Nigel Castillo Early Days
Nigel Castillo journey into beekeeping began in Trinidad as a hobby since around the age of 10. Soon after moving to the United States Of America, Nigel began this hobby with four hives. Nigel began to grow, almost immediately, as friends and neighbors wanted local honey for medicinal purposes. Before he knew it, he had 8 hives and then 16 hives to keep up with the demand for local honey. This eventually grew to over 100 hives. As this hobby grew into a full time business, it was time for Nigel Castillo to leave his career as a sailor and take the business to the next step.
Bees & Nucs | Packages
Nigel started to receive phone calls from Northeast Region, Florida seeking beekeeping packages and nucs. "We grew 20 nucs our first season. The next challenge was to meet the demand for beekeeping supplies and honey bees." said Nigel. In 2017, Nigel Castillo began shipping honey bees on the South region and Panhandle region. Nigel added "We could not have grown without repeat orders from our loyal customer base and dedicated employees.Through the years, we mastered the logistics of shipping honey bees to more states. In 2020, we will also expand our honey bee offerings to include Carniolan and Russian bees."
The Warehouse Project
Nigel Castillo's home was quickly overcome with the garage being his warehouse/store and some rooms in the house used for storage for the first three years. The next step was to purchase 5,000 sq. ft. of land to grow the small business.
According to Nigel Castillo, "I never thought I would utilize the entire land and thought I would only use half. In 2022, we began a new warehouse project that will house over 400 pallets of merchandise so that we can ensure timely shipments to our customers."
Present Day
2024 looks to be a year of signnificant growth in honey bee sales and beekeeping supplies. Also Nigel Bees Co. will be starting our BUZZ Conversations, a podcast, which is to assist beekeepers in education and trends within the beekeeping world.
Nigel Castillo's Family History
Going back as far as 1900s with Nigel's grandad, pictured here housing a swarm of bees in a traditional WBC hive in the family orchard. It gives a great sense of pride to be able to continue the family tradition and pass these vital skills onto the next generation.