I'm beyond disappointed with my experience purchasing a nuc from Mann Lake. After waiting months for delivery, I had to drive out for pickup only to find the entire process completely disorganized. There was a long line of cars, and it was clear they were not prepared at all for the volume of customers they scheduled. No structure, no communication--just chaos. They even had their hundreds of sales orders organized alphabetically . . . by first name! What made it worse was that the nuc was selected for me, with no opportunity to inspect it before loading it up. That alone should have been a red flag. But the real issue didn't show up until I got home--an hour and a half later--and transferred the frames into my hive. What I found was honestly shocking. Instead of a healthy, active colony, there were maybe a couple dozen bees total. Not hundreds. Not even close. A couple dozen. Upon inspecting the frames: * No eggs * A queen present, but clearly not laying * Very few drones * Minimal activity overall This is not a viable nuc by any reasonable standard. At best, it's severely compromised. At worst, it's a complete failure. To make matters worse, I reached out for support--twice via email to their beekeeper support address--and over the course of two and a half weeks, received no response. I then tried calling the local number, only to find it was disconnected. I ultimately had to track down a corporate phone number just to get someone's attention. After that, I was finally connected to someone at the Kentucky office via email. Their first response Was: "Would I like a replacement?" No. I'm not driving over an hour back there and another hour back to Bowling Green to roll the dice again on something that should have been right the first time. I requested a refund, which they have agreed to--but that doesn't undo the time, effort, and complete lack of confidence this experience created. I've noticed a steady decline over the past few years since the original local operation was absorbed into the larger Mann Lake corporate structure. Unfortunately, this experience confirms that concern. I will not be ordering from Mann Lake again. Going forward, I'll be supporting local beekeepers--where you can actually see what you're getting, talk to the person raising the bees, and have confidence in the quality. read more

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This is the second time I have ordered bees from Mann Lake. First time, one of two were delivered dead. It took alot of my time to get a refund since replacement bees were not available. I tried again. Tracking information was invalid. Bees finally arrived on a Thursday at my post office after being shipped on a Saturday. ( Can't confirm that they were shipped since tracking number was invalid) One package with more than 3 inches of dead bees. The process to get a refund/replacement is burdensome-done on purpose so consumer does not follow through. Ordered two bee feeders. No straps included. Process to return requires the consumer to spend time looking up order number, product number etc. to return. Nonsense-make sure your products are shipped with all the parts!!! Do not order bees from Mann Lake-0-2 in the process. read more

Chicks came on time, healthy, and well packed. They have done well. Would order again, but it will be years because these guys promise to last for years. read more

Had to buy a Queen for a hive. Ordered and they shipped with tracking, etc. Pkg got held up for 3 additional days by UPS. Sent an email to Mann, and they shipped another. UPS dropped off the 1st queen letter that day. (Pkg had been opened and taped back closed. Not sure why, but hey its live bees right) Anyway, 1st Queen was alive, but a few attendants had died. She seemed well and strong. Anyways, they made good on the order when it went sideways. read more

First of all, I really wanted the Buckfast breed of honey bee. They were going to be a great addition to my honey bee hives. I ordered and anxiously waited for them. I received a call from my local Post office they had arrived so within 15 minutes I picked them up and came directly home to install my package, but half the honey bees were dead on arrival. Their sugar water was depleted and the queen had no fondant left in her cage. From the look of fecal matter and dead bee parts laying everywhere on the bee taxi. This was my first and last time ordering bees online. I will not order any from this company again. read more

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Just here for an update for my last review, they are sending out a replacement for getting the gender wrong. Quick process I didn't have to do a single thing, thank you guys, you guys are awesome. read more

Ordered 150 dollars worth of bee keeping supplies... still waiting and my package of bees has already arrived. So I try to email them and no response, I tried to chat with someone live online can't connect, and then finally I call and I'm upset... the lady didn't like my tone and transferred my call just to make me wait longer and told me she knew where my order was but wouldn't tell me unless I asked nicer. Thankfully the lady she transferred me to actually was able to help and reported her. Still waiting on my order from several weeks ago. read more

Like always everybody is top shelf people. They all give 110 present helpful in all aspects!

Ordered a product from them and paid $20 extra for expedited 2 day shipping. It is 4 days later and I still have not received the product. They said UPS does not deliver on the weekends - which is not true. Just be very careful - that would be my recommendation. I hope I will in fact get the product at some point. read more

It was five days for my order to ship from their location. I received an email saying it was being shipped by FedEx I called Mann Lake and was then told it was being shipped via USPS. I am totally disappointed. read more

I ordered two packages of bees. One was good. The other was alive but was weak and not moving much. I installed the week Hive and when I checked on them the next day they were still in a pile on the bottom. I called Mann Lake they we're rude, said I was out of luck and they wouldn't do anything because it was past 24 hours. This is my second package that has died. I will not be ordering anything from them ever again. read more

I gave 1 star, gave feedback, on the packaging. I flipped the box over and left it with the can opening down and in both of the hives they left the box and went into the hive. So, ended up working out. Wanted to edit the Star rating but don't see how to do that. read more

An affiliate of Stromberg's Chickens. I bought a pair of cape doves from them. I always wanted to keep them. I got my shipment, and the male was good, but the female was unresponsive. She died the following day. I don't know what happened. But I called and told them my situation. When I did, they quickly sent me a new female. I didn't have to pay another shipping fee nor nothing. The staff were very friendly, sympathetic, and I'm going to keep ordering from this business! They treated me well! read more

Boy, do I wish I read these reviews before I just bought 2 boxes of bees. I've always gotten them locally-off a truck. They were in a standard box-no big deal. I get these two boxes that are hard plastic "Bee Buses". Impossible to open-hard-cheap plastic that I am sure makes it nice for shipping. Surprised when delivered to my door. But Can Not open the box-prying open/braking hard plastic away-upsetting the bees and still couldn't open. Had to turn box upside down and hope they come out of the hole where the feed-can was. No answer-No support. They were all so agitated, who knows how this will go. Never again! read more

I bought 30 bobwhite quail eggs to hatch. They sent 32, they were very well packaged and they all arrived intact. I incubated them and finally 25 days later I had 24 that hatched. Five were definitely not fertile (I could tell by candling them) and three were that didn't hatch at all (after 28 days in the incubator, so I gave them the extra time, just in case). I guess other than nonfertile eggs, 24 out of 27 isn't too bad. read more

Ms. Hill, Your 285-word salad response tells me nothing more than what your customer service supervisor already told me on the phone. Mann Lake does not stand behind their products. "Taking pride" and following through are two distinctly different concepts. Hiding behind some lawyer-written "Bee agreement" does not enhance the integrity of your company nor give you the license to sell sub-par and defective products to your customers. These nucs should have been inspected when you received them from your vendor prior to distribution to your customers. read more

I've been getting my package bees here their Russian hybrid from mann-lake Clarkson Kentucky best genetics I've seen cold tolerant mite resistant and 4:1 honey production I'm very happy with these bees ..I give this place a 5 star review read more

This company shipped about 30 chicks to a customer here in Massachusetts. They sent it priority mail instead of express. I have never seen anything alive sent priority mail. I work at the post office and I see birds, chicks, pigeons, even bugs every. I have never once seen a bird sent "priority mail" I can't believe we even accepted it at USPS. These chicks were in the mail for 4 days during a HEAT ADVISORY. It has been 85- 92 degrees in new england these past few days. 26 chicks died. We saved 4. I called the company because I had a box of dead birds and NO PHONE number for the customer. WHAT COMPANY DOESN'T PUT THE CUSTOMERS PHONE NUMBER? Again, I have never once seen a package of birds, or anything live come through the mail without the customers phone number! As these dead chicks rotted next to me and I was gagging from the smell I was searching the box for a number so I could call the customer so she could PICK UP HER BIRDS. I had to google the company because they didn't put their phone number on the package either. I got their number. I asked for the customers number that they were sending the chicks too HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET A HOLD OF THE CUSTOMER TO COME GET HER BIRDS WITH NO PHONE NUMBER?! HOW?! So they gave me the number. They did not care that almost all the chicks were dead. They didn't care that they didn't put a phone number of the customer of the package. They didnt care that these chicks sat in the mail for almost 5 days. The customer didn't want priority. I had to tell her that her chicks are decomposing next to me. So unprofessional. I see birds and animals every day come through the mail and this is the first time I saw birds being sent slow ass priority instead of express. I do not recommend anyone get their chicks from this place. Seriously. HOW DOES THIS COMPANY EXPECT THE CUSTOMER TO GET THEIR ANIMALS IF THEY DONT PUT THE PHONE NUMBER ON THE PACKAGE?? Literally every other company that ships birds do this. Every single one. Not this company. They think we put the birds in the truck and go deliver and WE DONT DELIVER LIVE BIRDS. PUT THE FUCKING NUMBER ON THE PACKAGE and ship it EXPRESS like EVERY OTHER COMPANY DOES!!!!!!!!!!! read more

They might be one of the bigger beekeeping suppliers, but they ​certainly don't have their #@%^ together! Lack of communication on back-ordered products, sending the ​wrong tracking number, shipping with USPS vs FedEx that I paid for and then exaggerating the original USPS price too​ closely match the FedEx on within​ $3 is absurd! I ordered shrink bands from them and didn't hear anything until I inquired a week after ordering. It has now been two weeks and I still don't have all my products. How the heck does a company this large have such terrible customer service and a bad online ordering system? So sad because I thought I'd found a new supplier. Stay away! read more

california is our main mann lake but they can ship from all the other locations (... or not!...) so you this review is going to be posted to all of them. overall - just stay away. sure they "know bees" but they do NOT understand humans or customer service. they also NEVER tell you if something is backordered, as mentinoed in several other reviews. they'll list it on their website and you pay for it thinking you'll get it... but you don't. sometimes they have it at another site (as mentioned above) but they don't bother to mail it from the other location... here are a few of our experiences: 1 - we bought the apivar 10-pack and got charged for it. 2 weeks later it hadn't even shipped. we called and was told it had been backorder since we'd ordered it. the site didn't say that and we didn't get a call or email saying it was delayed. after a week of wondering what the deal was we called and they told me they didn't even have it in stock so we cancelled it. 2)  varroa jar. same story as above. it was part of a different order. when order showed up, the jar was missing and I called and asked and it was backordered. we cancelled it and sourced elsewhere. 3)  super with frames. third strike. ordered, was on backorder but there was no way of knowing, we called after a week and they said it was about to ship, it didn't. we called several days later and they didn't know why but didn't tell me it was backordered. after 2 more we weeks called again and they finally shipped it from CA. this was in the same order as some beetle blasters but they never mentioned the super was backordered and there wasnt an ETA for delivery here's the deal - we ordered items on three different ocassions and every single time there was something on backorder that they didn't mention. every single time we had to be the ones to call in and to find out what the heck was going on.  what did they think? we were just going to wait forever? espcially without any acknowledgment whatsoever? there are plenty of other sources - i'd stay away from these guys. read more

Mann Lake bee supplies. Great customer service up to the point where they would not honor a sale price. "Unfortunately, we cannot honor that sale price". At that point, it was too late. Only after I cancelled the transaction and voice my disappointment, did the customer service rep offer to "take the decision further up the chain". That should have been done prior to telling me "No." There are plenty of bee supply companies in the US. No need to shop here. read more

Our bees arrived and 75%+ were dead. Very poor customer service. We didn't dot the i's so they swindled us out of $200. Never again.

Order quite frequently from this site. Was sent the wrong product and I am being told I have to pay for shipping to return it. I would not recommend using this business. There are plenty of others with better customer service. Mann Lake has enough customers that they don't care if they screw up. read more

This is a superior outfit. Their treatment of their customers is extraordinary. They are courteous, knowledgeable, prompt and they excel at personalizing their service. We would highly recommend this outfit on every level. You will not be disappointed. read more

I've been ordering my beekeeping supplies from this company for the last year due to their free shipping and good reputation. Not any longer. I was filling honey bottles I purchased from them yesterday and found three quarters of the lids had fly larvae in them. Yes it was gross. I asked them if they would replace them, It was only 48 lids, and add them to an order to I made a day before. They said they wouldn't, and that the infestation probably happened after I received them. I think I would have noticed the swarm of bugs in my house. I guess they didn't want to spend three dollars to keep a customer. read more

These folks are Great in everything except nucs. They buy them from a different vendor than the one that supplies their hive bodies. Their nusc are horrible!. Nothing like their hive bodies. They are not predrilled, they do not have the hand grooves on the side or front, and they are not dovetailed. They are VERY hard to put together! So buy everything else from them, like I do, just don't buy their nucs or you'll regret it. If they ever change to the supplier of their hive bodies, I'll be the FIRST person to log on here and remove my complaint! read more