I have the concept of foundation-less hives, but how do you install a new package of bees? Surely you can't just dump bees and queen on the bottom board, even if you have starter strips in the frames, and expect them to get to work.David
But in fact we do expect that to happen, and it does. The key is to give them some food to get them started, as Kirk explains:
When I install a Package I remove the queen cage and put it between the frames. I like to hang it with a couple of straight pins with the hole (filled with the candy plug) facing up. This way if the bees inside the cage with the queen die, they don't block her exit. I then simply dump the rest of the bees in the top of the hive were the queen cage is hanging...Real simple. Then feed the bees with a baggie feeder.
kirkobeeo
