Package Bee Hauler Needed

**Iowabeeman** · 12-21-2009, 10:53 PM

I'm looking for someone to haul a load of pkg bees from Northern California to the Midwest. I'm guessing there will be 1500 to 2000. The guy I have used for the last eight or nine years found greener pastures. You can reply with a post or e-mail me at ehoney37@netins.net Please don't PM me on BeeSource. I seldom check those messages. Thanx

**suttonbeeman** · 12-22-2009, 06:38 AM

Call Jim Rushfeldt...he is my beehauler and may be interested. Great guy, takes great care of bees and a beekeeper himself. phone # 402-659-3477

**Beeslave** · 12-22-2009, 05:05 PM

Sutton,
It's a small world, Jim hauled my 2 loads to CA this fall, here last spring and a year ago. I will vouche for him on hauling bees. Those are colonies though and I don't think packages would ship on an exposed flatbed very good. A reefer truck would work good though.

**Iowabeeman** · 12-22-2009, 07:43 PM

I talked to Jim. He seems like a really good guy. He is entertaining the idea of buying a van trailer to haul pkgs but we haven't worked out anything definite. Rick,thanks for referring me to him.

**StevenG** · 12-23-2009, 10:29 AM

Wouldn't you need some sort of ventilation in a reefer or a van, so the packages wouldn't suffocate?

**Beeslave** · 12-23-2009, 02:23 PM

Yes you need fresh air for the packages and you need to be able to control the temp so they don't get to hot or cold.

**wildbranch2007** · 12-25-2009, 07:46 AM

if i remember correctly but cant find the post, poster "The Honey Householder" had a package hauler built and halls packages, mayby he could post pictures of his rig to get an idea of what it should look like.

mike syracuse

**The Honey Householder** · 12-25-2009, 12:25 PM

Mine is a smaller hauler. I would think you would need a 40' or 50' to pay for that trip. Would love to haul another load up the east coast in early April, if someone has a 500 package load that needs hauled.

**Scrapfe** · 12-26-2009, 12:46 AM

Originally Posted by Beeslave

...are colonies though and I don't think packages would ship on an exposed flatbed very good. A reefer truck would work good though.

I used to think that migratory beeks only used reefers to schlep their bees around the country. I guess the labor situation forced them to go to open flatbeds and pallets.

Sometime during the 70s, I remember doing a price assessment for an insurance adjuster on a Freight Liner tractor and reefer that turned over in the spring on I65. At the time of the accident it was loaded with bees. Two months later 20 escaped queens had attracted various worker bees who were constructing combs on the inside walls and roof of the reefer. Some had made astonishing progress, some had not, just like in your bee yard. But talk about survivor stock.