# General beekeeping > Scaling up and marketing >  colony prices

## Calum

Recieved this today:
We now have available, 
6 frame nucleus which include:-
4 frames of brood
2 frames of stores
1 laying queen
supplied in a returnable travel box.
ONLY £299  (+ £25 returnable deposit for travel box)


11 frame complete hive which include
6 frames of brood (approx)
5 frames of stores (approx)
1 laying queen
1 cedar open mesh floor
1 cedar national brood box
1 cedar 4" flat roof.
Ideal to if you want to dive straight into honey production.
ONLY £499

Apparently I am expensive with 6 frame colonies 80 10 Frames 120 & 140 for 20 Frame colonies... I should be exporting to the UK! German bees, like German engineered shampoo zoom zoom!
what is the going rate locally?

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## busybeephilip

WOW ! crazy prices

5 frame nuc with new laying queen are about  £100 -  £120 in N.Ireland but some beekeepers will sell much cheaper at £60-80.  works out at about £80 for the bees and £20 for the queen

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## busybeephilip

when I started my Dad bought me my first 5 frame nuc of local dark black bees for £5 with an old WBC hive thrown in free.  Times have changed

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## drumgerry

I got that email as well Calum.  Not sure who Northern Bees are to be honest but they clearly have access to our email addresses!  I think those prices are utterly ridiculous.  I think about £150 is fair for an overwintered nuc of locally adapted bees in this day and age.  Less for a summer split with current year's queen.  I might also tailor my prices to the person I'm selling to.  But £299 for a 6 frame nuc??!!!  Nuts!!

Edit: a quick Google found their website at http://northernbees.co.uk/.  I see they list them as "available now" - makes you wonder about the provenance of the queens as I doubt they'll have current year mated queens in Nth Yorkshire yet!

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## Jon

There's your answer




> We supply British bred queen bees when available. Alternatively we offer imported queens, which we now use in our six comb nucleus.


£299 for something which will likely be an aggressive hybrid colony once it requeens itsef.
Buyer beware, not that there will be many at that price.

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## drumgerry

Jon - I honestly think you'd be surprised how many would buy at that price.  Getting bees can be a problem for people unless they know someone or have spent a year or two making themselves known on the local scene and if people are keen to get going they might just splash out on one of those nucs.  I don't think they'll have problems selling them.

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## fatshark

I think those prices are unrealistic this year … prices are well down. I've had many fewer enquiries for nucs. If I could sell them for that, I would. However, within our association we try and keep prices down and £100-110 is the figure now - 5 frames, overwintered, new(ish) frames, bulging at the seams. There seem to be less "nuc wanted" postings on other fora as well ...

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## drumgerry

Maybe it's a geographical thing fatshark - I don't know.  Certainly nucs are just as thin on the ground up here as they've been the last few years.

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## mbc

> Maybe it's a geographical thing fatshark - I don't know.  Certainly nucs are just as thin on the ground up here as they've been the last few years.


I'm looking forwards to the Pembrokeshire BKA annual auction on Saturday and I reckon full colonies, just the bees on frames, will probably only reach a third of those prices, I could be wrong but its a buyers market with so few winter losses and the mad rush of beginners having eased off.

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## busybeephilip

Yes, winter losses are well down this season and there is no shortage of bees at all.  In a week or two you'll be getting swarm calls from the council etc .  I reckon 5 frame nucs (one empty frame, 3 brood, 1 stores, +2014 queen) is worth about £80 min, such a unit would expand very quickly with a good queen what ever race you choose.  I already have several experienced beeks and beginners on my books wanting nucs, just waiting on the queens to do their stuff and test them out.

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## pricey

I am a beginner looking to buy a nuc to start - all advice welcome!

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## snimmo243

Hi Pricey there are a few options such as contacting one of the many outlets online that sell bees or (and for me a better approach for a beginner) contact your local association they may run beginners classes and may be able to provide nucs for sale or put you in touch with someone local. You can also keep an eye on this forum for people selling nucs. What area do you live in?
Steven

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## pricey

I live in Edinburgh and have joined the local association, so I am hopeful, but I think there are quite a few people waiting because of poor bee production in the last couple of years.

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## prakel

It's like the old days when honey was expected to be more or less given away. So long as we have a product that people want then we should strive to keep the price up if only to bring home the realization that bees do have a value. In my opinion auctions shouldn't be used as a guage for bee prices, people often attend local auctions and farm sale auctions to pick up bargains cheaper than they could source the same item through the usual suppliers. We need only read of people's glee at getting other beekeeping kit at ridiculously low prices from past auctions to confirm that.  

If the nuc is going to a local beekeeper, an important point if we're promoting 'local' bees, we're giving someone else the opportunity to take nectar from our own bees; to breed varroa in the name of being natural or to simply requeen with something 'special' from outside and so affect our own long term efforts.

edit: I'm not, of course, suggesting that common sense shouldn't come into play where friends/association members who've shown proper interest are concerned.

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## snimmo243

Hi Pricey I'm a member of Emba  as well, although I'm in bathgate, they usually take names from the beginners course of those who want nucs  and try to provide as many as possible 

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