When I install packages I, too, make sure the bees and queen are
together in the package for 2 or 3 days before hiving. Then I simply
dump in the bees (after removing about 3 frames to leave space) and
release the queen into the clump of bees. I have not lost a queen in
13 years and up here I install every spring.
Anyone else release queens directly? Anyone have problems doing it?
Tom Elliott
Eagle River, Alaska