Haa! When I picked up my two packages this past May at the Post Office, they had them on the floor close to an exit door! I have to brag on my packages and both were well secured and no more than 10 dead bee's in each. Not sure if I'm allowed to name the company, if so I'll let you know. I was impressed with the overall health of them.
Now I am as new and wet behind the ears as can bee, but when I installed both packages, here's what I did:
Prepared each box by making sure everything was level. I brought the bee's home and placed them in my basement overnight. The next morning, I removed 3 of the 10 frames (from Center) from each new home. Took me a bit of time to "Man-up" but I finally sprayed the bees with a 1:1 mix (lightly and not drenching them) and then I popped off the cover, removed the syrup can Making dang sure to hang on to the Queen cage! I then removed the queen cage and set her aside and them gently shook the ladies into the hive. I rocked the cage back and forth a few times to get as many as I could in there. I then set the cage at the entrance of the hive. Then, I took the queen cage and removed the plug. I rubber banded it to one of the frames I had pulled and set aside. Once I did that, I returned the other two frames and then the last to go in was the one with the cage! I made sure to place the cage in a manner as to leave the exit NOT FACING DOWN. I was told/read that if one of her attendants died and blocked her exit, it could be a disaster! Wrong or right, I just dunno.
Anyways, I did the same thing to the other package and then covered both with the Top and placed a brick on each top and all is well! I did all of this without a bee suit or a veil! I was soooooooooo proud of myself!! No stings at all, and was actually kind of fun :-D
I did go into each hive about 3 days later to make sure the Queens were released and to remove the cages. Both were a-ok! I even had a good amount of Burr Comb built down on the Queen cage in one frame.
I'm still on 1:1 sugar water, what, some 5-6 weeks later. I've got plenty of stuff going on in there but not quite ready for a second deep...yet :roll: :-D
I'm sure there are those who would critique my installation method, but it seemed to work out fine for me. When I'm able to post Links, I'll post my Flickr Link for the Hive Shots during my inspections!
Best of luck tomorrow! Please take pictures!!
Jim