Bee Hive Overwintering Services
Losing your hive to varroa mites or winter losses is no fun and can leave you scrambling at the last minute to buy bees in the spring. We have a limited number of spots available on the semi trucks that take our bees south to Texas for overwintering in October. This service also includes 3 key benefits for the backyard beekeeper and his/her bees in Central MN:
- complete fall & spring varroa mite testing and treatment
- fall/winter/spring supplemental feeding
- hive is returned with a new queen in early May 2025 in a single deep
Send your hive along with professional beekeepers to winter with our bees and leave the stress of wintering hassles and uncertainty to us. Plus you get a new hive of bees back in the spring that's worth $195 already installed and brooding up in your equipment!'
Starting in fall of 2024 there is a 2 hive minimum for this service.
The following conditions must be met to qualify your hive for this service.
- Hive has your name or unique identification marks on cover, bottom board and hive bodies.
- Hives must be queen right, and contain healthy brood and pass our inspection. If you aren't sure what healthy brood looks like, send us a photo of both sides of a frame of brood at webstore@amesfarm.com.
- Brood nest must not have been robbed of its honey frames
- Brood box has fully drawn out brood combs, no foundation.
- Hive stacks may be any of these 4 combinations: 1 Deep, or 2 Deeps Additional hive bodies are not needed for wintering in the south. In a typical double deep stack, If the top deep is solid honey in the fall and no brood it can be left in MN.
Additional Information
- Prices vary for hive drop off/pickup by you $195 or hive pickup/drop off by us $260.00 Quantity discounts available for 3 or more hives—contact us for a quote.
- If you want us to pick up and deliver your hive(s) and distance is a factor, please call to discuss before purchasing: (952) 955-3348 8-4pm M-F. We're best able to accommodate a 25 mile radius from zip code 55388.
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Hives must picked up by us or dropped off by you in Watertown MN by 9/08/24. Contact us for an exact date and time.
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MN sales tax of 6.875% will be collected on this service
- Once you pay for a hive pickup or drop and upon our inspection, if the hive is queenless or not viable, the hive will not be taken to Texas and you will receive a Nuc next spring. Refunds will not be issued once the drop off or pickup and inspection is completed.
- All hives are returned as strong single deep box in early May regardless of what the stack was in the fall.
Note: we winter in east Texas on our own 33 acre farm near Mt. Enterprise Texas, where the land is partially wooded and is used for cattle pasture and gas wells. The area is free of agricultural pesticides and intensive agriculture. Also we don't rent any bees for pollination services in Texas or anywhere over winter, and your hives will NOT be used for this kind of activity while under our control.
This is such an affordable and reliable service. If you truly love your bees and would rather see them live, than die over winter, I would highly recommend this service.
The bees you get back in spring are honey makers from the get go too! I've wintered bees in Mn for a dozen years with some but little success. After the mite treatments and the feeding and insulating and proper ventilation and...I will send my bees with Brian!
2 years running with Ames Farm service and my bees couldnt bee happier!!
This is such an affordable and reliable service. If you truly love your bees and would rather see them live, than die over winter, I would highly recommend this service.
The bees you get back in spring are honey makers from the get go too! I've wintered bees in Mn for a dozen years with some but little success. After the mite treatments and the feeding and insulating and proper ventilation and...I will send my bees with Brian!
2 years running with Ames Farm service and my bees couldnt bee happier!!