Well, the girls have been in their hives since last Wednesday. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to take a turn for the worse so I took advantage of the 70 degree weather today to do my first ever inspection. All went well. Both queens had been released, and I found both of them. (Thank goodness for marked queens!!). Both hives have started to build out comb pretty well. Both hives had 3 or 4 frames with eggs already layed. (Thank goodness for black foundation!!). Both hives had stores of necter (from 1:1 syrup I'm feeding I would think), and pollen. I took out a little burr comb from each hive where they had built it around the empty queen cages. Should I frame that.....kinda like the first dollar you make from a new business? :-D .
The only thing that I thought looked different that from what I've read, was that each hive had only taken about 24 oz. each of 1:1 syrup with Honey B Healthy and Fumagilin B in it. I've heard that they take a good couple quarts a week? Only thing blooming around here now are dandelions and a few cherry blossoms. Could they be getting nectar someplace else? Or is the amount of 1:1 they've taken within the normal range for 3# packages in their first week. Like I said, they seem to be producing lots of comb on the new Pierco plastic frame/foundation, and storing lots of goodies and laying lots of eggs.
Thoughts?
You can see the busy little girls in the photo/video forum.