New Beekeeper Question - How much activity to expect?

[Steve Loose]

Hi, all.  I'm a new beekeeper and just got my first package on Monday.  I know I'm supposed to resist a hive inspection for a little longer, but I'm not noticing a ton of activity at my entrance.  Only 10 or so bees coming in and out.  Is that normal for the time of year and w/ a new hive?  THANKS!

[Phillip Thomas]

Steve - you may want someone to come look at them with you -  that behavior is not normal at this time of year...

Sent from my iPhone.

Pls forgive small typo's and such.

On May 13, 2021, at 1:21 PM, Steve Loose <steve...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, all.  I'm a new beekeeper and just got my first package on Monday.  I know I'm supposed to resist a hive inspection for a little longer, but I'm not noticing a ton of activity at my entrance.  Only 10 or so bees coming in and out.  Is that normal for the time of year and w/ a new hive?  THANKS!

--
Visit us at our website: http://www.bostonbeekeepers.org & on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BostonBeekeepers
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Boston Area Beekeepers Association" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to boston-beekeepers...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/boston-beekeepers-club/f3f82d71-8ca8-4cab-9f38-6473cbfbe86cn%40googlegroups.com.

[paul mueller]

Steve,

Inspection means taking all your frames out and looking for eggs or brood or nectar. You don't need to go that far. Just a take a peek.

If you gently smoke your hive entrance for a bit to distract them wait for a good bit to let that take effect and slowly take off the top cover, you could look in through the hole in the inner cover and see what's up. Where did you put your queen cage? Was it in a place that's visible through that hole? If so, there should be lots of bees around there to give you a clue about something being wrong. This is not very disruptive and low risk for causing a new package to abscond. 

Don't oversmoke. Light drifty puffs. Be gentle and slow. 

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

On Thu, May 13, 2021 at 1:29 PM, Steve Loose

<steve...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, all.  I'm a new beekeeper and just got my first package on Monday.  I know I'm supposed to resist a hive inspection for a little longer, but I'm not noticing a ton of activity at my entrance.  Only 10 or so bees coming in and out.  Is that normal for the time of year and w/ a new hive?  THANKS!

--