Day three opened with lovely weather. Cool, sunny, perfect. We headed over to Garden Supply to retrieve our new queen.
We rushed home to install her in the apparently queenless hive. The hive was all out of sorts, with bees all over the place, buzzing loudly and generally seeming unhappy.
First, we checked our new queen. She had a few nurse bees and seemed very perky. Then, we took a few breaths and made sure to find the CANDY END this time. We even removed the cork from that end in the kitchen, before suiting up.
This time, with the correct cork removed, we placed the queen cage on the middle frame, securing it with a rubber band. Then, we quickly closed everything up and breathed a sigh of relief. Requeening a hive – check. Now, will it work?