The three-phase process of distributing bees to Iowa beekeepers is nearly concluded for 2026!  There are a lot of details from beginning to end.  We start taking orders for spring bees sometime in the preceding November or December timeframe, which usually continues right through early May.  I am extremely thankful that we have a wonderful bookkeeper who keeps our records accurate through all of the steps related to data entry and distribution!

First, the 2 lb packages arrive sometime in late March or early April.  They need to come early to have time to grow into productive hives by the time summer arrives.  Other than catching free swarms, these are the most economical bees for growing a beekeeping operation or repopulating empty equipment.  The only trick with them is making sure to feed them consistently since they are usually installed before there are many foraging opportunities in Iowa.  We used to sell a good number of 2 lbers, but the market has mostly shifted over to 3 lbers and nucs.  

Second, the 3 lb packages arrive sometime in April.  It's usually the second or third week of April when they are ready to distribute.  There are a little over four thousand bees per lb, so just adding one more pound of bees adds a whole lot of extra workers compared to the 2 lb packages.  These packages grow quickly, and they tend to have something to forage within a week or so following installation.  The image at the top of this post is a pallet of 3 lbers that we distributed this past April.  They were beautiful packages.

Last, we distribute nucleus hives, popularly known as "nucs," sometime in May.  It's almost always sometime between May 5 and May 15 when we start handing out nucs.  They take the longest to develop since they require an established queen with developing brood.  These have become increasingly popular over the last several years despite costing more (due to the additional resources and time required to create them).  Even though we had a reasonably mild winter in Iowa 2025-26, our nuc sales were actually up quite a bit.  I do love the plastic travel nucs called "Pro-Nucs" that were invented several years ago with vented entrances that open and close on a slider system.  It's much simpler than the old days of raising nucs in wooden units that required a deposit and all of the complications that go with it.  Now beekeepers can just load up their plastic nuc and head off to their installation site.  We don't ask that the plastic nuc boxes be returned, but we do accept dropoff returns whenever someone doesn't want to keep them around their place (and don't want to toss them in the trash).  Below is an image of our nuc array at distribution time:

Thank you to all of the customers that secure their bees through Ebert Honey's offerings!  Now that summer approaches, we will simply have queens available for pick up (primarily at our Mount Vernon, IA location).  They are handy for people within driving distance that lose a queen or want to make some splits.  We usually have queens available through sometime in August.  Happy beekeeping everyone!