I'd like to thank everyone for all the discussions and responses to my sometimes-goofy questions. The give and take certainly makes me feel more confident about what I'm doing and how to help my colony thrive.
This past Sunday I had the opportunity to make a comprehensive inspection of my hive, 5 weeks and 2 days after installing the package. It was a much better experience than the last time I spent a lot of time in the hive, and nobody got upset. Plenty of smoke, patience, staying to the side and back, and not throwing a shadow helped lots! They workers had drawn four full frames in the top super, and the queen was there laying eggs. She quickly moved back down into the lower box as soon as I replaced the frame she was on.
All the frames in the bottom brood box had drawn comb, most of them completely. One of the things I noticed was that because I had interspersed some drawn frames with undrawn foundation a few weeks ago, there was overdrawn comb in a few places. I noticed this particularly along the tops and upper corners of the frames where honey was stored, but they didn't overdraw the brood comb much at all, although there was some uneveness on a few adjacent frames of comb.
Looking at how the colony has developed over the past 5 weeks, I know that the most important thing for me to do is to help it get as strong as possible for the coming winter. It would be risky to break them up to try start a second colony at this point. It does take them a while to build up from a package, and I don't see them being that strong by fall if I make them start over again now. They're coming along fine, as far as I can tell, and they look healthy, happy and busy. So I'll be happy to wait til spring and see them buzzing about after the thaw.
-- Kris