# Installed my first package today



## J-Rat (Dec 10, 2013)

Bee suit.? I have had my hive one year this April. I didn't always suit up when looking into the hive. Most times it was OK, some times I wished I had my bee suit on.
If I'm going into the hive I always suit up. Inspector jacket with zipper hood works great.


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## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

Yea, bee suit. pants with holes in them. Next time I will make sure that i have pants with no holes in them and maybe tape bottom of pant legs. 
We used a bit of smoke when we were putting the top bars back in. We were having a hard time because the bees were all over the place. The smoke seemed to excite them more than calm them down.

The post office sorting facility about 35 minutes away called about 4PM Saturday evening. They said the bees would not be at local post office till Monday morning. We drove over and picked them up right away. 




It was about 55 in early evening when we shook them into the hive. The bees that were left in the box were not moving toward the hive. They were bunching together. I suspect we should have waited till Sunday afternoon to put them in the hive. Somebody had said that evening was a great time to put them in the hives and it was about 55 so I thought it would be all right.


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## J-Rat (Dec 10, 2013)

With the queen cage in your hive the bees should go to her. I would put the package the the bees came in near the entrance of the hive with the exit opening facing up.
Good Luck.

Rubber bands or tape on your pants cuffs is a good idea. Don"t ask me how I know.


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## J-Rat (Dec 10, 2013)

When I installed my hive it went fairly smooth. Although about 1/4 of the bees were still in the box and couldn't find their way out until I turned the box with the opening facing up.
The full suit gets real hot in the summer, The inspector jacket works.


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## BackYardPhenomena (Jul 11, 2012)

Pair of jeans, long sleeve shirt with veil and gloves does the trick. Yeah they can sting you through a shirt but sometimes we get what we deserve. Enjoy the bees!


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## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

BackYardPhenomena I wear a jacket from Mann Lake with an English Veil .


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## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

Update I went out this morning and they were all dead except for a tiny cluster beside the sugar syrup jar.


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## BeeMoose (Oct 19, 2013)

That is so hard to hear that your bees died. I hived 3 Tuesday, but because of wind, rain and low temps, I have been unable to check on them until later today.

I'm hoping mine haven't met a similar fate.

Don't bee disappointed. Get another package and try it again. Good luck.


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

shawneebuilder said:


> Update I went out this morning and they were all dead except for a tiny cluster beside the sugar syrup jar.


They might just be cold and not moving. Please don't clean them out just yet.


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## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

You bet I won't!


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

Listen to what ruthiesbbes said.. It was 28F last night In my area of Pa, you are near the laurel highlands so I would imagine you got close to that. I have picked bees up off the snow blown my warm breath on them, and watched them come to life.... 
Another note for your books, Don't smoke packages,,,,, Generally speaking when the bees sense smoke they load up on honey in preparation to abandon ship. A bee full of honey is generally rather docile, that is part of the reason swarms are usually passive. A package has no honey to gorge, and an unfamiliarity to their surroundings. Smoking only caused confusion and agitation.


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## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

That makes sense. Tenbears were are you from?


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## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

The bees were flying around today. They are not clustering with the queen like I was hoping they would. There might be 50 bees on the queen cage. Maybe they were just too cold last night.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

shawneebuilder said:


> That makes sense. Tenbears were are you from?


Knox, Clarion County 3 1/2 hours or so north of you.


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## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

We installed the bees late Saturday evening. This is Monday morning and most of the bees were clustered outside the hive. There was maybe 50 bees clustered around the queen inside the hive. Is there anything we should do?

BTW This is a project that I am sharing with my 11 year old son. He did the original post and some of the follow up post.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

The only time I've had bearding in the spring outside a hive is when my first package absconded because they didn't like the hive. I had a screened bottom and left the bottom down board down (I've since replaced all the screen with solid bottoms). I'd be worried that as soon as the queen is out, your colony will take off. Make sure the hive doesn't have any ventilation except for the entrances, and keep them reduced. Use a follower, if you're not. Cover the entrance with a queen excluder. You can make one from a plastic lid with a 4mm slot cut out of it. Pin it over the entrance.


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## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

> The only time I've had bearding in the spring outside a hive is when my first package absconded because they didn't like the hive. I had a screened bottom and left the bottom down board down (I've since replaced all the screen with solid bottoms). I'd be worried that as soon as the queen is out, your colony will take off. Make sure the hive doesn't have any ventilation except for the entrances, and keep them reduced. Use a follower, if you're not. Cover the entrance with a queen excluder. You can make one from a plastic lid with a 4mm slot cut out of it. Pin it over the entrance.


4mm wide or 4mm High? I am using a follower and I have a solid bottom board. Today there were about half of the bees clustered around the queen cage and half of them hanging out side the entrances.


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## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

(double post)


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

4 mm high, to keep the queen in but let the workers out.


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

shawneebuilder said:


> 4mm wide or 4mm High? I am using a follower and I have a solid bottom board. Today there were about half of the bees clustered around the queen cage and half of them hanging out side the entrances.
> 
> View attachment 17606


A second queen maybe with the cluster outside the hive?


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## lamarcarama (May 3, 2015)

Please give us updates. I want to hear how your bees are doing. I'm following the saga with interest!


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## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

I installed another package yesterday evening. The package was only in the mail 3 days. I installed the queen with a direct release. This morning there was a cluster about the size of a soccer ball. We started with about 3 combs and now there are five combs (started and half done). We had a newspaper divider but that didn't work because it was too loose and the bees went right through it.


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## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

On last post we mentioned newspaper divider. Our bee package supplier (Gold Star Honey Bees) recommended that we use a piece of newspaper to make a temporary barrier between original cluster and new package of bees. We checked on the bees 24 hours later and they were all together. We removed the newspaper and the bees seemed to be doing fine. The bees started at least 3 new combs since we installed the package.


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## SWAT253 (May 11, 2015)

Hope your bees acclimate to their new surroundings! Watch the entrance for bees returning with pollen - that's what I've keyed in on during short TBH experience. If they're building comb and storing pollen, they must seem to like it there. Good luck!


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## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

This evening when I inspected the hives I found eggs and pollen. The girls built 5 bars of comb in 5 days. I haven't seen the queen during an inspection yet.


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