Packaged Queens Have Been Released

I checked, and the bees in both of my new hives at my house had eaten the marshmallow and released the queens from their cages.

My dad and I had the same experience with our two new packages this week: some of the bees from one package got up, flew out of their hive and went into the other new hive.

The packages were fairly equal in size, but we both noticed one hive is twice as strong with twice as many bees, and the other is smaller.

Our two new hives sit right next to each other, and since the bees didn't know where they were in their new homes, it seems to make sense to me some of the drifted or changed homes.

Here's the (now) smaller hive with 5 frames of bees (some are in the top box out of view):


Here is the (now) stronger hive (nearly 10 frames of bees):


In both hives I found the new queens and got them both marked:
.

Whew! Both packages released their queen, both queens were laying eggs and both packages were starting to draw wax on the new foundation I gave them.

I closed them both up and looked at my overwintered hive at my house.

They're doing good, with no signs of swarming (knock on wood!) and have 6 frames full of honey, and are working on capping it:


This weekend I'll give them another super. Maybe I'll bottom super with a brand new super with pure honey foundation, and see if they'll draw it out.


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