Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Installed bees in my first two hives Saturday! There seems to be a widely varied consensus on when to go in and check to see if the queen was released.
-What do the experts here say?
-Do I need to keep feeding them or is there enough nectar flow now?
Thanks!

I will yield to Wally's opinion which is give it a week and then check for queen release. If you have frames that are undrawn, you should keep feeding. If they are not taking it as quickly as before, you can reduce the amount you put on, but you want them to have it for overnight and when weather doesn't permit flights. You will also need to feed packages after the nectar flow slows/stops (around the beginning of June). You don't want that building population of bees to starve.

It is SO hard to wait. Thank you!

Some people go in and release her after 4 days. As Rob said above, I wait 7 days, then check for eggs. As soon as I see eggs, I close them up and do not disturb except to feed for 10 or more days after seeing eggs. I have never had an introduction go wrong doing it that way. I feed until the first box is full of bees, stores, and brood.

What did you decide to do? I'm hoping you opened them up today while the weather was so nice! Otherwise, you might have to wait a while...

I installed my 2 new packages on March 30, and could only stand to wait 24 hrs before I checked (like it says in First Lessons in Beekeeping). Neither queen was released then, so I removed the packages, added the missing frames, and waited another 3-4 days before checking on the queens again. This time they were both released and I was able to find both of them on the frames!

I did end up checking on Thursday when I saw the weather report for the next few days. Both queens were out so I pulled the cages but didn’t do much more because I didn’t want to disturb them too much!

Wally- now I’m lookin at your post and wondering if I need to go back in and look for eggs? They’ve been in the hives for 9 days and I’ve already gone in twice. Once to retrieve the queen cages and again to push the frames together better - I goofed and had them all spaced out nice and evenly instead of pushed together and had burr comb already. I removed the burr comb and pushed them together but have yet to look for eggs.

Looking for eggs is "mostly" for the beek, not the bees. You can look if you want, but should have large larva or capped brood within 14 days of install. It won't hurt to wait until then, will be easier to see than eggs, and you can get out quicker.

Will do! Thank you.