We discovered our love of bees after buying our first colony and keeping it in our backyard. We are big supporters of the backyard beekeeping movement and love to help newbees get started in this adventure. From getting your first bees to helping you navigate problems with your hive(s), we offer our services to Tampa Bay’s Backyard Beekeepers.

5-Frame Nucleus Colony

We believe that purchasing a Nucleus Colony (or, as beekeepers call it, a “Nuc”) is by far the best way of purchasing a colony of bees to begin with. We highly recommend this over purchasing package bees that are notorious for absconding, or catching feral bees which can end up being overly aggressive and ruin your first experience with beekeeping.

The Nucleus Colonies we sell include an established colony of bees with a good, laying queen, at least three frames of brood in various stages, at least one frame of pollen and nectar, and a frame of foundation that the bees are expanding upon.

These Nucleus Colonies are sold in a plastic Nuc box and are ready to be installed into a full 8 or 10 frame hive body.

5 Frame Nucleus Colony (St. Petersburg, Fl pickup) — $190

Delivery and Installation service (Tampa Bay area only) — $50

Our Spring 2023 Nucleus Colonies are currently available in our website shop Here

Hive Inspection & Consultation

Beekeeping is tricky business. There are a thousand and one things that can and do go wrong with bee colonies from swarming to disease and pests. Sometimes, expert advice is very helpful and can save a failing colony. We offer our experience keeping bees in Saint Petersburg backyards for over a decade to help newer, backyard beekeepers. We will help you inspect your colonies, give you consultation, and even mark your queens if you like — One hour inspection and consultation - $75 (Tampa Bay area only - Call for more info 727-560-4678).

Honey Extractor Rental

Just getting started beekeeping and not quite ready to invest in buying your own honey extractor? We have a Maxant 2 frame hand extractor for rental. This is the perfect extractor for processing honey from 1-3 backyard hives. It holds 2 medium or shallow honey frames at a time - $30 a day (Call for reservation 727-560-4678).