My 3# hive package fell apart when I installed the thing. The sugar
water dropped out and crushed a bunch of bees. I couldn't figure out
what to do. Most of the 10,000 bees were on that can of sugar water.
So, I waited until next weekend adding sugar water daily.
The next Saturday, I fished out the can and shook some of the bees off
of it. About half had left already. I set the can on the hive top
cover in hopes they would find their way back. We had a cold snap and
I'm lost a few thousand bees because they didn't come back in. During
this procedure, I found the queen cage. It had a metal strip on it
and the queen was still trapped. I removed the strip and put her back
in thinking she'd get out by chewing through the candy plug.
On the 3rd weekend, I removed several of the frames covered in honey
comb and stored sugar water (I think). There were NO brood. So I
looked for the queen cage and she was STILL in there. The plug was
untouched. I didn't have anything to pick at the candy plug with so i
used my hive tool to pull back the screen. MISTAKE. The queen
immediately FLEW out and UP. She circled in front of me and acted as
if she might land and then circled behind me and I lost track of her.
Q: What are the chances she will find her way back to the hive?
