Queen Bee Release Party

Today marked the release party for the queen bee. Without any candy or a marshmallow to allow the workers to free her naturally, I had to do it manually. It’s suggested to wait about 3 to 4 days after installing the package before releasing the queen. Given the unpredictable weather throughout the week, I opted for day three since the forecast appeared to be the most favorable. I wanted to avoid day four, which could bring rain or cold conditions that might complicate the process.

The process of releasing her went smoothly. I took off one frame from the side to slide the others over to access her frame more easily. There were numerous bees surrounding her, so I decided to keep the rubber bands intact. Unlike last year when they cut the bands, this year they hadn’t done so yet. I removed the staple to gently pull her off the frame.  They had built a little comb around her. Since I was short on time, I left the rubber bands for now, planning to remove them during a more thorough inspection next time. I didn’t check any of the frames today because I knew I wouldn’t find any eggs, and I wanted to finish quickly before the rain started.

When it was time to take out the cork, I proceeded with caution, keeping her above the hive to avoid losing her. It took some time for each queen to emerge, and once they did, it required additional effort to encourage her to move off my gloves and onto one of the frames. Once they entered the hive, they both settled into the frames.  The bees appeared to be responding well, so I’m optimistic that the next inspection will reveal they’ve welcomed her.

In addition to releasing the queen, I did a oxalic acid treatment and also marked the queen.  I’ll go into more detail on these actions in another post.  I also mixed in a bit more 1:1 sugar syrup today.