Here are the progress reports that we wrote to clients this last year.  It serves as an example of how we keep our clients informed of changing situations as well as how we handle schedule changes.   It can also serve as an example of just some of the challenges that we can face during the spring. 

February 27 2024:

Bee order Update #1

Good evening beekeepers,

 I spoke to our bee supplier a few moments ago in California; he let me know that the package bee order is progressing as normal for this time of year.   He will be grafting queens next week in preparation for the spring queens - that is about a week earlier than he did last year.   California has received numerous rain storms this spring, but he said the bees were getting good flight times and the almond orchards are in full bloom.   We should see good buildup of the hive populations during this time period.  Although California has been receiving quite a bit of rain lately, the thing that is markedly different from the situation last year is the temperatures.  Last year at this point in time there had been very few days that were good flight weather for bees.  This year they are seeing temperatures up to 70° and the bees are flying well.   Cleansing flights and good foraging activity keeps the hive in top functioning order and helps to maintain hive health.  

As we have in the past, we continue to track and monitor hive conditions, almond crop progress reports, and weather patterns in California.  This helps us to try and determine if our shipments are likely to be on schedule or delayed.  At this moment, everything looks like it is going to go off as planned with our shipments both on the 13th and the 20th of April.  If anything should come up that looks like it has even the potential to delay shipments, we, of course, will let you know.   
 
We still have space available on our orders for additional packages although it is limited.  If your friends have not ordered, I would advise them to do so.
 
We will very likely send out another email update in a couple of weeks to let you know how things are developing.
 
Towards the end of the month (March) expect to get a confirmation email detailing your pickup location arrival date and type and number of packages that you will be receiving.  That letter will be our final data check as we finalize the order with our supplier.
 
We have had a few challenges with our outgoing mail server. For some reason, customer receipts are occasionally not being sent. Our website generates those automatically and sends them to the email server when an order is complete.  It also sends us a copy of your receipt.
The fact that you are getting this email indicates that you do indeed have an order with us.
 
We know that it is important for some of you to have a confirmation of order receipt for your records or tax keeping. Over the next week or so we will be re-sending all customer receipts.  This means that some of you will get two if your first one did indeed come through. It is the only way that I know of where we can be certain that everyone has at least one. My apologies to some of you for cluttering up your inbox...
 
Steve
 

 

 

 

March 2nd 2024:

2024 Package Bee Update #2

Good Afternoon Beekeepers,

 I spoke to our bee supplier last week; he let me know that the package bee order is progressing as normal for this time of year.   He will be grafting queens this coming week in preparation for our spring queens - that is about a week earlier than he did last year.   California has received numerous rain storms this spring, but he said the bees were getting good flight times and the almond orchards are in full bloom.  Snow pack in the California mountains has been increasing and should help out with the summer crop water.  Though it does not have an effect on our packages this year it does have a long term effect on next year's packages.

We should see continued good buildup of the hive populations during spring.  Although California has been receiving quite a bit of rain lately, the thing that is markedly different from the situation last year is the temperatures.  Last year at this point in time there had been very few days that were good flight weather for bees.  This year they are seeing temperatures up to 70° and the bees are flying well.   Cleansing flights and good foraging activity keeps the hive in top functioning order and helps to maintain hive health.  This extra water that they have been receiving will have natural flowers blooming after the almond orchards have experienced petal fall, and hives should continue to build. 

As we have in the past, we continue to track and monitor hive conditions, almond crop progress reports, and weather patterns in California.  This helps us to try and determine if our shipments are likely to be on schedule or delayed.  At this moment, everything looks like it is going to go off as planned with our shipments both on the 13th and the 20th of April.
 
We still have space available on our orders for additional packages although it is limited.  If you or your friends have not ordered, now would be the time.

Here is a link to our order page in case you need it:

https://www.alaskawildflowerhoney.com/bees

 

Steve

 

 

 

March 21st 2024:

Package Bee update #3

 Good Morning,

This will be just a short email to catch you up on how the package bees are developing California. The almond bloom is pretty much all finished up. The weather in California has been a little cool but not nearly as bad as it was last year. Temperatures now are up into the 60s and 70s and the bees seem to be doing well.  Our supplier has lately been busy grafting queens and setting out nucleus boxes getting ready for mating flights.  Beekeepers in general are bringing bees be back in from the orchards and into their traditional summertime locations.  The almond pollination went well this year with a surprising lack of treatments required by the growers.  Conditions were not right for the development of fungus and other tree diseases.  This means that by and large, most of the orchard growers did not have to spray to control pests.  Because of this in general hives are healthier.  When fungicides and pesticides are sprayed upon the trees even when the bees are not actively foraging some of the pollen still gets contaminated and the resulting brood during that consumes that food that is not as strong.  This often results in hives that are not as vigorous as they could be.

We see the weather patterns in California as being quite conducive to producing good queens and allowing an on time delivery for packages and queens.  
 
Probably within the next week or so you will receive an email detailing the order that we have for you. This will come out very near the end of the month. This will allow us about a week to make slight adjustments to our database and to make sure everybody gets exactly what they want and there are no surprises.  I will be leaving in early April to start preparing the first load of bees to come north.

We will be using pretty much the same pickup locations that we used last year, but if you picked up in Palmer on the last delivery day you may remember that we used the Lazy Mountain Bible Church parking lot as our alternative point.  This year we will again be back at Brant's house on Jupiter not too far from there.    For those of you in the Copper River Valley and Delta Junction , please note that we will again be delivering to those locations.  If you live in these areas and were not aware that we are making the southern loop up to Delta Junction by way of the Glenn Highway please send us an email.
 
Detailed instructions of your pickup point will be emailed to you several days before your bees arrive.  Once again I would like to point out that our delivery schedule and arrival at pickup locations will be posted on the website under the news tab. That page will refresh itself on a timer about every 10 minutes apart. If you want the latest moment by moment you will have to refresh the page yourself. Last year's data is on there at this moment to give you an idea as to what it will look like.

In short everything looks on schedule and we do not see any issues at this point.

Steve and Donna
 
 

March 27th 2024:

Package Bee update #4

 

Good Afternoon Beekeepers,

I am writing this to give you as much notice as possible that we have a schedule change for our bee delivery dates.  The air freight cargo plane that we have used in the past is no longer available.  We have rescheduled our deliveries to the next safest delivery method available.  We know that this will cause difficulties for some of our beekeeper friends.  Our package bee arrival time will be 3 days later than our original schedule.  Instead of having our packages arrive on Saturday, they will now arrive on the following Tuesday. 

Bees scheduled for  the 13th will now arrive on the 16th.

Bees scheduled for the 20th will now arrive on the 23rd.

Our time of delivery during the day should be very close to what it has been in past years.  For some of you, this will not make much difference.  For some of you, this will present obstacles.  

We understand work schedules as well as family commitments may make things more complicated for you.  It may even be necessary for you to change from the early delivery to the later delivery or vice versa.  

Fortunately, it is 3 weeks before the bees arrive for the first batch and 4 weeks before arrival of the second batch.  This does give us time to plan and to work things out as best we can.  As always, if the delivery schedule is such that it will not work for you, we can offer refunds as well.

Donna and I are committed to providing the highest quality packages possible and moving the bees to Alaska in the safest manner available.

Unfortunately, delays and schedule changes are something that we have to occasionally address.

Please let us know within the next week if you need to reschedule because of the date change.  

We will work through the list and change as many as we can.

Be aware that we have close to 1,000 clients and it may not be possible to rearrange the schedules for all of them.

Steve and Donna

907-892-6175 home

907-315-5256 Steve's cell

 

March 28th 2024:

Package Bee update #5

 

Good Evening,

This is a quick followup to the email that I sent out yesterday about the schedule change to our bee arrival.  There have been a few beekeepers who have conflicts with the new schedule with prior work and travel commitments.  Most of those conflicts can be solved by moving their pickup date to the 16th of April.  Donna and I are trying to identify beekeepers on the 16th who are able to receive their bees a week later on the 23rd.  We have about 40 packages we are hoping to shift from the 16th to the 23rd.  There are likely at least that number of packages destined to beekeepers who have no preference of their delivery date.  If you are one of these beekeepers and it makes no difference to you which week your bees arrive, please let us know.  Likewise, if you actually prefer to receive your package on the 23rd let us know that as well.

Steve and Donna