How to install the package (packaged) bees
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HONEYBEE PACKAGE INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS (by "Jester bee" ) "Bees are sold by the pound. The cage are shipped in called a package. The top of a cage has an opening. This opening is for a syrup can and a place for the bees to be shook into the package. The queen is also in this opening in a cage of her own. A package usually contains either two or three pounds of bees. There are approximately 3,500 bees to the pound. All the bees you get in your package will be dead within about six weeks so it is very important to get the hive started so the queen can start laying eggs and they can start raising new bees as soon as possible. Because each day counts in getting bees started in a hive, you should not delay once the bees have arrived. As a beginner you might want your queen marked. That means the queen producer will place a light paint mark on the back of the queen so she can be located easily when you are looking for her. Bees that you are able to pick-up from a producer will not face the stress that package bees faced when mailed. Once the bees arrive at the post office, you will get a call informing you that your bees are in! Beekeepers getting bees in the mail, will often find a number of dead bees at the bottom of the cage. Again it is normal for the number of bees to die each day and longer the package is in transit, the more dead bees you will have in the bottom of your cage. When hauling bees, bees are very sensitive to wind blowing directly on them and to the heat of the sun or enclosed vehicle. If the temperature reaches 100 degrees or more, you will lose a lot of bees. A sign that something is wrong is not hard to learn. If the bees are quite and calm, everything is fine. However, if they are rushing about the package, and some bees are sticking their tongues through the screen they are too hot. What can you do? Get them in the shade out of the sun.. Second, sprinkle water on the screen wire. We use a spray bottle just for these purpose, make sure you use a new one, remember that soap, detergent, chemicals, and insecticides can kill bees. Normally we mix sugar with the water - one pound of sugar to 1/2 gal. of water. When sprayed on the screen lightly, the bees will take up the water and sugar and the rushing around will stop. One other point -- when rushing around in a package cage, the bees put out a loud hum. Listen for hum and look for rushing bees. take action if you see of hear either. Now, how do you get the bees from the cage into your hive? 1St -- Install the package of bees in the evening hours. Several hours before sun down is fine. 2ND -- Check to make sure you have everything. a. Is all your equipment ready? b. Do you have all your protective equipment -- veil, gloves, etc? c. Do you have your smoker lit? d. Have you given the bees some water and sugar syrup by spraying lightly on the screen wall of the cage? e. Do you have a hive feeder and is it full of syrup. The bees will need a lot of food in the first couple of weeks to draw the foundation into comb and start raising brood bees. Make sure the bees always have sugar available to them until they get strong enough to add your honey supers. If the bees have enough flowers producing nectar that they can work then they will not take the sugar. The bees can use quart or more of sugar syrup a day. It is important to use an entrance reducer during this time to help prevent other bees from robbing the sugar from your hive. If they do this they will fight with your bees which are trying to defend there home and kill many of them. 3rd -- The package There are various methods for putting bees in a hive. The package has a hole for a can in the top of the cage. This can is protected with a wood lid stapled or nailed into the cage. Pry up the wood cover. You will see a can. The bees can not get out yet! You will also see a thin plastic strip running down into the cage along side of the can. This plastic strip is attached to he queen cage which holds the queen. It will be important to remove the queen cage from the package before you put the bees into the hive. The next few moments will be exiting. If you are ready to get the bees out of the cage, here is what you will have to do. METHOD # 1 - "Pour the bees directly over the queen cage" Pick-up the cage and raise it a foot or some from the ground or a table and sharply bang it down so that the bees are shook to the bottom of the cage. Get a hold of the can and remove it but be ready to put part of the way back in the hole if the bees start tumbling out. Take hold of the tab that holds the queen cage, pull it out of the cage/package so that the queen cage is now out of the package. Replace the can, or better just cover the hole in the package with a block of wood or something. Bees will be crawling from the bottom of the package back up and this will hold them for just a few minutes longer while you work with the queen. With this method, you take the queen cage and place it between the middle frames of the hive. Queen cages are either wood or plastic. They all have a candy end that is plugged or capped. It is through this end that the queen will get out of the cage. You must -- I repeat -- you must remove the cap that prevents the bees from getting to the candy. Once the candy end of the queen cage is exposed, the bees will eat through the candy to release the queen. The reason for this is -- The queen is not the mother of these bees. They might kill her if she is introduced too soon. Normally, it will take a day or two for the bees to release her. After several days, you will need to make sure the queen is out of the cage. If not, you can manually release her. The bees will by this time have had enough time to become acquainted with her. NEXT -- Once the queen cage is firmly in place and can not fall to the bottom board, the bees are released from the cage directly to the hive. This is done by again shaking the bees to the bottom of the cage, pulling out the can, and dumping the bees directly over the queen cage. If you have fed the bees sugar syrup, the bees should be very calm. If you attempt this by trying to dump a package of bees running around, stressed out, and hot, the bees will take to the air and may settle or not settle back into the hive you have prepared for them. The cage will always have a few bees still in it. Just set the package with the hole facing the bottom board entrance to the hive. They will find their way out and into the hive. Wait for the bees to move down into your frames before putting on the inner cover. The job is done for several days. METHOD # 2 - "Placing the package into the hive" If you are a bit timid about dumping bees out of the cage, you can use this method. First, remove five frames from the brood chamber. The package will fit into the space you have just created. Second, follow the steps above about removing the queen cage from the package. In this case, you will locate the queen cage between the two frames nearest to the package. It is best to pour a few bees from the package out over her so the others will follow, but it is not absolutely necessary. Do not place the queen cage back into the package. The bees will go to the queen. If you place the queen cage in the package , the bees will stay there. You do not want that. After you place the queen between two frames, you again shake the bees to the bottom of the package and remove the can. Quickly set the package with the open hole side facing up to the brood box. The bees will now crawl out the opening. Your job is done for today. NEXT STEP If you used the second method of putting the package into the hive, you must go back a day later to remove it. If you do not, the bees will eventually build comb in it and around it. The queen will lay eggs in this comb and if you try to get this mess cleaned up, you run the risk of killing your queen as you work. We recommend that you check the queen cage in three days to make sure the queen is out. Do not disturb the hive for five days or so. There is no need to pull any frames out of the hive to look at the bees -- we know that you are dying to see what is going on. However, bees are still adjusting to their new queen and may kill her if they are disturbed. Be on the safe side, just wait. After one week, you can open your hive and check on the progress your bees have made. You will or should find that they are building new comb and if you look closely, you will see new eggs in the cells. This is an indication that everything is okay. In two weeks you should see capped brood. If after two weeks you see no signs of eggs or larva or capped brood, you need to get a new queen fast. They can be sent next day delivery. You will have to repeat the entire introduction process over that was discussed before. It will set your hive back considerably. The earlier you find queen laying eggs the more you can relax and enjoy the success of getting your hive started." METHOD # 3 - "Direct release" is HERE Some additional recommendations: "Place queen cage between top bars, candy end up slightly. Use wire or push two frames together to hold." (Dadant $ Sons, Inc.). You have to remove queen cage in 3-5 days after installation. Some beekeepers (Me too) poke a small hole through the candy with a needle, nail, toothpick or piece of wire. The hole encourages the bees to chew the candy, thus releasing the queen more quickly. Some beekeepers prefer to place cage with the screen side facing the bottom of the hive. This will make it easier for the bees to feed the queen through the screen until candy plug is eaten away. After installation, you should examine your bee hives only in case of obvious necessity. Before you plan to disturb your bees, think about the appropriateness of such a step. Remember, that during the honey flow season, each opening of the hive leads to significant losses of honey Also, every time you inspect your hive there is a chance that you accidentally could damage or kill the queen. Therefore, try to find answers to your concerns based on indirect observation and outside attributes. For example, you have just settled a new package colony into a hive and want to know whether she is alive and whether she started laying eggs. Instead of disturbing your bees, look carefully at workers' behavior. If the worker bees are actively bringing pollen to the hive, it's a 99.9 percent guarantee that everything is okay with the queen. The biology of the Honey bees (Apis mellifera) explains my statement: worker bees collect the pollen and then mix it with some nectar. Such form of mixture (called beebread) is a protein-rich food used to feed the larvae (immature bees). But you definitely have to inspect the hive in a situation when the workers in that hive are not actively bringing pollen, while the workers in the rest of your colonies are. One of the reasons that workers are not bringing pollen could be absence of the queen. In a situations when you want to make sure that the queen is present, you can follow my recommendations: 1. Try not to do it during cold or windy weather. 2. Usually, the queen is located in the place where there is the highest amount of worker bees. Generally, it is not recommended to take out first the frames with the most bees due to a chance of damaging or killing the queen. Therefore, it is better to start this task with the frame, which contains fewer bees, generally on the side of the hive. 3. Take one side frame out and inspect it visually. There is still a chance that the queen could be there, therefore you should not put the frame on the ground, but use a nuc box as a temporary location. For the same purpose you can also use a Frame Holder (Frame Perch). 4. Continue by initially shifting the second frame into the open spot on the side and then lifting it out. Inspect the frame to see if the queen is there and return the frame into the side spot. Continue this motion as necessary with the next frames, by first shifting then lifting and replacing frames in a sequence until the queen is located. 5. Once you are satisfied that everything is okay with the queen, it is better to put back the frame with the queen in reverse motion. In other words, put the frame with the queen into an open spot and then shift it back into place. Then shift the rest of the frames towards the frame with the queen and put back the very first frame into its original place. 6. In addition, note that it is better to inspect frames directly above the hive, just in case the queen falls from the frame. If you haven't found the queen on your first try, don't be disappointed and don't try to repeat the task right way. Sometimes the queen can be on the wall or the floor of the hive. It is better to close the hive and come back in a few hours. Chances are the queen could move onto a frame during this time. |
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You have to be well prepared for the new Packaged Bees. Try to establish packaged bee colonies in virgin hives with virgin foundations to avoid disease transmission. Never use old hives with black corners. You should disinfect your old hives, if you do not have new hives. Usage of flame is also helpful. April 29, 2008 |
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Because the outside temperature was too cold and the supplier sold
me 2 pound packaged bees (instead of and for the price of 3 pound
packaged bees), I reduced the number of frames and installed an
insulation block in advance - before bees have been released from the
packages. If you do not have natural honey you can pour any remaining syrup into Division Board Feeder or Top Feeder. If you do not have any feeders you can pour syrup into empty combs. Never use Entrance Feeder if you have adult neighboring colonies! April 29, 2008 |
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I think, that Method #1 is the easiest. In my situation all four colonies occupied hives in 5 minutes. Dadant company also recommends this method. It is essential that you keep on feeding the bees until they have an abundance of nectar available. Please remember that any shortage of feed causes reduction in brood rearing. April 29, 2008 |
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On May 3 and 4, 2008 workers of new colonies started actively bringing pollen to the hive. |
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On May 11, 2008 I checked new colonies and made some photos for educational purposes. |
Links to related info:
GUIDELINES FOR ESTABLISHING A NEW HIVE FROM PACKAGE BEESPackage Bees
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