Yay for you! It is very interesting, I still get excited when I have new bees arriving. But I still also get nervous, and constantly worry what I have forgotten to prepare… 
This is what I found:
Thyme Oil
The active ingredient in thyme oil is thymol. This compound assists in controlling the Varroa mite. It works by confusing the mite and blocking it’s pores. Used in combination with a screened bottom board the mites become confused, fall to the ground through the screen and are unable to climb back up into the hive.
Spearmint Oil
The mint family of essential oils also assist in treating the varroa mite in the same manner as thyme oil. They also mask other scents while not mimicking any of the honeybees own pheromones.
Lemongrass Oil
Lemongrass oil appears to be the most versatile of the essential oils used with honeybees. It is used as a treatment in the hive, a supplement for nutritional balance and as bait in swarm traps. This essential oil has anti-fungal and anti-viral properties. It also mimics the attractant pheromone of the honeybee. This property requires careful use with weak hives. The scent may lure robber bees to the hive and the weak colony is unable to defend itself.
Not sure who true it is but I have been finding lots of info on different oils
We installed a package on May 2. Inspected the hive on May 10th. Bees were building comb pin our foundationless frames. Because the queen box was hung between frames, some of the comb was built off the guides and on the side of the frame. Pls don’t discuss foundationless vs foundation. My question to any seasoned beeks is if you look at the picture I’ll attach, do you think I did the right thing by replacing a frame that had gone off track? I think I’ll attach a picture if I can see a link button for photos. Thx
Probably, but the photo would help! 
To post a photo, open a new reply, then look just above the box where you type text. You will see symbols along the top of the reply text entry window. The seventh one along looks like a bar with an arrow pointing up from it. That is the upload function. You can use that to upload a photo, as long as it is not too big; 2-3Mb works fine.
There were eggs in the comb… I hated to remove it. There were two other frames I did an experiment on… I pushed the comb under the guide wondering if they would re-attach the comb to the guide. I’ll post a picture of what happens to those frames the next time I do an inspection.
Helo Kary, I’m also in Conifer at 8500 or so ft… At the top of Shadow Moutain. I don’t have a flow hive but just put my first hive in today. I put in an electric fence hope its suffices. I am interested in a flow hive after I learn a bit more about the bees and the hive. I see you’ve raised bees befor would be interested in any advise you may have up here. This is my first go at it.
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I installed my nuc this morning, It was pretty cold out, so i didn’t really look at the frames too close. It was around 42 outside. I did see 5 frames that were pretty full, full of bees, capped brood, etc. I’ll have to wait till next weekend to take a closer look i think. This afternoon they were out while the sun was shinning, it was very fascinating watching them. They found the sugar water, had to make some adjustments to they didn’t drown, but its working out really well. I’m super excited to finally have the bees!!!
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Hi Colorado Beeks, This is our first year and we’re are really excited to join the beekeeper community. We also installed our nuc last Saturday and were delighted to see the bees acclimate to their home quickly. On Sunday when the sun peeked out, the bees were exploring the yard and coming and going.
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You’re not alone, Joel! I’m in Broomfield, too. I don’t live in an HOA so I don’t have to worry about that.
I just got my 2 nucs from Highland Bees on Sunday, and of course, there has been the obligatory bad weather for the last couple of days. Tomorrow should be better. Like you, I have pollen patties on and sugar syrup with Honey B Healthy. They seem like they’re coping with the cold, but I can tell they’re anxious to get to work.
I am very excited to try out the Flow Hive itself. I hope we get a good warm up and a good nectar flow so we can get a honey harvest this year!
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It’s good to see there’s at least one other beekeeper in Broomfield! I made a Facebook group for Broomfield area beekeepers, but it’s just got noobs in it so far (including myself).
We did our first inspection on Saturday, but it was a little cold so we hurried through it. The bees had drawn out more comb, and I saw tons of capped brood. There was some uncapped, as well, and we did manage to find the queen. They had barely touched the pollen patty, though.
With the cold weather you mentioned, not much has happened since, but I’m expecting a beesplosion in the next few days as it warms up (and dries out).
I did see a dozen or so dead bees on the landing board today around 12:30, but they were all gone by 6:30pm. I’m guessing those were from our inspection and the cold, wet weather.
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@Greywolf I also picked up my NUC on Sunday from Highland Bees, Glad today is warmer and sunny, the bees are doing a lot of orientation flights right now and the buzz noise had gone up a lot. Very exciting.
Tim
Yay, it’s warm at last! Lots of activity. There were some bees crawling on the pavement in the backyard, which later died. There are also dead bees outside one of my hives, the one that has the most bees. They have sugar water and are taking it, and they have pollen patties, too. I haven’t done an inspection yet since they have only been in the hives for four days.
What level of attrition is normal? There were about 20-30 dead bees that I could see, the first day they were really out and about. About half of the dead bees were drones, and none of them show any varroa on them or any visible issues like deformed wings. They looked fine, except for the crawling around and dying. Some had their tongues sticking out, but not all.
Argh! It’s like suddenly having 10,000 children to worry about!
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Let’s assume you have a small hive with 10,000 to 20,000 bees in it. At this time of year in the northern hemisphere, each bee lives about 6 weeks or 42 days. So every day you would expect to have 250 to 500 bees dying. That is perfectly fine, because the queen can easily lay 1,000 - 2,000 eggs per day or more! Most bees know they are dying, and take themselves away from the hive. So unless you have a yellow jacket attack, robbing, disease, or condensation and cold in the hive, you won’t see large numbers around it. The numbers you are seeing sound normal.
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Whew, that’s a relief! Thanks for the reassurance. i think I have new parent syndrome - every little sneeze is a trip to the doctor.
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You are not alone, Greywolf. I haven’t lost this much sleep since my son was born!
I’m just up the road in Boulder…looks like we’re finally getting into some fine weather!
mb
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How’d everyone’s first inspection go? Not to good here.
Well, our first inspection happened, but now we’ve done our second and we decided it was filled enough to add our second brood box (it was borderline, but we won’t be able to check next weekend).
Unfortunately, after our inspection, we did see a recently emerged bee outside the hive wth a mite on her back. We’ll be doing a count soon.
I might see if there’s a more experienced beek that’ll look at things with us.
If you’re seeing mites on bees the situation might be quite serious so get it checked as soon as you can. Get your beekeeper friend to show you how to do either a sugar roll or an alcohol wash. Information from an inspection board is inaccurate
How? …
How not good?
Lost most of the bees. Not sure why or what happened. called back to where I got them they had me bring back what was left. Didn’t spot the queen one way or the other. Mites on a lot of what was left. I cleaned my box and did a burn around the area. They gave me a new nuk. We will try again.