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So I installed two packages today. Everything went well but I have a question on the amount of bees in one of packs. There was half the bees in one as the other. Should I contact the seller tomorrow? Also after thinking about. I believe when I go back in to check if Queen is released I will condense them to a 5 frame nuc. Just isn?t enough for a 10 frame I believe. Thoughts? The package I got last year was packed out like the other one I got to today.
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Another angle of package in question. Should?ve took a better pic I know. And the other hive after install.
That does look pretty light. I?ve not got a lot of experience, but I?ve never received a package where the bees were drawing comb inside the package. Can you speak to this?
I?ve only installed three. The one I got last year was packed like one of these today. The light one is the one out of three with drawn comb. The heavy package was completely out of syrup.
Nock, most sellers go by a minimum. actually they reach in a huge bucket full of bees and scout up a full scope and immediately drop in the box, fast as bees are flying, falling everywhere. Kinda crude but that is how it works. Dealing with venomous insects is not like most commodities. There is an assemble line and those folks work fast.
Call the seller if you wish. Not trying to discourage you, just explaining the process.
Went in both packages today. Neither had released Queen yet. So I went ahead and manually released both. Both were excepted and were being attended to. What I found interesting was the straight fresh comb both hives were running. For both Queens I took a groove top and groove bottom frame and pulled the plastic foundation out. I laid the cage on the bottom bar and zip tied it. So there was no starter strip just the groove. And they used it and was running straight comb. Anyone else seen this? I was under the impression they need a starter strip. Maybe the groove is plenty
Nock - I've seen it. I've got probably 50 frames in circulation with no starter strips. When I first started to go foundationless, I simply removed the foundation from the frames I had, and placed them between frames with foundation (groove top & groove bottom). The bees drew straight comb in this configuration. Once I started buying un-assembled frames, I took the extra time to flip the wedge and tack it into place as starter strip.
Update
Went in both hives this afternoon. It?s been a week since install. Both Queens are laying and look good. Both seemed small almost like virgins. Still wondering if they weren?t. All the eggs were day old in both hives. Anyway all good. Released Queen in the third package yesterday. She was a pretty gal. I?ll give her 4-5 days and check on her. I stopped feeding that hive. I had them on drawn comb with some stores. When I released her they were back filling a lot of the frames. Will they move that around to give her laying space? Did I do right thing by stopping the feed? Flow will be starting soon.