Spare Queen available

[Alabamaeee]

Yesterday (Sun) I remove a queen from a failing nuc and combined the little colony with another weak nuc. Both were made up intiially as insurance when I decide to requeen two hives with Buckfast queens.

She is a local 2012 queen and was laying in the nuc albeit just a small patch of brood. I have her in a cage, unfortunately only two attendants are with her, as I struggled to get any of them into the cage not having done it before

They have now been in there for 24 + hours so if anyone wants her I am happy to post her to anyone that has a queenless colony.

Please PM me initially as I have also offered her to the local association but as yet no takers, and time is running out.

 

[Alabamaeee]

Seems like I may have a taker for the queen.

Can some beek please tell me the best way to post her. At the moment I have no candy in the cage so do I need to add something like icing sugar to keep them fed. I have given them small quantities of water mixed with honey today.

What way to package them? Strong envelope with a few air holes maybe?

Does the PO expect them to be packed or identified in any special way? I imagine the woman in my local PO will have a fit if I hand them over to her!

 

[Hivemaker.]

Some icing sugar mixed with a little honey to a stiff consistancy in the feed compartment will do fine, make sure she has a few attendants in the cage with her,6 to 8 is what i normally add,post in a small padded envelope with a few holes punched in,mark the envelope ...live bees, i use royal mail overnight special delivery signed for service..cost around £6. You could also just use the normal mail delivery service...i don't though.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

2 bees isn't many, but better than none!
A jiffy bag is fine. I label it "Live Honeybees, Handle with care" Some counter staff at post offices are miserable buggers and ask questions - just say that you do it all the time and they'll be OK. Most counter staff are friendly and inquisitive. Some THEN chuck the envelope across the room at high speed to land in the sack!
In the ones I posted this year I've used First Class "To be signed for" which is £2 or so for a small jiffy bag. They've always got there early next day. Queens have been fine on arrival.