# Manitoba Bee Auction



## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

Luke, everyone that I know has bees coming out of their ears.
I don't know why anyone would drive more than a mile to buy more!


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

HarryVanderpool said:


> Luke, everyone that I know has bees coming out of their ears.
> I don't know why anyone would drive more than a mile to buy more!


Have any of you heard about a surplus in the North East? 

Does this mean all Dutchman from central Oregon will be inclined to do Almonds for $50 next year?


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## johnbeejohn (Jun 30, 2013)

where all is there auctions like this?


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

Honey-4-All said:


> Does this mean all Dutchman from central Oregon will be inclined to do Almonds for $50 next year?


I wish!
Actually, we will be PAYING the almond growers to allow us to place in their orchards all around Solano, CA due to our bees looking so good!


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## Jonathan Hofer (Aug 10, 2005)

Yes there were record low prices paid at the auctions. Three auctions in three days, selling around 2500 - 3000 hives and nucs.


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## Greg Helms (May 23, 2015)

What did they go for?


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## sharpdog (Jun 6, 2012)

Nuc prices were around $125, but by the end of they sale they were selling for $60. Some lots went higher but not many from what I hear.


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

How many were there this year, compared to last year ? I heard prices were high, and supply short last year. Wondering out loud if that brought a lot more bees than buyers for the go around this year ?


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Wrote a reply last night and it did not get posted. So here we go round 2.
I think the weather and the better overwintering brought the bees to the auction... not the prices paid last year. Lots of bees in good shape this year on the prairies. I had thought of going but knowing that overwintering was good and that many hives and nucs were going to be there I thought best not to go. Glad I listened to my intuition especially at $60 nucs. What I do not understand as the seller you can put a reserve bid, meaning they will not sell below a minimum price. Auctioneer gets his cut but as the seller you do not get too beat up.
The seller had $11 cdn in a Jester Eze Nuc
30-35 in a queen
$10 for 5 frames with foundation
$45 in lost honey production to build those frames out... 1/2 wax per frame with 8 pounds honey per lb of wax produced at $2.25 WORKS OUT TO $9/Frame for building it out.
More or less $100/nuc in direct and indirect costs before labor, bees, feed, medication and transportation costs. Why would you let them go for $60 when they cost you at least 2.5 times that amount? I do not get it.

I also heard honey supers went for $81.
This is more in line with replacement costs based on frames costing $9 each to build them out. I also heard that for 81 there were 2 frames of foundation and 7 frames built out. 7 times 9 equals $63 with 2 frames of foundation $67 add a $15 box and we have $82. Looks like the buyer of those honey supers and I did very similar math to come up with that number.
What is interesting for me is that the bees that generate the revenue went cheap and the units that store the revenue, honey supers went for replacement cost.

Jean-Marc


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## sharpdog (Jun 6, 2012)

What i understand is that the auction was listed as unresearved. Not to say a seller cant have a buddy buy the bees back for him, but that's ethically questionable. A friend of mine bought 120 of the $60 dollar nucs and he talked to one of the owners of the operation that sold them. The seller said they had no choice but to sell them, as they have too many bees and not enough equipment to run them. Seems the choice they had was to let them go at the sale or shake them on to the ground and let them die, so they could salvage the comb. Yes several auctions have sold honey supers for extremely high prices $65-$85. Weird year.


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## B&E (Dec 27, 2011)

Not that long ago in 2004 I bought loads of supers for $5 and sold my crop for .75/lbs. Big change eh?

Wondering if the high price of bees and honey will hold out.


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Count on it. Honey for a couple, three years, then we see. World demand for honey is increasing. Burgeoning middle class in third world countries is helping fuel his. As long as honey prices are up, so will the bees. World population is increasing also. Seems that beekeepers are having a harder time producing the final product, at least if all the newspaper stuff is correct. 

Even without the equipment I would not let my bees go at that price. The auction is unreserved but he still could have put a bid in. I do not have equipment... short some 7000 boxes or so and did not let bees go for cheap. I thought they would go cheap, kept them home. Now i need to piece together some boxes. Only 3100 to go.

Jean-Marc


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

just watch... Sales that sell lots, and run then end out cheap end up with more buyers the next year looking for those affordable items... Which in turn holds the floor on those items in the long term.


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## sharpdog (Jun 6, 2012)

What's everyone elses thoughts on the ecconomics/cost to draw comb that JM put together?

I have considered a test using 10 hives that are as even as possible. Give half of them all drawn comb supers, and the other 5 nothing but foundation. With some effort to checkerboard the foundation hives, and pull some brood up into the supers, it would be interesting to quantify the honey production differences between the two methods.


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## zhiv9 (Aug 3, 2012)

sharpdog said:


> What's everyone elses thoughts on the ecconomics/cost to draw comb that JM put together?


8lb of honey per 1lb of wax is the number generally used - though from what I recall the research into this isn't very conclusive. I am not convinced that there is a 1/2lb of wax on a deep uncapped frame either, but the numbers are close enough for his point to hold true.

Ignoring the calculated value of the supers, there is their value to someone who needs them this year and realizes that there may not be another option or time to track them down somewhere else.


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## babybee (Mar 23, 2012)

If someone would pay me 81 per super I would sell them all!!!!!!!!!! No questions asked.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

There was 2600 supers, sold to quite a few guys, apparently not sold to any larger outfit


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

jean-marc said:


> What is interesting for me is that the bees that generate the revenue went cheap and the units that store the revenue, honey supers went for replacement cost.


I see it slightly differently. The bees are a perishable commodity that devalue quickly as the season progresses, and the price is driven entirely by the short term supply and demand equation. Boxes of drawn comb are an asset that can be re-deployed year over year. For the person in growth mode, that box of comb can well be the difference between bees in the boxes, and bees in the trees during the time between early buildup and main flow.

I dont know what order they sold things, but if the supers went on the block after the nucs, it would be a bit of a no-brainer. Somebody that went out prepared to spend $150 on nucs and picked them up for $60. That extra $90 in the pocket picks up a box of drawn comb to go with the nuc. Bonus, bees with 15 frames for the price of 5, hard to say no to that if you are in the market to grow numbers.

But this phenomena is not limited to just the Manitoba bee auction this year. As the north island bchpa guy, I travel to various club meetings, it's my 'nite out' a couple times a month. From Feb thru April, the drill has been the same. First question asked, who has bees for sale this spring ? Maybe one or two hands go up. Next question, who wants to buy bees? Probably 1/3 of the folks in the room put the hand up. I was at a meeting last nite for the local club. Who has bees for sale ? 8 or 9 hands went up. Who still needs to buy bees ? Not a single hand up in the room, and the hall was packed to overflowing, lots of newbies at their first meeting. A quick tally of those selling, there were 100+ nucs available last nite in the room, and not a single buyer.

Sure is different compared to this time last year, when you couldn't find bees available on the island no matter how hard you looked.


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## pleasantvalley (May 22, 2014)

sharpdog said:


> I heard that this years sale had a record number of colonies up for auction and prices went cheap. Everyone seems to have bees this year.
> 
> It seams a strong statement that there is no need for an open boarder. From what I hear toward the end of the sale even Americans would have been bidding if they could.


This is short sighted. The key to your post is "THIS YEAR" Notwithstanding today's Senate Report, it will take a while to open the border to packages. There was a mild winter on the prairies which is likely the contributing factor to everyone's low losses and high spring populations. Amitraz won't last, just like other mite treatments ahead of it. You never know what the next winter loss will be, and I'd rather have all options available.


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Options are good, especially in these high honey price times. Even though I sell a fair amount of bees as part of our business plan I can certainly understand why some would want U.S. packages. They will not be cheap but it will be a little bit less than the NZ ,Aussie option. Quality will be better and there will be the last minute please please please card that can be played. Pretty hard to play that now, when the limiting factor is cargo space on airplanes.

Glad to see that somebody took the initiative to plan it, put it together, get an auctioneer. 3 years running now, so at least there is an outlet for bees and a place to get some if you are needing some. It it good for the industry. Be nice to see a little more support for our Canadian industry. I mean we pay 170-200 for NZ packages... but $60 for a Canadian nuc?

Jean-Marc


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Options are good, especially in these high honey price times. Even though I sell a fair amount of bees as part of our business plan I can certainly understand why some would want U.S. packages. They will not be cheap but it will be a little bit less than the NZ ,Aussie option. Quality will be better and there will be the last minute please please please card that can be played. Pretty hard to play that now, when the limiting factor is cargo space on airplanes.

Glad to see that somebody took the initiative to plan it, put it together, get an auctioneer. 3 years running now, so at least there is an outlet for bees and a place to get some if you are needing some. It it good for the industry. Be nice to see a little more support for our Canadian industry. I mean we pay 170-200 for NZ packages... but $60 for a Canadian nuc?

Jean-Marc


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