Much like buying a packet of nails, or screws, bees have an approximate weight, and if you buy a pound of nails or bees, you just divide the weight of an average nail or bee into a pound
Bees have mass. A package has mass. If we divide the mass of the package by the mass of bees we can work out how many bees we have. As a rule of thumb, there are about 4000 bees to a pound.
With bees package size really does matter. The more bees you have, the faster your hive will be able to build up. If you are in a colder area, a larger package of bees is able to generate more heat
A package of bees is a beautiful thing. You have a caged queen and a few pounds of bees. It is essentially a swarm that arrives at your door via courier.
I believe that a package should be installed as soon as possible after it arrives. Your bees have a limited lifespan, and the faster they can get to work before they die,
There are a number of different designs for packages. However, there are commonalities. A package will always have the queen in a cage. There will be a feeder.
If you are a new beekeeper, and you are ordering one or two packages you are naturally quite far down the queue compared to a big beekeeper who orders 1000 packages every year.