Hi,
 
Yesterday I was checking on my new hive (I have two).  Four days before I
had installed a 3lb package of Buckfast and was going in to remove the
queen cage.  As I've seen in the past, the queen was released and they
had started building burr comb in the gap produced between the frames
surrounding the queen cage.  I used my hive tool to remove a hand size
piece of comb and removed the queen cage.
 
I saw two unusual (to me) things:
 
The queen cage was _packed_ with workers (it was like college kids in a
VW!).  I first thought it was the queen and her attendants, but no, the
candy was long gone and they were just workers.
 
Next I saw what I thought at first was some more burr comb with bees on
it but it turned out to be a golf ball size cluster of bees.  I was
probing them with my finger trying to see if they were on more burr
comb when I realized it might be a 'ball'.  They were _tightly_ packed, and
after some careful prodding with my finger the queen ran out!  I watched as
she moved along the frame and the other workers reaction to her.  The bees
in the 'ball' continued where they were and the queen soon had a number
of new workers crawling on her again (not as bad as before).
 
I decided to insert the tenth frame (removed due to the queen cage) and
close up the hive hoping for the best.  Later, reading in the _Beekeepers
Handbook_, I found this was indeed one of the options on handling a
'balling'!
 
Other details in case they're important:  I saw two supersedure queen
cells (in the middle of a frame - not at the bottom) being constructed.
They are in a single deep hive body with frames that are mostly drawn
(used as a super last year and have some comb missing from my clumsy
uncapping).  Perhaps not quite deep enough to lay eggs into?
 
Here are my questions:
 
Does this sound like a balling?  She was very much alive and had probably
been released three days before.  If they were trying to kill her they
were fairly inept...
 
Is there an indirect way to introduce the queen without having the queen
cage leave a violation of the bee space (thus the unwanted comb)?
 
I've read that manipulations too soon after installing a package can lead
to 'balling'.  Should I wait longer before taking out the queen cage?
 
 
Mike Killoran                            Zen says:
[log in to unmask]                  Cease to do evil,
(617) 981-2667 (Lexington, MA USA)    Try to do good.