>>dead bees when hive  packages in our spring with cold nights,

>The sort of drenching used on packages is far more saturating than that
>used when drenching established colonies on combs with 1/2 cup (250ml) of
>syrup.

We used to spray our packages lightly with light syrup on arrival and store 
them in the dark or semi-dark at room temperatures and I don't 
recall ever seeing any increase in the dead bees under the cluster, even 
after a day or so on occasions when we did not install them all the first day.

Sometimes the packages arrived with hardly any dead bees so any increase 
would have been noticed.

How long did it take to see the loss?
---

P.S. I never did use drenches, except on one occasion to get the bees to notice an 
open drum of feed left in the yard late in the season after the bees had settled
down.  I did not want to take it home, so I took a bucket, lifted lids, and poured 
a cup of the syrup on each cluster.  The drum was empty the next day.  (Did I kill 
bees?  I have no idea, but thought some might find the story interesting and 
useful.)

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