Problems with new package bees

Pam G · May 23, 2015, 04:41:30 PM

I picked up 3 packages of bees late Thursday afternoon and it was raining buckets so installed them in the hives on Friday morning.

The first box of bees shook out very easily, too easy it seems (today when I checked them, 1/2 the bees and the queen were dead). All went well with the second package and package #3 had a dead queen. drove 100+ miles to exchange the decedent with a new queen.

Today did a quick check on the ziplock feeders to see if they are taking syrup and queen in hive #1 and over 1/2 of the bees were dead.

My feral capture hive and the other two are doing beautifully. Planning on releasing queen from hive with no problem tomorrow and the new queen on the following day.

After this I inspected the boxes the packages came in and although there were cans in the boxes, they were totally empty and not even sticky, it seems that the bees were sent from Oklahoma to here (far eastern Southern Illinois) with no food. Shouldn't those bees have been fed? The package I picked up last year with same distributor had lots of syrup still in can.

Am I out of line after getting a new queen to expect that an entire package should be replaced as well?

GSF · May 23, 2015, 08:17:39 PM

Heck no. You paid good money for a good product. Your product is defective at their fault. I'd ask for my money back. Obviously there's a problem there, be it bees or people and you may end up right back where you are now. The packages I've bought normally only had just a few bees dead. If they don't want to work with you be sure to mention some type of social media to warn your friends. Most online businesses are scared of social media. Who did you get them from?

Candiebears · May 23, 2015, 09:37:08 PM

Mine came all the way from California to NJ and there was so much left in their can I left it out for them..

Dallasbeek · May 23, 2015, 09:44:17 PM

Quote from: Candiebears on May 23, 2015, 09:37:08 PM
Mine came all the way from California to NJ and there was so much left in their can I left it out for them..

That's what you'd expect. Taking a big chance shipping that distance, though. Will suppliers replace when that kind of distance is involved? What about international shipments? Are they allowed?

Pam G · May 28, 2015, 08:59:49 PM

In case anyone was wondering how this all worked out for me I wanted to let you know that the bee supplier gave me a replacement queen today. I had already moved a frame with brood into the box, but a queen will obviously be much better for this hive than waiting for them to make a queen.

The young lady that met me in town to deliver the queen said that as soon as the supplier gets back into town he will be contacting me about the bees. It makes me feel better that I am not being ignored just because I am a new beekeeper and bought only a few packages.

Dallasbeek · May 29, 2015, 12:23:04 AM

Fantastic.

biggraham610 · May 29, 2015, 12:47:31 AM

Good, hope it works out. "Only a few packages" is a few hundred bucks. You shouldn't have to take that kind of a beating because you are a new beek. No-one should have to accept that if it was no fault of the purchaser. Hope all works out. Good Luck. G

GSF · May 29, 2015, 08:40:59 AM

That's good new Pam. I've only heard if problems with one supplier. I won't call their name but they are NE of Birmingham. They replaced a queen for me but a fellow member in our association was told they would give him a virgin queen if he'd drive (1-2 hours) up and get it. That was last year, around here it was a bad year for queens. Package/split or swarm - all queens from what I experienced and heard about.