matt

[Hambone]

Are these queens you raised? If so will you be selling any queens?

[Gene Weitzel]

Barring any problems they will be made up with cells from my stock. Initially I anticipate that most of the queens I raise will be used in these starter units, but I may have a limited number of queens available later in the season.

[dietz honey farms]

what kind of queens do you raise ?

[Gene Weitzel]

I have pulled in stock from several sources, Purvis Brothers, Velbert Williams (Russians), Ferals and MH Italians and a few Carniolans. I have a couple of SMR's from B Weaver that I have been using for drone support. I also have a couple hives from some good tempered feral black bees that I found that I am hoping to raise some solid black queens from.

[Hambone]

I also have a couple hives from some good tempered feral black bees that I found that I am hoping to raise some solid black queens from.

I would be intrested in buying a nuc(s) or queens of those.

[Gene Weitzel]

It looks like I will be able to do about 50 units per week starting in the 2nd week of April and going to the end of May. The first 50 are spoken for and about half of the next 50.

[dietz honey farms]

when are you going to have queen cells , and mated queens thanks tim

[Gene Weitzel]

Not sure that I will have any extra cells over the ones I need for the starter hives. Possibly a little later I may have some. I'll post it on a separate thread if I do.

[Gene Weitzel]

I forgot to mention in the original post that the new woodenware is unpainted. If you want it painted, add $10.00 to the price.

[Gene Weitzel]

Sure wish this cold weather would break here in SE Texas. The bees are just now starting to raise a few drones, so it looks like the earliest pick-up date for these units is going to be more like the third or fourth week of April.

[Gene Weitzel]

I still have about 60 of these available for pick-up in mid May. They are going fast!

[Gene Weitzel]

Down to about 30 left!

[mjdtexan]

Down to about 30 left!:popcorn:
Do you know when the pickup date will be¿

[Gene Weitzel]

As of today we are pretty much sold out. I will put a few folks on a waiting list in case we have any cancellations or are able to produce a few more units. I expect the first batch to be ready for pick-up around the first week of May.

[Gene Weitzel]

We had one cancellation today, so I still have 5 units left.

[Texas Buzz]

Are these still avaliable? Thanks