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Difference in hives/bees

I am a new beekeeper and installed two packages on 25 March. I noticed right off the bat a difference in the two packages. One package (Call it #1) went in pretty easily while the other (Call it #2) had about 20% of the bees wanting to stay in the shipping box. They both finally went in completely and the queens came out of their cages a few days later. Now I am about 2 weeks down the road and #2 seems much more productive than #1 and has something going on just about every frame in the box. #1 has built comb inside the top feeder (area where bees feed) and has worked less than 1/2 the frames. There is also a very obvious difference in the activity going in/out between the two. Any idea why one would be so much more productive? Also - should I do anything about the comb in the feeder?

A final question regarding the feeders- One hive #1 black ants were getting into the feeder. (not a lot but some) Nothing in #2 even though they share the same stand. Does this indicate anything about the health of hive#1? What can I do to discourage the ants?

 

What about brood? Tell us how much eggs, open brood and capped brood each have. Also, how solid is the laying pattern? Did the feeder with the comb become empty at one time? That may cause them to fill it with comb.

 

For ants, sprinkle a line of cinnamon around the outside of the hive and remove any inner lid you may be using.

 

Hive #1 has 7 of 10 frames being worked. There is brood and the laying pattern looks to be ok. The feeder has not gone empty and now actually both feeders have comb in the area where the bees enter to feed. Hive #2 is still A LOT more productive than #1.

I tried the cinnamon and that seemed to help with the ants.

Hive#2  Hive #2

 Hive #1:

 

I checked both hives on 31 April and hive #1 is finally up and running at about the same as #2. Don't know why it took them so long to get with it but all looks good now. I saw one hive beetle and have put traps in now. When should I start checking for mites with the bottom board?

I would think it's never to soon to check for mites, if I am wrong iddee please correct me. But I would do 24 hour mite checks maybe once a month with the bottom board. Not sure what kind of counts you would be looking for , but there is someone on here who knows the ansewer to that I am sure.

Well from the end of March to now things have totally switched: The hive I thought was doing so well at the beginning was really looking bad and the one I was worried about seems to be doing quite well. I had Nancy Ruppert come down and inspect both with me and she felt like Hive #2 had swarmed at some point as we could not find a queen and there were not that many bees present. At her suggestion I let things sit for about 10 days and then checked the hive Sunday. There are more bees present and they appear to be fair amount of larvae and two queen cells. I sent photos to Nancy and she said to give it another 8-10 days and see if they raise a queen. My take-away from this is that Nancy is a great resource and is very interested in seeing our hives succeed. I've chunked in a few photos so you can see what I saw on Sunday.Drone CellsbroodQueen cell  Queen & brood

You are right about Nancy.She is pure gold. We are extremely lucky to have her.

Did she do a sugar shake on either or both hives? If not, I think I would do one on each.

As for the pics, it looks like it may be more like two to two and a half weeks before you will be seeing brood from the new queen. I would just relax until about the 10th to 15th of July.