While queen bees are normally transported to their future hive through the postal system, an
overreliance on the postal system and the lack of alternative transport methods has been wreaking
havoc for bees. Unfortunately, queen bees often die in transit or don’t make it to their end destination.
When B honey heard about the difficulties that the bee industry was facing, B honey wanted to help,
creating the ‘Queen Bee Chariot’ with Silver Top Taxis. The Queen Bee Chariot is a regal service that
picked queen bees up sooner and delivered them quicker (in an air-conditioned vehicle) than the
usual postal system route, to transport queen bees safely.
The Queen Bee Chariot initiative kicked off in February, assisting Victorian queen bee breeder David
Briggs to transport his queen bees. David has been breeding queen bees for over 14 years and
breeds his queen bees between September and March.
An experienced beekeeper was used in this content.
Please follow safe beekeeping handling practices if handling bees.
in transit is devastating for both the queen bee breeder and apiarist receiving the queen bee. A lot of work goes into producing breeder queens and to see that wasted without those genetics being passed on is a loss to the whole beekeeping industry
-David Briggs, Queen Bee Breeder
but I’ve never driven a queen bee before. I’m proud to be able to do my part!
-Chico Hazik, Silver Top Driver
queen bees travel door to door. Receiving queen bees in a timely manner means that the queen is a lot healthier. Queen bees deserve to be treated like royalty.
-Craig Scott, Beekeeper