Beekeeper Herb Lester sent in these photos showing how he goes about installing a new package of bees. I thought it might be helpful to see what this looks like if you’ve never done it before. Herb installs his packages the same way I do. Instead of shaking the bees out, he just sets the opened package in the hive and lets the bees walk out by themselves.
This system is easy. You just remove five frames, affix the queen cage to a remaining frame, and set the box in place. The next day you can go back, remove the package, and replace the five frames. Thanks, Herb, for sharing your photos.
Most elegant! Rusty I have never seen a grille at the entryway like that…what is the purpose, a mouse guard?
No, it is actually a swarm guard. The wires are spaced the same way as in a queen excluder. The queen can’t get out so the colony is less likely to swarm or abscond. Swarm guards cannot be used for long periods of time because drones can’t get in or out either. But they are perfect to use when installing a new package. I leave them on until comb building has begun and it is clear that the colony is accepting their new home. Good idea for a post . . . I will include some other uses.
Neat! Rusty, do you know what is in the sprayer in the third picture?
Chris,
Here is Herb’s reply:
Whenever my queen mates with Africanized drones the offspring leave the hive at all hours of the night and don’t collect any pollen i.e work they just come and go as they please and eat whatever they want and give nothing in return all that I can handle it’s just they complain the whole time as well. I just don’t know what to do.
Excellent step by step. I always thought with a package you tipped them into the hive out of the package. We don’t generally have packages in the UK; they are almost exclusively nucs.
N
Nick,
Most people dump, shake, tip, or thrash the bees out of the package, but it really isn’t necessary. As soon as you move the queen, they just follow along.
I plan on setting my bee package into their new home also. I never understood the shaking.
I’m looking forward to receiving my bees, I will be getting them in early May. I ordered mine online, I hope they arrive at my post office without any issues. Last week, my bee supplier left a post on his Facebook page. He said the post office where one of their packages were delivered exterminated the bees since they “escaped.” He was trying to figure out how that happened. I’m still unsure why the post office didn’t contact the person who was receiving the package.
I’m new to beekeeping, but have always loved bees (even as a young child) and have read so much about them throughout the years.
Beautiful!
Funny I should see this now, Rusty. I had just posted a photo album on my Facebook page showing a very similar procedure. I prefer this technique of placing rather than shaking bees during installation. In cold weather this method takes on even more preference in my opinion. The two biggest reasons are: One, the bees haven’t oriented to this new location yet and those that fly up during ‘shaking’ may not find the entrance. And, two, particularly in cold weather, they may not find the entrance to the new location before going into torpor. Yes, I have witnessed this very sad scene in my apiaries. Hundreds of bees sitting in torpor all over the other hives in the apiary.
Since starting this ‘place over shake’ method I have never witnessed that again. I haven’t ever used the queen excluder on the entrance on a package, but I’ve never had one abscond….yet. I have heard of it happening from time to time, however, so it certainly wouldn’t hurt. I have found that swarms are more likely to leave a new location than a package. I do use the excluder when I capture a swarm because I have seen them abscond. I think it’s because captured swarms have many older bees that are still in ‘scout’ mode, whereas a package is much more likely to be made up of mostly nurse bees. How do I know this, you ask? Because packages are generally made up (shook) during nice weather when most of the foragers and scouts are out and about. Finally, I really like the idea of having ‘pussy cat’ approval of my packages. Maybe my son will let me borrow his.
Jim
Jim,
Thanks for some interesting insights. One additional comment: A number of years ago I was installing packages at the prison where I volunteered. We had a number of Langs, but also some top-bar hives. I installed quite a few packages that day and, in both hive types, I used the “place over shake” method with no excluders or swarm guards. I went back the next day and two of the top-bar packages had absconded leaving their caged queen behind. It was the strangest thing I have ever seen and I have no theory for what happened. Maybe there really was another queen “loose in the package.” I have no clue. All the rest of the packages did fine. Since then, I do like to use an excluder for a few days.
Thanks Rusty! I will be installing my first ever package in a week or so! Would it be the same if I have drawn comb for the hive?
Tom,
Yes. That will make the whole process even easier for the bees.
While I have an empty hive and an empty package box, I think I’ll experiment and see if I can use this method in my top bar hive. It would certainly be easier than the dumping them out I did last time!
Andrea,
It works in my top-bar hive. It depends a bit on the geometry of the hive. Don’t be afraid to lay the package on its side, if necessary.
What is the little black plastic thing between frames?
Lilette,
That is a beetle trap. Small hive beetles go in there looking for a place to hide and end up getting caught in a pool of vegetable oil where they die.
Fabulous, and the entrance plaque is too precious!
I installed a package yesterday using the “Herb” method. We run all mediums (6-5/8 inches.) At about 7 -1/4 inches, the package was a little taller than a medium hive body, so we placed two hive bodies, 6 frames each of honey and drawn comb, around the package. In retrospect, a baggie feeder spacer (about the depth of a wood queen excluder) would have provided bee space above the package, and there would be less chance of burr comb when I check the queen released, remove the package, and replace the missing frames in three days.
Rusty, for feed, I went with leftover honey frames, not my usual Honey-B-Healthy sugar solution. The package came with a can of syrup, of course. I’m having 2nd thoughts, wondering if the bees will convert over with no problem. Are the bees smarter than their keeper?
Megan,
Remember, too, that you can lay the package on its side. It doesn’t have to be upright in the brood box.
Honey is the preferred food. Sugar syrup is used if you don’t have any honey. Please see: “Can I start a new package on honey instead of syrup?
I have two questions about his equipment. The first is what kind of hive stand is that and do you know where he got it? My second question is what are the white bars on the screened bottom board?
Christy,
1. The white bars you are seeing is a slatted rack which goes below the bottom brood box and above the screened bottom board.
2. Herb says, “This particular Metal Hive Stand came from: kelleybees.com, Cat #571 … $42.00. It raises your hive up off the ground about 8″ … Makes working your hive more comfortable and makes it hard for the skunks to eat your bees. It is designed to adjust to fit 10 frame and 8 frame bottom boards. They support a lot of weight and are easy to use. These stands make trimming around the hive easy and allow a lot of open space under the hive. When placed on large stepping stones … Weeds and grass do not grow up under the IPM bottom board. Helps keeps everything hygienic. The height of the stand allows you to lean your frames up against the hive while inspecting your hive.
If you are a person who likes make your own stands, you could make a similar stand out of angle iron.”
should you use two brood boxes for one hive ?
Two is good but you don’t need to add the second box right away. Wait until you’ve got bees on about eight frames (or on six frames in an 8-frame hive).
I am busy putting together new equipment and making shopping lists for my spring package. I am just going with one to start in all mediums. have done a ton of reading but have zero real experience so consider myself entirely ignorant and in need of much planning (which I am happily spending these cold winter days doing).
My plan is to religiously avoid mixing equipment, i.e. try to do everything in mediums including any nuc/queen rearing down the road. I am on the coast of Maine atop a windy hill so need to also consider very cold temps and salt air. For spring and summer I’m setting up to use eight frame equipment as follows from bottom up: a hive stand, hive base, screened bottom board and tray, slatted rack (Rusty, do you paint the entirety of the slatted rack as in the above pic? (I’m guessing it does see a lot of moisture), queen excluder (I’m thinking about putting this on the bottom for a few days to serve the same purpose as a swarm guard- or absconsion guard, but am wondering if this is a bad idea and if I should just get a swarm guard or use a smaller entrance instead), mediums for brood and supers as needed (will there be room in an eight frame medium to lay a package on its side and still tack in the queen cage and have room for at least a frame or two?
If I don’t have room for a frame or two, should I just put a second medium brood box on right away? On top of the package but below the feeder?), two compartment hive top feeder (which I plan to drill on the bottom with a 2″ drill bit and use cork bottle lids of the same size to plug as needed then just drop in boardman feeders with extra large masons and/or baggies as necessary.
Here my questions are (1) whether I could also put global patties in the compartment with the boardman feeders or if I’d be better off cramming all syrup feeding into one area and patties in the other compartment? (2) is one 2″ hole per compartment enough for the bees to get through and feed or will it be too crowded? (3) am I just a wacko for making these modifications instead of just using the feeder as designed (I’m concerned that a large number will drown and/or it will be a huge mess, both of which will irk me, but I am also preparing to feed these bees like crazy to give them the best chance I possibly can given my location and that I am at best using waxy foundation and at worst foundationless, worst from a bee labor perspective anyway, see below), then screened inner cover and telescoping cover.
Another “off label” approach I am considering is a mix of beeswax coated plastic foundation and foundationless- with the foundation in the brood boxes and just the wedges nailed in as guides in any supers (down the road). Would I be better off alternating foundationless and foundation in the brood box? Any other thoughts on this approach? If I put a foundationless or two in the brood box along with foundation I’m wondering if that might have good odds of doubling as a drone trap?
Anyway, I appreciate any thoughts you have time to share. I love your site.
Whoa. I feel like I just read War and Peace and now I’ve been asked to critique it. I’ll go back to the top and answer as best I can, but you may have to re-ask if I don’t hit it all.
1. The photo does indeed show a painted slatted rack. I do not paint mine. I do not paint anything inside the hive.
2. You can use a queen excluder as a swarm guard for a few days, but as soon as the bees become established, remove it. Remember, your drones can not get through it. A real swarm guard does the same thing. A small entrance does nothing.
3. I don’t know if you can lay a package on its side in a medium and have room for frames. I think it would be tight. As you suggest, just place the package upright in a double medium. That should do it.
4. I don’t understand your thinking about feeders inside of feeders. If drowning bees is your main concern, use baggies inside a feeder rim, or use an inverted pail or jar inside an empty super or two. Unless I am totally missing your point, I see no reason to put a feeder inside another feeder.
5. You can use foundationless for a drone trap but it will not be easy to remove the larvae and re-use it. You will probably end up destroying the wax every time, which is quite energy expensive for the bees. Why not use plastic drone frames interspersed with foundationless? That should give you straight foundationless combs and drone frames.
6. Most bees will not eat the patties in the spring when pollen is available. You can give them a little to start, but I wouldn’t over do it. Pollen is better for them in the long run. And honey is better than syrup. Once they start pulling in the nectar, I would wait on the syrup until fall.
7. Just a general word of caution: don’t over-think this. The best beekeepers read their bees and react to situations. They look at their bees and see what they can do to help. They don’t have a rigid plan and expect the bees to follow. You aren’t doing anything wrong here, but I sense micro-management or maybe a soccer mom? Let the bees lead; you follow.
Thanks so much- so helpful! Really appreciate the quick response and I’ve never been compared to Tolstoy!
Good guess- environmental lawyer mom- Its important to me to research, understand, and have a plan before entering a new undertaking involving responsibility for the lives of other creatures (kids, pets, or livestock). Having a plan is part of that- but having kids and clients and pets and gardens and being a boater means I long ago learned that no one and nothing follows my plan including me half the time! One woman’s overthinking is the other’s respite from a bone cold winter (it’s 8 degrees today).
I think I understand the one hive issue and seriously considered starting with two but I am in a suburban area with lots of other micromanagers and I think those risks to my enterprise outweigh the risks of starting with one hive.
I was given the hive top feeder, my kits came with boardmans, and I have tons of glass mason jars on hand. I don’t want to use the hive top feeder because of drowning, weight and slopping syrup. I don’t want to use the entrance feeders because my garden hosts many potential robbers. The hive top feeder has two compartments each with a solid bottom and an entrance between the two compartments so I thought putting the Boardmans in there would solve all the issues and avoid buying something else or filling up my limited number of mediums. I can’t feed them honey and they’ll have a lot of work to do before they can make any of their own in new wood early in a Maine spring (“if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute”). Thus I also want to give protein when they first get on new wood. My concerns were congestion (thus needing to drill some additional access) and whether the patties would melt/dissolve in with the syrup on top of the hive. After reading another of your articles I’m thinking I should just add Megabee and Honey Bee Healthy to the syrup and forget about the patties. If I’m doing patties I want to order them while it’s cold (and while I’m still fully focused on winter bee work as I’ve not yet started seedlings).
Thanks again- really appreciate your site.
Leo,
Yes, I get the neighborhood thing. You are wise to start slowly if micro-moms may pose a threat.
Anyway, sounds interesting. Keep in touch and let me know how it goes.
Joanna,
I forgot to mention that the thing I most disagree with is starting with one hive. Two can give you so many more options when things happen . . . and things do happen.
We don’t use a smoker but a fine mist of sugar water holds their attention
and we are newbies but the package honeybees we installed today seem very healthy and were installed only a few hours ago and flew about returning with pollen already today they were eager to eat the candy and free their queen. We are encouraged and these honeybees live in the corner of my shop, I just think I have been learning all day and can hardly wait for the nuc package to arrive, these package bees went so easily and they love the honey we fed to them today they are obviously busy bees.
We are in north Idaho and sent away for new honeybees after a disastrous winter. The swarm that was sold to me by a bee farmer last year left after the ice melted and the sun came out. They were a swarm he had captured and I was told sometimes the swarmers are like gypsies. This time we have started with two packages of honeybees, a package bees and a package of nucs that are still not here yet. The package bees as I said are already carrying pollen into their new bee box. They are so much healthier than the little swarm we fed all winter. They are busy already and amazingly exploring for pollen and we just installed them this morning. I respect honeybees and my partner/friend and I are amateurs but the bees seem to know so much more than we do; then this afternoon it rained for about an hour but when the sun returned they were buzzing around again and exploring. We were having difficulty finding a small funnel in order to fill the bottles for the entrance feeders, but now that all the honeybees are in the bee box and retired for the night I feel so relieved. There were tremendous honeybee losses in our area but the new honeybees lend hope.
Hi, I love the no shaking the bees. I am using two types of bee hives one is a Warre hive. I have an opening for my queen, so when I get my bees I take the cork and candy out and place a marshmellow? The bees will remove this? A Warre has no foundation so I would just place the bees box in the bottom? Thank you so much from South Carolina.
Teresa,
I don’t know what you mean by “I have an opening for my queen.” But if your queen cage has a cork on one end and candy on the other, you don’t need a marshmallow. A marshmallow is a type of candy the bees can eat through, but so is the candy plug. Either one works. It can take a matter of hours or a matter of days before the queen is released. Yes, you can just set the shipping box in the hive. Attach the queen cage to one of the frames so the bees come out and surround her. Once the box is empty, remove it from the hive. Overnight is usually plenty of time.
In my warre hive it is called a queen ring (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvsJq-fRItA&feature=player_detailpage#t=282). I guess I would just place the box in the bottom box. I am a newbie to this and this morning I had to install my bees and worried about a sub-tropical storm here in the Charleston area. When I installed my bees I did not shake them but my sugar water kind of spilled. I had to go to work so tonight I am adding more sugar water. How long do I wait till I take the box out that the bees came in? I am heading out to strap the bees down we may get 30 hr winds from storm, they seem to be calm, I did not install my bees in my warre hive will do that on the 20th. Thank you for any info,
Teresa,
You can take the empty box out after one night usually. Once you look, you will know.
I am picking up packaged bees this Friday, but Sunday’s forecast is for temperatures in the 30’s during the day and 20’s during the night. Can I keep the packages in the cage in my house for four or five days? They will have a can of sugar water in their cage and I will spray them with sugar water. If yes, will I be able to remove the plug in the queen cage sooner since the bee will have had more time to become acclimated to her?
Thanks.
Good morning,
I was hoping you might give me your advice on the following:
I will be installing a 4 frame nuc into an 8 frame deep. Since that will make the box 50% full from the get go, and I was planning on also feeding several frames of honey to get them started, do you think there is a danger of them feeling overly crowded in their first, undisturbed by my fumblings, week? Should I add a second medium above the deep and place the honey there instead, or put the honey at 1 and 8 (giving them only two frames of foundation) and check sooner? Any recommendation would be much appreciated, and as always, thank you for this site.
Jason,
You can do this in many different ways. My own preference would be to put honey frames at 1 and 8, and foundation at 2 and 7, and wait until the foundation is mostly drawn before adding another box.
I will be installing bees into 3 different hives this spring. One package and two new nucs. Will it work to put baggies on a spacer with a queen excluder on its bottom right over the brood box?
Larry,
That should work.
Rusty,
I seem to have gotten myself into a debacle again. Thought I’d get a jump on the season this year and ordered one bee package for second week Saturday. Unfortunately they are calling for snow and mid 30’s F until Wednesday. I saw this post, it sounds like my best option. Question #1: Should I do it in my garage, I can control the temperature there, it’s heated. Will they be okay if I keep it around 45 to 50 degree’s in the garage until Wednesday? #2: Should I install into a double deep hive setup with fully drawn comb, some with honey some empty? #3: Should I try to feed liquid syrup in the garage or sugar pack some of the empty comb close to the queen cage?
It should hit 50 by Wednesday, and I can move the hive outside and remove the moving screen by then. I’m trying to come up with the best option for their survival. The last two years the temps were in the high 50 and mid 60 by now. I thought for sure they would push back delivery with these conditions. Oh well , mental note, “Never take order before 4th week”, lesson learned.
I know you don’t like to tell people how to do it, legalities and all, just looking for the best outcome. My configuration: 8 frame hive, solid BB, slatted rack, double deeps, all drawn comb some honey, inner cover, garden top with ventilation holes, possible feeder rim with entrance holes to be blocked while in garage? or top tray syrup feeder while in heated garage? Lock down time: Travel of package?, pick up and install on Saturday around 2pm, liquid feed? Feeder holds 2 gallons, or sugar pack comb? Move outside Wednesday when temps hit 50 and remove moving screen, and hopefully resume normal operations from here on out. Although I wouldn’t know what normal is anymore. God help me!!!
Thanks, Jeffrey
Jeffrey,
Could you be overthinking this? I would just install as shown in the post, add an enclosed syrup feeder (my preference would be a baggy feeder) directly over the bees, close them up and walk away. But that’s just me.
Thanks Rusty,
I’ll try not to stress over this. everything will work out in the end.
Jeff
Rusty,
Thanks for the pep blog. You were right, too much overthinking, why try to fix the wheel? I managed to install a new bee package today inside the garage, only had 8 bees escape. It went so smooth even I was impressed.
I’m going to keep them inside for 2 to 3 days at around 45 F. Temperatures outside are in the low 20s at night and mid 30s during the day. Can’t afford to lose the queen. I will move them outside Wednesday afternoon when temps approach mid 50s. Thanks for the assistance again.
Best wishes and happy beekeeping,
Jeffrey S.
Could you tell me what type of feeder that is and where you got it from? Thanks!
Herb,
If you’re reading could you answer?
How do I get a beehive to move from their home in a dead trunk of a cut tree in to my new beehive box?
Zane,
Cut the combs out of the tree and tie them into your frames.
Hi Rusty,
Thanks for this info. I installed my first box 2 days ago, and just removed the box I got them in (I was told to wait 2 days), put in the rest of the frames, and put the box I got them in in front of the hive. However, there are a lot of bees still in the box, hanging from the top, and it is getting dark. Should I trust they will find their way into the hive right next to them? Should I dump them onto their side so they will crawl out? Any suggestions would be much appreciated. The installation was so easy but there is so little information about this step in the process!
Natalie,
At this point, I would shake the stragglers into the top of your hive.
Will do thank you!
Hi Rusty,
I was excited to try this with two new packages. One worked reasonably well, but the other was a disaster! I took a peek at 3 days to check that the queens were released, pull the boxes and put in the other frames. One package had mostly vacated the box. But the other one was all congregated in the box and had drawn comb in there! I wound up having to open the box to pull out the comb and shake the bees down into the hive anyway. Sorta feel like I should’ve just shaken them all in to begin with. Any thoughts on what might have gone wrong?
Peter
Peter,
Did you attach the queen cage to one of the frames? The bees will go wherever the queen is.
Installing package bees: See the Hansen Method, Published in the American Bee Journal.
One important comment in wedging in the queen cage between the top bar of 2 frames is a violation of bee space. The result bees may build comb between these frames and you may likely encounter newly constructed comb in that space with eggs and larvae developing in this comb and to remove it will result in a lose of new bees and to leave it will compromise the ability to move frames and inspect them. Al Avitabile co-author The Beekeeper’s Handbook.