Queen is dead on arival!

[Rodni73]

Hi all!

I just installed my first bee package. I am a newb! Everything went well. all the bees are in the hive, however, the queen in her cage was dead!!! I called betterbee upstate where I got the package but no answer. They are close for the weekend! I know I need a queen fast.

My question is how long will the bees survive without a queen? How do I obtain a queen fast!

thanks
-Rodni

[Kathyp]

you should be ok for the weekend.  make sure you get in touch with them first thing in the AM.  if you know any other beekeepers, you could beg a frame of eggs and brood.  other than that, there isn't much you can do.

[Michael Bush]

They can survive for a long time.  But if there is a queenright colony nearby they will tend to drift to that instead.  Of course a few weeks without open brood will lead to laying workers.

[Rodni73]

Do you sell single queens Michael? if so I would like to order one and will pay the necessary shipment overnight. I tried to email you but your email is hidden!

Thank you
-Rodni

[Michael Bush]

I have a waiting list for queens and am booked up until about the end of July.  I suppose if you have an emergency I could sell you a queen, but it's not one of mine, that I got in a package that was broken up for mating nucs.  My email is easy to find.  Go to my web site. :)

http://www.bushfarms.com/images/emailbees.JPG

[Rodni73]

Thank you Michael for this offer! However, the place where I got the bees guarantee a live queen overnight if the first is dead! Any way, after reading your website, I think your queens are better so next year if I need to requeen I will give you a head's up in advance.  Again, thank you so much for going out of your way to help.

(Your writing on bees is right on and I often read it whenever I have a problem)

With kind regards
-Rodni