Bees by post

It is rumoured I can be a bit obsessive about things and have a habit of occasionally letting things get a bit out of control. Beekeeping is an example of this and I realised that perhaps things had gone a bit too far when I was asked by somebody at a market on Monday how many bees colonies I had.
I didn't know.

The interweb is partly to blame for this. Its just too easy to press a little button that says 'Click here to buy' and the item is yours. No trying to find somewhere to park near the shops, no scrabbling around for debit cards, cash etc, or having to deal with shop assistants who are either bored to death or unbearably customer focused.
All you have to do is just click a button. Dam you eBay. Dam you Paypal.
Things then arrive at your door.

In a previous blog I mentioned I intended getting my Top Bar Hive functional. In a forthcoming blog there will be more about this but the process is helped by using a colony of bees in a special type of container, known as a package.
Not too many people provide them but a beekeeping equipment supplier I use a lot do, so getting one was just a matter of clicking the 'Add to Basket' button on their website.
Then comes the moment of decision. Whether to press the 'Proceed to checkout' button or the 'Continue shopping' button.
Normally I just have to check there isn't something I need or perhaps something I didn't know I needed and click 'Continue shopping'.
I had a catastrophic year back in 2011 when all my colonies starved to death and since then the winter time is a period of worry. In truth I haven't done too badly since then but my Eeyore tendency told me I was bound to have a bad winter soon so at the end of last year I ordered a couple of mini colonies as well to replace the expected losses in the coming winter. I only had to click a button.
There weren't any losses.
Then I met Courtney and picked up two swarms.
Then someone I knew had a few colonies for sale that I knew were top quality. I couldn't resist.

Then about a month ago I got an email to say my two nucs were ready for collection. You can buy a single queen with a few retinue bees for about £40 and these can be sent through the post in a special container.

Nucs are a different matter and normally have to be collected from the provider. However after a series of comically silly cock ups it was finally decided they would be sent by courier.

The delivery drivers who cover my area are used to delivering weird packages and the Parcel Force driver cheerfully admitted he had never delivered live bees before.
One of the nucs was taken to Ravensden and the other to Scald End.
A video about the Ravensden nuc is here.

As if that isn't enough out of the blue I got a message from someone I know who keeps bees. Apparently he has developed a bad allergic reaction to bee stings and can't keep them any more.
He's asked me if I want them, For nothing.
A few days ago I met someone who has a paddock and is interested in keeping bees but as a first step asked if I knew someone who might want to keep a couple of hives on his paddock and he would help with them until he had more time to start beekeeping himself.
I think you can guess how this will end up.