When you take your bees home you should first feed them the syrup that you prepared earlier. If you have only one or two swarms you can take a clean rag and wipe the syrup on the screen or paint it on the screen with a clean brush. If you have a number of packages you can turn the crate on end in a tub and sprinkle the syrup on the bees in the top cage and it will drizzle through onto those below. It will be advisable to give each swarm a pint or more of this sugar syrup, and then set them in the shade for half an hour or more so that they can clean up all of the syrup before installing them in the hive.

Feed your bees a thin sugar syrup as soon as you get them home and then place them in a cool place for half an hour or longer so they can eat the syrup. Just before installing wet them down thoroughly using about a quart of cool water per swarm which will prevent flying. Do not wet your bees down with syrup when installing.

If the weather is bad put the bees in a dark, cool room that is well ventilated, after first examining the queen to see if she is ok. Feed the bees twice a day as long as they are in storage. Don't become nervous, you will soon have a nice day.

Install your bees in their hive at any convenient time but preferably in late afternoon. The more swarms you have to install the more desirable it is that they be installed late in the day to prevent drifting. If you have plenty of room it is advisable to place your hives 3 or 4 or more feet apart to prevent the bees from drifting to one hive and making it exceptionally strong and leaving the other colonies weakened.

Immediately before installing your bees sprinkle each package with a quart of cold water. Do not be afraid of drowning your bees and do not be afraid of wetting them down too much. In hot weather more cold water may be required than in cold weather. Use enough water to drive most of them off the screen and to cause them to cluster tightly. This will make them easier to handle and will stop them from flying.

Under the short cover board is the feeder can and queen cage.

Turn the cage upside down go that the feeder can will slip into your hand.

Bees are shipped with a can of syrup feed, which will be found under the short top cover board of the shipping cage. Pry this board off and there you will see the bottom of the can and in many cases the queen cage is set in a slot just off the feeder can hole. In other cases the queen cage is hung on a piece of frame wire that is twisted around a nail near the can opening.

In either case jam the cage squarely (not on edge) on the floor, hard enough to knock the bees to the bottom of the cage. If the queen cage is in a slot pull it out quickly and shove a small cotton rag into the hole. If the queen is in the hole with the feeder can turn the cage on end and give the cage a jerk so as to start the can out firmly grasping the can then set the cage back on the floor in an upright position and pull the can all the way out. Then pull the queen cage out and put the feeder can back in place which will keep the bees in the cage.

Locale the queen in her cage and see that she is alive. There is candy food in one of the three holes; remove the cork or metal gate from this end so that the bees in the swarm can chew through the candy and release the queen in the quiet of the closed hive.

Either brush off or smash the few bees clinging onto the queen cage and locate the queen. She is longer and slimmer than the other bees. Don't worry about her small size as she has not been laying for several days; once she is introduced and laying she will be about three times as large. Italian queens are usually a deeper yellow than the workers but the sure way to tell any queen from the workers is that the middle part of her body, onto which the legs and wings are attached, is bald and shiny while this part of the worker and drone bees is covered with short downy hairs.

If your queen is ok you can return her to the shipping cage if you are going to keep them in storage overnight or longer or if the weather is warm you can proceed at once with your installation. If the queen is dead on arrival write your shipper air mail and return the queen in the small cage she came in and you should receive another queen free of charge by return air mail.