Beekeepers usually have bees shipped in a package before placing them inside a hive. (Image Credit: Meggyn Pomerleau/Unsplash)
Did you know that bees are shipped to a beekeeper's location? In fact, this transportation method has become increasingly popular as more people take on beekeeping duties, turning it into a hobby! After all, purchasing bee packages is an excellent, convenient, and affordable solution for beekeeping!
Beekeepers typically order regular honeybees and queen honeybees from a bee supplier, shipping them through mail carrier services such as FedEx, UPS, or USPS. However, these delivery options need to be quick because bees cannot survive seven days in transit. Regular honeybees, for that matter, must ship via surface transportation. On the other hand, queen honeybees, which may have some honeybees accompanying them, are shipped in two ways: through the air or surface.
Live bees are generally placed in a sleeve with a 2” border around the edge, helping to prevent UPS employees from getting stung. While that may seem like a good thing, it increases temperatures and has less ventilation. Shipping bees across the country decreases success chances as well since they haven’t adjusted to the new location.
UPS’ requirements for shipping bees. (Image Credit: UPS)
These bees come in either bee packages or a nuc. Many beekeepers usually choose the two to three-pound wooden bee packages as their preferred method, which don't have bars or a comb. Rather, the wooden container must be high quality to prevent damage and survive transit. Each package contains around 3,000 to 5,000 worker bees per pound with a can of sugar syrup to feed them during transit.
While the worker bees are sourced from multiple hives, the young mated queen bee comes from a different colony. This also means the queen has not yet been accepted by the regular bees in her new colony, which takes some time. Otherwise, rejecting the queen could ultimately lead to her death. Once they arrive, the bees need additional feeding for approximately a month, depending on the local environment. Once the installation process is complete, these bees must work quickly to create a comb for honey storage and brood that requires worker bee replacements since they only last four to six weeks.
Meanwhile, the nuc (nucleus colony) is a small bee colony created from a larger colony. This means the bees produced the essential brood nest and comb in the hive. So they already have a head start and don’t need to put in much effort for nectar and pollen collection. Nucs, placed within a large hive, contain the young mated queen honeybee, worker bees, and comb. It also has five frames, making them smaller than conventional bee packages. Plus, the colony already accepted the queen, so it doesn’t run the risk of dying. The colony also underwent multiple inspections before transferring it to a harvest box and arriving at the beekeeper’s site. As a result, nucs have a stronger colony compared to packaged bees.
Sadly, some bees die while being transported due to stress and taken away from their starting colony. Longer shipping times result in more dead bees. When moving them to a new hive, the bees may seem more agitated than usual because they haven’t adjusted to the new colony with the unrecognized queen. The good news is they start to work and calm down after accepting the queen. The best temperature for bee transportation ranges from 40 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Otherwise, they can freeze if transported from certain regions during the winter.
Life seems to be getting rougher and rougher for our bee friends as I look into their life.
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