Sooo disillusioned

[kathyp]

i think it's ok once it's drawn out.  seems the problem most people have is getting the bees to draw it out.  after reading and hearing about the problems, i think it's kind of tricky for new folks to deal with.  others seem to use it without problem.

[TwT]

drawn comb would make a world of difference but also stop feeding, they are filling the brood chamber with syrup and the queen has not too much places to lay, that will keep population down, your colony is about honey bound, the only thing I dont see much of is capped syrup? most cells are filled with sugar water from what I see in the pictures, bee's tend to draw out plastic a lot lot slower than wax foundation, some bee's do better than others on plastic foundation but I think all do better on wax. take the feed away for a while and see what they do, you can always add it back later if they need it but they have to much now by the looks of the brood frames.

[bmacior]

Sounds like that's what need to do, so that's what we'll do.  Thanks all.

[SgtMaj]

Side note:Sgt Maj said, "You shouldn't ever plan on harvesting anything from package bees the first year anyway... "

Not anything? That's what I thought too, but one of my hives from a package installed in April are very strong, and they have completely filled their upper deep body with honey. I added a super under the full body, and was planning on harvesting a few frames of the honey from the full box to open it up some, and return it to its position below the super. Would you? Or should I just leave it, and keep adding supers below?

If that's the case, then I would probably pull and freeze them, and maybe harvest a frame for personal consumption if needed, but would keep the rest frozen and ready to give back to them this winter if they need it.  If not, you can always take them out of the freezer and harvest them as soon as next year's flow starts.