Yesterday, I went to a new hive of mine to release the queen from
her cage.  The packages I have had in the past had the queen sealed in a
cage with a candy plug.  This package was the first I had ever bought that
the queen was sealed in with a cork!  I'll never buy a package with a queen
cage sealed with a cork again.
        Anyway, while I had the hive open after installing the package three
days ago and was holding the cage trying to pull that irritating little cork
out with a pair of jewelers needle-nose pliers, the bee's simply covered my
gloved hand holding the cage.  I felt like I was holding a vibrator because
these crazy bee's were holding their tails real high and buzzing as hard as
they could.  I had dozens of bee's doing the strange buzzing thing on my
hand.  Would anyone know what these funny things were trying to do?  My hand
was still vibrating for five to ten minutes after I had them all closed back
up.  The whole thing was rather funny.
        By the way, never could pull that cork stuffed sideways deep in that
little hole out.  I ended up gripping the cage screen and ripping it off to
release the poor entrapped queen.  The cork simply wouldn't come out, it
kept coming apart in tiny chunks.  Which is why I'll never buy a package
with a corked queen cage again.

Thanks

Jerry Scott
Critterden Ranch
(Specializing in Arabian Horses, Beef Cattle)
Lipan, Texas.
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