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Hi there, bee people,

I've had a question from a colleague (below), I hope you can help because my knowledge of these things is a bit lacking in the detail:

"I’ve bought a little beehive for my dad and I’m looking to get him a queen bee- but haven’t a clue what you need to do or how to keep the queen bee (won’t it just fly off?). Also I know this sounds stupid but if I buy the queen bee off the internet how is it going to arrive (it actually doesn’t say that on the site)."

Thanks in advance,

Malcolm

Mal wrote:Hi there, bee people,

I've had a question from a colleague (below), I hope you can help because my knowledge of these things is a bit lacking in the detail:

"I’ve bought a little beehive for my dad and I’m looking to get him a queen bee- but haven’t a clue what you need to do or how to keep the queen bee (won’t it just fly off?). Also I know this sounds stupid but if I buy the queen bee off the internet how is it going to arrive (it actually doesn’t say that on the site)."

Thanks in advance,

Malcolm

Hi Malcolm,

First it seems that your friend is not well informed about bees. Suggest him to read some good book on basics of beekeeping. Internet search should give you some options on this.
Next I would like to hear what kind of small hive does he have?
I don't know what impression does he have, because its not good enough if you have only a queen bee. It will die without plenty of bees. He needs to get a nucleus ( a small beehive) or a normal strength colony.
If he already has a colony of bees and for some reason the hive became quenless he needs a bee queen. The supplier will probably send it in a small box with nurse bees. I don't know your location and how its ussually done there, but most probably it will be in a small box which size is somewhere between a package of cigarette's and a box of matches.
When you have a queen bee in a beehive it will (almost) never fly out of the beehive. Queen be flies only when mating and when swarming. You could prevent this (but I am not sure you should do this) by inserting queen excluder on the entrance.
Hope this helps.

http://basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com/200 ... ction.html

Nice blog with 40 lessons on basic beekeeping. i didn't read it but it should be useful for beginners.