I installed 2 packages on Thursday evening ... it was my first time, with brand new hives and no drawn comb on pf120 foundation. Everything went pretty much as I expected I think, no major surprises and the queens were alive. I closed the hives up and left them be. I went around today to check them out and I found that one hive seemed to have a fair bit of activity, bees buzzing around it ... the other one not so much. I also noticed that the few bees that didn't make it into the hive from the package tubes, were still in the tubes, kind of clustered together here and there. I dumped them out again around their respective hives in hopes they might find them ... but they looked pretty "sleepy" - perhaps sluggish or even sick (like they couldn't fly).
Anyway, I'm a bit worried there might be some disease there (nosema perhaps?). As a newbie I'm just ITCHING to open the hives, but i'm restraining myself because I don't want to make the mistake of messing with the hives and have them abscond on me as a result. I really want to check if the hive with less activity is fairing OK though ... when's the earliest I should crack them open? I'm thinking i'll wait 3 days, and then do the brief inspection (and release the queen if necessary) which would be Sunday. Does that make sense? If I'm worried about some disease or problem should i check earlier or would that be of little benefit at this point?
Anyway, I'm a bit worried there might be some disease there (nosema perhaps?). As a newbie I'm just ITCHING to open the hives, but i'm restraining myself because I don't want to make the mistake of messing with the hives and have them abscond on me as a result. I really want to check if the hive with less activity is fairing OK though ... when's the earliest I should crack them open? I'm thinking i'll wait 3 days, and then do the brief inspection (and release the queen if necessary) which would be Sunday. Does that make sense? If I'm worried about some disease or problem should i check earlier or would that be of little benefit at this point?