How are the shipping costs calculated? The shipping costs are calculated based on the rates of PostNL. The webshop calculates how high the shipping costs will be based on the weight of your purchase.
Is it safe to post queens through the mail? There is always a degree of risk involved in posting queens. We do everything we can to pack your queens safely. We use Nicot lockers to transport the queens, which then also serve as an introduction cage. The lockers are filled with a number of workers and a little bit of candy. We carefully pack the filled locker in a letterbox filled with packing material so that the lockers cannot slide. Of course there will be air holes, it will be clearly indicated that the package must be handled with care. Do you have a external mailbox at home? Then you can choose to send with "signature required" in the shipping option. This way, your queens will not end up in a letterbox that may have become too warm due to the sun. The same is the case if, for example, you have dogs and do not want the package to end up on the doormat.
What if something goes wrong with the queens during transport? The shipping of queens is at all times at the risk of the buyer. As you can read above, we do everything we can to get the queens over safely. Unfortunately, it can always happen that something goes wrong during transport. In that case, it is important to contact us as soon as possible. Although the risk of shipment is for the buyer, it may be that we can do something for you in certain situations. For example; offering a new queen at a reduced rate to ease the pain. This of course depends on the situation and the availability of the queens.
Why do I have to pay in advance? A lot of work is done to assure a queen is mated and ready to be introduced. This work is time sensitive and requires a lot of planning. We have previously worked with payment on collection or shipping, which creates a risk for us if the buyer cancels the purchase at the last minute. After all, we have already done all the work and may not find a new home for the queen in time. As a result, we now work with payment in advance. If you cancel your reservation by e-mail before April 30, you will receive a full refund. If you cancel when our process is already running, the right to a refund will expire.
Do I have a warranty on the purchased queens? Introducing young queens into a hive always carries risk. We will of course assist you with advice, but cannot take responsibility for the introduction of the queen. The guarantee we provide is that you will receive a healthy, strong Buckfast queen from us and that we can provide you with advice on introducing your new queen into a hive. Unfortunately, we cannot give any guarantees further than that as this is beyond our control.
Can you visit "Honey and Bees" beekeeping? Honey and Bees is a hobby apiary that is run from home. We love to share our passion with others and welcome people to come and have a look. In that case, please contact us for an appointment. If you want more than a quick look at the apiary or hives? For example, a look INside a bee colony? You can! You can read how we can achieve this through the "Education" page.
