Newby here. Also trying two top bar hives.
Just dumped my packages of bees in, and of course the Queens.
Was a little nervous on the first one, and I forgot to spray the Queen with sugar/syrup before removing cork. I thought I was in the hive enough where she would go down. I didn't use the marshmallow trick.
But, now, I'm not sure she made it. :?
About 1 1/2 hour later, several bees (50 or more?) were near the opening of the hive and 'fanning'. I learned that this was because a) it could be too warm/humid inside or b) looking for the scent of the Queen. I'm guessing 'b'.
Any hints on what to do? With a top bar hive, It is more difficult to look for her without any foundation.
Wait another day to see if they do it tomorrow, then order another Queen?
Any new package will fan. They are in effect a swarm and a swarm using nasonov to get organized and get the bees to cluster. If that is your only reason for assuming they are queenless I would not worry about it. Leave them alone for a week or two and then maybe check for eggs.
It is quite common for bees to fan at the entrance of a new hive to help orient the bees to where the queen is, not because there is no queen. I would be patient and give them a week and then take a peak. You have a marked queen, right? :-P
I think too many people react too quickly and waste their money, and a good queen by assuming the hive is queenless and introducing another.
rob...
When you look for the eggs, its kinda like looking for deer on the side of the road....They are hard to see at first, but once youve seen one, you'll be able to see tons of 'em!..They are "Itty Bitty!"
your friend,
john
Whew!!!
Thank you for settling me down. I will wait a week and see.
I called the teacher for the introduction to beekeeping class I just took, and he said they are looking for the Queen, so that too, got me scared.
I appreciate all of your advice. Fantastic forum.
On your TBH you may want to wait longer than a week, they will not have that much comb drawn and they will all be on what there is making it hard to see even the comb let alone the queen, once they have more comb built they will spread out and your chances of seeing the queen will be better.
Keep in mind too, that a package often has the queen in for more than a day or two, and this will get all the bees used to her. Many people direct release the queen as you did.
If you can without disturbing them, you can peek in anytime, but as oldenglish says, give them at least a week before opening them up too much.
During those heady times of the first bees it is hard to keep everything straight and do everything right!!:)
Rick
Okay,
10 days later. The hive where I think I lost the queen is not capping anything yet. They have filled 5-6 bars (top bar hive) of comb, bringing in pollen, but no cappings.
My second hive where I know I have a queen has about the same 5-6 bars of comb, bringing in pollen, and cappings already.
So, did I loose the queen and what to do now?
MTBE
If all your bees are there working then I doubt the queen left. They would most likely have left with her. Give it another week.