Foundationless, just installed packages, I have concerns, what do I do?

HisKingdom777 said:

I have a Layens hive, with brand new foundationless frames and bees, I was concerned about them absconding so I have the most of the bees n queen behind a custom queen excluder(fashion from a metal one from online), I've had them that way for 2 days, and they dont appear to be going through the excluder... I need them to start building comb, and I don't even know if they are getting out to eat or gather or anything... What do I do??

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First - indicate your location (that is important if want useful advice).

Second - feed them with liquid sugar syrup regardless (they will take what they need - give more if they take all).
No food - no comb building.
Feed them asap (if you are up North and it is cold - this is even more critical).

Thank you! ...Northwest Colorado near the Wyoming border, in the mountains at 9,000 ft. ...We still have some snow on the ground and I doubt the have much to forage yet, but I'm brand new to this so yeah, but there is open ground all around and flowers could be coming out in those areas... I have a custom feeder in the hive filled with 4x 14oz jars of 1:1 syrup and 2x 14oz jars of water(do they need that? or just all syrup?) ...FYI I lost over half my 3lb package of bees in a final spring cold streak, but now its nice (62*) and sunny, and the bees are acting normal and happy outside the hive from what i see. Which is good cause its been a struggle to keep the few I have left alive and happy. I've messed with them a lot so Im trying to leave them alone now, but dont I need to check the feeder that I have inside the hive? Should I feed them outside the hive too?

UPDATE: btw... I peaked in for about 10 secs, I saw 6-7 bees come through the excluder no problem! So they are coming through.

Going through a queen excluder should not be an issue.,I would not feed them on the outside too. Make sure the entrance is reduced to a minimum & keep feeding 1-1 sugar water, no water needed in those custom feeders

fieldsofnaturalhoney said:

Going through a queen excluder should not be an issue.,I would not feed them on the outside too. Make sure the entrance is reduced to a minimum & keep feeding 1-1 sugar water, no water needed in those custom feeders

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Thank you! ...My only concern now is the low population of bees I have(Maybe 1/3, no worse than 1/4 of bees left I'd say)... And that it might take them to long building comb or if they are building at all. I ordered some foundation, should be here early next week, I will ad it to the frames if I dont see progress.

As GregV pointed out you need sugar water., inside the hive where they can easily access it. I would also add a pollen patty on top of the “cluster”. Adding foundation to the frames (I believe) is not going to get them drawing any faster, sugar water will. With the limited number of bees I would have the entrance reduce to a bee width. Reads like you just do not have enough bees to protect the entrance, forage, & build combs. Especially since Layens frames are so long. Do you have a follower board containing them to one or two frames?, or? On another note, why did so many bees die in the cold snap? How cold was it?, seems like that’s a lot of lost when they should have been “clustered”?