Newly installed packages update

Started by jeepjivenwale, April 12, 2012, 09:08:45 PM

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jeepjivenwale

I installed 11 packages Monday afternoon.  I inspected this afternoon.  I have one hive completely empty, but the one next to it has more bees than it should.  Another one has two small clusters...100 or less bees...on two seperate frames...3 frames in between them.

All in all, i have 9 of 11 colonies left...but two of them are superficially larger than the others.

Any advice and comments would be appreciated about what i should've done differently, and what I should do now.

AllenF

You released the queen with the package?   That's what it sounds like.

jeepjivenwale

Yes i did.  The local bee seller in this area promotes it.  His queens come in a package with the bees, and actually shows videos to people of how to do a direct release with the package.  I had a few "Beards" show up on the outside of my hives within hours of release.  I "gently" looked for the queens, but to no avail.  I "gently" scooped them up and put them into the empty hives. One has taken great, the other one is the one with the 2 seperate small clusters in it.  The empty hive I'm guessing the Queen took off from the release and never returned, or else they moved into the other hive and I have a 2 queen hive?

Still learning...and loving it.

BjornBee

One of the advantages of having the queen caged for a period of time is that the bees will stay with her and over 24-48 hours will start claiming the hive as their own.

I can see no real benefit except for increased problems by direct release of queens.
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Jim134

#4
Quote from: BjornBee on April 12, 2012, 10:15:58 PM
One of the advantages of having the queen caged for a period of time is that the bees will stay with her and over 24-48 hours will start claiming the hive as their own.

I can see no real benefit except for increased problems by direct release of queens.

Ditto

Are all the boxes,frames and all on new foundation or functionless ???

And what time of day did you put the bees in to the hives ???

And what was the temperature ???

And was at sunny or cloudy or showers out ???

And I got at lees a 100 more ???
 

     BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may  remember,involve me and I'll understand"
        Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways."
John F. Kennedy
Franklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

schawee

jeep, i would never do that.sounds like he would love to sell you 2 more.
BEEKEEPER OF THE SWAMP

jeepjivenwale

OK.  I will never do direct releases again.  Thank you for the info.

Are all the boxes,frames and all on new foundation or functionless...One drawn frame, rest are new

And what time of day did you put the bees in to the hives...between 1-3 pm

And what was the temperature...50's

And was at sunny or cloudy or showers out...partly cloudy, windy

I have a small "swarm" thats started on a pine tree branch next to one of the hives that went empty...only maybe 2-300 bees in it.  I can imagine a few scenarios from this...the missing queen came back and some of the bees that combined with the other hives have taken back up with her...one of my queens have left one of the good hives, but i would think more bees would be with her.

Any thoughts on whats happened, and what i should do with them, if anything?

Jim134

Quote from: Jim 134 on April 12, 2012, 10:56:27 PM
Quote from: BjornBee on April 12, 2012, 10:15:58 PM
One of the advantages of having the queen caged for a period of time is that the bees will stay with her and over 24-48 hours will start claiming the hive as their own.

I can see no real benefit except for increased problems by direct release of queens.

Ditto

Are all the boxes,frames and all on new foundation or functionless ???

And what time of day did you put the bees in to the hives ???

And what was the temperature ???

And was at sunny or cloudy or showers out ???

And I got at lees a 100 more ???
 

     BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

The boxes got no smell of bees.

2 Hrs. or so before sunset .

BEES will have at less 8 to 10 Hrs. in hive if at is cold or cloudy not good for bees to fly you can do it early in the day

Or you DO NOT  direct release of queens And you can miss all of this.


   BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may  remember,involve me and I'll understand"
        Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways."
John F. Kennedy
Franklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

jeepjivenwale

I have a small cluster of bees that have bearded in a pine tree next to one of my hives that went empty.  I have found a queen in the swarm, and believe it to be one of the queens that took off on me when i originally installed the package (totally guessing here). 

My plan is this...To re-cage the queen...put her into the empty hive along with the other bees that are with her, and release her in a few days.  The reason for this would be to get the bees to stay in the hive because she's there, and not go back to the branch they were on less than 5' away.

Questions...
1.  Is my idea, the "right" idea?
2.  There's only about 300 bees with her now...should i shake some bees from the hive that is superficially bigger in population from my first time installing the packages?

With my limited experience, i hypothesize that putting so few bees into the box with her is doomed to fail. 

Either way, I will try something...and I thank you all for your inputs and experience that you have been sharing.