Day 4

Checked the hives today and this is what I found:
Hive A:
They are eating the syrup pretty well and drawing out a little comb, but the queen has not been freed from her cage. I removed the cork from the end of the cage and put it back in the hive allowing the queen free access to the hive. There was a hive beetle in the queen cage. Not a good sign. I believe the beetles may have come with the packages. The girls seem to exhibit good departure and arrival patterns and seem to be in good order.
Hive B:
These girls too, seem to have settled in. More comb is drawn out than in Hive A and it seems to be drawn out in a regular pattern from the center of the hive outward. Good indication that the queen survived my ham-fisted installation and the hive is working properly. This hive has last years top feeder and the bees keep getting into it somehow. I think I will devise a new top and feeder pattern for it tomorrow following my friend Ben's 1" plywood, hole-saw and mason jar technique.
I will leave the ladies alone for a couple of days to recover from my intrusions and check for comb and eggs on Friday. If all goes well I will have good news to report.

On another note if you haven't checked out the web cam of the Decorah, Iowa Bald Eagles I recommend you do so. Here is a link:
http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/decorah_eagle_xcel.html