This year's Bee Packages

[B_Lee]

With the current weather pattern of snow and rain going down into Ga., I was wondering when we should be looking to see what the weather is like for quality of queens in packages. How long should one count back from delivery date to estimate possible quality of queens? I know that there were issues last year with queens because of poor mating. Anyone have thoughts on the subject? I know anyone buying a package is rolling the dice but I like to keep a head of things as much as possible.

[Wally]

My opinion is, you should expect to replace all package queens the first 90 days. Then if you don't have to, it is a happy surprise rather than a sad one. Many times, a well mated queen will be replaced because of damage in shipping, damaged while handling, too many drones were close kin, or the new bees just prefer one from their own. If you watch for problems closely for the first 90 days and replace her at the first sign of trouble, you can normally relax then. She should be good to go.