‘Have you told them?’ We were looking at the half-dozen intimidating wooden boxes at the bottom of Uncle Charlie’s garden, beyond the raspberries.
‘No way, I’m not going near those. Not in daylight anyway. They’d be safe after dark.’
‘They’re supposed to leave if you don’t give them the news, and tell them the name of their new owner.’
‘Make life simpler if they did. As it is, I’ll have to spray them. Unless you want them, that is.’ Phil had always detested the countryside and everything associated with it. Especially Uncle Charlie’s bees.
I don’t know anything about them.’
‘That’s no good then.’

In the first sentence you say, "We". It would help the reader have an idea of who "we" is. It could be two people, familiar with each other, or it could be a hundred strangers. It's a bit ambiguous to me.

When the name Phil is used, I don't know the context. Is he part of the previous "we" or is he something else.

Two people talking, or maybe more, but it's hard to know who is saying which lines.

They're looking at intimidating boxes, which later appears to be bees. I'd say just tell the reader up front that its bees. Your characters know what they're looking at, so why keep it from the reader for even a few sentences.

quote:

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‘Have you told them?’[Who is speaking? and To whom?] We were looking at the half-dozen intimidating wooden boxes at the bottom of Uncle Charlie’s garden, beyond the raspberries.
‘No way, I’m not going near those. Not in daylight anyway. They’d be safe after dark.’[Who says this? and To Whom?]
‘They’re supposed to leave if you don’t give them the news, and tell them the name of their new owner.’[Is this a third person?]]
‘Make life simpler if they did. As it is, I’ll have to spray them. Unless you want them, that is.’ Phil [Phil who? Is this Charlie nephew? How old is he?] had always detested the countryside and everything associated with it. Especially Uncle Charlie’s bees.
[']I don’t know anything about them.’ [Who doesn't?]
‘That’s no good then.’[Who is this? Exactly how many people are there in Uncle Charlie's garden? Doesn't he mind?]
I’d always been fond of Uncle Charlie; if I hadn’t been, I’d have made an excuse[For what?]. As an overworked teacher in the middle of term, I had plenty [Of what?] available.[Wait a minute--The protagonist is an adult?]

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1) I don't see any promise of conflict or resolution--story conflict, not necessarily physical conflict--and this should be apparent by now in a short story. You don't have to show a resolution, but something that needs to be/is going to be resolved. No Hook.

2) I don't know if the protagonist is a male or female. At the end, it's jarring-ly revealed that the protagonist is a teacher and an adult. I should know he/she is an adult sooner: "Have you told them?" I asked. My cousin Phil and I stood in the shadow of six beehives in Uncle Charlie's garden. Growing up, Uncle Charlie had always been proud of his bees. He'd walk us into his garden and show us how the bees responded to his voice. So, naturally, it fell to us to clean up his estate.

3) What genre is this?

Sadly, this doesn't have hook enough to keep me reading. With a short story, you have to hook the reader fast, clearly identify who they're following, and let them know the conflict (or that one is imminent).

You have a decent pace and a handle on the actual dialogue, but the lack of tags to attribute the speaker to what is spoken thickens this and the lack of conflict (or the promise of an upcomming conflict) mires it.

I hope this helps.

""Have you told them?" We were looking at the half-dozen intimidating wooden boxes at the bottom of Uncle Charlie's garden, beyond the raspberries."

- Have they told who? And who is "we?" The use of pronouns here really do nothing for your story.

-"Intimidating," This should be drawn out more in the character's thought process. Tell us why these boxes are intimidating to him.