not eatting?

[GLOCK]

OK got my bee's last Thursday.
I had to put my bee's in there new hives on a windy day but things went well.
The problem is it's been cold and rainy real cold at night like low 30s.
i have screen bottom boards and can look up under the hive and i notice the one hive has more dead bee's on the screen bottom board then the other one has plus the hive with more dead bees had a small{20} pile of bees in front of the hive and has not been eatting much from the top feeder.
The other hive has used up about a quart what do ya all think?
Plus when i put my bee's in there  hive i didn't pook a hole in the candy plug in the Queen cage but i did take out the cork will that be a problem?  This thursday it's going to be in the 60's and sunny so i'm going to take a look see .
I'm hoping things are going right. One more thing after hiving 2 packages of bees i'm quessing i lost around like 300 bees. i noticed dead ones around the apiary is this normal? Please remember i'm new beekeeper and if it's a dumb question i'll only ask once. thank you.

[Hethen57]

They will probably survive with the screen open in the 30's (many people on here do it), but I wouldn't...why make their life more difficult.  They can't move below about 45 degrees, and the brood need over 90 degrees, so why leave the window open when they are busy trying to build the house.  If I misunderstood, then you are fine.  As far as syrup intake, some hives take alot, some don't...I wouldn't worry about it.  I have new hives that I need to replace a quart a day, others a quart a week, so don't worry about that.  Also, you will see tons of dead bees over the next month, they make packages out of all ages of bees and many only have a few weeks of life left...they are just in there to get you started.  It will tip the other direction after about 40 days when you get a couple of brood cycles hatched.  Finally, the queen will be fine...they don't need a hole to eat through the candy, it just speeds up the process.  Good luck with your bees.

[buzzbee]

As long as its  cold,I would close the bottom board. Especially on a package with undrawn foundation.Mites will not be much of an issue without brood present. The bees need to maintain warmth to establish the colony.If the syrup is too cold they will not touch it. If there is a strong flow,even a lot of dandelion,they may not take the sugar at all.We have black locust starting into bloom here,so an established colony would likely pass by the syrup too.