Seems a bit extreme/unnecessary to replace a queen for a local queen before you even know how they perform in your location. They may yet surprise you. If they don't do well then the bees may well supercede and that will be be mated with local drones for a nice mix of genetics anyway.
You can go foundationless pretty much anytime. It is good to insert foundationless frames in between frames with foundation (or drawn comb) this helps to keep things straight. HOWEVER, it sounds as though you are trying to do too much too soon. Leave them alone for a while let them settle in and get things going. Queen rearing in based on how well the colony is doing not what year you are in. I would leave it this year and concentrate on getting established colonies. There is no need to open to check every week. If there is pollen going in, there is probably brood. If there are a lot of bees out foraging they probably don't need feeding.
I haven't housed package bees before but the "lag" depends on the age of the bees. You may have a lot of younger bees in which case you might not notice too much of a lag. When I have housed a cast swarm there is a definite lag as the queen isn't laying on arrival and all the bees are of similar age. Best of luck.
You can go foundationless pretty much anytime. It is good to insert foundationless frames in between frames with foundation (or drawn comb) this helps to keep things straight. HOWEVER, it sounds as though you are trying to do too much too soon. Leave them alone for a while let them settle in and get things going. Queen rearing in based on how well the colony is doing not what year you are in. I would leave it this year and concentrate on getting established colonies. There is no need to open to check every week. If there is pollen going in, there is probably brood. If there are a lot of bees out foraging they probably don't need feeding.
I haven't housed package bees before but the "lag" depends on the age of the bees. You may have a lot of younger bees in which case you might not notice too much of a lag. When I have housed a cast swarm there is a definite lag as the queen isn't laying on arrival and all the bees are of similar age. Best of luck.