Queens FAQs
Q. Are your queens bred in the UK?
A. The majority of the queens we sell on our website are imported from either Greece, Romania or Slovenia. We do sell UK bred queens that are produced from our team’s own queen rearing station in Hampshire. They are clearly titled ‘UK Bred Mated Queens’.
Q. How do I know if my colony is Queenless?
A. Please read our in-depth blog post about Queenless Colonies.
Q. What does W/C mean?
A. Our queens are dispatched weekly, but because we don’t know the specific day that the queens are due to us, we ask customers to select a W/C date, the ‘week-commencing’ date meaning the queens can be sent to you any day of that week.
Q. Do you bank your queens?
A. No, typically all queens dispatched will only be out of their original colony for 48 hours.
Q. Can I cancel my queen order?
A. Cancelled queen orders will be refunded minus and admin fee of £5. Deposits paid on live queens will not be refunded.
Returns will NOT be accepted under any circumstance and no refunds will be issued once the queens have been collected or dispatched to the customer. If we are unable to supply your order and need to cancel your live bee order we will refund in full any deposit paid.
Q. Is my queen going to be marked?
A. Yes, the queens will be marked accordingly,
Q. Can you clip my queen?
A. Queens that are imported are already in their cages so it is not practical to clip the queen. It may be possible to clip a queen that is bred here, please write this request down in the delivery instructions when putting your order through or email us with your order number.
Q. Why is my queen so small and able to fly?
A. Similarly, to a queen preparing to swarm, caged queens have a slight reduction of food intake, ceased laying due to lack of space, in hot weather they can also become a little dehydrated and therefore they slim down and appear smaller than when they are accepted into the colony. This means that they are able to fly.
And just like any other living animal, bees vary in size and is not necessarily an indicator of performance.
Q. I believe my Queen is a virgin, can I get a refund?
A. All queens are harvested after they have shown laying ability, breeders ensure that the queens are on sealed worker brood so that no poorly mated queens (drone layers) are harvested.
There are a few reasons that your queen has not come into lay, please ensure that your colony is full of young nurse bees, they have plenty of forage (or are fed syrup) and that there is enough space for them to lay.
Q. How are your Queens sent?
A. All queens are in cages with around 5-10 attendant workers and they are then put into a padded envelope with ventilation holes. All queens are dispatched using Royal Mail, so please ensure that your local postman knows not to put the live queens in direct sun or provide us with delivery instructions that we can write on your envelope.
Q. Is it safe to post Queens?
A. We do believe it is safe to send the Queens through Royal Mail, they are trained to deal with invertebrates. It is very rare for queens to die during transport. If you are worried, we do allow collections.
Q. My Queen has arrived dead, what do I do?
A. If your queen order arrives and the queen is dead you must contact us by phone the same day to let us know. We will instruct you as to how to return the dead queen to us. A dead queen will be replaced once only. We will not accept back dead queens where the cage has been tampered or if the cage has been offered up to your hive or nucleus.
Q. How do I introduce a Queen?
A. Please read our in-depth guide to Queen Introduction.
