Did! My first package of bees arrived April 22nd. I had read and reread everything on inserting the package. I had practiced with my smoker. I knew not to be nervous and to move slowly and deliberately. I was Miss Ready Freddy.
The first thing that went wrong was the queen cage attachment broke before I got the can out. I pull out the can and looking into the package, I see the queen cage immersed in a GAZILLION bees. Maybe more bees than a gazillion.
Then, I noticed the buzzing. I hadn't thought about the sound a thousand busy bees make. Nothing like all that buzzing to distract a girl. So...I rushed. By some miracle that I now cannot recall, I got the queen cage out and stuck the can back in. I looked at it for only a second, and then pulled out the cork...from the wrong end. Instantly, bees ran into her cage.
I knew enough that I had to get her into the hive before she escaped so I dropped her in...kerTHUNK. Hmmm. Oh well no time to worry about her, I have all these other bees that I have to get in there. And by now my adrenalin has used up what little energy I had and my blood sugar is plummeting. With shaking hands I remove the can and hold the package over the hive to pour the bees in. But they don't pour.
I don't understand. In all the pictures, bees can be seen pouring out of the package like honey out of a jar. Cool, easy, beautiful. Not my bees. They are stuck. Drat. I shake it a little and still nothing. Double drat. I shake hard and pound the package on the hive...out they come.
Only later do I realize that I should have watched a Youtube video on this. And now I don't know if my queen will be killed. So sad.
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