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One of the best ways to start your journey in beekeeping is to buy a nuc of bees (essentially a starter colony) or a fully established hive from a local beekeeper. Either way, your nuc or hive will come with a locally mated queen, brood, eggs at all stages, pollen stores, and honey stores. These hives are raised from other hives that have already survived multiple Arkansas winters and are better adapted to this part of the country than having bees shipped in from other states. I do not have specialty breeds of bees; all of mine are a mix of whatever is surviving the winters here, but all of my queens originated from just a few Italian strains of queens nearly 6 years ago that I bought from a local keeper as well. I raise all of my bees in my own bee yards (apiaries) and do not ship bees in from anywhere else; nor do I send my bees south for the winter like many larger commercial keepers. You are buying bees that are the offspring of queens that are living through the Arkansas climate year round and naturally mate with other surviving bees in the area for a good blend of genetics. Starting off with two nucs is the best scenario to being successful your first year as a second hive gives you resources to "fix" the other hive in case of disaster (you accidentally squish your queen for example-the 2nd hive can be used to raise a replacement queen), but one nuc is all you have to have to get started.
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