On Apr 3,  2:23pm, [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Subject: Package Intallation
 
< stuff deleted>
 
>      Anyone else release queens directly?  Anyone have problems doing it?
>
 
My packages last year came with instructions to direct release the queen,
so I did and had good results with this method.  It took the queen about 4
days to start laying.  I started with foundation only and the bees had the
cells in the center 4 or 5 frames partially drawn very quickly.
 
The queens had been with the bees about 4 days when I received them.  I hived
the bees about an hour before dusk after spraying them with water.  They had
been trucked here (NW Washington near the Canadian border) from northern
California and were hived on April 20.
 
The bees were out bright and early the next morning working.  They wouldn't
take syrup because our property is loaded with big leaf maples and there is
an early flow of maple nectar when they bloom in mid-April.
 
This year I have five packages of bees for new colonies arriving on April 5th
or
6th.  I am planning to direct release the queen again.
 
 
Kris Bruland