Bee delivery day on the 16th will be “Crazy Day.” Our primary focus on the 16th will be getting bees safely delivered to Fairbanks and the Interior. It is also our long “on the road day” as we travel to distribute bees from Anchorage to Fairbanks and return to Big Lake.
We start at the Airport where we meet with the beekeepers who take packages down to the Kenai Peninsula. After we sort and load the packages for Homer and Soldotna into one trailer, we load all of the bees for the Interior into ours.
Once bees are loaded into the trailer, they must be moving in order for our ventilation system to operate effectively. The more bees we have in the trailer and the warmer the outside temperature is the more risk is involved for the bees.
We will make several short stops on our way to Fairbanks to drop off bees at various points. Here is what we did last year:
After dropping off bees in Anchorage we called beekeepers to meet us at the VFW Hall in Eagle River where we stopped just long enough to give packages to beekeepers that were waiting for us to arrive. We gave about 15 minutes notice prior to arrival of the time we would arrive. This happened at about 10:30 am.
We then drove to the Park and Ride lot at the intersection of Trunk Road and the Parks Highway. We were on site long enough to offload packages of bees for the beekeepers who were waiting. They were called as soon as we left the VFW Hall in Eagle River. They had about 20 minutes warning of the exact time we would arrive.
When we left the Park and Ride, we called the Wasilla beekeepers to meet us at AIH parking lot in 15 minutes. We stopped there for the beekeepers that were waiting there for us.
Another roadside stop happened in Healy.
At each stop it is essential that the beekeepers are there and ready to get their bees because we cannot allow the load to heat up while we are stopped.
After delivering the bees to Fairbanks we returned home to Big Lake with the Big Lake and extra bees that were unclaimed from our short roadside stops.
We have a shipment of 500 packages arriving on the 16th. We are estimating that there will be approximately 250 packages going to the Interior and 150 packages going to the Peninsula. This leaves about 100 packages that can go to other areas – Anchorage and the Valley. Since this is the only day that we schedule the Interior and the Peninsula, those beekeepers will have priority if they need more bees than predicted. If you are in Anchorage or the Valley and order for the 16th, we may have to move your bees to another date; and we will determine that move based upon your order date.
If you can make this schedule work for you, we can get your bees on the 16th.