hello all,
I hived my two packages of bees last week when they arrived (thanks again to all who helped with that!). They were installed on drawn frames from my two hives that didn't make it through the winter (2-3 frames of honey, 1 frame of pollen, 2-3 undrawn frames, 4-5 frames of drawn foundation). I checked on them yesterday evening - the queens had been released, but were not yet laying. I didn't find even one egg in either of the hives. They also aren't taking any pollen from the patties I placed on top of the bars. Is this normal? I have only ever established one other hive from a package and that queen started laying right away.
My one thought on this is that the bees came from California. Here, in ND, it is still 50-60 degrees with temps in the 30's at night. Could the shift in conditions be holding up egg laying?
Thanks for replies
mike