Will she survive the post?

[busybeemum]

Hi everyone. My bees attempted to supercede their old queen, but failed miserably. I have ordered a queen online however this will now be her third day in transit. What is the likely hood of her arriving alive? I'm really worried about her.
Many thanks.

 

[Angry_Mob]

Three days I wouldn't worry, I've even kept them a day or two after arriving in the cages until the weather improved or getting a chance to put them in the hive. I think someone has a story here of bees being lost in the mail room for just under two weeks and surviving?

As soon as they arrive though wet your finger and run it over the cage to give them the tiniest drop of water.

 

[enrico]

No problem. Mine was at the bottom of postie's bag over a two day bank holiday weekend. Five days
E

 

[busybeemum]

Thankyou!!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I know of queens being sat in the Parcel Post hub awaiting clearance for nearly a fortnight and that's after being in the post from Cyprus, and being fine when they then arrived via the domestic postal system.

 

[Hachi]

A friend has been waiting more than two weeks for her queen. Time will tell...…..

 

[B+.]

A friend has been waiting more than two weeks for her queen. Time will tell...…..

I've received queens that have taken that long because the muppet at the other end sent them through ordinary mail instead of overnight. The queens survived fine even though several of the workers inside the cage were dead.
In my experience, the problem isn't limited to her safe arrival but extends to the way she is introduced.
The best way I have found to do it is in a queenless nuc of young nurse bees using a push-in cage over emerging brood, empty cells and open nectar/honey. Don't be in too much of a rush to open the cage either. The workers can be quite aggressive towards an introduced queen unless everything is "just right". If there is any eggs/young larvae, there is also a possibility that they will reject her in favour of any old runt they raised themselves....so, best use frames that have been above a queen excluder for 9/10 days and check thoroughly for emergency queen cells.