A'ight, I'll give this a try...
I'm not sure how it happened -- one day I was talkin to my neighbor about the lack of bees we're seeing in our gardens, and the next day I am priming/painting hive bodies in anticipation of my first package of bees... That was 2.5 weeks ago. The package is doing great -- last check the queen was laying, brood were being capped, and there was a lot of honey/pollen...
But why stop? Found a supplier that had a few (3) frames of capped brood and some bees to get rid of. Put one frame of capped brood in the original hive and set the bees/other 2 frames (with a caged queen) in another body on the other corner of my (relatively small, urban Seattle) yard. Will check in on everyone in a couple days to make sure the queen was accepted etc.
SO. Is anyone in the area able tell me what to expect for a flow time (looks like the blackberries have kicked in...)? I have second deeps ready to go for each hive (bees are Italian, was told to expect VERY rapid growth) but nothing more. Should I start priming/painting (a) 3rd deeps? (b) small/med supers? I'm OK with not having a harvest this year, but if things are looking POSSIBLE, I want to be ready (advice on getting some comb honey would be welcomed too!).
I've read 'Beekeeping for Dummies" and "The Backyard Beekeeper" from cover-to-cover multiple times, and feel like I have less of a grasp the more I read here.
Thanks for the opportunity to ramble!