With the queen secure we now can go through each hive and choose frames with lots of young bees to shake into boxes.
Our Package Creation Process
Creating bee packages is a carefully planned operation that requires the perfect timing, ideal weather, and a whole lot of coordination. Here’s how we do it:
Step 1: Choosing the Perfect Day
The process begins with selecting the right dates. We monitor the weather closely, looking for two consecutive days of calm conditions—no rain, minimal wind, and just the right amount of warmth. Once we’re confident the weather is on our side, it’s time to set things in motion.
But here’s the tricky part—timing the queens just right. Freshness is everything! Queens can’t sit around for days waiting for the weather to cooperate, so we have to align their arrival with our shake date perfectly.
Step 2: The Queen Dilemma
We’re working toward raising enough of our own queens early in the season, but for now, we place our orders months in advance. This requires constant communication with our queen suppliers to ensure we have exactly what we need when we need it. Just thinking about it is enough to make us sweat a little!
Step 3: The Final Prep
The day before the shake, we go through every hive and locate the queens. We either place them in a secure queen box or use a queen excluder to keep them safely in the lower box. The last thing we want is to accidentally shake our hardworking laying queens into a package that already has a new queen inside!
Step 4: The Shake!
We’ve seen other beekeepers shake bees using the “quick and easy” method—where they don’t bother locating the queen beforehand. Sure, it saves time, but it also results in injured or lost queens. We take the extra step to protect our queens, even if it means spending more time on the process. After all, healthy, thriving colonies start with well-cared-for bees.
From package boxes to syrup cans, marked and unmarked queens, and a long checklist of essentials, everything has to come together seamlessly. It’s a process we’ve refined over time, and while it keeps us on our toes, we wouldn’t have it any other way!
Each box is weighed, the queen box is added, a can of syrup inserted, and a lid is stapled over. Now ready for travel.
We carefully pack each package for travel and drive them to the pick-up location to provide you the freshest bees available.
Finally, here they are ready for pick-up. If you've ordered bees from us you'll receive an email one week prior. We set up a web page that provides all the pick-up times and details. See you this spring.
