2021 Nucs & Colonies



Nucleus Colonies for Sale--We Are Sold Out of Nucs

The UGA honey bee lab will be selling nucs for 2022. Please email ugabeelab@gmail.com for more information.



The pick up location is outside of Comer, Georgia which is about 20 minutes east of Athens. We do not ship bees.

Nucleus colonies are evaluated in late winter through early spring to ensure they are healthy and productive. Queens raised for nucs come from our selected breeder stock and are selected for tolerance to mites and diseases, gentle disposition, longevity, and excellent brood and honey production. They are reared in summer and given one round of evaluations before winter sets in. Starting in the spring queens and the bees are evaluated several times and are removed from the program if they fail to meet our standards. We take great measures to sell you only a top notch, superior nucleus colony.

Starter/finishers, mating nucs, breeder and drone mother colonies (bees, wax, and wooden ware) have never been treated with coumaphos, fluvalinate, fipronil, antibiotics, Fumagilin-B or any other chemical concoction. Commercial wax foundation is also never used, only un-waxed plastic foundation. Plastic foundation is either coated with wax collected from our colonies or sprayed with a thick sugar syrup prior to insertion into the hive. Colonies are never fed high fructose corn syrup, only cane sugar (sucrose) if needed. Management practices follow strict CNG (Certified Naturally Grown) codes of operation.

There are two ways we are selling our bees. Please see below.
  1. Early Nucs: These will be sold in a gently used Amish made 8-frame assembled and painted cypress hive body, with lid, bottom board and 3 additional frames.
    Early Nucs
    These nucs will have 8 drawn frames with bees, brood, honey and pollen, and an overwintered proven queen. Price for the 8-frame hive is only $230. The beauty of this option is you do not need to order equipment, assemble, paint, and then transfer bees from a 5 frame nuc to your hive. They are all ready to be placed in your yard or garden and supered as the bees grow. Nucs should be ready for pick-up at the end of February, first of March, depending on the weather.
  2. Double Deep Full-Size Colonies: Sold in gently used Amish made, 8-frame assembled and painted cypress hive body, with lid, and bottom board.
    Double Deep Full-Size Colonies
    Full size colonies will have 16 drawn frames with bees, brood, honey and pollen and an overwintered proven queen. Price for the full-size colony is $300. These colonies are ready to be picked up now.

Payment is due when you pick up your nuc/s or full-size colonies.

We are selling new Amish made 8-frame equipment at a discounted price (deep hive bodies, lids, and bottom boards). If you are interested, please indicate so on the order form or email me directly at jbee@uga.edu

Disclaimer: For both early and later nucs, we will do our best to provide you with bees, however Mother Nature is in control. If the weather turns cold and rainy or worse, we may have to delay or even cancel orders. Honey bees are “livestock with wings” and their availability depends on environmental conditions. If this is a concern, you may want to find your bees from a different source. We are a small operation and put the health and wellbeing of our bees first.

This section is for those who will be taking their nuc(s) home. Even though we take numerous steps and measures, above and beyond, to ensure the health of our bees and queens, we do not (cannot) guarantee that your colony (nuc) will survive once it leaves our farm. There are just too many variables that are out of our control once the bees are picked up and taken into your possession. We also do not refund any money for bees that abscond, swarm, die or do not survive for whatever reason. Thank you and I hope you understand our position.


To place and order fill out this form.