Who ya gonna call, - BeeBusters ??

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JCBrum

Drone Bee
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
1,054
Reaction score
0
Location
Birmingham UK
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
8 ish
My number 2 hive went queenless last week while I was away at the Royal Show.

It had swarmed last month, and I had managed to catch the swarm and put it into a different empty hive.

A mentor and I went through the hive two weeks ago and it appeared to have got going again with a new queen although we didn't see her. We both thought it was all ok with a reasonable amount of bees and some brood considering the situation, and unlikely to swarm while I was away. -- wrong !!

Last Monday (2 days ago) I looked through it. No queen, no brood, and about a dozen small q cells amongst the frames, on the sides, not on the bottom, some capped and some open.

Oh dear, I thought.

I was well peed off. I didn't like the look of any of the q cells, and felt that the time taken to raise a good queen would miss the honey flows and leave me with an unproductive hive till next season.

What I need I thought was a vigourous mated queen to get 'em going again asap.

So - who ya gonna call ??

After phoning around a bit with no luck, and turning down nucs at £100 - £150, I decided to screw up my courage and 'phone -- *******s !!! (mikethebee)

It was late afternoon and the landline said mikethebee was about somewhere, - try his mobile.

He answered, - whadyawant ? I'm busy with my hands full.

I explained and said I wanted one mated queen asap. He said he had about 20 left but they were selling fast. Bring him some money straightaway.

I explained I had commitments and couldn't get there till Thursday morning, but would he save me one.

He said he would try, but phone first to check, and advised me to dump the commitments and bring the money tomorrow (tues). It's about 100 miles round trip, and I said I'd be there thursday, please save me one.

During Monday evening I changed my mind, and decided to visit Easy Bees on Tuesday morning. I telephoned about 8am and left a message to say I was no my way to pick up a queen and would be there about 9:30am.

As it happened I didn't get there till 9:50 and couldn't get into the yard because of a lorry and some other vehicles which were blocking it all up. I couldn't find Mike and his staff said he's over at the house, try there.

I found him in his home-office, counting big wads of money, and finishing a bacon sandwich. I explained I had taken his advice to drive there straight away and collect my queen and had left a recorded message earlier that morning.

"You're too late" he said. The last bloke just took all the queens, and now we've got this lorry to get loaded, - he's got a long way to go. I'll see what I can do but you'll have to wait. He's a good customer and is selling tons of my bees.

I waited. They loaded 16 pallets of 20 nucs per pallet, onto the truck, and some other boxes as well.

Mike left the lads to finish, and came back to me. He said he didn't have much left that day but he might be able to let me have one of his own nucs from his "garden", but it would be home-bred not imported, and they fetched a good price he said.

I explained I only wanted a queen really but made him an offer for the nuc based on what it was worth to me, to combine them with my bees.

He laughed and said I did not have an accurate understanding of his pricing structure, or more colourful words to that effect.

I explained that I had acted on his advice in good faith, and felt I had a wasted and expensive journey. He said life's tough.

After some more friendly witty banter, we decide the only way to bridge the substantial financial difference between us was to "toss" for it.

Mike got out a shiny pound coin (he said it was his last one) and threw it in the air. He caught it and put it covered on the back of his hand. I called "heads". I won. He said "b*gger" !

So we watched as the lorry pulled out of the yard and I thought he's got the queen I was going to have. It said MacDonald, Kinross, on the door. I thought that's too far to go to buy it back. I wonder if this "home bred" stuff is as good as the imports are reputed to be.

JC. :)
 
I have just found another source of queen bees, Carniolans -
www.bees-r-us.co.uk
Tel 0151 3427062
Its a guy called Doug Jones in the Wirral who gets imported queens each week
I put one in a queenless colony Monday and she was a lively one. See my posting "Chasing queens". Peeped in this afternoon and she is out of the cage and parading round like she owns the place. The colony are really excited and are diving out of the hive in all weathers to bring home the honey.
 
It sounds good Geoff, thanks, I'll stick the number in the memory banks.

I had a look through my little nuc today. 1 frame feeder, 1 frame on honey, and 3 sparse frames of bees with a queen marked white.

It's early days to assess them but they seem to be doing ok. I'm satisfied so far that I got a good deal. We'll see how she lays when she's in the hive.

JC.
 
Hi JC

just a comment....

Dougs queens are very good. nice temprement and realy good layers

Dean
 
Thanks Dean,

At least with an Easy Bee visit you are assured of an entertainment factor though. ;)

JC.
 
What are the price difference's between the 2 importers ?
 
Doug charges £25 or he does on the ******** site.
I think Mike is charging £26
The advantage with Doug is that you can pay by Paypal so there is no need to wait for cheques to clear. He said that he got the bees in each Thursday, but i think they came on Friday last week, he gave them a drink and they were in the post Saturday. Arrived first thing Monday. Gave the dog a surprise. She does not expect the post to buzz back at her!
Certainly the queen was very fit and well, being able to fly and run very fast. I wondered, can these mated queens lay straight away or do they have to fatten up first? I ask because I know that queens stop laying and slim down when they are getting ready to fly for swarming.
 
What is the ********* ???:confused:
I didn't swear honest. It was the name of a site where you can bid for beekeeping stuff. Not much going on at present but Doug puts his bees up as a Buy it Now
 
I think that if you type ' E a s y b e e s ' the forum software takes it out and substitutes ******** because it is an advertising word.

Am I right Admin ??

JC.
 
I dont think Easybee is typed out ?

Let me go see what is causing it,it could be the word filter kicking in,like typing Scunthorpe.

Edit: Yes just checked and I did word filter that website because the owner joined here but has never posted or contacted us and I was worried about spam.

Can anyone vouch for the owner ? Its just that a member said he was not a beekeeper,just someone jumping on the bandwagon.

Regards Easybee advertising,if you read this mike: put your bloody hand in your pocket and sponsor a members contest or something ya tight git!!!
 
I'm confused about what works and what doesn't now ?

I'll have a little practice to test it.

E a s y b e e = Easybee

E a s y b e e s = Easybees

D o u g t h e b e e = Dougthebee

JC.
 
Well, it all seems to work now.

Geoff, what did you type that got starred out ?

JC.

Yeah, mikethebee, come on, spend some (of our) money on this forum. You know it's a good investment.

JC.
 
The only word in the filter is from the bid4 site.

This is why:
No websites or telephone numbers are permitted within listings.
You may however advertise your website through ********.co.uk. If you would like an advertising quotation or more information you can email us via the 'contact us' link on the bottom of the homepage.
===============

So you can see why I put them in the word filter,because we would not of got a reciprical link back.
 
Have also had dealings with doug,but cheaper than those prices,good guy to deal with,he is also a bee inspector.
 
Ah, right, got it, I think.

So was easybees originally in the filter ? if not why did it get starred out when I typed it in the op ?

JC.
 
I am not sure what happened there.

I dont bother with a swear filter for Mike because most of his posts would be blank if I did. :laughing-smiley-004
 
I dont think Easybee is typed out ?

Let me go see what is causing it,it could be the word filter kicking in,like typing Scunthorpe.
I was on a caravan website where the American filter would replace Scunthorpe with S woman's genitals horpe. It had the opposite effect intended cause the members then started trying out how to get 'rude' things inserted in as many place names as they could think of.
Yes Doug has some good feedback on his profile. So far I would deal with him again, but next time would probably phone.
Like the comment about Mike's entertainment value. He is never boring. I wonder how many times he has been banned from t'other site.
 
Well I dont think he has ever been invited to give a bee talk to the local BBKA group or the local woman's institute.
 
Hi
JC BRUM normally when loosing the toss you cross the losers hand wiv silver!
Sorry for the balls up over your queen and you having to wait BUT there is no need to come on this forum advertising my business on the forum giving names of my customers.

Admin you know I don’t have a clue on puters Whaassssss you on about. !!

We ordered another 300 imported queens for 2nd week July. Now arriving 3 week??
ALSO I am still waiting, for the stand by queens I ordered and paid for from Cyprus.
ALL THE BEST MIKE
 

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