Empty queen cage.
New comb built in just 3 days.
Reattached the comb to the bar. You can see where the cage had been.
Three days after I put the new colony ( 4 pounds of bees plus 1 queen) into the hive, I checked in to see if they had released her. The queen bee arrives in a special cage that is plugged with a soft sugar paste. They can feed her through the cage and then eat through the sugar plug to release her. The three day period gives the worker bees time to get accustomed to their new queen. I removed the bar that I hung the cage on and found that not only had they released her, but they had already built a large comb around her. The new comb was so soft that as I removed the cage, the two sections of comb fell off the bar. Nice to see that they got her out and were busy building up comb. I took the pieces out and reattached them to the bar by using a soldering iron to melt the edge and “glue” it on to the bar. Now you can see where the cage had been. Tomorrow I will put it back into the hive. Success! After I replace the comb, I will leave them alone for a couple weeks…. then I’ll check in with them again to see how she is laying, and how they are building up the comb. Long Live The Queen!
