How to Get Bees for your Bee Hive

January 03, 2026 7 min read

There are four ways to get bees: you can purchase a 3 pound package of bees, you can purchase a nucleus (a “nuc”), or you can get on a swarm list and either buy a swarm from someone who has already collected them or you may catch the swarm yourself.

A three pound package of bees in a Bee Bus

A Bee Package:
The most common way of obtaining bees is to order a package. A package of bees is 3 pounds of bees with a mated queen, which is separated in a cage (screened box). You can expect to spend from $180 - $250 for a three pound package of bees with a queen.

If you buy a package of bees, it may be best purchasing from a local supplier. There are a lot more suppliers who provide bees locally than suppliers who will ship bees through the mail.

Bees are shipped in the spring (which is also swarming season) but you need to place your order in the fall or first of the year if you want to be assured of getting bees. Most suppliers sell out quickly because most commercial beekeepers lose a substantial portion of their bees every year to disease and overwinter losses, this creates a constant demand for new bee packages. My experience with purchased bees is limited as I catch my own swarms in the spring. Yet long-time, natural beekeeper Gunther Hauk says: if you can't get a swarm of bees start with a package so that you can get started learning and caring for bees!

When you order a package of bees they are usually "created." The Queens are bred or manufactured and then put into a cage (screened box) with about 3 pounds of bees, which is approximately 10,000 bees (give or take a few - ha!). These bees are not the queen’s offspring. The bees are shipped or driven on trucks from the California almond fields and beyond which is quite stressful for the bees. Bees that are shipped or trucked to a different climate zone may not have the genetic knowledge to survive healthily in their new homes.

Resources for Bee Packages in the US and Canada
Refer to the list of Natural Beekeepers and Beekeeping Associations at the bottom of the page for possible bee package sources.

A Nuc of Bees

A nuc (nucleus colony) is a 'mini-colony' for a Langstroth hive. The bees and their mated queen have already drawn out comb and the queen is actively laying eggs in Langstroth frames. It usually consists of 4-5 fames which are ready to be put into a Langstroth hive. These Nucs are great if you have a Langstroth hive which is made from rectangular stacked boxes, Yet if you have a Top Bar Hive or Cathedral Hive, which have angled sides, these rectangular frames do not fit. It would be like putting a round peg into a square hole.

Can I put a Langstroth Nuc of bees into my Top Bar Hive?

Some folks try to retro fit the Langstroth frames into a Top Bar Hive by cutting angles in the frame, foundation, the brood and the bees. This can turn into a mess very quickly. Think angry bees since you just cut into their precious brood nest!
Plus the foundation for these frames is often a hard plastic not a wax foundation which was traditionally used until the plastic option was created. A new beekeeper once came to me when he discovered the mistake he had made of ordering a Nuc of bees for his Golden Mean Top Bar Hive. 'Can you help me?' he asked. I told him the only way is to cut the frame and foundation (and bees). So he attempted to cut the hard plastic frames. He couldn't even cut them with a saw!
Hence, we don’t really recommend this method, it's both stressful for the bees and the new beekeeper. It would be much better to order a package of bees. Whew!

Corwin catching a bee swarm hanging on a tree branch

Bee Swarms

My preferred method is capturing wild swarms. I do this because I believe that wild swarms are more suited to my local climate and they have the strongest immune system. You can be sure that a wild swarm came from a healthy hive that successfully overwinterd or they wouldn't have swarmed in the first place.

Check this link to find resources for swarm removers where you may be able to get on their list for a swarm of bees. Or try calling your local beekeeping club or association (refer to list at bottom of the page) and see if they have a list you can get on for a swarm of bees. A swarm of bees can be free if you catch it yourself or usually up to $150-200 if someone else catches it for you.

In most cases, when a swarm is called into the bee removers they will first try to call a beekeeper on a list. Bee removers will work through their list to find a beekeeper willing to remove the swarm. If it is an exterminator and the beekeepers don't respond the bees are usually sprayed with insecticide by the exterminators :-(.

It is a very rewarding experience to capture your own bees from a wild swarm. You can read our article about catching a swarm on our website. Getting a wild swarm is very exciting and not nearly as dangerous as it sounds. Much of what people believe about bee swarms is a product of Hollywood and the media and simply untrue.

Generally the bees are not aggressive because they are not protecting a hive. Aggressive behavior from bees is almost always related to their instinct to protect their honey stores in their hive from predators. Bees that have just swarmed and are in the process of locating a new home are not inclined to be aggressive or defensive. They have just one thing on their collective mind -- to find a new home. Collecting a wild swarm is as simple as finding a swarm and dropping it into a box. It seems scary, but it is in fact how bees were collected for centuries.

When you get a call from the exterminators, go to the site of the swarm and estimate if the swarm is low enough for you to reach by cutting away a few branches if necessary. Is it consolidated on a low hanging branch? If so this may be a great swarm to go for. Avoid swarms that are embedded deep in trees or clinging under eaves of houses.

To capture the bees take a cardboard box and cut a hole 3"x3" into the side and tape on a screen of some sort. This will give the bees air and ventilation. You will also be able to mist the screen to give the bees water for cooling, if the trip home is extended.

The goal is to capture, all at once, the bulk of the bees and the queen who is usually clustered in the center of the swarm. Hold the box under the ball of bees, get a good grip on the branch, and in one firm movement shake the bees into the box. Or cut the branch and lower it into the box with the bees still attached. This way there will be fewer bees flying around.

Gently lower the box to the ground and let the bees gather into the box. If you got the queen in the box, all the bees will eventually collect into the box. If the queen is in the box you will also see the bees fanning, sticking their butts in the air and flapping their wings, sending off the colony’s pheromone to alert all the bees that the queen is inside. It takes about an hour depending on the time of day for the bees to all collect inside the box with their queen. The best time to get a swarm is close to sunset as during the day there are many scout bees out looking for the colony’s new home and also some bees out fetching water for the rest of the swarm.

List of natural, treatment-free beekeepers

Sam Comfort - east coast - Anarchy Apiaries
Michael Joshin Thiele -California -Apis Arborea
Les Crowder -Texas - Natural Beekeeping
Gunther Hauk - Spikenard Farm
Gunther Hauk's book - Towards Saving the Honeybee
Kirk Webster -Vermont - https://kirkwebster.com/
Michael Bush - Nebraska - https://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm
Laurie Herboldsheimer - Massachusetts - Golden Rule Honey, Bee Unto Others

List of Beekeeping Associations in the US and Canada.
Note that most associations have information about using Langstroth hives and many do not know how to manage Top Bar Hives but they may have information about getting a Package of bees in your local area.