You did disturb them a lot for being in a new hive for only 4 to 5 days.
Installing, looking for and marking the queen or did you release and mark
her but that was still just a few days after installation then the next day
putting in the frames. I give a package a week before I get into them, let
them adjust to the new digs, feed them but do not get into them. I can go
that long because I usually release the queens when I install packages so I
do not need to check she's released.  By the time I get them to Maine they
have been with her long enough to be friendly with her. If I want to mark
the queen I do it after she is laying in good shape. I do not want her to
smell different from the paint or look different, I like her to be fully
part of the hive before I muck her up, probably over cautious but so far it
has worked for me.

During my time of beekeeping I probably have only installed a couple 100
packages but I have never have had one abscond, either I am lucky or
leaving them alone to settle in works. Once I had two packages that were
strapped together for shipping go into hives right next to each other. They
were in a yard where I do not see them every day, they had a lot of food on
them so I gave them a few days. When I went back one hive was empty but the
hive next to it was so full of bees I knew the other bees had moved in too.
They could not fit on the ten frames a huge cluster was also up in the box
I had covering the feeders. I guess they got to know each other pretty good
while strapped together they must of lost their queen so moved over with
the other queen. I have had bees move in together twice but the second time
was not a package it was hives side by side early spring we had a lot of
rain with 70 MPH winds. A hive cover blew off but I didn't know for a few
days I expected a hive of dead bees but what they did was move into the
bottom box of the hive next door. Early spring the bottom box should be
empty but that hive had about 16 frames of bees so I knew where the bees
went when they lost their cover. The next door neighbor took over
the first floor, I just left them alone and let them figure the queen
situation out themselves.

The fun thing about bees is they have a mind of their own no matter what
you do sometimes, all those females.

Karen T-K

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