Well, now I've got my bee package what do I do and when? This is one of many questions we often get as customers pickup. To help you we're adding an overall process that covers around the first 10 days you have your bees.
Be sure you have purchased your personal bee protective equipment tools and beehive components
All beehive components should be well aired out, recent paint can harm your bees
We recommend that you let the queen remain caged for 24 hours before replacing the cork with the candy tube.
Decide which installation method you will use, shaking the package in or placing the package in the hive (we recommend the later) see the link below
Be sure to feed your package 1:1 sugar syrup upon installation
After 24 hours, replace the cork with candy tube
7 days after install verify queen has been released and is laying, destroy any queen cups/cells the bees may have been started. Package bees sometimes get confused and try to supersede the queen.
Great time to apply Oxalic Acid (OA) by either vaping your new hive or using an OA dribble.
Quick reminder that about 10-20% of the time the bees won't accept the queen and kill her. If you find the queen has been released, but there are no eggs or larva, close up the hive and check again in about 5 days. If you observe the same conditions at this time the hive is likely queenless and you'll need to purchase a queen. Installing a second queen can be a little tricky so we suggest you contact a mentor.
During the first 1-1.5 months we recommend you feed them at least 1 gallon of 1:1 sugar syrup every 10-14 days.