Sipa Honey Bees Blog

Review from Jamie Oliver

"Just a line to say many thanks for the amazing bees. The two colonies are in our wild flower meadow and loving it. The whole family are just fascinated, watching the bees doing their thing and learning about how important honeybees are to all of us. All are doing well and have that lovely calm temperament that makes them a joy to work with. Just come from the meadow now, they are both working really hard, covered in pollen and filling the frames with lovely nectar! Thanks guys for all the help and advice as I start my beekeeping journey, couldn’t of done it without you"
Jamie Oliver (Chef, Food Writer & Campaigner)

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6th August 2024

We can now ship your nucs if required, there will be an additional charge of £40 ea billed seperately for this service.

This excludes the Highlands & Islands, Isle of Man, and Channel Islands

6th August 2024

Ordering of Nucleus Colonies is now open for 2025

As usual we expect overwintered nucs to sell out fast, especially the 14x12 format. So order now, just a £50 deposit secures you colony.

We will not be selling any equipment, full colonies, mated or virgin queens in 2025

1st May 2024

We still have availability on all spring stocks, Queens, Nucs and Full Colonies.

If you are or have been a customer then you will be recieving our monthly newsletter, always an interesting read with timely reminders, news of our activities with the bees and sometimes competitions and freebies ! The only way to recieve this is to become a customer, you know what to do !!!

31st April 2024

As of today all overwintered stocks are now sold out for 2024.

7th April 2024

We have closed orders for overwintered 14x12 NUCS and 14x12 Hives.

There are plenty of Spring14x12 colonies available to book, So get in quick if you want a 14x12 as they sell out fast !

19th February 2024

After a surge in orders we have had to mark Overwintered and VSH Queens as Sold Out for 2024

We only have a few overwintered full 14x12 colonies and 14x12 nucs left available to reserve, we will be closing orders on these shortly.

17th January 2024

Demand for nucleus colonies is strong, especially overwintered colonies. Although we have increased the number available significantly, numbers are  becoming limited.

So order soon if you  need an overwintered Nuc ! if you wait you could be dissapointed.

10th January 2024

The bees are looking well and overwintering safely. The winter Varroa treatment is now complete.

1st August 2023

Our website is now open for your orders for Nucs, Hives and Queens for the 2024 season.

Ordering early guarantees your bees, especialy for overwintered stocks. these always sell out quickly so don't miss out..... disappointment hurts !

31st July 2023

We have now closed all orders for for the current season. Thank you to all the customers who were kind enough to order their bees from us. It was good to see so many of you who have bought our bees previously.... we must be doing something right !

19th May 2023

Stocks of 2023 Mated Buckfast Queens are on stream so place your orders now.

We still have availability of Spring New Season Nucs, so again, please palce any orders for bees you might need.

Once they are gone, they are gone for the year !

18th May 2023

Collections of overwintered stocks are now complete.

Thank you to all our customers for making the collections run smoothly. As always it was a pleasure to meet you all.

3rd April 2023

All Overwintered Queens, Nucs & Hives are now SOLD OUT for 2023

Don't forget to get your orders in place for New Season Queens, Spring /Summer Nucs and Full Colonies, oders are ramping up quickly now.

1st September 2022

Please now place your orders for 2023

17th May 2022

We still have availability of Overwintered colonies, both Nucs and Full Hives.When they are gone...they are gone, so get you orders in now !

26th April 2022

As of today this website is once again open for your orders for Nucs and Full Hives of bees.

11th August

From today, we are accepting orders for Queens, Nucleus colonies and Full Hives for 2022.   As always, overwintered stocks will sell out fast, so get your orders in soon to secure your bees. We always ship queens or allocate for collections of nucs or full colonies on a fist come, first served basis.

3rd August

Sales of Nucs, Hives and Mated queens are now closed for 2021. If you want to get in early for booking for 2022, drop us an email and we will make sure your bees are secure for next year. Or just wait untill 11th August when the website will be open for the new season.

3rd August

After a very challenging season due to exceptional & changeable weather we have now completed collections of all colonies. A heartfelt thank you to all who showed understanding and patience.

27th July

From today, we have moved away from having a waiting list in place for Queen orders. So please go ahead and place any queen orders you require.

30th June

Due to exceptional demand and challenging weather conditions we have suspended sales and opened waiting lists for all colonies and mated queens from today. We may at sometime later in the season open for confirmed sales again.

Please note, we still require a deposit to go on our waiting list. This deposit is non-refundable, but may be used for  nucs or full colonies in 2022 if we are not in a position to supply your bees this season.

6th June

We are recieving a lot of emails, texts and phone calls from customers asking for updates or collection  dates for New Season Nucs even though we have emailed explaning there will be a delay. Please stop hassling us about this, we will be in touch when the nucs are ready. If you hassle us about this we will just cancel your order, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !

17th May

If weather conditions do not improve dramaticly, there will inevitably be a delay to collections for Spring (new season) nucs and full colonies. We will post an update as we know more.

15th May

Due to continued poor weather conditions for queen mating, there will be a delay to early shipment of mated queens.

4th May 2021

New items on the faqs Page - check it out

4th May 2021

Collections of Overwintered stocks are now complete. Our thanks to all of you who made this process smooth and stress free.

28th April 2021

If you find yourself with a queenless colony and no replacement queen available, there is a short term solution. Our synthetic queen pheremone will keep your colony acting as though queenright for around 3 weeks also suppressing laying workers. This will buy you time when waiting for a queen. Order on the Euipment page.

28th April 2021

After the coldest winter for 8 years and a very variable spring, the bees are around two weeks behind where we would expect to see them. Consequently collections of overwintered stocks has been delayed. We are working through collections now, if you havent heard from us please do give us acall to make arrangements for collections.

19th February 2021

Please continue to place orders for New Season Spring queens, nucs and full colonies.

19th February 2021

All Overwintered stocks of queens, nucs and full colonies are now allocated to customers and marked as sold out for 2021

New for 2021

VSH Mated Queens - There will only be limited numbers available

Check the Faqs page to learn a little more about the VSH Trait

31st August 2020

In what could of been a really difficult beekeeping season due to covid-19 we have surpassed all expectations and  supplied more queens, nucs and full colonies that ever before.A big thank you to all our wonderful customers who helped us make this happen.

18th August 2020

We will start accepting orders via this website for 2021 from the 1st of September.

Look out for new exciting products that we are launching too. Remember, we ship in rotation against your order position, early ordering is recommended.  

26th May 2020 

Collecting Bees & Corona Virus (Covid-19)

Collections of new season(spring) nucs will go ahead as usual around mid-June. We will continue to follow government guidelines re Covid-19. 

As a precautionary measure we will be taking steps to minimise any risks of virus transmission taking place. Specifically we will be wearing Respirators with the appropriate N95/FFP3 filters, eye protection and latex gloves. Additionally all boxes containing bees will be sprayed with "Eversafe" a bacteriacide and viruscide safe for use near bees.

9th April 2020

Current NBU Guidelines for Beekeepers movements during Covid-19 lockdown can be found here :

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/downloadNews.cfm?id=172

Collecting Bees & Corona Virus (Covid-19)

We are planning that collections of Nucs & Hives of bees will take place as planned unless government guidelines change preventing this.

We will be taking steps to minimise any risks of virus transmission taking place. Specifically we will be wearing Respirators with the appropriate N95/FFP3 filters, eye protection and latex gloves. Additionally all boxes containing bees will be sprayed with "Eversafe" a bacteriacide and viruscide safe for use near bees.

14th February 2020

 As of today all Overwintered Stocks of Nucs, Hives and Overwintered Queens are now  marked as Sold out for 2020.

Please now order Spring (new season) Queens, Nucs and Full Colonies.

1st September 2019

We are now open and accepting orders for 2020.

We have actually been accepting orders for next year since June from customers who just don't want to risk missing out ! Wise move in my view.

Overwintered stocks always sell out early, so get in quick if this is what you want.

As always, first orders in are the first orders out.

31st August 2019

Well, what year !  Thanks to you our customers and friends, we have surpassed every one of our targets.

More queens mated and sent to new homes, more nucs and full colonies too. Honey production exceeded all expectations as well. Thank you also to our really fantastic queens too, without you none of this would be possible.

So, now we move into a new beekeeping year and look forward to doing it all again in 2020.

July 18th 2019

What a season it has been so far... fantastic ! Tremendous feed back from our customers on the quality and handling characteristics of our queens and nucs, thank you all.

We continue to improve and enhance our queen lines, over the last two years we have targeted increased pollen gathering on two of our lines which has been highly successful. We regard this trait as being fundamental to long term colony survival and increased brood rearing, in turn leading to increased honey crops.

February 6th 2019

All sales of overwintered queens, nucs and full hives are now closed for 2019

August 15th 2018

After an exceptionally busy season we are now closed for all bee orders for 2018. Thank you all for your continued patronage and support. We really do appreciate it.

After a late start to queen rearing we have had a great season, surpassing our own targets, which are always stretching !

Feedback from our customers continues to be very positive, for which we thank you.

May 6th 2018

Due to very high demand we have now marked all of our nucs and full colonies as sold out for 2018. If you are still looking for a 5 FRAME NUC You can always drop us an email asking to go on our waiting list - we may release more nucs as the year progresses.

Our order book for Mated queens is building quickly and lead times stretching out, so if you will need mated queens I suggest you order early to get on the list.

Remember, we ship strictly on rotation against your place in order queue.

January 1st 2018

Happy New Year Everyone.

We are still accepting orders for Spring / early Summer 5 and 6 Frame Nucs and also New Season Queens.

December 31st 2017

After tremendous early autumn and winter interest in our overwintered stocks we have now had to close sales for Overwintered Queens, Overwintered Nucs, and Overwintered Full Colonies.

Sales of some Spring stocks have also been very strong thus we are now closing sales for Spring 14x12 Nucs, Spring Full colonies.

Further Spring stocks may become available later, please contact us to be placed on our waiting list.

September 1st 2017

Please place orders now for delivery in 2018. Overwintered stocks sell out fast so early ordering is recommended to avoid being disappointed. Limited numbers of 14x12 nucs and hives will be available.

August 23rd 2017

Please place orders from now on for Queens, Nucs and Full Colonies for the coming season in 2018.

We will continue to ship current season Mated queens while stocks are available, so place orders soon.

As we draw near to the end of this years season we would like to thank all of you for making this such a successful year. Demand for our Queens and nucs has been phenomenal. Luckily the weather although changeable, has been helpful for queen rearing.

We continue ongoing development of our Queen lines, feedback has been extremely positive for which we thank you.

May 1st 2017

All overwintered queens are now marked as sold out for 2017

New season Queens are available until September and 5 or 6 frame Spring/Summer nucs are still available to order.

2017 Queen orders - all Queens are bred by us in the UK

Orders for overwintered queens and spring mated queens are ramping up fast. Remember we ship strictly against your place in the queue, early ordering is recommended.

2017 Spring Nucs

We do still have 5 & 6 frame spring nucs available to purchase, so please place any orders soon to avoid disapointment.

30th March - Spring 14x12 Nucs - all marked as Sold Out for 2017

Overwintered Stocks of Nucs & Hives Marked as Sold Out for 2017

As of today19th March, all overwintered stocks of Nucs & Hives available for sale are fully allocated to customers and marked as sold out.

***** News Flash *****

We will have Instrumentally Inseminated Queens available for purchase during the 2017 season.

These queens are bred by us here in the UK using state of the art eqipment, techniques and selected breeding stocks of queen and drone mothers.

If you would be interested in purchasing these queens, please email us expressing your interest.

ORDER FOR 2017

From today you can place orders for Queens, Nucs and Full colonies for the 2017 season.

Overwintered stocks sellout fast as numbers are limited. Early season queens are always in short supply, we ship on rotation against your place in queue so get in early to secure your early season queens.

August 21st

We have now closed our sales for 2016. Thanks to all of our customers new and old for your support, patience and custom, we do appreciate it.

June 21st

Continuing high demand for our queens and very changeable weather, means that you may have to wait a while for despatch if the weather is against us.Thank you for understanding.

May 25th

As of today we have listed all nucs as Sold Out for 2016. We may have a few more available as the season progresses, if you would like to go on a waiting list please just drop us an email and we will add you to the list. Alternativley you can ask us us to reserve a nuc for 2017.

May 5th

Demand for Spring / Early summer nucs has been huge. We are quite confident that we will have more available, but from now on any orders placed are subject to availability and supply is not guaranteed. We would of course return any deposits paid if we don't supply by the end of the current season.

May 1st

Demand for queens ramps up very quickly from now on, If you are going to need mated queens this season I'd encourage you to place orders soon.

April 30th

Collections of Overwintered Nucs is now complete. Our thanks to you all for helping us to complete the collections so smoothly.

April 16th

Overwintered nucs and full colony's are ready for collection. Check your emails for dates and times.

March 27th

We still have availabilty on Spring / Summer Queens and Spring / Summer 5 or 6 Frame Nucs, however these are booking up very quickly.

If you are going to need Spring / Summer queens or nucs, book them soon or you could miss out.

March 26th

All Overwintered stocks of Queens, Nucs and Hives are now marked as Sold Out for 2016, as are Spring Full Hives and 14x12 Spring Nucs.

We still have all other configurations available at the moment.

January 29th - News about our bees

Surprisingly, given the very mild winter so far, levels of stores remain good. All colonies have good weights and were treated for varroa over the xmas / new year period.

The overwintered nucs look exceptionally well.

2016 Orders

We are accepting orders for Mated Queens, Nucs & Hives for the 2016 beekeeping season. We ship against order date, so early orders go first.

Don't forget we supply overwintered queens in the spring. We breed these queens ourselves here in the UK and overwinter them in 6 frame poly nucs, they really take off in spring !

We only release a limited number of these queens each year, so get your name on one before they go.

Our Facebook Page Has Been Hacked !

Our Facebook page has recently been hacked & hijacked. This has meant we had to close our original page, thus losing all of the content and reviews.

We have now opened a new facebook page, so please contribute, we want to rebuild the content.

Please let us have your comments and reviews about any Queens or Colonies you have had from us.

 

Older Posts

Sales of Queens and Nucs for 2015 are now closed - 31st August 2015

Once again our thanks to all of our customers and beekeeping friends for making 2015 such a successfull year. We have produced a lot more queens this year, even in difficult conditions, which tells us we must be doing something right.

The feedback we recieve from long standing customers as well as relative newcomers continues to be extremely positive, we do thank you all for that. Please do continue to email updates about how your bees are performing.

Shipping of Mated Queens - June 1st 2015 onwards

Please note : Availability & shipping of our mated queens is wholly dependent on favourable weather conditions for mating. We cannot offer guaranteed delivery dates, but aim to ship as soon as we are happy with the queens. Delays can occur even if we give you a window for delivery, so please be prepared to be patient & flexible.

We ship in sequence against order date, existing orders are shipped before new orders. We think this is the fairest way of allocating the queens.

Spring Nucs - 12th April 2015

Orders for our Spring Nucs are building quickly, we encourage you to order early to secure a nuc for the 2015 Season.

Overwintered Nucs - 12th April 2015

We are now releasing the Overwintered Nucs for collection, so keep an eye on your emails for your collection date. We look forward to seeing you all soon.

Spring Mated Queens - 12th April 2015

Demand for our Spring & Summer Mated Queens remains very strong, so please place any orders soon. We ship strictly against order date, this seems to be the fairest way of distributing the queens.

Overwintered Queens - 12th April 2015

All of our overwintered queens are now allocated to customers, so are marked as Sold Out. We may release an additional quantity so keep checking availability.

OverWintered Nucs -  2015

All of our overwintered Nucs are now allocated to customers for 2015, so these are now marked as Sold Out. Spring Nucs are still available !

Place your 2015 orders now

New for 2015 - we will have limited numbers of overwintered queens available. These are NOT IMPORTS but bred & reared by us here in our own apiaries.

Please place your orders for overwintered nucleus colonies & overwintered queens early, only limited numbers will be available.

Sales of 2014 Queens and Nucleus colonies is now closed. Thank you to all of our customers for making 2014 such a successful year, and for all of the very positive feedback.

We welcome comments and feedback about our bees and our service. Please write a review on our Facebook Page.

Mated Queens and Nucleus colonies - 18th May 2014

Our Mated queens are shipping now onwards, and throughout the beekeeping season.

Spring nucs are ready for collection from now onwards. Nucleus colonies will be available further in to the season.

Please check your email inboxes regularly for shipping and collection dates.

Overwintered Nucs - 23rd March 2014

I'm pleased to say that all of our overwintered nucs have come through the winter in good condition.

The bees are actively foraging now, even on some of the cooler days. Buildup of these nucs is accelerating quite quickly now. We anticipate these nucs will be ready for collection towards the end of the second week of April.

Please check your email inboxes regularly for further updates and collection dates. We look forward to meeting you all then.

Spring nucleus colonies 2014

Spring Nucleus colonies should be ready from late May onwards, but that is wholly weather dependent. Please check here for regular updates on the development of the nucs.

Overwintered nucleus colonies 2014

Overwintered Nucleus colonies are currently sold out. Email us and we will let you know when the next overwintered nucs are available to order. Alternatively please check here for updates.