Four packages installed

[dpence]

Hello all,
    My wife and I installed four packages of bees yesterday.  Two of the queens are Russian and as suggested I am extending her release time to provide the Italian workers more time to accept.  Something we did different this year is placing some frames of honey in the new hives vs. relying totally on sugar syrup.  Is it safe to rob some frames of pollen from strong hives this early?  I thought I would add that too but didn't know how much I could take.  Thanks.

David

[Brian D. Bray]

Adding frames of honey and pollen to a package never hurts and usually helps more than feeding syrup.

[DennisB]

David,

Good luck with the Russian queen. I have 1 Russian hive and they are a bit different than the way the Italians that I have. Actually I love to watch them a lot. A very pretty bee. I picked up four nucs today and got them set this evening before the sun went down. With the winds today it was surprising that any bees were able to get out of the hive to forage.

Have a great spring.

DennisB

[JP]

Adding frames of honey and pollen to a package never hurts and usually helps more than feeding syrup.

It also makes a new colony think twice about swarming out on you.


...JP

[dpence]

Good deal, anything I can do to help them want to stay home...LOL.  I hope to see a good laying pattern in a couple weeks.  Dandelions are starting to pop here.  Lots of willow pollen too.   I can hardly wait for next time I can watch the girls working. 

David

[dpence]

Just a follow up, both Russian hives are doing excellant.  My son and I inspected them today, nice capped brood, growing larve and lots of eggs.  Incidentally my son was in short sleeves and a veil, bees were very docile even when we pulled frames to look.  I will be able to access thier nature when the new brood hatches.  Still mostly Italian workers at this point I believe.

David 

[Michael Bush]

If there is a source of pollen and there are other frames of pollen in the hive, I wouldn't feel bad about taking one.