My primary question (for those who don't want to read the extended background story): how well can newly installed package bees protect brood from chilling given a couple overnight temperatures in the 25F range?
Extended background: I installed my first package on April 7th, I know I took a chance by installing so early up here in 5B Massachusetts, but I wanted to give them the greatest build-up period possible, maybe even get a small honey crop this year (or at least, get them nice and strong going into fall). The install day actually went beautifully, 60F and sunny, and the week after was more of the same, even getting up to 70F for a couple days. On day 6 I opened up the hive, and they had already fully drawn out 5/8 frames in the medium super I started them in, released the queen, filled some scattered cells with a couple different varieties of pollen, and had at least one frame with eggs/young larvae. So I decided to add a deep super on top (actually just add frames to the deep I was using for feeder protection, and move up the inner cover) to give them room to build.
Day 8 the polar vortex returned, and the last two nights have dipped to around 25F, so I'm wondering if a slowly depleting force of package bees will be able to maintain the brood temperature through this hopefully brief return of winter, or if I'm now hitting a serious hiccup and this brood will be lost as the timer continues to count down and mortality continues to rise amongst my original colonists. I am avoiding the new parent urge to open up the hive and check on them, as I know this would surely doom them.
Thoughts?
Extended background: I installed my first package on April 7th, I know I took a chance by installing so early up here in 5B Massachusetts, but I wanted to give them the greatest build-up period possible, maybe even get a small honey crop this year (or at least, get them nice and strong going into fall). The install day actually went beautifully, 60F and sunny, and the week after was more of the same, even getting up to 70F for a couple days. On day 6 I opened up the hive, and they had already fully drawn out 5/8 frames in the medium super I started them in, released the queen, filled some scattered cells with a couple different varieties of pollen, and had at least one frame with eggs/young larvae. So I decided to add a deep super on top (actually just add frames to the deep I was using for feeder protection, and move up the inner cover) to give them room to build.
Day 8 the polar vortex returned, and the last two nights have dipped to around 25F, so I'm wondering if a slowly depleting force of package bees will be able to maintain the brood temperature through this hopefully brief return of winter, or if I'm now hitting a serious hiccup and this brood will be lost as the timer continues to count down and mortality continues to rise amongst my original colonists. I am avoiding the new parent urge to open up the hive and check on them, as I know this would surely doom them.
Thoughts?