Hello Steve,
You are TOO anxious, just like a beginner SHOULD BE. As an "old-timer",
started beekeeping in 1933 so this is my 68th year, you just need to read
more.
A 5 lb. package is compared to a 3 lb. package is like an insurance policy to
get a good start. However, since the life of a bee is only 42 days in flying
weather, half or more than half of all your package bees are dead now (3
weeks). The main task of the worker bees in colony development from
foundation is to keep the brood nest warm, 91°-96°, and none of the new bees
have emerged yet to replace the dead ones.
Just keep that 1:1 sugar syrup on them for the next 3 months until Sept,
because bees ABSOLUTELY will not draw comb for any reason whatsoever unless
there is
a nectar flow present, and 1:1 sugar syrup is an artificial nectar. By the
way, you
like most uninformed beekeepers think HONEY is the first choice of food to a
bee.
It is NOT! Their first choice is real nectar, their second choice is
artificial nectar
like 1:1 sugar syrup, and the 3 rd choice is honey, which is just there
winter food
supply. Honey to a bee is like Hardtack to a sailor - a survival food, not
filet mignon.
Heat rises. Brood must be kept warm. You will find that bees don't like to
have much brood in frames 1&2 or 9&10, because they can't cover (warm) that
wide a space. Hence, bees like to lay brood in a "chimney effect" and hence
frames 4,5,6&7
of the SECOND story are much more popular than the outer frames of the first
story.
Don't bother to look for the queen. She would be EASY to find if you had
paid 50¢ to
have York mark each one. Just look for OPEN brood. An egg for 3 full days
and then a
larva for the next 6 days, and capped on the 10th day. To look for eggs, you
turn the frame upside down, have the sun behind you and look down into the
cells particularly
near the center the frame.
I doubt that you have a supersedure cell already, but not impossible if the
bees are thoroughly dissatisfied with the queen. A Supersedure cell is found
ONLY on the face of the comb near the center of the frame It will be about
the diameter of a dime or a nickel and project outward maybe 1/8" further
than worker comb.
Sooner or later, you will hear of me, because I do a lot of writing about
bees and have monthly articles on the WEB, am writing another book now, and
travel over most of the world teaching beekeeping FREE OF CHARGE to those
countries or states that pay my transportation + room and board to get there.
I am very active in EAS and ABF giving talks and putting on workshops in
these every year FREE. I am a retired scientist who has kept up to 135
colonies per season for scientific studies in addition to honey production to
pay for my experiments.
My WEB addresses are:
http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee/ click the lower right
image
http://www.beekeeper.org/george_imirie/index.html
What is your location? Weather and crops are so different depending on
location.
If you don't have THE BEEKEEPER'S HANDBOOK, 3rd Edition (April 1999), written
by
Dr. Diana Sammataro, for $29.95, you should! I believe that this might be
considered the BEST beginner's book ever written. Regardless of fame, books
written more than 10 years ago are pretty much obsolete in 2000, because they
don't cover or even mention both the bad points as well as the good things
that have all occurred
in the last 15 years: The bad things are tracheal mites found in 1984, the
Varroa mite found in 1987, AHB entering Texas in 1990, and the small hive
beetle in 1998.
The GOOD things that really excite my enthusiasm to get back to research are
the
GREAT importance of honey bee PHEROMONES, the importance of HYGIENIC BEES to
control disease resistance of the bee, and so much more is known about swarm
control and the use of other races of bees than a few years back.
I hope that I have helped, and don't hesitate to write, because I am now
partially
disabled by strokes and have time to help beeHAVERS who want to become
beeKEEPERS.
George Imirie in Maryland where we will have EAS 2000 July 31-Aug 4
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