I am a novice beekeeper with 2 hives started from 2 5lb shipments of Italian
package bees from York.  Each package ate a quart of 1:1 syrup the evening
of delivery.  Hiving was unremarkable; each hive has taken 1 pint of 1:1
sugar syrup each day since.

Week 1 inspection showed queens released, both hives with drawn comb in 6.5-
7 of the 10 frames.  This seemed fast, but I did buy 5 lb.  (Between
postal rates and package prices, the difference between 3 and 5 lb seemed
small). I saw honey and pollen in both hives, no brood. I withdrew only 2
frames; frame 3 (next to where I had placed the queen cage) and frame 6.  I
did not see the queens.

Peeked in on day 10 and saw bees drawing comb on frame 9 of first hive.  I
did not disturb any frames, just added a 2nd deep hive body to both hives.

Week 3 inspection (today) shows first hive with a good pattern of capped and
open brood in frames 2 and 3.  Plenty of burr comb and drone cells, some
very little work on upper hive body, in fact not much drawn comb on frames
9-10 of lower body. Uncapped pollen and honey in upper parts of frames, with
bees gorging.  I only withdrew frames 2 and 3 for inspection, did not see
queen.  I did no cutting of comb except what was necessary to separate those
2 frames for inspection.

The second hive has even more burr comb and drone cells, absolutely no work
on upper hive body and 8 frames drawn below.  This hive was slightly more
irritated but both have seemed quite gentle since delivery.  I saw what
looked like queen cells in this hive on the two frames I inspected.  I saw
good brood but no queen.

Should I worry about these "queen cells?"  As a novice, I can't claim to be
certain that they were queen cells, but they certainly resembled the
pictures in Dadant's "First Lessons in Bee Keeping."  Dadant mentions that
supercedure is sometimes a problem in week 3 with package bees.  My research
before buying indicated that York provides quality, well-bred queens and I
would hate to lose one so quickly.

Reading the archives has been very educational but I saw nothing quite like
this question.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

Steve Fairfax
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