[spindrift99]

:banana: I just had to throw that out there. I had my queen sitting in the package for 2 days, then put her (non-candied) cage into the hive with a small candy plug, all per the suppliers recommendations. They said wait 7 days (so, I would inspect Monday 5/4) The bees are busting their butts, and many are bringing in huge blobs of pollen on their legs. The half inch of dead bees that were on the bottom of the package just prior to the install, are presuambly all cleared out because just outside the hive is a huge bee graveyard, and for the first 2 days the undertakers were carrying dead bees up and away and dropping them over our yard. (and that appears to have ended) I assume this is all good! (They have a hive top feeder, though I forget to put a pollen patty on the top bars. I assume I should do that during first inspection...)

Should I wait maybe 10 days instead, since I heard it might take that long for brood cells to have been completed and the queen to start laying?

 

[bushpilot]

Congratulations.

If they are bringing pollen in, they probably will not be interested in a pollen patty. It is a poor (but sometimes helpful) substitute. I wouldn't bother.

Leaving her/them in the package for two days seems not a good idea to me. They should normally be put in the hive ASAP. Whether you want to release the queen right away or not is another question altogether.

I normally check to verify her release in 3 days, and if not released, I release her. But that is all that I do at that time, it is not time to go looking through the hive. I then do my first inspection a week later, and then a week after that.

Feed them all the syrup they will take. Check that daily if you have to (depending on your feeder size).

Best of luck to you!