Beekeepers Head to Minnesota for Bee Day

HACKENSACK (AP) -- Hundreds of amateur beekeepers recently traveled to a  Minnesota city to pick up boxes of bees.

Mann Lake Bees in Hackensack distributed bee starter kits to more than 600 beekeepers during Saturday's Bee Day. Many beekeepers were looking to replace bees that had died over the winter or were starting new hives.

The packages contained about 10,000 bees from California and were sold for $140. The company also has factories in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, California and Texas where they build bee hives and other products.

Company co-founder Jack Thomas says that while large commercial beekeepers are important to the business, the hobby market is also growing.

Mann Lake Bees was founded 35 years ago. It sells bees across the U.S. and in 25 countries.