# Market price of Package bees east of the ol Mississippi in 2014?



## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

When you say "retail price", do you mean the end user price? Because many of the package producers are selling in volume at $70/3lb. The delivered price in northern tier states is currently running $105 to $120. Will this change? Even though the cold weather is reaching half way down the Florida peninsula, this is so early in the season that it will not seriously impact package prices 3 months from now. What it is impacting is producers who ship colonies to CA for almonds. There are tens of thousands of colonies being prepped and shipped right now.


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

"the end user price"


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## bluegrass (Aug 30, 2006)

My bees are so far surviving below zero temps... The 20s and 30s that the south is seeing isn't going to cause a mass die off. There may be a package shortage because the grafts for March packages are supposed to be happening now, so we will see a delay in March delivery, then it is a rolling issue from there.

There will be no impact on the price; but I would encourage people buying packages to buy from somebody who has a reputation for delivering; because those with a reputation of cancelling orders will likely be doing so again.

The East Coast package producers are pretty much always sold out because their customers buy them out a year in advance. My order for this May was placed last May. That doesn't mean that packages are sold out, just that package suppliers are holding all the supply.


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## DPBsbees (Apr 14, 2011)

The guy who sells packages to most of our club members in Southeast PA is charging $100 for a 3 lb package with an Italian queen this year.


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## Sadler91 (Nov 6, 2011)

Snowed in the Florida Panhandle today. It was raining and in the 50's here in Central. I don't think I have ever seen it rain while in the 50's


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Most are booking up fast in the land of Beer and Cheese. Mid to High 90's for a few, dropping to high 80's for a 100.

Crazy Roland


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## Sharpbees (Jun 26, 2012)

Kelley's are $96.00 with Italian queens and $100.00 with Russian queens. That's without shipping.


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

Not sell packages this year. Putting the bees in the boxes and selling nucs and single and they are almost sold out. $135N-190S Might have sold to cheap this year.:digging: Good Question. Where is the price going on bees???


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

Honey Householder, Yeah I think you did all the bargaining for your customers with that price. I am seeing numbers 150 to 160 for a nuc. Do you have 5 fame nucs? I sold a couple of singles last year at $150 to $160 only to find out the price was more like $175 to $185. The price moves so fast I can barely keep an eye on it.


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## camero7 (Sep 21, 2009)

I think we are close to the tipping point on the price of bees. I stayed with $130 this year. Sold out quick. Probably sold too low but all my sales were to returning customers.


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## bluegrass (Aug 30, 2006)

I am just waiting for Canada to open the border up to US bees again... Then we will really see a price jump. Canada beekeepers can pay retail prices for 1000s of packs and still come in cheaper then shipping them from NZ like they do now. 

Nov 2013 BC Government approved a risk assessment which had been going on for several months. By spring 2015 the border will be open and I anticipate there will be a price war over packages... Who is willing to pay more, US or Canadian Beeks? I think in the beginning Canada will win out and packages will not be available to US customers. 

We will see the opposite of 1986 when the border was closed. Instead of their being huge amounts of packages available and package producers going out of business we will see people scrambling to get into package production to fill the void. Between producers making more hives and Canada sucking up what is available US beeks will be SOL.


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

Bump.... In light of the continued dismal weather for rearing queens in the south and south east any new reflections on the subject of this thread?????


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Bull market most likely. I need to start grafting in east Texas in a little over 2 weeks and there was ice on the hives yesterday. Forecast is pretty good though but the season has a lot of catching up to do. Strong hives are strong but more dwindle than you normally get down south.


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## bluegrass (Aug 30, 2006)

I don't think people have really assessed their dead outs yet due to cold weather and the mentality of winter that comes along with that. If this winter is as hard on bees as I think it will be package guys are going to get overwhelmed with calls once things start to warm. 

I think it will be a really tough package season. I predict delays in deliveries and as we get closer to late May and into June I think orders will end up getting canceled. 

I pre-pay all my packages, but some brokers have deals with certain producers were they don't pay for the packages until they are delivered. The problem with COD package service is that it doesn't hurt the producer's wallet if they cancel an order. Alternatively if the Broker pre-pays the supplier has to refund a lot of money..... it is an added level of insurance on getting the packages that were ordered.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

Honey-4-All said:


> Bump.... In light of the continued dismal weather for rearing queens in the south and south east any new reflections on the subject of this thread?????


was at a bee meeting last night, most everyone had already ordered their nuc or package, the impression I get is most ordered early just in case. One local nuc producer is already sold out for the year, he has never been sold out that I can remember. so any late beeks will probably be in trouble. also a couple of people that normally sell some nucs aren't taking orders because the price of honey is so high they figure better to try and make more hives and honey.


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