Queen via the Mail???

[rwjedi]

I ordered a queen on monday and it was shipped monday afternoon and arrived Today (wed) Morning. The queen and her 1 attendant were dead on arrival. The package was in good shape not damaged at all. Was this too much time for the queen to be away from the hive? There was only 1 attendant is that enough? Or was this just the result of BAD LUCK???? Thanks

rod

[SippyBees]

I don't know about all queen breeders, the breeder I work for and help him catch queens puts 5-7 attendants in the queen package...
4 days is not a problem for a caged queen, IF she has enough attendants to feed her... and ALSO if the shipping service did not set her out in some hot sun all day sometime during shipment.... Was it insured?? I would call the breeder and ask why there was only one attendant....
FWIW

[rwjedi]

Package was not insured. I can not vouch for how it was handled in shipping other than to point out that the package was in good shape. My Mailman knows how to handle bee packages and it was cloudy today. Don't know about all the places in between.

[kookaburra]

That isn't be too long. It depends a lot on the weather and the condition of the queen, but she is still a small vulnerable insect.

I kept my last queen(the old one) in a jar and a cage for more than 2 weeks before killing her. (but with more than 1 attendant)

I think that many suppliers will provide replacements even without insurance, ask them.

-rick

[Michael Bush]

I've never gotten a queen with only one attendant. I would complain to the queen supplier.

[rwjedi]

They are sending a replacement queen. I have to pay for shipping. I don't know if they will be putting more attendants in or not. Seems like cheap insurance to me, that is putting more attendants in. I had a hard time putting postal insurance on a 7$ item. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Gone2dlake]

rwjedi. I ordered a queen Tuesday, she was shipped Wednesday and arrived on my door step Thursday (today). Alive and well, she and her 5 attendants. Granted, she didn't have all that far to travel! Not sure what part of MO you are in. Check with Jesterbee for future needs. I have had excellent service and products from them. I sure couldn't have driven and picked the queen up for the shipping costs! Always make sure she is insured too. For the headache factor alone is worth it. Just my thoughts.