I opened the top and the hive sounded good - no queenless roar. It's quite cloudy today - legacy from Gustav who has traveled toward Louisiana trailing our cloudy weather in his wake. The bees were not happy to see me, but it felt more like they were disturbed, not queenless. They head-butted but didn't roar.
There were lots of bees still in this hive. Here's the inside of the inner cover. There are about twice as many bees below the inner cover and on the telescoping cover.
Gingerly I pulled out the frame with the queen cage. There were bees in the cage and I could still see what looked like a lot of candy. I felt distressed, although I didn't see the larger queen with her red dot. I shook the bees out of the cage onto the tops of the frames. Then it was obviousl The queen had been freed and the sugar candy was just a shell against the hardware cloth. I hope they have accepted her and are working well together.
I did see about twelve SHBs in this hive - it's on the ground under a tree and has been queenless, but I didn't feel worried enough about the numbers to put in a trap.
I've got my fingers crossed for this hive.
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