Feeding question

[mxr618]

Folks -

Got my package today and installed it, no problem. Did the plastic-bag-and-sugar-water method. The bees are settling down just fine. I see my entrance is too wide (must fabricate a reducer).

Here's the question: do I really need a pollen patty for them? I've got dandelions and tons of creeping charlie, lilac, etc. I've got some pollen in the fridge but just wanted to know what everybody else does.

Total newbie issue: it's difficult for me to not pull the window open and see what they are doing...when I installed them three hours ago! :rolleyes:

[Beaches' Bee-Haven Apiary]

I never used pollen on any of my packages, and they did fine. But they may do even better w/it.

-Nathanael:cool:

[Hambone]

Im a newbie too. Installed my package almost 3 weeks ago. I didn't do the patty. I just feed syrup for the first 2 weeks. In the last 2 weeks everything around here has been blooming like crazy too. And they starting bring in stuff to store like crazy and stopped eating the feed.

The one thing I noticed I started doing was searching the flowers that are blooming and seeing what it is and if bees like them or not.

I want to look all the time too. But I have to talk my self out of it. But if you have a observation window you could probably just crack it and take a peek without bothering them. I think.

[Beaches' Bee-Haven Apiary]

I want to look all the time too. But I have to talk my self out of it. But if you have a observation window you could probably just crack it and take a peek without bothering them. I think.

Sure, that's what observation hives are for! I can invision a large observation hive installed in the outer wall of our living room, but for some reason I can't talk my parents into it.:confused:;)

-Nathanael:)

[mxr618]

Cracked it twice already...what a newbie. Had to show the Mrs. She isn't as excited as me but still thinks its cool.

They sucked down an awful lot of syrup so far.

More dead bees than I thought I'd see on the first day, makes me jittery. Haven't released the queen and there's a good cluster around her. Was very cool to see five bees exploring the underside of the top to see if it was sealable, all the way around.

Some of the other bees are taking notice of the top bars with the beeswax smeared on them.

So far so good, I guess.

[Beaches' Bee-Haven Apiary]

Cracked it twice already...what a newbie. Had to show the Mrs. She isn't as excited as me but still thinks its cool.

They sucked down an awful lot of syrup so far.

More dead bees than I thought I'd see on the first day, makes me jittery. Haven't released the queen and there's a good cluster around her. Was very cool to see five bees exploring the underside of the top to see if it was sealable, all the way around.

Some of the other bees are taking notice of the top bars with the beeswax smeared on them.

So far so good, I guess.

Sounds good. Don't get discouraged about the dead bees, you always get some old bees in a package, and they were tossed around a bit in transit. You'll see your #s diminishing over the next 2 wks or so, but one of the best sites for a newbee is seeing those orientation flights that's when things start rolling!

Keep us posted:)

-Nathanael:cool:

[Michael Bush]

No, you don't need a pollen patty if the dandelions are blooming already. There are probably a lot of sources already.