Hello to everyone,
Well, I have just installed my first two packages 2 days ago. I'll give you a quick rundown so that I can lead you up to my problem. To install, I took the packages and placed them in the hive after removing 4 frames. I put the queens 2 frames over with a cupful of bees surrounding her. I opened packages and shut the hive up with sugar water on top of the inner cover to feed them. Because I have frames with just foundation for them to establish in, I was told to take cork out of queen cages 2 days later(today)so that this will give them time to draw out the comb before they started eating that sugar cube so that queens can come out. Yesterday, I observed that one hive was more active than the other. I felt that I needed to check on them and dump the rest of the remaining bees out of the packages and into the hive. I did this and found the weaker hive to have the majority of its bees to still be in package. They seemed very slow compared to the other package with the majority of its bees already out and getting to work. I hated to reopen the hives today but I had to take out corks and noticed that the stronger hive had already started drawing out comb whereas the weaker one still hasn't. Also, I have noticed fecal matter all over my hives and my suit. Could they have nosema or dysentery? Is this normal since they were cooped up in that little box? I have a microscope, maybe I should disect one to see. I'm not going to open them up for about 5 days. Also, I replaced their sugar water with fresh today. I would like to go organic and so if they have nosema or dysentery, what would be the best thing for me to do right now? Also, how long can it take for them to draw out the comb before it becomes a problem?