Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: jxbeeman on May 02, 2005, 10:13:47 pm
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I was wondering how many frames of eggs is usual 1 week after installing a #3 package of bees. prob depends on weather. but any guesses are good. guesses for ( Good weather, decent, and bad). thanks
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on foundation or drawn comb
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both foundation and drawn comb[/quote]
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It's probably foolish to hazard a guess, but I peeked in some of my starts today to get an idea. It may not help you figure what your trying, but here goes. I started 5-3 lbs packages on drawn comb and a gallon of syrup. I also gave them a frame of sealed brood/pollen/honey. In 19 days, they are on 8 frames. There is brood in 7, but they have had some chilled brood a couple times, as the queen outpaced their ability to cover it.
I started 5-3 lbs packages on foundation, same as above. 1 frame sealed brood/pollen/honey, gallon feeder. Also put terrarium heater in these. They have 6 frames fully drawn, brood in 5. They are festooning on the 7th and I was amazed to see the queen on a frame that only had about 1/4 of the cells partially drawn. I'm not sure these are typical, or if there is a typical. The colony I looked in seems to have alot of bees, and I'm thinking there has been some drifting. I'll have to peek into the others I started on foundation for a better idea. The brood is not corner to corner as they were storing pollen and syrup pretty quickly.
As far as what they do in a week, or a month, somebody has probably measured. But the bottom line is, they will go as fast as they are able. There are many variables, and the bees themselves have goals. If the queens laying, the nectar is coming in, they'll expand.