Beekeeping supply outlets in greater Vancouver
Urban Bee Supplies - Delta - They have everything you will need (including beekeeping courses) at their stores in Delta and Victoria . They sell packages from March to April and local nucs and nucs and queens from May to June. Urban Bee
Bee Natural Apiaries -Maple Ridge- A local producer of nucs selected for successful over wintering, resistance to disease and pests, and well adapted to our local Pacific Northwest climate. Bee Natural
CombSweet Comb -Aldergrove- They offer beekeeping classes and sell packages, nucs and queens. CombSweet Comb
West Coast Bee Supplies -Pitt Meadows- They have everything you need for beekeeping including packages, nucs and queens. Golden Meadow Honey Farm
BC Bee Supplies - Burnaby- They have everything you will need (including beekeeping courses) at their store in Burnaby. They sell packages from March to April and local nucs and nucs and queens from May to July. BC Bee Supplies
Jenny's Garden Honey - Burnaby- They sell local nucs and queens
Island Bees - Salt Spring Island- They sell there own nucs and deliver throughout the island and lower mainland.
Two Bees Apiary in North Vancouver - They have most beekeeping supplies.
BEEdiverse - This local company run by Dr. Margriet Dogeterom (Bee expert of both honey and native bees) specializes in native mason and leafcutter bees. BEEdiverse Their blog is a good information source.
Crown Bees (Canada) - Crown Bees sells native bee (non honey bee) products. Though based in Washington State they now have a local Canadian outlet and can provide you with both mason and leafcutter bees. They have a full product line with cocoons, nesting tubes and houses. Their website and newsletter are good information sources. Crown Bees
BEEdiverse - This local company run by Dr. Margriet Dogeterom (Bee expert of both honey and native bees) specializes in native mason and leafcutter bees. BEEdiverse Their blog is a good information source.
Crown Bees (Canada) - Crown Bees sells native bee (non honey bee) products. Though based in Washington State they now have a local Canadian outlet and can provide you with both mason and leafcutter bees. They have a full product line with cocoons, nesting tubes and houses. Their website and newsletter are good information sources. Crown Bees
Bees, Honey and Beekeeping Equipment For Sale:
In British Columbia we can legally import packages of bees from Australia, New Zealand and Chile (No U.S. Bees) and queens from Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and approved sources in the continental U.S. and Chile. Most of the imported packages come from New Zealand and Australia (occasionally Chile). Two long time New Zealand producers of packages are Arataki and Kintail (Packages Bees - Ministry of Agriculture). Packages will usually be available from March-April from Urban Bee Supplies, B.C. Bee Supplies, West Coast Bee Supplies and CombSweet Comb. Imported honey bee packages are inspected at the airport by the CFIA for diseases and pests and local commercial honey bee sellers should have a release form from a regional bee inspector. Having said this there is no guarantee your bees will be free of diseases or pests.
* If you know of beekeeping supplies not mentioned here please let us know. As beekeepers we are always in search of the holy grail; strong, local survivor stock.
A bee nuc should have a minimum of 2 frames of brood in varying stages (a laying queen with good brood pattern) and 2 frames of food (honey and pollen). Before buying consider weighing the pros and cons of a nuc vs a package (Honey Bee Nucs vs Packages). When buying a nuc in May - June it is important to know the history of the bee breeder; are the bee's tested for hygienics?; whether the bees have been inspected or treated and whether the bees have been employed in commercial pollination (Questions you might want to ask your nuc supplier). Some commercial pollinators will sell their bees after local pollination which may be weakened by exposure to agrichemicals. Check your sources (Questions to ask queen suppliers). If your queen is marked there is a colour system based on year (Bee Queen Color). The bees and equipment listed below is merely a list of some available and not a recommendation by us. Check your sources.
To register your bees with the B.C. government (don't be frightened) - "Anyone keeping bees in B.C. must be registered. It is also a legislated requirement to register the apiary locations where bees are kept." fill out the online registration form.
The B.C. Honey Producers Association benefits the thousands of beekeepers in the province by allowing us to work together and to stay in touch with other beekeepers on the most recent information on hive health, the state of the industry, and tips and tricks of the trade. Your membership helps to fund many programs, research, membership in the Canadian Honey Council, our quarterly magazine and semi-annual meetings. The BCHPA is supported through volunteer work. B.C. Honey Producers Association membership can be purchased online or by mail and includes a one year subscription to the publications BeesCene and HiveLights.
* If you know of beekeeping supplies not mentioned here please let us know. As beekeepers we are always in search of the holy grail; strong, local survivor stock.
Local Nucs
I think it's important for us to decrease our dependence on imported bees. Many of the major pests and diseases we are dealing with are imported and our reliance on imported early spring packages prevents us from developing a strong, local, survivor stock bee population. As E. Punnett and M. Winston of Simon Fraser University suggested 30 years ago "a local bee production industry would not only be a new and lucrative source of income for local beekeepers, but may be essential to the survival of Canadian beekeeping." (A Comparison of Package and Nucleus Production from Honey Bee Colonies) A bee nuc should have a minimum of 2 frames of brood in varying stages (a laying queen with good brood pattern) and 2 frames of food (honey and pollen). Before buying consider weighing the pros and cons of a nuc vs a package (Honey Bee Nucs vs Packages). When buying a nuc in May - June it is important to know the history of the bee breeder; are the bee's tested for hygienics?; whether the bees have been inspected or treated and whether the bees have been employed in commercial pollination (Questions you might want to ask your nuc supplier). Some commercial pollinators will sell their bees after local pollination which may be weakened by exposure to agrichemicals. Check your sources (Questions to ask queen suppliers). If your queen is marked there is a colour system based on year (Bee Queen Color). The bees and equipment listed below is merely a list of some available and not a recommendation by us. Check your sources.
To register your bees with the B.C. government (don't be frightened) - "Anyone keeping bees in B.C. must be registered. It is also a legislated requirement to register the apiary locations where bees are kept." fill out the online registration form.
The B.C. Honey Producers Association benefits the thousands of beekeepers in the province by allowing us to work together and to stay in touch with other beekeepers on the most recent information on hive health, the state of the industry, and tips and tricks of the trade. Your membership helps to fund many programs, research, membership in the Canadian Honey Council, our quarterly magazine and semi-annual meetings. The BCHPA is supported through volunteer work. B.C. Honey Producers Association membership can be purchased online or by mail and includes a one year subscription to the publications BeesCene and HiveLights.
Be sure to check out the BCBBA nuc and queen producers in your area
the 5 beehives from poco are no longer available. Lady said long time gone but ad was never removed. :(
ReplyDeleteThanks. I had a lot of folks asking about the bees. Too bad she didn't remove the ad when she sold them.
DeleteWhere could one get some Himalayan honey bee's?
ReplyDeleteYou can't get Himalayan honey bees. There are a few species of honey bees in the Himalayas but I assume you mean the giant apis laboriosa. It is aggressive, does not live in hives and has never been kept in the beekeeping sense. You can however go Himalayan honey hunting (http://goo.gl/UWCvnF). Looks like fun.
DeleteI bought a nuc from this guy:
ReplyDelete5 Frame, government inspected Nucs (Surrey) - $250 ready in mid April. Contact Henry at 604-951-6416 or e-mail nowakmh@yahoo.ca.
The Queen was marked yellow and aged, never laid any eggs at all. The guy says keep feeding sugar continuously every 3 days. Even in July he says no nectar flow. But it's hard to believe that. I'm pretty sure it's old Queen and the bees just drink sugar water and do nothing. Couple of times he came, handled the bees very roughly and kept telling us to feed them. I was surprised do we feed them sugar water and not get honey at all?? He says repeatedly that some hives produce and some don't. Doesn't accept the fact that the problem isa old,non laying Queen. Bullshit and crap!! Now I have to spend some more to buy a queen!
Sorry to hear about the nuc. If he follows the queen bee coloring system yellow would indicate a queen from 2017 which would be a very old queen (http://bee-queen-color.goodplace.eu/). Normally beekeepers feed new nucs to help them draw out the comb on frames and don't get honey from their hive in the first year. You will need 10 deep frames of honey to overwinter. Good luck.
ReplyDelete