Long Live The Queen

You met her briefly the other day but let me formally introduce you to Queen Mary who has superseded last year's Queen, Victoria.  Isn't she pretty?  She has a nice large white dot on her back so that we hopefully can find her inside the hive sometime.

After installing the bees on Sunday I left the queen cage in the hive for 3 days before attempting to retrieve it.  The bees had to eat through the sugar candy on the edge of the cage to release her.  During this time hopefully their smells intermingle and they accept her as their own since she was raised separately from the hive.

I figured 3 days was long enough, if you go in too early you have release her yourself or put the cage back and go in again to retrieve it a second time.  Thankfully 3 days was long enough.  I removed the cage, added the frame back in that was removed to accommodate the cage and then closed the hive back up.  I didn't go looking for her.  I figured I would dive back in next week and look for the sign of eggs, a sure sign she in the hive and being productive.