rookie questions - package installation April 20th on Long Island in NY

incognito · April 21, 2019, 03:11:13 PM

Let me first apologize for not more thoroughly searching for the advice I am looking for. These cannot be new questions.

Background:

2 packages were installed yesterday afternoon. Hives are 10 feet apart. New heavy wax plastic foundation sprayed with syrup. Queens still in cages with candy inserted into cage openings.
Hive 1 had grass loosely stuffed in the smaller opening of the entrance reducer. Hive 2 had no reducer at all.
Hive 1 has an oblong opening in the inner cover, top feeding jar does not completely cover the opening. Hive 2 has a round opening entirely covered by the jar.

Environment:
High 50's daytime temperatures.
Trees blooming out - seasonal allergies beginning (my low tech pollen measuring device).

Early afternoon visit revealed orientation flights in front of hive 2 and minimal activity in front of hive 1. The bees had pushed the grass almost completely out of the smaller entrance reducer opening. I changed the reducer to the larger opening and did not replace the grass. Orientation flights began shortly thereafter.
Question: should I be discouraging flights so the bees focus on building comb. There can't be much space to store nectar or pollen at this time.

Ventilation:
I raised the telescopic cover on hive one by putting nickels on top of the top hive body. Should I keep them there?
Should I cover the remainder of the oblong hole?
What position should the entrance reducers be in?

I tilted the outside cover of hive 1 up enough to see some bees on the top of the inner cover where I spilled some syrup yesterday. I did not look for a queen in the pile assuming she was still caged. I saw one or two bees on the inside of the top cover. No indication of comb being built in the top hive box. The feeding jar was still full - no significant leaking going on. Hive 2 has an observation window revealing no bees in the top body. Feeding jar also looking good. Do I let the bees stay in the top body of hive 1 now and when I go back in a few days to see if the queen has been released?

Tom

herbhome · April 21, 2019, 04:28:28 PM

(quote) Question: should I be discouraging flights so the bees focus on building comb. There can't be much space to store nectar or pollen at this time.

Orientation is normal and their nature. They know they need to draw comb and will get to it right away. Just keep feeding light syrup to feed those little wax glands.

BeeMaster2 · April 21, 2019, 05:09:51 PM

For now use the smallest opening.
Not sure how you would discourage the bees from fly. Bees have been making honey for about 100 million years. You just need to give them a home and let them do their thing.
Jim Altmiller

ed/La. · April 21, 2019, 08:33:17 PM

It would be nice if you had some drawn comb. Can you get a few frames from bee friend or club member? Queen will have nowhere to lay. A lot of work for a package. Nice to give them a jump start. A frame of brood would be best.

incognito · April 21, 2019, 08:35:52 PM

Quote from: sawdstmakr on April 21, 2019, 05:09:51 PM
For now use the smallest opening.
Not sure how you would discourage the bees from fly. Bees have been making honey for about 100 million years. You just need to give them a home and let them do their thing.
Jim Altmiller

Will do.
My thought was that using the smallest opening would discourage flight by slowing down their egress and ingress to the hive.
But since they pushed out the little bit of grass I put in the small opening, I took the hint that they wanted to get out. That is why I switched to the larger of the two openings in the entrance reducer.

ed/La. · April 21, 2019, 11:42:03 PM

The entrance reducer is to make it easier for them to protect hive. Easier to keep robber bees and wasp out. A few bees can protect a small entrance. Not to keep them in. They need to come and go as they want.

incognito · April 23, 2019, 03:10:25 PM

Day 4 -
Bees are bringing pollen back to hive 2 (8 frame) but way less, almost none, to hive 1 (10 frame) I had to lightly smoke the oval opening in the inner cover when swapping syrup jars in hive 1. Hive 2 has no bees in the top hive body. Hive 1 has a cupful of bees in the top hive body along with three rather large beetles. I did not remove the inner cover in either hive.

Does the difference mean anything?

I assume the bees in hive 2 feel that they have enough place to store the pollen but not so in the bigger hive 1. Both started with waxed plastic foundation.

I may look for the queen in hive 1 tomorrow and hive 2 this weekend.

Michael Bush · April 23, 2019, 03:15:21 PM

I would put them in one box, not two.

http://bushfarms.com/beespackages.htm

incognito · April 23, 2019, 03:33:27 PM

Quote from: Michael Bush on April 23, 2019, 03:15:21 PM
I would put them in one box, not two.

http://bushfarms.com/beespackages.htm

Are you saying to stack the two colonies? I installed 2 packages, one package in each of two hives.

Michael Bush · April 23, 2019, 03:53:26 PM

> Do I let the bees stay in the top body of hive 1 now and when I go back in a few days to see if the queen has been released?

I assumed there were two hive bodies at least on hive 1 and maybe on both. Maybe I misunderstood? I'm saying I would install each package in only one box per package and not two per package.

incognito · April 23, 2019, 04:49:35 PM

The top boxes are sitting on the inner covers and are intended to only have the syrup jars in them.

Hive 1 has an oblong opening in the inner cover, longer than the round jar top. I read in your link that I should cover that extra opening to the brood chamber with duct tape. I intend to cover it up sometime later this week - when I check to see if the queen has been released from her cage.

Since the relatively few bees in the top box of hive 1 are not building comb, I was not rushing to take the inner cover off and shake them down. I was limiting my intrusions taking off the top cover only to keep the syrup jars from running dry. I did bump the top hive body on the ground to relocate any bees that were hanging out on the inside walls.

Michael Bush · April 23, 2019, 05:09:37 PM

>The top boxes are sitting on the inner covers and are intended to only have the syrup jars in them.

Then you need to COMPLETELY exclude the bees from that box. If they are currently in that box, shake them down into the box below.
Otherwise they will fill it with comb. Bees start at the top and work down. They are not attracted to foundation and will build their own comb without foundation everywhere they can find room. Don't EVER give them room. Put #8 hardware cloth on the top of the inner cover hole. Put your jar on that. The bees will reach through the screen. If you can't find #8 hardware cloth, block the exposed part of the hole with anything that bees can't chew through. Screen wire. A tin can lid. Something.

saltybluegrass · April 23, 2019, 06:39:04 PM

Mr Bush if I jumped the gun and put a super on too soon can I move the frames they are working up there back to the bottom brood box where there are unworked frames?

incognito · April 23, 2019, 09:27:57 PM

Quote from: Michael Bush on April 23, 2019, 05:09:37 PM
>The top boxes are sitting on the inner covers and are intended to only have the syrup jars in them.

Then you need to COMPLETELY exclude the bees from that box. Don't EVER give them room. If you can't find #8 hardware cloth, block the exposed part of the hole with anything that bees can't chew through. Screen wire. A tin can lid. Something.

I will get the hardware cloth tomorrow.

For now I cut a hole in corrugated plastic (the type used for temporary signs) to fit the jar lid and covered the oblong hole, securing that with two bricks. The 10 to 20 bees were on top of the inner cover were chased out of the top box.

Michael Bush · April 24, 2019, 08:35:54 AM

>Mr Bush if I jumped the gun and put a super on too soon can I move the frames they are working up there back to the bottom brood box where there are unworked frames?

Yes.

>For now I cut a hole in corrugated plastic (the type used for temporary signs) to fit the jar lid and covered the oblong hole, securing that with two bricks. The 10 to 20 bees were on top of the inner cover were chased out of the top box.

Good.

incognito · April 25, 2019, 06:27:14 PM

Today I recorded the landing boards of Hive 1 (painted white) and Hive 2 (stained cedar) on day 6. The packages were installed on 4/20 late in the afternoon. I am feeding 1:1 syrup with a small amount of Ultra Bee Pollen Substitute Patties on top of the frames.

Hive 1 has more pollen coming in. The queen was out of her cage yesterday. I did not look for her. I pulled out an end frame, slid the others over an inch, pulled the cage and promptly exited the hive. My mission was to see if she was out and to remove the cage from between the frames. The bees were working 3 seams. I don't plan on going back in for at least a week.

I will do a longer inspection of Hive 2 on Saturday with my son.

Let me know if the videos reveal anything worth mentioning.

Hive 1:
https://youtu.be/am3ymoauDpI

Hive 2:
https://youtu.be/gNVWIka6JNE

saltybluegrass · April 25, 2019, 07:55:39 PM

Bad links

BeeMaster2 · April 25, 2019, 08:58:34 PM

They do not work for me either.

incognito · April 26, 2019, 08:30:20 AM

Quote from: saltybluegrass on April 25, 2019, 07:55:39 PM
Bad links

Quote from: sawdstmakr on April 25, 2019, 08:58:34 PM
They do not work for me either.

I never uploaded videos on YouTube before. They were classified as "Private", now they are "Unlisted". Let me know if that works.

Nock · April 26, 2019, 09:27:33 AM

Yep they are working now.