First Load Update

I talked to Ray Olivarez today my supplier. The bees will be leaving Calif. tomorrow evening. I expect them sometime on Thurs. I will update with approximate time when I know it. The pick up schedule in the previous post will apply to Friday and Sat. With Friday being Good Friday many beekeepers may be off their day jobs and I don't want to be swamped with 100 people at 11 am. This may cause a long wait and I try to get people out of here in about 5 minutes.

Pick up schedule for the first load

Check this blog every day to look for updates. This is the first load. The second load pick up is May 7th.
This is the schedule for picking up on Friday and Saturday April 23rd. I have to spread out the pick ups through out the day. There are 400 beekeepers picking up and if everyone came at once, there would be a wait time of several hours. This way works well and I hope to be able to move folks through here with no longer than a 5 minute wait.
Beekeepers driving long distances of over 75 miles come when you have to.
Please try to stick with the schedule.
I realize some folk can't get off work and we will do everything we can to help everyone speed through this.
We will go by the first initial of your last name
orders over 20 packages - 7 am - 8 am if you like.

Z - T --- 7:30 - 8:30 am
S - R --- 8:30 - 9:30 am
Q - O -- 9:30 - 10:30 am
N - M -- 10:30 - 11:30 am
L - K --- 11:30 - 12:30 pm
J - H --- 12:30 - 1:30 pm
G- E ---- 1:30 - 2:30 pm
D - A --- 2:30 - 3:30 pm
everyone else - 3:30 - 7 pm
Remember there is no rush to put the bees in, after 5 pm until a 1/2 hour before sunset works best.

Installing Package Bees

Double click on video for full screen. press escape to get back to smaller screen

I talked to Ray my bee supplier

I talked to Ray from Olivarez Honey Bees tonight. He says they have been having excellent mating weather and the queens are looking great.
They will be shaking packages daily for the next four weeks. The loads coming to Nature's Nectar will still be on the tentative dates first load April 23rd and the second on May 7th. They may come a little early so it is important to follow the blog to be current on updates. The mated queens availability will be catching up but unfortunately there are not many bee trucks for transporting packages. The delivery trucks will be running 24/7 for a month. The drivers are really going to earn their money.
Being he added 10,000 more mating nucs, my queen deliveries look like they will remain on schedule. My first queen shipments should be here the last week of April with weekly shipment through the month of May

A note about the loads of bees

As I have said the two loads of are going to be two weeks late. I also have orders sitting here that I have not processed from up to two weeks ago. I should be done with them by Sunday. If you have sent me a bee order don't worry as I have included everyone in my package bee count.
I have been watching the weather in Chico, California and they have been having very good queen mating weather.

Done taking bee orders

As of Tuesday April 5, I am sold out of package bees.

Due to Weather the Bee Deliveries Have Been Delayed

I was called by my bee supplier Ray Olivarz today. The weather in Chico California has been cold and rainy for the last three weeks. Weather like this in northern Calif has never been this cold and wet in his memory. The weather has provided poor queen rearing conditions. All of the queen and package bee suppliers in Calif. are suffering from the same conditions. This may also impact queens being sold for divisions.

Because of this, the bee pick up date will be delayed TWO weeks for each load.
New tentative dates:
First Load ....... April 23rd
Second Load ... May 7th
The quality of the packages and queens is very important to us and please know that we appreciate your patience in this matter.
This is what has been happening in California.
The weather has been raining and the temperatures have been under 60 degrees for the highs. Proper queen mating occurs at temperatures over 60 degrees.
The bee supplier has been setting out 35,ooo mating nucs. With all of this, the present mating attempts has been unsuccessful. They graft queen cells every other day through the season. The queen cells take 14 days to mature to put into the mating nucs and the queen breeder has to hope for proper weather conditions when the queen cells are ready to go. The cells develop in finishing colonies and on day 14 they are ready to put into mating nucs. The queens emerge in the mating nucs. They are able to fly and go on mating flights after about 5 days.
The weather now is finally turning around with temperatures rising into the 70's. The shaking of packages normally starts on March 28 for his first load leaving Calif. (Nature's Nectar is the second and fourth load) now the shaking will start on the 10th of April. So basically they are two weeks behind.
While we will do everything we can to provide the queen that you ordered the bee supplier says there is a possibility that the queen that you ordered may be a different queen. Be assured though, that all queens in the packages will be properly mated.
Mother Nature has been challenging this year all around the country.