It appears there is a pretty good honey flow going on right now. All 3 of my newly installed packages have been working like crazy pulling in lots and lots of pollen. With that being said what can I expect as too how fast they will build out the cells of the foundations? I use 8 frame medium equipment and rite cell foundations. The bees have been installed only for a week and I direct released the queen the same day. The queen had made the trip from California to Michigan and I picked them up 2 days later and installed them so I believe they had time to get acquainted. My fear is they will fill the hive up so quick that they will swarm during a major honey flow. I was not going to do my first inspection until about 14 days after installing them but I am questioning if this is the right thing to do seeing the hives are so active.
Not sure how much this helps since I am in Alabama. My bees filled up a 10 frame deep fast with a heavy flow. I had to add a second 10 frame deep in 3 weeks. Since then the flow has slowed down and at this rate they will be fine for a long time with their two boxes.
Some of the swarms I've had has filled out an 8f deep in 10 days or less. I'm under the impression (maybe wrongfully) that a package won't draw out as fast as a swarm. We're on the tail end of our flow so things will definitely slow down. I'm going to continue to feed the recent swarms so they'll think the flow is still on and continue to draw out.(maybe)
Thank you for your input. I believe that Thursday I will open them up and look inside. It is suppose to be in the 70's so it should be a good day for that. They will have been in there for 10 days. The rest of the weekend it is suppose to cool off again. Hopefully things will be just perfect inside!
Billdean,
Keep posting your progress! I'm in Michigan too and our weather is crazy! I get my package bees in a few days and I would like to see how you do.
Thanks for posting!
Art