4 lbs. Russians

[Kyle Meadows]

Hi all,
Last Sunday, (4 days ago), I installed a 4 lb. package of Russians into an 11 (reduced) frame medium, with drawn 5.1 comb and a hive top feeder. Today I noticed quite a lot of bees hanging out on the underside of the inner cover and trying to draw comb there, hanging down into the feeder. I'm wondering if they should have a second hive body this soon after installation, or is this just normal behavior. (I usually use 3 lb packages). Queen is laying, but seems like they're using the frames more for honey storage than for egg laying.
Any thoughts?
Thanks for any responses.
Kyle

[Joseph Clemens]

Give them more space.

[BeeKeep]

and not just because he's more experienced & wiser. . . .

A package is basically an artifical swarm. Swarms want to build up comb and forage. You need to give the comb builders space to work.

[MapMan]

It's like putting ten pounds of 'taters into a five pound sack. ;)

MM

[Countryboy]

The bees are probably drawing comb while hanging from the inner cover. If you do not remove the bees and comb from the inner cover, you are likely to end up with this mess.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnaturalcell.htm#combwidth

[Kyle Meadows]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll add a box tomorrow.
Question is, should I fill it with empty or drawn frames?

[ClintonTull]

Arent russians comb crazy bees anyways?

[sierrabees]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll add a box tomorrow.
Question is, should I fill it with empty or drawn frames?

It's always nice to have lots of extra new comb. I would take advantage of this time of year when the bees are in a comb making mood and give them a super of empty frames with at least one drawn frame to start them out.