Shipping nucs through the postal service?

[bluegrass]

I need to send some Nucs back to Vermont to replace some winterkill hives up there. Normally we could make a trip up, but with the baby we can't do it this year. So I either need to ship them through the postal service or find somebody for them to ride with. I am picturing a mess if shipped over night through the postal service. Anybody done it before? I am thinking I should cage the queen for safe keeping?

[Michael Bush]

I don't know exactly what the procedure is but I'm pretty sure Fatbeeman ships nucs UPS. When I called UPS to try to arrange it they told me they don't ship bees. And that was the national office. Good luck finding the info.

[bluegrass]

Thanks MB. Our local UPS terminal says they will not ship them too. I have to go and talk to the Post Office and bring one of the boxes with me so they can tell me what I need to do. I figured somebody on here had done it before.....guess not?

[jeff123fish]

ups just shipped three packages to me with no probs

[Michael Bush]

Maybe Fatbeeman will share his secrets.

[NeilV]

At least last year, Fat/Beeman was shipping nucs by U.S. mail.

[Ardilla]

Ditto, he shipped two nucs to me by U.S.P.S. with no problem.

UPS and FEDEX won't accept live critters in many cases. The postal service handles them differently than normal parcels. I did some consulting for some postal service processing facilities after the anthrax incidents. They had separate staging areas for the live animal packages. It was quite noisy with chicks, roosters, bees, pidgeons, crickets, and some noises I didn't recognize...

Call or visit your post office before they arrive - tell them about when you expect them and ask them to hold them at the post office and call you. My mail carrier called in the morning and offered to deliver them to my door, but they would have been bouncing in his truck on lousy roads until 4:30 when he finally gets to my house.

[Joel]

I had 150 queens shipped UPS Last week! I do know they will not insure live bees, I don't know about shipping nucs.