Went through the Ohio State Beekeepers Association list of Bee Nuc suppliers, and contacted each of them; Nucs (Nuclear Colony) typically have to be picked up, so proximity is a factor, as is the type of bees they have, availability, and the certainty they have about having bees in the Spring.
All things considered, I’m going with William’s Bee Farm near Frankfort. (http://williamshoneybees.webs.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/WilliamsHoneyBees). Dan was responsive, and seems to know his stuff; some of the email interchange:
“My overwintered nucs either have VSH Pol-lines or VSH Carniolans in them. Pol-lines are more italian like, more information can be found online about them. Both the VSH strains were developed by the USDA and are being propagated by VP Queen bees where I obtain my pure Instrumental inseminated breeding stock. I run a sustainable operation and only replace my losses with my own nucs. The mating yards are flooded with drones from overwintered colonies. So the pol-lines and carniolans are both mated with high quality drones from my area from Italian and Carniolan lines. This results in a worker force that is both genetic diverse and accustomed to my conditions. ”
I like what I’ve researched on these (though a close second was some Ankle-biters and Buckfast from a Beekeeper up nearer to Cleveland; if these don’t work out, that will probably be my next choice). My only concern is these bees’ ability to groom themselves of the Varroa mite; is it stronger in the other types?
He’s even going to get some medium Nucs started, since most of his Nucs are in deeps, and all my equipment is mediums; we are going to start with 2 Nucs in the Spring (Yay!).
(We are keeping the bee kit we bought from Tractor Farm and Supply though (which is a deep); in case we change our minds and want to go with deeps, or need a place for a swarm or something).