This package includes both your bees and the hive equipment needed to transfer them into their new home. It’s a great option for new beekeepers who want to pick up a nuc and have the basic hive setup ready to go.

BEES ARE FOR FARM PICKUP ONLY. WE DO NOT SHIP BEES.

Pickup Information

Bee pickup is from 7:00–10:00 a.m. at Elzner Farms. Please select your preferred pickup date when placing your order.

Because these are live colonies and spring weather can affect their development, pickup dates are subject to change if necessary due to weather or other conditions outside of our control. If a date needs to be adjusted, we will contact you as soon as possible.

You will receive detailed pickup instructions by email approximately one week before your scheduled pickup date. Please be sure to provide a valid email address when placing your order.

About Our Bees

Our bees stay right here in East Texas year-round, where they forage on local wildflowers and native blooms. We do not send our colonies into large-scale commercial monocrop pollination.

Our genetics are Italian-based and selected from the best-performing colonies in our own apiaries. Year after year, we select queens that perform well in our East Texas conditions and use those colonies to build the next generation of Elzner Farms® bees.

What is a Marked Queen? We place a small dot of paint on the queen’s thorax so she is easier to find during hive inspections. 2027 queens will be marked yellow.

Each Nuc + Equipment Package Includes:

1 Elzner Farms® 5-frame nuc

• 5-frame Pro-Nuc box filled with bees

• Freshly mated 2027 Elzner Farms® queen marked with a yellow dot on her thorax

• Typically 2–3 frames containing brood

• Frame containing honey and/or pollen stores

• Additional frame for the colony to continue growing

Depending on the development of the colony, the fifth frame may or may not be fully drawn.

2 deep, 8-frame wax-dipped hive bodies
Wax-dipped equipment requires no painting and is designed to provide more durable, longer-lasting protection than paint alone. Over time, the wood will develop a beautiful natural patina.

• Bottom hive body: Includes 3 frames. Your 5 nuc frames will be transferred into this box, giving the colony a full 8-frame brood box.

• Second hive body: Includes 7 frames with plastic foundation plus a 1-gallon in-board feeder.

Also included:

• 1 painted migratory lid — colors may vary

• 1 painted solid bottom board — colors may vary

• 1 entrance reducer

• 1 one-gallon in-board feeder

For a video showing how to transfer your nuc into your hive, click here.

Important Pickup & Order Information

Please provide a valid email address when ordering. Pickup instructions and any schedule updates will be sent by email.

All bee sales are final. Colonies are created and managed based on the number of nucs reserved for each pickup date.

Pickup dates are a commitment. If you need to change your selected pickup date, please contact us before March 1, 2027. Customer-requested pickup date changes made after March 1 will be subject to a $25 per nuc date-change fee.

MISSED PICKUP POLICY: Nucs must be picked up on the date selected at the time of purchase unless alternate arrangements have been made with Elzner Farms in advance. Because we are working with live colonies and schedule our production based on preorders, we cannot hold nucs beyond the scheduled pickup date.

Any nuc not picked up on the scheduled date, without prior arrangements, will be considered forfeited. No refund, credit, or replacement will be issued.

Changes made by Elzner Farms due to weather or other conditions affecting the bees will not incur a date-change fee.