Parsons' Gold Apiaries has been my package source for the last 2 years. I am a hobby beekeeper at this time and Mr. Parson has been a very reliable source of packaged bees. The bees are from Georgia, and Mr. Parson picks them up and trucks them back to his business in Forest, Ohio.

So far I have been fortunate in that my packages have been available on my first requested date. When ordering one must choose 3 dates of availability. This means that bees may be available in early April, or in late May. So far, my bees have been available on the earliest dates I have chosen.

I just wanted others to know that I have been very happy with the bees. I have only had one problem with a package in that it absconded from one of my first top bar hives. I blame this fully on myself for leaving the screened bottom open during cool weather installation. I now keep my bottoms closed up. I believe the bees just did not like the cold drafts and headed out looking for a less drafty location. This is more for those installing packaged bees in top bar hives in early April. If you do so, you will need to use a closed bottom board.

I have purchased 8 packages over the last 2 years. My very first bees came from Parsons' Gold Apiaries. So far, I have only ordered Italian Honeybees, although he also supplies Russian Honeybees.