Learning how to install a package of bees is one of the most nerve-racking and rewarding mornings in a new beekeeper’s first season. A package is roughly 3 pounds of loose worker bees (around 10,000 of them) shipped in a screened box with a can of feed and a separately caged queen who is not yet part of the colony.
Your job on installation day is to move those bees into their new hive, give the queen time to be accepted, and then leave them alone long enough for the magic to happen. Done calmly, the whole process takes about 15 minutes. Rushed or improvised, it is where most avoidable early losses begin.
Key Takeaways
What Exactly Comes in a Package of Bees?
A package is a starter colony assembled by a bee supplier: a wooden or plastic box with screened sides holding about 3 pounds of worker bees, a can of sugar syrup to feed them in transit, and a small queen cage clipped near the top. The queen comes from a different hive than the workers, which matters more than it sounds. The bees do not yet recognize her scent as their own, and if she were released immediately they would likely ball and kill her as an intruder.
That is the entire logic behind installation day. Everything you do is meant to give the colony two to three days to accept the queen through the screen of her cage while the workers begin building comb around her. If you have not yet chosen your gear or built your boxes, our guides on how to start beekeeping and the parts of a beehive will fill in the equipment you need before the bees ever arrive.
When Should You Install a Package of Bees?
Install your package on the same day it arrives if you can, and aim for late afternoon or early evening in mild, calm weather above 50 degrees F. Late-day installation encourages the bees to settle into the hive overnight rather than drifting off to reorient in bright midday sun. A light overcast sky is close to ideal.
If a cold snap or hard rain hits on arrival day, you can hold the package for a day in a cool, dark, draft-free space around 50 to 60 degrees F, misting the screen with sugar water twice a day. Do not stall longer than that. The bees are burning through their reserves and the queen’s window of acceptance does not wait. Early-season timing is its own subject, and our piece on beekeeping in early spring covers how to read the weather and forage conditions that make a package thrive.
How Do You Prepare the Hive and Yourself?
Set up the hive in its permanent spot before the bees come out of the box, because you will not want to move a populated hive later. Have a single deep box on the bottom board with only six or seven frames in it at first, leaving an open gap where the bees and queen cage will go. Keep your smoker, hive tool, a spray bottle of 1:1 sugar water, and your feeder within arm’s reach.
Mix the sugar water ahead of time: equal parts white granulated sugar and warm water by weight, stirred until clear. This same 1:1 ratio is what you will feed the colony for weeks, so make extra. Suit up fully and light your smoker, though you will barely need it. Package bees have no honey stores and no brood to defend, so they are usually remarkably gentle. A calm keeper makes for calm bees.
Step by Step: How to Install a Package of Bees
Here is the full sequence from a sealed box to a closed, feeding hive:
1. Spray the Bees With Light Sugar Water
Mist the screened sides of the package generously with your 1:1 sugar water. Damp bees cannot fly well and busy themselves cleaning the syrup off each other, which keeps them clustered and occupied while you work. Two or three good spritzes per side is plenty. Avoid soaking them into a dripping mass.
2. Remove the Feed Can and Retrieve the Queen Cage
Firmly rap the package straight down on the ground once so the bees drop to the bottom, then pry off the lid and lift out the feed can. Bees will boil up, so work smoothly. The queen cage hangs just beside where the can sat, usually on a metal tab or strap. Lift it out, replace the can opening loosely to keep bees in, and inspect the cage: you should see a live queen and a few attendant workers with her.
3. Hang the Queen Cage Using the Candy Plug Method
Look at the ends of the queen cage. One end holds a white candy plug (sometimes under a cork you must remove) and the other may hold a cork over the queen herself. Remove only the cork covering the candy, never the cork directly releasing the queen. The workers eat through that candy over two to three days, and by the time they break through they have accepted her scent and will not harm her. Pin or wedge the cage candy-side up between two center frames, screen facing the open comb so the bees can feed and tend her. Make sure no attendant can be crushed and that the candy is not blocked.
Do not release the queen directly into the hive on day one. This single mistake, letting an unaccepted queen loose among strangers, is the most common reason a fresh package fails, because the workers kill the very queen you are counting on.
4. Shake the Bees Into the Hive
Pick up the package, remove the feed can again, and turn the box over the open gap in your hive. Shake firmly with a downward jolt to dislodge the cluster, sprinkling the bees over and around the queen cage. Repeat until most are out. You will never get every bee; set the near-empty box on its side by the entrance and the stragglers will march in on their own within an hour or two.
5. Close Up Gently
Slide the remaining frames back into place, moving slowly so you nudge rather than crush clustered bees. Set the inner cover and outer cover on. If you use an entrance reducer, set it to the smallest opening to help this small colony defend itself while it builds up. Resist the urge to keep peeking.
6. Feed 1:1 Syrup Right Away
A package has zero stores and must draw an entire nest from bare foundation, which takes enormous energy. Fill your feeder with the same 1:1 sugar syrup and keep it full continuously until the bees stop taking it or a strong natural nectar flow begins. Steady feeding in these first weeks is the difference between fast comb-building and a stalled colony, a theme we return to in maintaining a healthy beehive.
What Do You Do in the First Week After Installation?
For the first five to seven days, do nothing but keep the feeder full. It is genuinely hard, but opening the hive early to check on the queen risks rolling her, chilling new comb, or interrupting her release from the cage. The colony needs undisturbed time to eat through the candy plug, free the queen, and start drawing wax. Watch the entrance from a distance instead: bees carrying pollen on their legs are a good early sign that a laying queen is directing the household.
On day five to seven, open the hive for the first real inspection. Confirm two things and then close back up. First, the queen cage is empty, meaning she was released. Second, you can find eggs or young larvae, single tiny grains standing upright in the bottom of cells, which proves she is alive and laying. If the candy is gone but she has not emerged, free her by hand now. If the cage is empty but you see no eggs after another week, you may have a failed queen and should contact your supplier. The University of Minnesota Bee Lab (https://beelab.umn.edu/) is an excellent extension resource for troubleshooting queen acceptance and early package management.
Reading the Result and Planning Ahead
The clearest measure of a successful install is simple: an empty queen cage and eggs within the first two weeks. From there your job shifts from installation to buildup, feeding steadily, adding the second box once seven of ten frames are drawn, and starting a mite-monitoring habit before the colony gets large. If you find no queen and no eggs, act quickly rather than hoping, because a package cannot raise its own replacement without eggs to work from. Treat installation day as the calm, deliberate handoff it is meant to be, give the queen the two or three days the candy plug buys her, and let the bees show you they have accepted their new home.
Frequently Asked Questions About How to Install a Package of Bees
How long does it take a package of bees to accept the queen?
Most colonies accept the caged queen within two to three days, which is exactly how long it takes the workers to chew through the candy plug and release her. That slow release is the whole point, because it gives the bees time to recognize her scent as their own. Do not open the hive to speed it up. Check on day five to seven and you should find the cage empty.
What happens if you release the queen too early?
If you let the queen loose among the package on day one, the workers usually treat her as an intruder and ball her, often killing her. She came from a different colony and they have not yet accepted her scent. Always use the candy plug method so her release is gradual. This is the single most common reason a first package fails.
Do you have to feed a package of bees after installing it?
Yes. A package arrives with no honey stores and must build its entire nest from bare foundation, which burns huge amounts of energy. Feed 1:1 sugar syrup (equal parts sugar and water) continuously from installation day until the bees stop taking it or a strong nectar flow starts. Steady feeding in the first few weeks is what drives fast comb-building.
When can you first inspect a newly installed package?
Wait five to seven full days before your first inspection. Opening the hive sooner risks harming the queen, chilling fresh comb, or interrupting her release from the cage. When you do open it, confirm only two things: the queen cage is empty and you can see eggs or young larvae. Then close up and let them keep building.
