1. When your bees arrive
Before your bees arrive make sure to have your hives assembled, painted and put out in your bee yard, level the hive. This is important so the feeder pail will not leak out.
When your package bees come, they should be put in their hives as soon as possible. The best time to install package bees is early evening. If they can’t be put in that day, keep them in a cool, dark place. The temperature should be between 50 and 70 degrees.
Set them on cardboard or newspaper. To feed the bees spray them through the screen sides with 1:1 sugar syrup. Feed them several times. The cardboard or newspaper will keep your floor clean.
2. Things needed for package installation
The hive should consist of hive stand, bottom board, entrance reducer, 1 deep hive body, 10 deep frames with foundation, inner cover, feeder pail, a deep hive body to cover pail, and telescoping cover.
You should have a feeder pail filled with 1:1 sugar syrup or High Fructose Corn Syrup and a hand sprayer filled with 1:1 sugar syrup. Additionally, you will need a fresh mini marshmallow, a small nail and a pollen patty.
Have a hive tool and pliers to pull out the feeder can. DO NOT USE A SMOKER WHEN INSTALLING PACKAGE BEES. This is the only time we do not use a smoker when working the bees
3. How to install:
The entrance reducer should be in with the smallest opening showing. Plug this opening with grass to confine the bees for 24 hours. Failure to do this may lead to the bees absconding.
Open the hive and remove four frames from the center of the hive body.
Spray package liberally with sugar syrup. This keeps the bees from flying.
Pick up the package and smack box on ground or hive to knock the bees to the bottom of the cage.
Remove the feeder can and queen cage from the package. Keep the queen warm by putting the queen cage in your pocket.
Pick up the package cage and dump the bees into the hive. Use your hive tool and gently spread the bees across the bottom board. Put the tool into the pile of bees and gently flip the bees across the bottom board.
Gently replace frames.
Take the queen out of your pocket. Watch the queen, when she is walking away from the corked end, take the small nail and pry the cork out of the queen cage. Stop prying if she is near the corked end. She is fast and can walk out very quickly if the cork is removed. Be careful not to impale the queen with the nail. Immediately cover the hole with your gloved finger. When the queen is walking away from the hole, take the mini marshmallow and push it into the hole. Not all of it will fit we just want to push enough into the hole to keep the queen in.
Suspend the queen cage by putting it near the center of the hive between the top bars by pushing the frames tight together. Position cage so the screen is down facing the bottom board. The bees will chew through the marshmallow plug and release the queen within a few hours. Do not put the queen cage under the hole of the inner cover where the feeder pail will sit.
Lay the pollen patty on the top bars. Do not block the hole under the inner cover where the feeder pail will sit.
Gently put on the inner cover on, turn the feeder pail over and put it on top of the inner cover over the hole.
Cover the pail with an empty deep hive body. Cover with the telescoping cover. Installation is now complete.
Come back the next day, remove the grass from the entrance, and make sure the feeder pail did not leak out. Light your smoker. Lift up the feeder pail and make sure a large number of bees are under the pail. If you don’t see many bees, they could have moved to one side of the hive. You have to remove the pail, remove the inner cover. If the bees have moved, remove frames from the opposite end. Slide the frames with the bees on under where the feeder pail will be, put frames back in. Put hive back together.
Return after 7 days for first inspection, Use your smoker, check for queen acceptance. Remove the outside frame and pull the other frames back, working toward the cluster. Look for eggs in the cells. You do not have to see the queen. If you see eggs, the queen is alive and laying. Put frames back in and close hive.
Keep feeding sugar syrup until mid June. Failure to due this will set back the colony. Feed pollen patties until natural pollen is available (usually mid-May).
When the bees have drawn out 80% of the frames (around June 1st ), remove one (leaving nine). Add another deep box with 10 frames. Increase the entrance reducer size at this time.
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