When should I see eggs or brood?

[gdog]

I picked up my 7 packages on Tuesday May 14, 2013, placed them into medium boxes. On Wednesday I put a marshmellow in the end of the queen cages I would think with the travel time from California to Wisconsin the bees would have gotten use to her smell, especially buy Thursday or Friday when she was most likely released.

Today, Sunday I went and removed the queen cages all the queens have been released. Did not bother looking for the queens. They have filled the mediums 90% have to get another box on each hive.

The frames are fill with uncapped honey, how is the queen gonna find a place to lay and when should I look again for capped brood or eggs for that matter?

[Sparky]

Are you feeding the packages ? If so you need to stop feeding if they don't have frames of comb to build. Is there a nectar flow going on in your area ?

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

I am totally new to beekeeping, and so there for if anyone contradicts my understanding, or says something else, by all means take what they say over what I am saying....but it is my understanding that you didn't give enough information to answer really correctly.
  To answer correctly it depends on what type of setup you did to start with I believe (type of hive/etc.). on a typical hive with for instance clean foundation, things will progress differently then if you put in already drawn and cleaned comb or no foundation or anything at all.
  On a installation with foundation, typically your bees will start to draw and get organized within a week, but definitely within 14 days you should see eggs and larva. the eggs are really difficult to see sometimes if you do not know what to look for. some have said look for a grain of rice, but honestly they are smaller than that by far. It is always a good idea to find your queen and know she is there. some times a queen does not take, and she'll just take off, or sometimes people will roll her or kill her. If you see eggs or larva then you know she is there though. I do not think people should mess with their hives the first week hardly at all, the method I like for installing a new package for a small beek is, the standard dump the bees in, remove the stopper if there is one on the queen cage, put in some candy, a marshmellow, fondant/etc. stick a rubber band around a frame with foundation and put the queen cage in the middle with the screen part facing up and down (this I believe helps the queen with the pheromones/etc get the other bees used to it, and herself as well as they free her.  if you have predrawn clean comb it helps them get setup faster, and she can start laying when she feels like it (presuming you have a mated queen.)....but by day 14 your hive should be visibly active and going, there should be visible larva curled up nice and cozy in a good laying pattern, and plenty of pollen and food stores, if it is this time of year (time of year does of course also make a difference as well as the flowers in your area and gardening zone.) and that also determines I think how much you need to feed them too. a new hive in january Michigan is different then one that is in texas or georgia. anyways, I'm not even close to a expert, but hope it helps.
  Remember bees do survive fine on their own in your state more then likely too... they should be ok.

[buzzbee]

I agree with sparky. If all cells are full of syrup,nix feeding until they need it. As the syrup dries down they will consolidate it or consume it building more wax.
A honey bound package will leave at the drop of a hat if a flow is on and there is no where to lay.

[buzzbee]

As afr as seeing eggs, you may just be creeping up on time for the queen to start laying. Three days after laying the eggs will hatch into small larvae. At 9 or 10 days after being laid, worker brood will be capped.Hope weve helped.

[gdog]

I will be leaving them alone for the next ten days and will check them then to see what is going on.  The only thing I will be doing is adding another medium to each.

[gdog]

I am not feeding them what ever they have they are getting from nature. About a flow, I have no idea the weather here has been cool 50-65 degrees for the most part, good ol Wisconsin weather

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

well, you have 7 packages right, so are all of them the same pretty much? that should really tell you if things are typical, chances of all 7 being goofy at once is pretty slim I'd think. (not that things couldn't happen to all at the time, but I'd think it would have to be something very noticeable, like all of them dead because a neighbor sprayed the boxes or something/etc.) I still stick with them being fine. what type of hive are you using, and how many frames/etc, and what size packages did you install? 3 lb? you mentioned drawn out to like 90%? full drawn out on all frames?  have a lot of pollen or is it all nectar cells?

[Joe D]

Where your bees installed of new foundation or drawn comb, and how many frame super.  Good luck to you and your bees




Joe

[gdog]

They are all the same age and were all placed on drawn comb   

[iddee]

You should have eggs now. Eggs can be hard to see, so if you have large larva or capped pupae when you check in 10 days, all is well. They will move nectar to give her a place to lay. The nectar will go into the new super and she will lay in the bottom box, and maybe the top, too.