I picked up the package in the morning and came straight home and put them in the hive about an hour later. Ok, call me stupid, but I installed them with no equipment (veil, etc) at all. YEAH - no stings.
I simply removed the cork from the candy side of the queen box and hung it between two frames. I accidentally pulled the wrong cork on the first hive, but was able to pop it right back in without incident when I didn't see candy - oops!!! The weather was really windy and a little cool so I was told to remove a few frames and put the package in the hive and let the bees find their own way out. I did this.
A couple hours later I went to check on them. One hive was barely active - no bees outside the hive at all. The other one however had dozens of bees at the entrance reducer, several buzzing all over and had me a bit concerned. I opened up the inactive hive and they seemed peaceful and content humming quietly. I didn't dare open the busy hive.
Later they were still the same - a buzz of seemingly angry activity in one hive and nearly no activity in the other. I opened both to check to make sure I had bees in the one and to check on the queen in the other. It started to rain so I didn't get a chance to check on the queen.
Later I opened only the covers on the hives to give them sugar syrup with an essential oil stimulant recipe. This doesn't really expose the hive as the feeder occupies the entire top shallow box. An hour later the hives were both less active and when I opened the covers they were both actively drinking/feeding. I am guessing the angry hive didn't have any food.
I strapped the hives down and called it a day as there was a big storm coming through with tornado warnings and watches close by.
Stimulant recipe - 1 gallon of water to 8lbs of sugar. I boiled the water and gradually added the sugar while stirring. Then added about a teaspoon or two of lemon juice to invert the sugar. I let it remain at a rolling boil for about 10-15 minutes. Then I added 2 drops of tea tree oil, and 8 drops of lemon grass oil with an additional 1/2 cup of water. The oils and extra oils were added to a separate jar first and shaken vigorously then added to the sugar syrup. This made about a gallon and a half of stimulant syrup.
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