152. The brood of bees is subject to diseases which may be transmitted if the brood is shipped from a locality where the disease exists into a locality where it does not exist. Because packages are not accompanied either by combs or brood, the likelihood of transmitting disease through combless packages is negligible. From this point of view they are highly desirable. Under proper management and a favorable season, a package of bees will usually build up rapidly and frequently store considerable crops of honey the first year. The best size to be recommended for a beginner is the three pound package with an untested queen. The beekeeper is always confronted with the problem of when to have them arrive. This, of course, depends primarily upon getting them only after settled warm weather has come, when food from natural sources is available. An ideal time is during a light honey flow that may precede the main honey flow for your locality by eight to ten weeks. An example of this would be, in a northern locality, to have the bees reach you at the time fruit trees or dandelions are in bloom, which is usually at a period of six to eight weeks before the main honey flow, if from clovers. Although some package bees are successfully shipped by parcel post, it is recommended that they be shipped to you by express. Notify your express agent that you are expecting a shipment so that you may receive them immediately upon their arrival and avoid the danger of their being mishandled in the express office by those who are naturally not familiar with bees. Full directions for handling them usually accompany the bees when they are shipped either by express or parcel post.

153. Just as important as having the bees arrive at the right time is to have the hives prepared for them before arrival. It is practically impossible to succeed with package bees unless the hives are ready for them when they arrive. It is always dangerous to confine bees in any kind of a hive or package longer than necessary and it is always advisable to liberate them the day they reach you. Hives should always be prepared in advance of the bees so that enough time may elapse after the hives are painted that they may be thoroughly aired before the bees are released in them. Each hive should contain not less than two drawn combs, sometimes more, and the rest of the space in the hive filled out with frames containing full sheets of foundation. Each hive should be placed on the permanent stand it is to occupy before the bees are released in it. The entrance of each hive should be reduced to a space that will allow only two or three bees to pass out at a time, in order to prevent robbing and the covers adjusted to prevent robbing and to conserve heat. It is usually advisable in all cases to have a feeder ready for each hive. (See paragraph 14.) If no nectar is available from natural sources or if weather conditions prevent the bees from flying at the time they are released, it is absolutely necessary to feed them, or starvation will result.

154. When the bees are received keep them out of the sun. Get them into a cool, dark room as soon as possible. It is important to feed them as soon after they arrive as possible, using a syrup made of two parts of pure sugar to one of water. This is usually given by laying the cages on their sides and simply taking a small brush and painting the syrup on the wire screen of the cages where the bees can get to it. See figure 55. Only apply this as fast as the bees continue to take it up and until they refuse to take any more. This tends to quiet them, makes them keep from flying when released and provides them with food, giving them a chance to start comb building as soon as they are released in the hive.

155. The best time to release bees is late afternoon. Remove sufficient frames on one side of the hive to stand the cage in. See figure 58. Remove the feed can from the cage which makes an exit for the bees, using the smallest amount of smoke possible to handle them. Usually it is not necessary to use any smoke on newly-arrived package bees. The queen purchased with each package will be found in her cage and this cage will probably be hanging down in the package. The bees may have liberated the queen in transit, and if so this work will be done, and you may proceed on the assumption that she is all right. If she is still in the cage and alive, place her cage, wire screen down, above the frames or between two frames containing comb, as close to the package as possible, and in a position where the bees can reach her at all times.

156. If the queen is dead upon arrival, return the queen cage intact by mail to the breeder who will replace her if you so request. In the case of the package with the,dead queen, it is usually preferable to unite the bees of this package with another package that has a queen. If only one package is bought unite it with a full colony that has a queen and requires more bees to increase its strength. Remove the cover from the colony to do this and lay one sheet of newspaper with some very small holes punched in it over the frames. Place a hive body preferably with some combs in it over the paper and put the package in it so the bees can get out into this hive body. Within a day or two the two forces of bees will eat through the paper and unite. In order to unite packages place one package in the hive next to the frames and the other on top of the frames with the open side down. Then place an empty hive body over the cage and put a bee tight cover over all.