I was going to purchase a package of bees this year from Kelly Bees. They are in Kentucky and I am in central Florida. The package cost was 150.00 and the shipping would have been nearly 50.00 and to top it off, they don’t insure safe delivery to this area because of the possibility that they might die from overheating.
So I ended up buying a nuc, which is 5 frames of bees and a queen from a local beekeeper for 150.00.
After which I was able to catch 3 swarms in the tree in my front yard before the end of April. Go figure.
I don’t think I should ever have to buy bees again.