Questions, questions

[Olemartin]

I am very new to beekeeping, and I will appreciate any and all suggestions.

I will be picking up two packages of bees from BeeWeaver in Dallas tomorrow, 4/30.  I will travel with them for 2 hours to my ranch which is South of Dallas.  We have installed two 8 frame hives.  After reading here and other places, I have placed the following in position at a site for the hives: one hive body with Rite cell frames with a covering over the lower screen, a queen excluder, a Mann Lake hive top feeder, and a top cover.  I have an extra 8 frame hive body to allow for growth and a honey super which I have not put out initially.  I have watched the BeeWeaver videos on installing a bee package, so I plan to remove 4 of the 8 Rite cell frames, leave the queen in the queen carrier attached to a frame, and place the entire package of bees inside the hive body.  After 2 days, I plan to release the queen and reinstall the 4 Rite cell frames.

Please comment on the plan, but I have a few questions:
1.  It may be raining or overcast on Saturday.  I have read many times that and established hive should only be opened on a sunny day near the middle of the day.  Is this true for installations?  Should I wait for a more clear or sunny day to install the bees or put them in on Saturday?  How long is too long to wait?  Should I spray them with sugar water at any point?
2.  I have made 1:1 sugar water to place in the hive top feeder.  How much should I put in initially and how soon should it need to be refilled.  There was no real freeze at the ranch this year, and there are wildflowers covering the fields. 
3.  Do you agree with adding the second hive body and honey super after giving time for the colony to establish?  Are there specific signs for when they should be added?  I plan to inspect the hive to ensure that the queen is laying every 2-4 weeks during the summer.

Thank you to everyone here for reading this post.
John

[Psparr]

I'll answer a couple of those. First don't worry about the queen excluder only hinders their progress.
Second. Place the frames back in the hive soon after you install the package. If not they will draw out comb on the inner cover. Thirdly. When to add the second box. Wait till the bees have drawn out and filled around 80% of the first box.
Good luck!

[sweet_nature]

I am a first timer too! Just started my first hive from a NUC. The instructions for mine was to start feeding them right away to help them draw out comb for the queen. After reading a lot on methods I chose to use quart size Ziploc freezer bags..

4 lbs sugar
2 qts water
Makes 8 cups. I put 4 cups in each bag.

The bag lays nicely on the inner cover next to the vent. Cut a 1 inch line and squeeze a little of it out. My bees have consumed two (two quarts)bags in 5 days and are drawing comb for the Queen as well as bringing in pollen.

If the goal at first is to build the brood this helps them establish..hope to need my medium super in the next week or two..

[cao]

Yes you can install packages if it is overcast.  A few sprinkles, sure.  I would wait if it was pouring down rain.  Since this is a package, I would feed as much sugar water as they will take.  At least for the first few weeks.  They need the food to draw comb.  They will probably slow down or stop taking the sugar water after they get established. 

You won't need your extra boxes until, like Psparr said, they draw out enough of the first box.  The general rule to adding boxes is when the top box is 70-80% drawn the you add another box.  Queen excluders, I don't use them.  If you are, you won't need it until the brood box(es) are full and you are ready to put they honey super on. 

If you plan on following the BeeWeaver videos then make sure that you don't leave the package box in the hive too long.  The bees love drawing comb in all the wrong places.  When I installed packages a couple of years ago, I dumped most of the bees in the box then left the package box in front of the hive.

Good Luck 

[OldMech]

Good advice here so far.  I dont like putting the package into the hive because it means you have to disturb them again to take the package out, but I know many who do this and have no issues..
   Feed them.. YES!!!!  But do not feed them hard and fast like you would in the fall to build up their reserves for winter..  For this purpose I like to use jars or cans over the inner cover with three or four tiny holes in the feeder jar.. so they GET FOOD to build comb and get started, but do not get enough to plug every cell they make with syrup, and block the queen from laying.   I have had it happen, but caught it in time to pull the feeders.
   A newly established hive will have... nothing.. no foragers, no guard bees etc.. it will take them a day or three to get organized. Giving them enough syrup to build wax in the first few days is important.. If you have good flow going, They should be storing nectar in just a few days, and the syrup is less important.. I keep syrup on any hive that is building wax, so long as they are not backfilling too many of the cells they build with that syrup or the nectar they are finding on their own.

[Rurification]

I like jars, too.   I turn them upside down over an inner cover screen and surround it with an empty super.  I find they just ignore the syrup when they don't want it and I've not had problems with backfilling at all.