BeeHive Barn LLC — Local services in Cranbury Township

So, I find it interesting that there are 1-star reviews and 5-star reviews and nothing in between. Which is the real Sallie of Beehive Barn? I'm in the 5-star camp, myself. I've taken classes and placed orders with her and had a chance to interact with her over many weekends.

Beekeeping is exploding. I took a series of classes last month and there were about 15 people in the class. This past weekend there were 30 people in the class (I counted) and she was busy for several hours afterward dealing with questions and orders.

Sallie is interested in making sure that beginning beekeepers have the things they need to be successful, and none of the "gadgets", as she calls them (even though they could make her big margins). I've seen her take plenty of time to explain simple things to people who could easily have Googled the answer. Plus she is a local supplier who makes her products onsite, not just reselling.

The thing to remember is that she is a one-woman shop and that schedules are fluid and sometimes beyond her control. I find when I step onto the property, I feel myself relaxing and not being in such a rush - which is a good thing when dealing with bees - but perhaps not everybody knows that yet, or they haven't spent enough time at BHB yet.

Sallie's personality is well-suited for bees - calm, relaxed, and with the sure knowledge that everything will work out in the end. The timing may not be what we expect in this busy world of instant gratification, but the results will surely be beyond your expectations. If you're concerned about any issues, write your order down. Call before heading out there, especially if it's any distance. She publishes her cell number on her web page so there are few excuses for not talking to her before you arrive.

As a person who had never even put on a veil before, I got the opportunity to install packages into 4 nucs - she is that trusting of people. I learned a lot and am way more confident that keeping bees is something regular people can do. And while I am waiting for her to build boxes for me (cedar with observation ports) I did install my package into a nuc at her place and it will be 2-3 weeks further along when I'm ready to install.

Sallie rocks!!! Go visit her on a non-class day and see...

Updated Review:

I had read the other Google customer reviews and found them to be quite bi-polar: 5 star, 1 star, 5 star, 1start, etc. I decided to proceed anyway and I arranged to buy a 5 frame nuc from Sally in April.

I am on Long Island, not very close to Cranberry NJ, so my only means of communication was by phone, email, or text. I needed to coordinate a day to drive down very early to pick up the bees while they were still in the nucs and back and I found this very difficult. There were many unanswered calls, emails and texts. Hence my first review was in the negative category.

However I eventually did coordinate a date with Sally and picked up the bees. I must say that in person, Sally is very nice and very very helpful. It became quite apparent once I got there that Sally is pretty busy and does a good trade mostly on her own. I have since spoken to her about her my frustrations in reaching her and she acknowledged that she needs to improve that part. She probably needs a secretary, but lets bee honest, this is a bee business not a law firm. I am changing my review to 4 stars, because ultimately I am happy with the nuc, which is well established now and doing very well.

Just one last comment about the product. The nucs are all out in one field open so the bees can forage. Hence you need to get there early before they are all outside. You are supposed to pick the one you want so bring your suit (or borrow one from Sally). If you ask her Sally is happy to assist in your selection. There were at least 100 there when I went but most of the ones that I inspected all had a decent amount of bees...

I ordered a hive & bees in March & was told they would be ready in May. May came & went & no bees, each time I called I was told 2 more weeks. Finally in July I was told they were ready last week & why didn't I pick them up? Apparently she called the wrong number, but either way I wasn't willing to take bees at the end of July. She agreed & said lots of people said the same thing to her & she would send me a refund of my deposit. It is now the end of August & I have not received a refund. Today I called to be told she is too busy & hasn't gotten to it. When asked how much longer will it take she said "Well I don't know, maybe I can get to it this weekend." Yes her house burnt down, but that is no excuse to do business this way. She should have notified everyone when it happened instead of stringing people along for months until it was too late for them to purchase else where. Additionally, not refunding people in a timely manner just adds to the problem. “I don't know, maybe I can get to it this weekend." is not an acceptable answer, we are all busy. Luckily, I used my credit card for the deposit & today I am going to have to put in a dispute. Frankly it is beyond ridiculous that I have been jerked around by Sally to this point & thanks to her inability to do business properly I have lost an entire year...