Harvey installed two packages today? How long till I check?

[harvey]

Hello all,  Well I got my two packages today!  First time i have ever installed a package.  Seemed to go easy.  I set up the hives.  I put two frames of capped honey in each to get them started.  One hive has eight frames with just wood strips that I drizzeled a little bee wax on?  Gonna try foundationless.  The other hive has Dadent wood frames with plasticell in it.  It was drizzeling out and quite windy but the bees seemed gentle and dove down between the frames.  The queen cage was a little weird looking.  A plastic cage with one end filled with bee's wax.  I took a number 8 nail and made a small hole in the bee's wax.  Then i put the queen cage in between two top bars with the wax end facing down and pushed them together to hold the cage in place.   There are or were no worker bee's in with the queens, The queens were both alive though and running back and forth in the cage.   When I took the frames of honey from my other hive I would say there are as many bees in there as what came in the packages and they don't have a queen and havn't had brood in the hive for almost six weeks now?   
    Well How did I do?  and how long should I wait to check if the queen's are out and laying?   

[Jahjude]

Pretty much ok so far i'd say,check for release of queen on 3rd day and if u can be patient enuf to wait until a week to check for eggs....Are the queens marked??
 :shock:6wks without a queen in previous hive?I'd have checked and confirmed there's no laying worker/s and if not then wud've made a newspaper combination with package,that or purchase a queen if u can have her within a few days....Goodluck

[marksmith]

The other hive that has been without sign of a queen for 6 weeks is another concern.


Just a newbee here... but the hive with foundation I would look in about 4-5 days to see if the queen was released and doing her job.  The foundationless hive I'd pop and make sure they are building comb in the right spots in 24hrs.  They build TONS of comb in a short time. No time like the present to make sure its being built in the right spot.  No need to dive into it... just make sure the wax is in the right spot.  Return 4-5 days and see if she's been released.


As for the hive without sign of brood in 6 weeks.... when does the ramp up start in Michigan?  If they are truly queenless then you need to think about introducing another queen ASAP or combining them w/ the other packages to strengthen their numbers.  


Again, just a new beek here... I'm sure other more experienced folk will chime in.