Here are some answers to your most common questions

1. If you are receiving your bees USPS (Post Office), bees ship slower than regular mail because bees are not allowed on planes, so while a letter may reach you in 2 days, it could take longer for bees. But they are packaged to live a week.

2. Please allow up to a week for the delivery of your bees. Yes, bees can survive a week long trip. Most will be at their new home within 2-4 days, but occasionally some will hit a slow postal route, or some other happening and it will take longer.

3. There are no tracking #s for bees shipping parcel post, so we can not track them.

4. For those of you concerned about bees hitting the post office on the weekend, mail still continues to move all weekend. Even if your bees should get to the post office on Sunday, they are fine sitting there. Call your postmaster –some postmasters work over the weekend and will call you even on a Sunday if your bees arrive then.

5. Call your postmaster and talk to him/her if you are concerned about delivery of your bees and make sure they have your phone number.

6. If an emergency comes up, get a back up to go receive your bees. If you can’t install them right away, put them in a place like a garage-out of the sun- and spritz with ½ sugar, ½ water. The sooner you install them the better. If it’s raining, you can install thru a few raindrops, but if it’s pouring down rain, you can install under a roof or overhang and then walk your hive out to where you want it to go.

7. Important – check your bees before you leave the post office. Our packages are packaged to allow for some bees that die naturally. An inch of dead bees on the bottom is not a problem. However, if they are all dead then you need to make a postal claim, you can ONLY do it before you leave the post office. This includes the queen. Once you have left, it is too late to make a claim. Show the bees to the postmaster and fill out form #1000. You have paid for insurance, so the post office will reimburse you for the bees. You are welcome to call us to see if you can purchase another package, but please be aware that in this bee crisis and shortage, that possibility may be very slim. This rarely happens, but when it’s YOU that it happens to, it is a disappointment, but there is always next year.

RETURN POLICY: If your bees arrive at your local post office in a dead condition, DO NOT ACCEPT THE BEES. Your bees will have lots of dead bees on the bottom as this is normal. We say 1" of dead bees is not an issue. More than 1" might be a reason to carefully inspect the overall health of the remaining bees. Please undertsand that once you accept the package from the post office, whatever happens after that is your responsibility. If your bees are dead, and this rarely happens, ask to fill out FORM 1000 and refuse the bees. Once you accept the bees and take them home, they are yours and this includes the queen.