Interested in Starting a Bee Colony? Order Your Starter Kit

A national focus on bee health may have inspired some people to get involved in apiculture for themselves and you can get your own startup kit.

David Tarpy of North Carolina State University said this is not a new idea.

“This has been going on for decades if not over a century actually, the idea of the packaged bee industry.”

What does a package come with? A newly mated queen bee, thousands of live adult worker bees and a can of sugar water to feed the new colony.

Tarpy said it’s about providing new people the tools to succeed.

“A lot of hobbyist beekeepers or backyard beekeepers do this to get started where they build their equipment and all they need is the bees to be put into the box.”

Many of the packages come from commercial beekeepers who can shake excess bees off their own setup and send them out.