When Ordering Queens: Caveat Emptor - “Let the Buyer Beware”

Queen Bees are the lifeblood of a beehive. With an exceptional laying queen, a beehive is destined to making honey. Without a laying queen, there is NO thriving beehive to even consider making honey. Instead, the hive must go into survival mode by dedicating their efforts to making a laying queen. Unfortunately, it takes at least 30 days to produce a laying queen.

When a beekeeper realizes a hive is hopelessly queen-less, especially at a point during the season when time is of the essence, consideration is made to purchase a mated queen. When the decision is made to purchase a mated queen, “let the buyer beware.”.

I will share an experience I had recently ordering queens that wasn’t pleasant. I don’t want anyone else to experience the same as I did.

In Mid-July, after determining that one of my Buckfast hives was queen-less, I decided to find a queen breeder that sells Buckfast queens. In my search I found “R Weaver Apiaries” in Texas. I called them up and asked them when they can ship out some queens. I was informed that there is a heat wave in Texas all week, it would be better to ship them next week. I ordered three queens that day from their web page and requested delivery the following week. I received timely emails letting me know about my order and when it was shipped.

On arrival day, I patiently watched the “out for delivery truck” on it’s journey via the UPS Website Stie which shows you where the truck is on the map at any given time. The driver arrived earlier then the scheduled 2 to 6 pm time.

In my house I opened the package. I was shocked to find two of the three queen cages had all dead queens and attendant bees. The third queen cage the queen was alive but there were a couple of dead attendant bees with her.

I immediately called R Weaver Apiaries and left a message for them about the dead queens. About an hour later they called me back stating they were sorry about dead queens, but they couldn’t send other queens or refund my purchase, because they can’t guarantee delivery during the hottest summer months. I informed the customer service rep that the package the queens are sent in don’t provide any ventilation. Bees require air to breath. The package is a death sentence to its contents. I was told they have been sending queens in these packages for decades and expect some death.

The best way to understand the package the queens arrived in is by pictures.

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 As you can see where the queens were placed in the package and the lack of ventilation holes, the queens weren’t given a chance for survival, only destined to suffocation in a flat package.

The proper way to ventilate the queens during transport is to provide a special ventilated box for the queens.

It is Ironic that their Orange Sticker on the package reads “LIVE HONEYBEES Keep Ventilated”, when they don’t ventilate the package.

While I understood the risks from their website regarding sending bees in the hot summer months, I also expected the proper care of the queens during transport.

I can’t believe that the company R Weaver Apiaries that claims to be in existence since 1888, doesn’t provide the proper care, specifically ventilation, during the shipment of their queens. Beekeeping 101, bees require oxygen, water, pollen, nectar and propolis to survive and thrive.

I guess after the queens leave their apiary, ventilation to them is not a concern, despite their warning sign.

With the only queen that arrived alive, on the hour trip out to the hive, the last queen died.  I am out $121 for the queens. I’ll have to sell 11 jars of honey to make up for this loss. Plus I have will have to make other plans for the hives that the queens were intended for.

This experience has taught me to ask more questions before ordering. I won’t ever order from R Weaver Apiaries again.

When Ordering Queens, Caveat Emptor, “Let the Buyer Beware.

Since writing this article, I’ve sent a complaint message on their website. I don’t expect to get a response. But we’ll see.