« Reply #20 on: December 19, 2019, 08:36:20 pm »
Packages are a nice way to build an apiary. Especially if you have old comb.
I recommend packages to anyone who asks at the bee club.
However, you should not go into winter with the package queen, IMO.
I have the most success when I pull the package queen and let the hive make their own queen. A lot of times the hive will do so on their own. I like to pull the queen as soon as they fill out the first medium, if it's a normal queen.
For me in SW OHio/SE Indiana the package queens just don't make it thru winter.
jvalentour, I have heard the same advice given by others as far as adding a new queen in time. Maybe the queens are older? Or, there other reasons that eventual replacement is recommended by some keepers?
Thanks, PHillip
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2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
