My apologies right off the bat. I know this subject has been answered many times before.
I hived my first 2 packages Weds. night. I pulled the cork on the queen cage and stuffed the marshmellow. How long do I wait to check for release? I am just dying to get in there, but have read that this could be detrimental.
Thanks,
David
I hived mine on a Sat P.M. w/2 marshmallows, did a quick ck on Tue A.M., queens had been released, going gangbusters now! :) Jody
I checked mine about three days later if they're trying to groom and care for her I then just release her. If they are fine with her when I go to hive the package I have released her there on the spot and not had problems. Depending what kind of cage she is in as long as they can reach her to feed her so she will be okay until released. Had to do a release on only one queen after a few days.
Wait 3 days or so. If you left out a frame to insert your cage, don't wait much longer than that, or you'll have a mess in the gap...and cleaning that will be a lot more disruptive than opening the hive a few days earlier.
My last five packages, I waited about 20 hours and then released the queens on my own. They are all doing fine. I bolded packages because the queen obviously had traveled with the bees for a couple days, thus they were already well on their way to acceptance.