A bee buddy of mine asked me a couple of days ago if the two hives seemed even in numbers, because, he stated that with package bees, after introducing them to the hive bodies, numbers often become lopsided. At that time, it seemed that numbers were about even, per hive. Now, I'm not so sure. I haven't opened the hives in about 4 days but in viewing them at the entrance board, & from underneath, ( I can do this because I have screen bottom boards), there does appear to be a lot less numbers in hive #1. Both hives seem happy & with much purpose, & both are sucking up the sugar water at approx. the same pace, so I'm not that concerned, but I am new at this, so I thought I would put this out for some feed back from the more experienced beekeepers on this site. Thnx, & as always I greatly appreciate your feedback! JP
Some questions --
How long ago did you introduce your package bees to the hives? Have you opened the hive and inspected for new brood yet? Are you still feeding them sugur syrup? If not, start feeding them again ASAP.
I would inspect the frames thoroughly first. Look for eggs in the cells by holding frames up to the light.
And if possible, FIND YOUR QUEEN in the weak hive. She may have expired, hence the low numbers. You don't want to wait too long, since without a queen, package bees can expire without successfully making a new one.
Or you could have a small queen who is unproductive.
Or everything could be fine. An inspection may give you the answers.
If they both have brood and a queen, I would relax and enjoy them. No two hives ever do the same and you shouldn't expect them to.
And then there is drifting.
I introduced the two hives 9 days ago, I'm planning on checking the frames tomorrow or Monday. I filled their feeders up yesterday evening, there was about a fifth of sugar water left in each feeder.